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Friday Fun Link - ALA Rural Librarianship Survey (Aug 24, 2007)

Published August 24th, 2007 in Community, Friday Fun Link, public libraries | No Comments »

The ALA recently released a survey of rural librarians with all kinds of interesting, enlightening and downright depressing comments and statistics.

With fully one half of your friendly neighbourhood LA contributor team working in rural library settings, this survey also hits close to home (although I do believe that the situation in Canada for salaries and working conditions is much better than in the US for the most part.)

(via the always jam-packed ALA weekly e-newsletter which, unfortunately isn’t online)

- JH

Bibliomulas

Published August 8th, 2007 in alternative libraries, progressive librarians, public libraries, social justice, social responsibilities | No Comments »

Thanks to the PLG listserv for this bit of news about library innovation in Venezuela.

Here’s an excerpt:

Diving for books

A break came when it was my turn to ride a mule. I enjoyed a great view of the valley but held on tight as Chiquito veered close to the edge.

Hot and slightly bothered after two hours, we reached Calembe, the first village on this path.

Anyone who was not out working the fields - tending the celery that is the main crop here - was waiting for our arrival. The 23 children at the little school were very excited.

“Bibilomu-u-u-u-las,” they shouted as the bags of books were unstrapped. They dived in eagerly, keen to grab the best titles and within minutes were being read to by Christina and Juana, two of the project leaders.

“Spreading the joy of reading is our main aim,” Christina Vieras told me.

“But it’s more than that. We’re helping educate people about other important things like the environment. All the children are planting trees. Anything to improve the quality of life and connect these communities.”

And the full story through BBC News.

-PC-

Friday Fun Link - Library Elf (Aug 3, 2007)

Published August 3rd, 2007 in Friday Fun Link, public libraries | No Comments »

Instead of relying on your friendly local library (who, let’s be honest, often has a policy of not letting patrons know about overdue books until, well, until they’re overdue), Library Elf is a neat little service that helps you track your due dates, holds and more. You can configure the service to notify you via e-mail and/or RSS about the status of your library account, track multiple library accounts (ie. for your whole family) and more.

A number of libraries across Canada, the US and internationally are currently supported and more are being added all the time. (See the FAQ for how to submit your own library if it’s not already listed.)

(via MetaFilter)

- JH

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In Solidarity

Published August 1st, 2007 in advocacy, progressive librarians, public libraries, social responsibilities | No Comments »

From the PLG listserv.

The Progressive Librarians Guild stands in solidarity with the striking Vancouver Public Library workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 391 as they fight for a fair and equitable contract that addresses pay equity, improvements to employee benefits, access to training, fair treatment of part-time and auxiliary library workers, protection against contracting-out and technological change.

Approved August 1, 2007 by the Progressive Librarians Guild, Coordinating Committee.


PLG website

-PC-

Massive cuts to Toronto Public Library

Published July 26th, 2007 in advocacy, public libraries, social justice, social responsibilities | 1 Comment »

Mayor Miller’s recently defeated proposal for two new municiple taxes didn’t take long to fall onto Toronto Public Library.

Spacing Wire reposts a piece from Eye Magazine on the issue.

The cuts are deep. If this is on some level a device to call attention to a crisis in funding for public libraries (and Toronto in general), it’s a good one. First came a threat to close the most recently built TTC subway line. Now the library and the police have been ordered by the city trim the ‘fat’ (as in, essential services).

To be expected, there are a few comments in response to the Eye article that suggest that the library needs to generate its own revenue. Fortunately user fees got shouted down - Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler quickly pointed out that they are “forbidden under section 23(1) of Ontario’s Public Libraries Act, 1990.” He also posted the reference to the Act.

Highlights as reported by Eye Weekly:

• a hiring freeze, which will affect staffing of service desks, program delivery, training sessions and branch closures. For example, the planned re-opening of the Jane-Dundas branch (which received 11,500 visitors a month) won’t happen until 2008 now.

• the elimination of Sunday service in all libraries, excluding those in priority neighbourhoods.

• a $330,000 cut to the library materials budget (which is equivalent to the entire adult book budget for 12 branches, or the entire children’s book budget for 25 branches).

TPL is the second most used public library system in the world, second only to Hong Kong. One of the Eye comments pointed out that TPL is one of Toronto’s unadulterated successes. In the midst of T.O.’s ongoing fumbling of such issues as waterfront development and unabashed condo development in the absence of affordable housing, the library deserves to shine as a pillar of this community.

If the province doesn’t pony up with some funding, this will mark a major blow to community services for the entire GTA.

****** Addendum. July 26.07

Now magazine reacts to the public service cuts in this column, comments on politicking with the province. All complete with Shakespearean references and a nod to Oscar Wilde.

At Quillblog, it’s mentioned that the municipality of Ottawa is also having budget problems.

****** Addendum #2. July 31.07

I’d hate for the folks in Calgary to think we’re neglecting them when we’re talking about municiple funding shortages. This Toronto Star article
outlines a similar battle by Calgary’s mayor from the province of Alberta. (Where the heritage fund is reportedly $16.6 billion).

Call me nostalgic, but does anyone remember the New Deal for Cities?

-PC-

900 Vancouver Library Workers Poised To Strike

Published July 22nd, 2007 in advocacy, public libraries | No Comments »

This information comes via the Progressive Librarians Guild mailing list, a great resource for activist librarian types.

This particular story about the looming library strike in Vancouver also led me to another useful resource - the Union Librarian blog.

- JH

Friday Fun Link - Harry Potter and the Death of Reading (July 20, 2007)

Published July 20th, 2007 in Friday Fun Link, public libraries | No Comments »

“In 1994, over 70 percent of total fiction sales were accounted for by a mere five authors.”

Just in time for the biggest book release in the history of the universe, a contrarian view from the Washington Post.

It’s out tonight at midnight but rumours of leaks have been happening for the past few days.

Harry Potter’s publisher has been going after any web site that even links to a site that distributes files purporting to be the leaked work.

They’ve even been going after sites that link to sites that are distributing the leaked work if you can believe it!

- JH

Friday Fun Link - If Public Libraries Didn’t Exist, Could You Start One Today? (July 13, 2007)

Published July 13th, 2007 in Digital Rights Management, Friday Fun Link, copyright, culture, open access, other, public libraries | No Comments »

The author of the popular Freakonomics book looks at the question, “If public libraries didn’t exist, could you start one today?”

“But here’s the point I’m (finally) getting to: if there was no such thing today as the public library and someone like Bill Gates proposed to establish them in cities and towns across the U.S. (much like Andrew Carnegie once did), what would happen?

I am guessing there would be a huge pushback from book publishers. Given the current state of debate about intellectual property, can you imagine modern publishers being willing to sell one copy of a book and then have the owner let an unlimited number of strangers borrow it? I don’t think so.”

He doesn’t bring it up but I wonder if an analogy could be made to bit torrent sites today? One person buys a legitimate copy and then others are able to obtain a free copy. The only difference is that instead of dozens of uses as for popular library items, bit torrent allows thousands of copies to be downloaded. The other big difference is that bit torrent tends to focus on movies, music and TV shows that don’t have the history of “free” borrowing like books in a library do. And of course, you don’t have to “return” a digital copy.

It’s not a perfect analogy but the similarities are there.

(via Reddit)

Oh, and in a semi-related story, a PhD candidate in economics contends that the optimal length of copyright in today’s digital age is…fourteen years. (via Boing Boing)

- JH

Media diversity resource

Published July 4th, 2007 in advocacy, alternative media, information commons, open access, public libraries, social responsibilities | No Comments »

Here’s a quick redirect to a Library Juice post with a couple of nice resources.

First is this guide for collecting from diverse sources.
(or: outsourcing, how not to)

Fostering Media Diversity in Libraries: Strategies and Actions.

Second there’s a link to a note on the ALA’s opposition to media concentration in the US since June 2003.

Relevant Canadian stuff from libraryland (found by searching the CLA website) is largely falling under the information literacy umbrella:

School Libraries in Canada link.
Information Literacy in Canada blog post.

-PC-

Museum Pass Program, more thoughts. Or, getting to know your library’s board of directors

Published June 28th, 2007 in public libraries, social responsibilities | No Comments »

In my daily dose of Spacing Wire this morning, Matthew Blackett articulated similar thoughts I was having yesterday about corporate sponsorship, however his post was in response to a new sponsorship program to add art onto Toronto garbage bins.

Matthew Blackett, Spacing Wire | June 27.07

I believe small projects like the Street Art™ Sponsorship Program only further legitimize ad-funded street furniture because the supplier (in this case Ecomedia) is “giving back” to the community.

Blackett also notes that there are positive aspects to sponsoring the arts (as any starving artist would tell you) but he is right to point out that it’s a complicated situation where companies can benefit for PR purposes. Even if the benevolence is sincere (for the sake of argument), the company’s priority will always be to protect its bottom line.

In my view, the tension that arises within this program are echoed in libraries considering sponsorship deals. While libraries deal with a host of complicated issues with their vendor relationships as well, sponsorship opens the library door to the wider corporate community. This May 14, 2007 TPL staff report notes the library’s criteria for accepting sponsorship funds. Funding for libraries being the ongoing challenge that it is, deciding to accept sponsorship funds is a complicated issue that is best done with lots o’ public debate. Let’s start now. Question: Are libraries upholding their role as social institutions and civic spaces when their policy decisions expose citizens to a marketing campaign in order to enjoy access to public services?

Here are links to the May 14, 2007 TPL board meeting where the museums pass sponsorship proposal was discussed (in a closed meeting…). The board meeting minutes may not be an exciting read, but there they are. Torontonians, check them out. Whether you agree or disagree with library board decisions, no matter what community you call home, being a participant is key. Dr. Sam Trosow’s reflections from the recent LPL board meeting is a testament that.

Coincidentally there is a TPL library board meeting tonight!

Employee and Labour Relations Committee
Toronto Public Library Board - Meeting No. 1:
Thursday, June 28, 2007, 4:00 p.m.
Toronto Reference Library, Board Room, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto

Can’t go? Save the link to the TPL board and read about it.

-PC-

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