Feedback

When Kathleen de la Peña McCook was asked if there will still be a reference desk (Jenna Freedman, “Veterans Speak Out,” LJ 9/15/09, p. 26–27), she replied that when she calls the reference desk she gets voice-mail and when she visits she gets a sigh. This is unacceptable.... Yes, yes, the future of libraries relies on new technologies, money to implement them, and the knowledge to know how, when, and where.... Our future also relies on us serving customers (in person or online) with kindness, respect, and patience.... No one wants to be treated as if they are stupid by some librarian.... Sometimes, bogged down in bureaucracy, we forget that our most important job is serving people...kindly and with patience and generosity.... McCook has given us a gift, a message from which we must quickly learn.

—Ann Wilberton, Middletown Twp. P.L., NJ

I attended the September 22 meeting where 124 people expressed their outrage at the firing of Castleton Public Library (CPL), NY, director Darlene Miller while she was on emergency medical leave (bit.ly/3ZKjGW) (see also News, p. 12).

As a retired librarian and part-time staff member at CPL, I watched the library grow into a vibrant community asset, due largely to Miller's dedicated service and commitment to library excellence.... A few [at the meeting] asked about reinstatement, but the board refused to answer any questions regarding Miller's dismissal.... This is such a disservice to the community that the board must rescind their poor decision and resign.... If the money for their attorney comes from the library budget, that's our tax dollars wasted on a decision that the community clearly rejects.

I urge all like-minded people to write letters and comments and sign our petition at saveourlibrary.wordpress.com.... The board said it has no intention of closing CPL, but without Miller, it's the kiss of death—no one will go there....

—Carol Dratch-Kovler, Castleton, NY

The review by Michael F. Bemis of my book Combat Sports: An Encyclopedia of Wrestling, Fighting and Mixed Martial Arts (LJ 9/1/09, p. 143) contains several false statements. The book is not “essentially a biographical dictionary of mostly obscure boxers, brawlers, and chop-socky types.” The entries are of fighters who either won a world championship or achieved a high profile...in their combat careers.

The personal attack, “Hudson, who is neither an athlete nor a sports writer...,” is also false. I have written for Fightnews since 2001 and interviewed numerous high-profile combatants, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, and Tito Ortiz....

As for the implication that I don't know my material, I am a professional boxing judge who has judged world title fights and written several sports books. Again, just false.

The review's references to “chop-socky types” and “Japanese lard butts” are the author's infantile attempt at humor and reek of a lack of professionalism....

—David Hudson, Washington, DC

Glenn Ferdman (“Libraries at DeVry,” Feedback, LJ 10/15/09, p. 10) took offense at a single sentence of a more in- depth discussion of low-cost providers of online education (Stephen Bell, “Bargain Basement Higher Education,” From the Bell Tower, LJ Academic Newswire, bit.ly/GA1xV). It is accurate to describe DeVry, a publicly held corporation, as an online, for-profit, higher education provider. Ferdman states that DeVry began providing online degree programs in 1998, the exact time period to which I refer.... That DeVry existed prior to 1998 and offered classroom programs is irrelevant to the substance of my column. Ferdman conveniently ignores the two sentences that immediately followed the sentence with which he took issue: “Academic librarians fretted that their libraries would be overrun by online students who had no other options, degrading all library services. That alarm proved to be false.”

Any reader can leave a comment at the From the Bell Tower column online. I welcome positive and negative comments and corrections. I question why Ferdman chose not to leave a comment or share his thoughts about the substance of my column. Instead, he opted to write a letter to the editor containing irrelevant information.... Did he have a real point to make...or did he simply want to offer a thinly veiled press release about DeVry University?...

—Steven Bell, From the Bell Tower columnist, LJ Academic Newswire; Assoc. Univ. Libn., Temple Univ., Philadelphia

In LJ's latest Major Audio Releases listing (LJ 10/15/09, p. 46) of forthcoming audiobooks “sure to top the charts,” Macmillan Audio was misidentified as the publisher of James Patterson's I, Alex Cross. Hachette Audio is the publisher; as originally stated, library editions are available through BBC Audiobooks America.