Elizabeth Michaelson
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The Library Is In
Nearly nine out of ten adults have difficulty using health information, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This isn’t surprising—thanks to the open access movement, there are a plethora of reliable medical sources out there, but many are not written for a lay audience. Meanwhile, drug companies on the one hand and anti–traditional medicine advocates on the other flood the Internet with authoritative-sounding contradictory material.
One Book, Well Done
Organizations in every state in America, plus the District of Columbia, have hosted a communitywide reading program at one point or another, according to the Library of Congress. So-called One Book programs are everywhere. However, to engage the entire community, whether municipality, county, region, or state, successfully in a communitywide reading event takes planning as well as skill and enthusiasm. LJ spoke with reads veterans from around the country to learn what worked for them—and what could work for your library.
Book Scanners | Product Spotlight
Whether you need a flatbed scanner integrated with a payment system for patron use, or one that will protect rare oversize maps while creating a digital record, there’s a scanner for your library. Today’s book scanners are fast (many can scan a page in under two seconds) and provide optical resolution of up to 800 dots per inch (dpi) on sheets reaching a massive 35" x 25" in size. With such a wealth of options, your only problem may be deciding which scanner to choose. LJ has highlighted some of the newest offerings from a number of providers.
Scheduling Software
Flexibility and ease of use: these are the terms that appear most frequently in descriptions of room and event scheduling software. As such, this product spotlight feature highlights software that exemplifies these qualities, from both companies that specialize in providing solutions for libraries and those with a broader client base.
Toronto’s Kitchen Library Brings Appliances to All
Patrons have long been able to borrow a cookbook from the library. In some places, they can even borrow a cake pan to go with it. But what if that cookbook calls for a pasta maker, food dehydrator, yogurt maker, or other specialized kitchen equipment they don’t already possess? Now, if they’re in in Toronto, they’re in luck, since the city is home to The Kitchen Library, a new non-profit kitchen tool lending library. For a $50 (Canadian) annual fee, members can borrow space-taking and often expensive kitchen appliances for three to five days. The Library, which opened October 15, is currently open 20 hours four days a week, including weekends. At present, the collection includes about 40 items.
Fire Destroys Canadian Library, Archive
The July 6 derailment of a train carrying crude oil caused fires that killed an estimated 47 people and destroyed dozens of buildings in the Canadian town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. One of the casualties was the Lac-Mégantic library and its collection, which included more than 60,000 books, CDs, and DVDs, and a local history archive.
Tulsa City-County Library Budget Cuts $1 Million
Oklahoma’s Tulsa City-County Library (TCCL) cut $1 million from its operating budget in anticipation of lost revenue from the state, which recently made changes to its tax code. For the fiscal year which began July 1, the budget is now $26.4 million. That includes $607,000 in materials cuts, and $327,000 in personnel cuts. (The latter will come from retirement and attrition, not layoffs).
Ad Students Aim to Bring the Library to Commuters with NFC Technology
New York City’s underground transit system may be the final digital frontier: on the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)’s hundreds of miles of subterranean track, Internet access is not available. But a speculative ad campaign has suggested that a Wi-Fi-free digital information exchange on the subway is possible—and could boost library readership. The one minute “Underground Library” commercial from students at the Miami Ad School promotes an as-yet nonexistent library program which would allow smartphone users to download book extracts from the New York Public Library (NYPL) during their commutes.
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