Tag Archives: Illinois

How to Respond to Bad Press, continued

In a post a few days ago I referred to a letter written by Mary A. Dempsey, Commissioner for the Chicago Public Library, as a response to a Fox Chicago News story that asked Are Libraries Necessary, or a Waste … Continue reading

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How to Respond to Bad Press

Mary A. Dempsey, Commissioner for the Chicago Public Library, responded exceptionally well to a story on Fox Chicago News that suggested that the $120 million spent on the library was a waste, given the amount of information on the internet … Continue reading

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The Scope of the Illinois Crisis

The New York Times is running an article in today’s edition that highlights just how poorly the state budget in Illinois has been managed: Payback Time : Illinois Stops Paying Its Bills, but Can’t Stop Digging Hole The article doesn’t … Continue reading

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I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a library today…

Another method of dealing with fiscal woes is beginning to impact library organizations. My former state of residence, Illinois, has always for years run several months behind in payments to state-funded organizations.  I know this from keeping an eye on … Continue reading

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Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram|Alpha is a new type of internet resource that has just gone “live”.  Many are calling it a new type of “search engine”, which it technically is, but it isn’t a search engine in the way we are used to … Continue reading

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Wake Up and Bathe

A library district in suburban Chicago (Schaumberg, Illinois) is implementing rules governing library user’s odor and library sleeping habits, but is stressing that the rules are not aimed at homeless users of the library. This is a little hard to … Continue reading

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Hard Times

The Washington State Library has compiled a group of resources called Hard Times in Washington Libraries for the purpose of giving libraries, library staff, and library users ideas and tools to adapt to the current and upcoming fiscal crunch. Included … Continue reading

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May You Live in Interesting Financial Times

If you have been concerned about the possible effects of the global financial crisis on libraries, you aren’t alone.  The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) has issued a statement that is not only short, succinct, and dire, but also … Continue reading

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Obama at ALA 2005

Many people have a memory of the moment they realized that Barack Obama was likely to become president.  For some, the moment came during the primaries, perhaps when they heard the speech he gave after the New Hampshire primary. Others, … Continue reading

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DeKalb and the Changeling

Always be aware of your local history, and keep an eye on popular culture.  My former stomping ground of DeKalb, Illinois played a pivotal part in the real-life tragedy that inspired the recently-released movie “Changeling“.  Kudos to historian Phyllis Kelley … Continue reading

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OCLC WorldCat is the Tiger, not the Lady?

OCLC released their updated Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records yesterday, with implementation scheduled for mid-February.  If you see the phrase We are reconsidering some aspects of the policy. More information will be available in the near future. … Continue reading

Posted in Cataloging, Copyright, ILS, Libraries, Licensing, News, OCLC, Online Databases, Online Services, OPAC | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Confusing Traffic Signs

Two planets of coincidence had to converge for me to make this decidedly non-library post: I posted a reference to the Manual of Traffic Signs a couple of months ago. I am familiar enough with example number three from DeKalb, … Continue reading

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Elsevier’s Intermediate Print Copy ILL Policy

Kind of an interesting post on Open Access News over the weekend.  It seems that the license requirements for Elsevier’s electronic journals include printing a copy of the article, then scanning the article, before a library can provide that article … Continue reading

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Elsevier’s Intermediate Print Copy ILL Policy

Kind of an interesting post on Open Access News over the weekend.  It seems that the license requirements for Elsevier’s electronic journals include printing a copy of the article, then scanning the article, before a library can provide that article … Continue reading

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Digitized Book of the Week

Digitized Book of the Week is a blog from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library.  Each post has a link, along with sample images and descriptions, to books recently digitized within their collection. This week’s book : The Steel … Continue reading

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The Library Fix

The Library Fix is the title of Garrison Keillor‘s current column, and presents his take on the long-term role that libraries can play in society.  It also appears in today’s Chicago Tribune, though you may need to register for access. … Continue reading

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Library 2.0 : Steven Bell – It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad Web 2.0 World

Steven Bell – It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad Web 2.0 World : Hidden Treasure or Just More Pressure? (Powerpoint) (Handout) The title is adapted from It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, the “epic comedy” film from 1963. He … Continue reading

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Big Google Book Search Library Project Announcement

Big news from the Google Book Search Library Project today: The number of libraries participating in the Google Book Search Library Project just got a whole lot bigger with today’s addition of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). The CIC … Continue reading

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Geonames

Geonames is an online database of places.  Type in the name of a place, be it a town, city, geographic feature, or landmark, and you get a list of places with that name. Want to know how many places in … Continue reading

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Bacon as a Bookmark

Bacon as a Bookmark?  Librarians Tell All is the title of Mike Hardin’s column in today’s Columbus Dispatch.  He details various objects found inside returned library books, as described by Columbus area librarians. The “cat in the bookdrop” library happens to be located … Continue reading

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