Library News, Reviews, and Views
According to the Sunlight Foundation, on March 20 the House Oversight and Government Reform committee green-lighted a bill that would make public presidential library donation records. The bill would require disclosure of all donations over $200, whereas currently no donations are required to be disclosed.
Public libraries have struggled in New York City over the last five years, as Mayor Mike Bloomberg–in an annual ritual known wearily as the “budget dance”–has consistently proposed significant cuts, only to have the City Council restore much but hardly all of the damage. The unsustainable nature of the strategy, which wastes library resources in [...]
Eight of Maine’s largest libraries, both public and academic, are about halfway through a major and distinctive project for the shared management and archiving of their print collections and the integration of digital editions into a statewide catalog. The drivers of the Maine Shared Collections Strategy (MSCS)—lack of available space, budget cuts, low usage per [...]
Everywhere you turn in the world of libraries these days, you hear people talking about the need for private fundraising. ALA conferences have multiple concurrent sessions on fundraising, articles dealing with fundraising in library publications abound, and listservs everywhere are dissecting the pros and cons of private fundraising.
Libraries need more vocal advocates than ever. It seems clear that trustees, as some of a library system’s more visible volunteers, need to make their voices heard with regard to advocacy as well.
Fifteen years ago, Library Journal launched its first annual book-buying survey of public libraries nationwide. Although materials budgets were referenced, the report focused almost exclusively on book budgets and book circulation.
This year, in long-overdue recognition of what today’s collections really look like—and what the reports have been covering for years—the entire effort has been rebranded the materials survey. Further distancing itself from its roots, the new survey will leave comparison of operating costs to LJ’s annual budget survey and concentrate exclusively on budget and circulation trends for the wide array of materials in public libraries today.
Pennsylvania’s Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund awarded more than $3.7 million in grants to 15 public libraries across the state, Governor Corbett’s administration announced on February 14. The funds will be used to finance repairs and upgrades to library facilities. Through a competitive grant process, applicants could qualify for up to $500,000, which must be equally matched. This year’s recipients were chosen from among 28 applicants.
Columbus Metropolitan Library, 2010’s LJ Library of the Year, launched its Library Fund Library Facilities Notes Sale on Nov. 15, 2012, to help fund its 2020 Vision Plan. Notes are a shorter-term, more flexible debt instrument than bonds, and can be sold in smaller amounts. The notes sold out in three hours, the library said in a statement, with three times as much interest than the amount of notes available.
The Houston Public Library (HPL) will restore Saturday service to 14 neighborhood libraries for the first time in three years, bringing the total of branches open on Saturdays to 41.
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) released a study which found that in 2011 alone, the economic benefit from Texas public libraries totaled $2.407 billion. Collectively the libraries cost less than $0.545 billion, for a return on investment of $4.42 for each dollar spent.
INFOdocket by Gary Price
