Beautiful Libraries Wednesday, Jul 8 2009 

library news tasmanlibrary-staff 12:51 pm

Take a look at these amazing photos of beautiful libraries from around the world.
http://curiousexpeditions.org/?p=78

Enjoy!
Cathy

 

Richmond Library Update Thursday, Jul 17 2008 

library news , tasmanlibrary-staff 8:25 pm

28 July will see the start of the Richmond Library project.

The Project Control Group will meet for the first time to get the scoping and planning underway.  After all the waiting we are going to move very quickly now.  The goal is to have the entire redevelopment done for 1 July 2009.  So no time to waste.  On 28 July, Don Robertson from RDT Pacific, Nicki Moen from Christchurch, hopefully Peter Vause from RDT in Wellington, Jim Frater, Lloyd Kennedy, Peter Darlington and I will have an initial meeting.  Nicki will stay for 2 more days to work with the staff at Richmond to gather information, and work with us to create a vision for the Richmond library.  We will be looking at the current needs but also thinking about the TDC libraries service looking out 10 – 15 years from now and coming up with plans that serve us well into the future.

 

Library Economics in the US Tuesday, Jun 3 2008 

library news , , tasmanlibrary-staff 5:36 pm

Libraries are not a frill: budget cuts or not, we must continue to make the case for library support.

(editorial).Francine Fialkoff. Library Journal 133.9 (May 15, 2008): p8(1). (660 words) 

Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US)

IT’S IRONIC THAT JUST AS THE AMERICAN LIBRARY Association issued its annual State of America’s Libraries report–during National Library Week; April 13-19–proclaiming continued high use of public libraries and the benefits accruing to communities from them, we got more news about the tough budget cycle some libraries face. The country’s economic woes are not hitting local and state budgets uniformly–some libraries are doing quite well–but libraries, a crucial public agency, are suffering from a diminishing tax base exacerbated by the subprime crisis and a long, costly war.

Potential cuts couldn’t come at a worse time, not just for those who use libraries regularly but for the society as a whole. Library by Design, the supplement accompanying this issue, shows libraries poised to take a leading role both in building green facilities and in educating their communities about sustainable living, as the reality of climate change filters throughout our culture. In fact, instead of lowering the bar for library funding, libraries should be receiving a bigger piece of the pie.

That’s the implied message from Carlos Manjarrez, who cowrote the Urban Libraries Council’s study Making Cities Stronger while at the Urban Institute. Speaking at the recent Public Library Association conference in Minneapolis (as reported in the May 1 issue of LJ), he said that libraries “really weren’t communicating” well their critical contributions, among them services to job-seekers and small businesses and their roles as anchors for new development–and, we would add, for improving property values.

In a similar vein, Minneapolis’s Mike Christenson (Department of Community Planning and Economic Development) alluded to the part libraries play in workforce development and in a literate citizenry. Given the grave challenges to the U.S. economy, where the median income for a family of four fell during the latest boom (from $61,000 in 2000 to $60,500 in 2007) and the rate of “not employed” or jobless (as opposed to those who have lost their jobs) is the second highest since World War II (13.1 percent for men age 25-54), we need libraries more than ever.

In my neck of the woods in New York, that’s certainly true. Nevertheless, responding to the losses tripping up Wall Street, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has targeted the city’s three public library systems (Brooklyn, New York, and Queens) for an eight percent cut, jeopardizing not only materials and staff but the six- and seven-day-a-week service New Yorkers welcomed back in 2007, after five long years of reduced hours. His action counters an agreement reached with City Council president Christine Quinn last year to end the annual budget “dance” between the mayor and city council and instead guarantee funding from year to year.

Elsewhere on the East Coast, in Bridgeport, CT, where a $16 million city budget deficit looms, Mayor Bill Finch, calling libraries “not essential services,” proposed a 25 percent cut in library funding that would close the system’s three branches (see News, p. 17). In a city where the disparity between rich and poor is among the widest nationwide, his move is truly shortsighted, as the head of the Bridgeport library board, James O’Donnell, pointed out. “Our libraries, not the schools, serve the needs of the other 83 percent of our citizens, the group that actually pays the taxes…,” O’Donnell said. “The library is the only service in the city that assists the education of all its citizens.” And in the New York Times, columnist Susan Dominus eloquently described New York libraries as “free … parks with a brain, providing education brilliantly disguised as leisure….”

Whatever the situation in your community, whether there is demand for cuts or not, all of these arguments are worth stating. We must continue to make the case for libraries, using all the statistics and anecdotal evidence at our disposal. We must use every opportunity both to shift and strengthen perceptions about libraries as well as emphasize their centrality to the health and wealth of our society.

Libraries are not a frill.

Francine Fialkoff, Editor-in-Chief

fialkoff@reedbusiness.com
Source Citation:Fialkoff, Francine. ”Libraries are not a frill: budget cuts or not, we must continue to make the case for library support.(editorial).” Library Journal 133.9 (May 15, 2008): 8(1). General OneFile. Gale. Tasman District Libraries. 3 June 2008 
<http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=ITOF>.

 

Aotearoa People’s Network – 9/May-meeting notes Tuesday, May 13 2008 

library news , tasmanlibrary-staff 10:01 pm

Ethos of Aotearoa People’s network includes:

*”Libraries are a creative public space”*

*Equitable access to Information*

*Digital Citizens of the 21st Century”*

Issues to be aware of- prior to installation:

Safety/Netiquette

Managing Success/Managing Demand

  1. Policies in place to deal with change in library use- new demographic-
  2. APN brings in people who have not used libraries before
  3. training of all staff  (ICDL) in technology

APN – issues -

  1. Long Term sustainability – costs of maintining high standard service
  2. Measurement – useage of the APN-End User survey underway to evaluate impact on communities
  3. Content – EPIC content at the front
  4. Political issues – (local government/central government)
  5. Training – ICDL is not ideal but is web based and is accessible to all
  6. Equipment -
  7. Branding – branding project is underway – logo via Qualmark
  8. KETE – all APN libraries including waitlisted are entitled to a kete!
  9. Filtering – industry best practice = webmarshall with daily blacklist updates
  10. All updates done remotely
  11. Online booking system – not currently in use – but if an electronic system is put in place it is all or none – so needs to suit all libraries
  12. To see APN in practice – click link below to youtube video of interviews with librarians and users

 

 

 

 

 

25 & 26 March 2008- LTCCP Monday, Mar 24 2008 

Tasman District News and library news , , tasmanlibrary-staff 9:06 pm

On Tuesday and Wednesday 25,26 March I will be at training with various other people from across TDC learning about project management with a view to working on the next LTCCP round for Tasman District.  I’m looking forward to the training and the experience on the Council LTCCP planning as I am sure this will give me great experience for long term library planning. 

The following link from the February 08  Australian Library Journal about the ways that libraries and librarians are utilising web technologies to practice our craft.

Lisa