America's Public Libraries

National Public Radio interviewed Robert Dawson about his new book The Public Library: A Photographic Essay, the result of almost twenty years of capturing the variety of buildings that allowed access to a wider world of books and our relationships with them.

Here's a quote:

"Oftentimes libraries reflect what it is about the community that's unique, that's local, that is a place to maybe house civic memory. . ."

You can listen to the interview and find more information at the National Public Radio site.

Publishers Weekly: So You Think You Want to Be a Librarian

There's an interesting article in Publisher's Weekly that I came across on Twitter today. It talks about the desire to be a librarian and what that might mean in these times. You can read it HERE.

Carnegie Branch - Jackson District Library (MI)

The Jackson District Library has begun a trial subscription of the Jackson Citizen Patriot from 1865-1922. Remote users can access this with their library card barcode and PIN.

Do you know the services your library offers? You might be surprised. Ask a librarian today!

The End of Libraries and the Future of Books?

Not exactly. But this article (from the Huffington Post 11/16/11) shows how library funding continues to be under fire across the country bringing many to the brink of extinction. The most interesting comments are those that indicate that people don't see what is happening until it is too late. Is it because we are distracted in our daily lives that we don't pay attention to what our leaders are doing until they make an unpopular decision? Or is it because there is no way for us to be engaged in ongoing dialogues about how our community and country is run?

Awesome News from the Library

Carnegie Branch, Jackson, Michigan

The Jackson District Library just announced that they and approximately 11,000 libraries have joined with Amazon to allow users to check out books using their Kindle device, which will include JDL's eBook Collection.

A library card, Amazon account and a device with the free Kindle application is necessary to use the service. If you live in Jackson County and don't have a library card, you can apply for one at any of 13 branch locations.

In addition to free downloadable eBooks, the library provides audiobooks and music to Mac and PCs, as well as mobile devices such as a SmartPhone or MP3 player.

The library offers one-on-one question-and-answer sessions with its eBook experts. For more information, visit www.myjdl.com, or call 788-4087, ext. 234 or call Joyce Betz at 788-4099, ext. 260.

Portland Maine Building Installation

Check out more pictures of this installation at Wary Meyers - The Basement Stacks. The building was once the public library.

Decisions, Decisions

I've had to make a very difficult decision. I finally got Erik Larson's In the Garden of the Beasts from my local library but wasn't able to start reading it until today. Because it is due in just a couple of days, I tried to renew it but that didn't work since it has other readers waiting. And on top of that, my ARC (advanced reading copy) of Louise Penny's new Inspector Gamache book arrived in the mail today. Then there's Elizabeth Kostovo's The Swan Thieves sitting by my reading chair as well. There was no other solution but to plan to return In the Garden of the Beasts on time and request it again.

Valley libraries flip a page in the digital age

Here's another take on the usefulness of libraries in our digital age. This time from Arizona. Click on the link below to read the entire article.

Valley libraries flip a page in the digital age

Seth Godin's Blog: The Future of the Library

Jackson District Library - One of a handful of remaining Carnegie Libraries

"Librarians that are arguing and lobbying for clever ebook lending solutions are completely missing the point. They are defending library as warehouse as opposed to fighting for the future, which is librarian as producer, concierge, connector, teacher and impresario. "

In a short by concise handful of paragraphs, Seth Godin explains how books, libraries, and librarians evolved and where the process could go in the future. Read the whole blog post HERE.

An Interesting Library Service

A very 'hip' young friend suggested that I might want to check out LibraryBin. You might want to check it out too,  if you want to support your public library even while you are purchasing materials. The site states, "The proceeds of each sale, after deducting the payment to the publisher for the wholesale cost of the title plus a hosting and fulfillment fee, are donated to the participating library that you specify. These earnings can be used to purchase eBooks, audiobooks and other media for the library’s download website."

Unfortunately my library does not belong to the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services but these libraries do: Albion District Library; Ann Arbor District Library; Brandon Township Public Library; (Lansing) Capital Area District Library; Chesterfield Township Public Library; Fremont Area District Library; Grand Ledge Area District Library; Grosse Pointe Public Library;The Hastings Public District Library; Howell Carnegie District Library; Kalamazoo Public Library; Kent District Library; Loutit District Library; Orion Township Public Library; Plymouth District Library; Portage District Library; Royal Oak Public Library; Salem-South Lyon District Library; Spring Lake District Library; Sterling Heights Public Library; Troy* Public Library; Warren Public Library; and (Battle Creek) Willard Library.

*Noted in another post that this library is Closing.

The eBook Conundrum

I guess I haven't been paying enough attention. It turns out that not only has Harper Collins declared they want to limit public libraries who purchase eBooks from them to limit the check-outs to 26.

It turns out that two major publishers (Macmillan and Simon & Schuster) will not sell any eBooks to public libraries. According to something I read recently that makes "more than 25% of the eBook market unavailable to library patrons".

You can read more about it HERE in Library Journal.

More Michigan Public Libraries Closing

Troy (MI) Public Library to Close May 1, 2011

Michigan libraries can be formed in a number of different ways. For example, there are township, village, and city libraries. These are some of the most threatened libraries because they are funded by their founding entity, which can then redistribute current library funding to other departments and away from the library in difficult economic times.

With state funding capped and declining to absurdly low levels, the only public libraries with a good chance of survival are those that took the step to become district libraries. My library, Jackson District Library, levies its own taxes as does Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Lansing and many others. Although district libraries are also suffering from declining funds, they have much more control over their fate.

This economic decline has been going on for many years now but some community leaders found the effort to insure library service in their community not worth the effort of going the district library route. Their residents are now suffering from that lack of vision. Actually looking at what has happened to libraries over the last fifteen years was a warning about what could happen to funding of other institutions (i.e. schools, police, fire, etc.). No one believed the warning that these days were coming. Now they are here.

You can read the latest about closings in Troy and Romulous (both city libraries) by clicking HERE.

The E Book Problem

Harper Collins, a publisher, has put Overdrive, an ebook purveyor, on notice that it plans to limit the number of times a library can 'check out' an ebook to 26. Apparently Harper Collins calculated that this is the average number of times a real book is read before it is used-up and withdrawn from the library collection. And actually 'limit' is the wrong word. They plan to make the ebook 'self-destruct'.

As you can guess, libraries are not happy about this latest attack on their dwindling budgets. Cory Doctorow has rightly pointed out that "the important thing to recognize is that the perishability of a print book is not a feature that we should seek to replicate in successive media". Read more about what he has to say by clicking HERE.

Solution to Loss of Bookstores and Libraries

Here's another idea for how we can get our books in the future! Click HERE.

Empty Shelves

"The library in Stony Stratford near Milton Keynes, England, urged its patrons to check out every book on the shelves as a way of proving to the local council that its collection and facilities provide a vital service to the community." Read more by clicking HERE.

My Library Just Sent Me a Christmas Present (and if you live in Jackson County, you can get one too!)

And no it wasn't a book.

My library just purchased access to the database Freegal for all its library card holders. Never having heard of Freegal (rhymes with legal), I wasn't very excited until I read what that actually meant to me.

Just by entering my library card number, I can download up to 3 mp3 songs a week for FREE! The database is poorly organized and the search engine leaves a lot to be desired but the collection is a treasure trove of surprises. My first guess was that the music would be odd, old, and unwanted. Wrong. Understand that not everything is there. I didn't find Madonna, Taylor Swift, Audra McDonald or Steely Dan. On the other hand, I did find R. Kelly, Usher, Beyonce, Britney Spears, and a ton of show tunes and soundtracks as well as R&B, pop, country, and classical.

There are alphabetical listings of performers and I stumbled across Hal Holbrook in the classical section. Voila! There was the recording of Mark Twain Tonight! with each section a separate download. If you wanted the entire album, it would take a few weeks but rather than downloading a 3 minute song, you could download a 15 minute story!

You have to really dig deep to find things sometimes. Always check the bottom of the page to see if there are additional pages.

Performers are listed by first name. Dionne Warwick is listed under D (for Dionne) in R&B. There are lots of things listed under THE (examples: The Fifth Dimension, The Isley Brothers, The Canadian Brass)There are only three albums listed to a page, but Earth, Wind and Fire has nine pages.

Did I mention Glee albums? They've got them.

So if you don't have a library card, maybe now is the time to go and get one. Where else can you legally download FREE music?

Libraries without Librarians?

(Maybe the graphic above will no longer indicate no ssh-ing in the library. Maybe it will mean no librarians.)

The Wall Street Journal has published an article about libraries that are trying to solve their budget and funding problems by finding ways to provide service without staff. The world continues to change in ways we could not have predicted. Read about it HERE.

The Privatization of Libraries

LSSI, Inc., a private company apparently owned by LSSI UK Ltd., will be taking over the administration of the Santa Clarita Library System. This privatization is alarming to many people. Read the article that appeared yesterday in The New York Times. Better yet read some of the over 300 comments already received.

Free Library of Philadelphia Set to Close

I grew up in Philadelphia and the branch of the library where my father and I went every couple of weeks is no longer active. In its place are the Roxborough and Andorra Branches. Not for long though. On October 2nd the entire library system that allowed me to develop a love of books and reading is poised to close. Of course, hopefully the legislators in the state will pass a budget which includes public libraries, but what if they don't?

What have we come to that we can no longer support our great public institutions of learning?

Read more here at Boing Boing and the Philadelphia Free Library site itself.