The other day Ben Tracy of CBS News interviewed San Jose mayor Chuck Reed about the pension issues in the city. The interview takes place in a beautiful but empty library. See http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57392812/calif-city-seeks-to-escape-soaring-pension-costs/. I am hoping that the library system will get back on its feet. The city has a new library, but needs funding to get it operating. Hopefully some creative thinking and hard work will get things moving again. I am thinking positively and I am hoping that things turn around. I wonder if some outside funding from the private sector could be found to return the four libraries to operating status.
I like Nate Hill’s discussion on the PLA Blog of Library You. See http://plablog.org/. The interview with Donna Federn, Digital Services Manager of Escondido Public Library, is great. As Federn states, “The LibraryYOU site hosts How To videos created by community members that they have either created themselves or made in our library’s new recording studio. It’s also a place to get tips about making your own multimedia web content. Libraries have always supported literacy and people communicating through the printed word. We now want to help our communities communicate through video and audio formats, which are just other ways to convey information.”
I encourage folks to go on to the site http://libraryyou.escondido.org/home.aspx. It looks like there are a number of cool videos that touch on a variety of topics.
There is a nice story from the NY Daily News by Jennifer Cunningham that showed up on the Library Journal Twitter Feed in late February. I have been thinking about this article and thought I would post it on the blog. Basically the NYC public library main branch is going to offer food/drink as well as seating at two kiosks. This is a one year pilot program so we will have to see what happens after the year is up. The link to the story is http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/york-public-library-main-branch-offering-beverages-snacks-article-1.1030282