You Get What You Pay For

29Nov08

The Gulf Beaches Public Library on Treasure Island in Florida had reached a crossroads. Talks with city officials had just fallen apart. The city’s property taxes, which had previously supported the library, had recently been cut drastically, and the library’s budget was short $107,000. In order to function the library had to come up with some way to close [...]

Filed under: By: Miss Information, News, barriers to access, digital divide, libraries   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: access, barrier to access, beach, library, treasure island

Q: How bitter? A: Mostly

23Nov08

I was searching Amazon.com for a copy of the pulp fiction classic Nympho Librarian, when I stumbled across this list entitled: Be a Librarian… Not.  In case you’re uninterested in reading the whole thing (though it’s clearly very thought out and well put together), I’ll paste the gems over here.
Living Well on Practically Nothing: Revised [...]

Filed under: A Day in the Life, By: The Librarienne   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Amazon.com, car living, librarians, lists, poverty

Clinging to ‘traditional’ communication in the information age

20Nov08

I read an interesting piece in the New York Times recently about whether President elect Obama will be allowed to keep his blackberry. Apparently, it is common procedure for Presidents to give up e-mail communication when they take office, forcing them to quit on the sort of instant communication that most in my generation have become [...]

Filed under: By: Miss Information, News, change or die   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Archives, blackberry, e-mail, libraries, Obama

A Plea for Recognition

19Nov08

Each year LISnews compiles a list of 10 blogs to read. I know you guys think I might be a bit partial, since you know, I write for Closed Stacks, but I do think we might just be one of those blogs people in our field should be reading in 2009. I mean we’re witty, we’re [...]

Filed under: By: Miss Information, News, Success!!   |  1 Comment
Tags: Blog nominations, library blogs, lisnews, The Hills

Affluent white people can help themselves, thank you

17Nov08

Homeless people in the library is always an issue– even Emilio Estevez knows this (I know I keep mentioning this movie but I’m a bit fascinated with it), but it seems that the Friends of the West End Branch Library in Washington DC have solutions to the problem plaguing their library.  A new manager came [...]

Filed under: A Day in the Life, By: The Librarienne, News, libraries   |  6 Comments
Tags: Emilio Estevez, Friends of the Library, homeless, NewYork Times Bestseller list, self-help, Washington D.C.

But wait! There’s more

14Nov08

I was at the Brown Bookstore last weekend browsing fiction and picking up a copy of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style, when Miss Information ran over to me with a copy of Dewey: The small-town Library Cat who Touched the World.  “Look what’s featured prominently in the Brown Bookstore!” she thrilled.
This book is clearly [...]

Filed under: By: The Librarienne, libraries, pop culture   |  3 Comments
Tags: Brown Bookstore, Dewey Readmmore Books, Emilio Estevez, Meryl Streep, New York Times, Variety

Declassified: top secrets of collection development

13Nov08

CrimethInc., a distributor of anarchist literature and propaganda, must have an MLS on the inside.  If you take a peek at its website, you’ll discover a remarkable plot to subversively influence the collection development tactics of public librarians.  The scheme operates under the assumption that “libraries are delightfully responsive to properly filled out book request slips, and in fact [...]

Filed under: A Day in the Life, By: Librarian About Town   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: anarchy, collection development, ILL

PETA hates the Olsen Twins and their book

10Nov08

I was excited to read that the Olsen twins had written a book titled ‘Influence.’ The girls have transitioned from child stardom to adulthood somewhat successfully, and I was hoping for a heartfelt, tell all biography like How to Make Love Like A Porn Star -  the riveting Jenna Jameson book that got me through one particularly [...]

Filed under: By: Miss Information, News, pop culture   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: animals, autobiography, book signings, fashion, fur, Hairy Kate and Trashley, Influence, Jenna Jameson, Mary Kate and Ashley, Olsen Twins, PETA, Trollsen Twins

Aw shucks

09Nov08

I’m not a big fan of babies, but I love it when parents emphasize the importance of reading.  That’s why I get a little bit mushy inside when I hear that Gewn Stefani and Gavin Rossdale brought their two-month-old son, Zuma, to the Beverly Hills Public Library to be photographed for his first library card.
That [...]

Filed under: By: The Librarienne, News, pop culture   |  1 Comment
Tags: Beverly Hills Public Library, early literacy, Gavin Rossdale, Gwen Stefani, libraries, Zuma Rossdale

Coming Soon!!

08Nov08

The Librarian 3: Curse of the Judas Chalice! I don’t know why I’m so excited about this movie, but I am, and I won’t shut up about it.  Finally, I managed to find at date when it’s premiering, and it’s less than a month away!  TNT’s website doesn’t have nearly enough information about it, and [...]

Filed under: By: The Librarienne, pop culture   |  1 Comment
Tags: Curse of the Judas Chalice, New Orleans, Noah Wyle, The Librarian, TNT, vampires