NewsDesk

While the Cedar Rapids Public Library (CRPL), IA, has been successful in getting Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money to replace its flood-damaged main library, CRPL has found FEMA obdurate in its resistance to funding interim library service and thus has begun layoffs. An appeal, backed by Iowa legislators, is pending.

Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association's (ALA) Washington Office, said that ALA hasn't gained much headway in its talks with FEMA. After hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, public libraries trying to provide interim service were told FEMA officially doesn't consider library service essential. Still, Louisiana State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton told LJ that FEMA staffers “did everything they could to work out of public libraries.” (See also Editorial, p. 8.)

In a surprise move, federal judge Denny Chin on March 28 granted a four-month extension to a group of authors and rights-holders, delaying the May 5 deadline to opt out of or object to the Google Book Search settlement.

The Internet Archive's (IA) Peter Brantley praised the delay, saying it would allow time to “more squarely identify our concerns and articulate them to a broader audience.” Chin had denied an IA request that all organizations scanning printed books gain the same copyright protection for orphan works that would be granted to Google.

Lyrasis, the huge regional library network created out of the merger of PALINET and SOLINET, will expand further into the Eastern United States by merging with NELINET, which serves 500 member libraries and cultural heritage organizations throughout the six New England states and internationally.

The move to Lyrasis was driven in part by an upcoming change in the network business relationship with OCLC, effective July 1. OCLC will begin standard pricing for its services for all libraries, with no added surcharge to regional networks. Also, 141 Nebraska libraries in the statewide consortium NEBASE will move to BCR (Bibliographical Center for Research) for OCLC products and services.

A recent audio conference sponsored by the Urban Libraries Council regarding the federal stimulus package focused on how libraries can get part of the $7.2 billion in broadband grants and loans.

Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association's (ALA) Washington Office, said ALA is stressing that every library be part of “an anchor institution” in the community, a hub for broadband. Libraries should establish relationships with other groups and stress how broadband access would help meet people's job, career, and small business needs. Federal guidance could be issued imminently, with perhaps only four weeks to respond. For information, check ala.org/knowyourstimulus.

Three years after its last ranking of LIS graduate programs, U.S. News and World Report has produced a new list for its May issue, with relatively little change at the top. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were tied at No. 1, as in both 1998 and 2006.

Similarly, the next spots were occupied by Syracuse University, NY; the University of Washington; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey; and Indiana University, Bloomington. Rankings are based on the results of a fall 2008 survey sent to the dean of each accredited program, the program director, and a senior faculty member, with a response rate of 56 percent.

Apparently aiming to avoid a lawsuit over its February decision to restrict minors' access to four sex-related books, the board of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, KS, voted 6–3 to retain the titles in the library's Health Information Neighborhood section and add a public service statement on its web site and a bulletin board alerting patrons about sex-related material.

Using text messages and social networks to coordinate, hundreds of students gathered outside of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) Lupton Library April 23 in an attempt to get inside for an impromptu rave. Police called it a riot.

Students began jumping off the building façade to crowd surf on the arms of students standing below and stormed the library doors, chanting, “Let us in!” Police sprayed mace over the students' heads. The university said it would be better prepared next time, though some suggested the incident could have been avoided.

The Providence Public Library (PPL) Board of Trustees has agreed to turn nine neighborhood branches over to the city, likely for operation by the newly formed Providence Community Library (PCL). Many questions remain, including the number of employees the city and PCL would retain.

Also, PPL is at odds with Mayor David Cicilline over control of the Central Library, a research facility. The mayor would like to have the city run the Central Library, but PPL said it “has already started its own planning to reinvigorate the Central Library in keeping with its broader statewide mission.”

The Houston Public Library (HPL), TX, continues to be a major player in the city's literacy and employment efforts, as it has been awarded a $4.5 million grant from Microsoft Corporation. The grant benefits WeCAN (Wireless Empowered Community Access Network) Works, a literacy and workforce preparedness project launched as part of the Houston Digital Inclusion Initiative (DII), which is managed by HPL. WeCAN Works will be launched as a two-year pilot to create a “digital literacy and job readiness model.”

The grant includes $4.3 million in software. The money will support more digital literacy training opportunities on weekends and evenings, fund additional workplace apprenticeship opportunities for students, and pay for GED certifications over the two-year period.

Though much of an 18-month debate over Internet filters at the San José Public Library, CA, concerned the appropriateness and effectiveness of filtering for minors, the issue came down to not spending the money in a recession. By a 7–3 vote, the city council passed a policy that requires users to agree to operate computers responsibly and follow library rules and reminds them of the illegality of exposing minors to harmful material.

The San José Mercury-News editorialized against the filter plan, suggesting that “[f]ilters in libraries still are a solution in search of a serious problem.”

The emergence in New England of a for-profit company that makes donating books “more friendly” may have impacted the longstanding efforts of library Friends groups. The Salem News reported that the copresident of Friends of the Beverly Public Library, MA, blamed the 50 percent downturn in donations to the prevalence of donation bins placed by Got Books Inc., which has more than 300 such containers around New England, including in many schools and churches. Only some of those contributions are tax-deductible, but they are more convenient than library efforts.

The Seattle Public Library will close the last week in August in an effort to save money; previous one-week closures were instituted in 2003 and 2004. Beyond that unpaid furlough, the library will see a cut of $1 million, about two-thirds of its budget for maintenance and small capital projects, according to the Seattle Times.

In Alberta, the new provincial budget allocates $32 million CAD for public libraries—a $9 million increase. Of that $9 million, $7 million will go to local library boards and regional library systems to support basic services. Provincial support ranges from ten percent to 40 percent.

The Boston Globe reported that budget cuts will mean 26 layoffs at the Boston Public Library, including 17 assistants, five managers, and four librarians. However, library hours will be maintained.

After receiving a petition signed by nearly 700 residents, the Board of County Commissioners in Hernando County, FL, unanimously tabled a proposal to consider privatizing the management of the Hernando County Public Library to outsourcing vendor Library Systems & Services LLC (LSSI).

According to Hernando Today, county officials were skeptical about LSSI's plans to save $500,000 a year running the six library branches, especially since unionized public employees transferring to the private sector would cost the county some $250,000 in accrued benefits.

The Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library (IMCPL), since 2004 facing financial fallout from faulty construction of its central library addition, has suffered a setback in its many attempts to recover funds in court.

A Boone County jury delivered a verdict April 15 that denied IMCPL the $24.5 million in damages, plus an equal amount in punitive damages, it had sought from New York–based engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti (TT). “Although we are disappointed with this judgment, it is important to point out that the library has already collected settlements in excess of $25 million,” the library board said.

12,300

The number of visits to the MySpace page of the Pasco County Library System, Hudson, FL, during the six-week Battle of the Bands teen event, known as Rockus Maximus XII. See pascolibraries.org/botb.shtml.

Source: Pasco County Library System, FL