Library Stuff

“Penn State President Rodney Erickson wrote in a statement that he feels “strongly” that the library’s name should remain, as “Paterno Library symbolizes the substantial and lasting contributions to the academic life and educational excellence that the Paterno family has made to Penn State University. The library was a special spot for the Joe and Sue Paterno, who met at a Penn State library when she was a freshman and he was a young football coach. When Paterno was honored by university trustees in 1983 for leading the Nittany Lions to their first championship, he urged them to keep academics a top priority, saying: “You can’t have a great university without a great library.”

via The Washington Post

The Millions – “If you’ve spent any time at all in a public library in the past couple of years — (in the last decade I’ve worked at four separate libraries, both public and academic) — you’ll notice that the focus is changing. Less hushed repose and reading and more shuffling through bins for DVD cards. Less space for ruminative research and writing and more space and room given to movie nights and pre-school playtime day-care. You’ll also observe rapt gazes hovering in a field of computer screens. This is not the place to rant on libraries and their supposed decline. Or even their proposed role. No. Besides, Stephen Akey delineates this landscape much better than I ever could.”

Chicago Tribune – “Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday said he’ll compromise on vehicle sticker fee increases, water bills for nonprofits and library hour cuts as he tries to collect enough votes to pass his first budget. The changes amount to about $10 million in a proposed spending plan that totals $6.3 billion. That allowed the mayor to declare that his overall aim of scaling back city spending and changing the way city business is done would remain intact despite the concessions to aldermen who had raised concerns.”

BBC – “A traditional red phone box has been recycled into one of the country’s smallest lending libraries – stocking 100 books. Villagers from Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset can use the library around the clock, selecting books, DVDs and CDs. Users simply stock it with a book they have read, swapping it for one they have not.”

Newsweek – “The war over Watergate never ends. The latest battle is over a decision by the Nixon Presidential Library to commemorate this week's 37th anniversary of the Watergate break-in by inviting an especially provocative speaker: John Dean, the former White House lawyer who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after testifying about his boss's role in the cover-up. The invitation from the library—which is now run by the National Archives—has outraged Nixon's dwindling loyalists, who have mounted a lobbying campaign to get the event canceled. “This is in poor taste,” says Robert Odle, a former Nixon communications aide. “It's like having Monica Lewinsky speak at the Clinton library on the anniversary of President Clinton's impeachment.”

Guardian – “If bill becomes law, library foundation would have to disclose four times a year all donors of $200 or more.”

6abc.com – “Across Philadelphia this Saturday hundreds turned out to protest Mayor Nutter’s planned closing of 11 library branches. Residents say they are much more than places to check out books and they’re calling the mayor to task.”

telegram.com – “I used to say ‘We’re the Wi-Fi library without a pot to piss in,’ ” said library Director Susan D’Amico.”

6abc.com – “Questions and frustration tell the story of a protest outside the Kingsessing Library today.” (w/ video)