Now that The New York Times has picked up the story the odds have increased that this nightmare is closer to ending. The exposure can do nothing but help the cause.William Yardley's piece Timber (and Its Revenues) Decline and Libraries Suffer addresses the ongoing tragedy in this Southern Oregon County which closed all 15 of its libraries due to lack of government funding back in early April.On May 15th residents of the county head to the poles to raise their property taxes so they can reopen the libraries. A similar measure last November was rejected by the voters and "experts...
A Pre-Computer Guide to the News
Prentice-Hall, 1972. "News: A Consumer's Guide shows you how to cope with the confusion of reports you get each day from the media""Among the many features of this book":-Show how how to tell when a report is biased-Provide tips on spotting hoaxes and public relation ploys in the news-Give standards to judge "expert" opinion and "reliable" sources-List critics and other sources of help for the consumerhere wouldDust jacket artist unattributed. The problems remain.
Google the Bookseller
It was bound to happen.Word from the London Book Fair is that Google is going into the book business. By year's end they will launch two book related initiatives that will further alter the book landscape.What's in store:A book rental program that will let you rent the content of a book on a weekly basis.andA book retail program that will allow users lifetime access to the texts they purchase.They are not attaching the cursed e-book tag to either project.Michael Cairnes, who was at the Google sessions at the London Book Fair, has the scoop in his blog post titled "Google...
Don’t "Get Caught Reading"
Right on the heels of National Poetry Month which included National Library Week we welcome Get Caught Reading Month.Since 1999 the beautiful month of May has been home to this literary concoction. The celebration was devised by former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder through the Association of American Publishers (AAP), where she is the President and CEO.Its goal: "to spread the word about the joys of reading through an industry-supported literacy campaign."I am not sure if this was created to give her a job after her political life but this is basically a political action committee for the publishers. This is the...
The Space Cowboy Wants a Space Library
"Everywhere where humans are I think there should be a library," is what Charles Simonyi told a Moscow news agency before he became the world's fifth space tourist.Simonyi, a billionaire who has already changed the world once by bringing Microsoft Word and Excel into our lives, packed two books to add to the Space Station Library.The books:Goethe's "Faust" which he declares "is a part of our literary heritage. It belongs to all of humanity and it deals with man's relationship with the universe and man's relationship to science"and "the moon is a harsh mistress" by Robert Heinlein that Simonyi says...