Morsels: Library Funding

Rep. Thomas Stanley has a compelling defense of library funding over at the Boston Globe.
Stanley: Protecting libraries from budget cuts

According to Stanley, he and 109 colleagues have signed a letter supporting an override of Governor Patrick's Deval's veto of state aid to regional public libraries, which reduces the amount of funding by 2.25 million.

Unfortunately, many agencies, groups and services in Massachusetts are facing funding cuts. Libraries aren't the only deserving group facing painful choices about budget cuts and service reductions. However, I have a sweet spot for the library and think many people don't realize the breadth of services and and programs libraries run. They do so much more than just check books out.

"Public libraries are important to our communities, especially in these tough fiscal times" Stanley notes.

Library services can include classes, English as a second language and even job training. Job hunters can search online for job postings and print out their resumes.

For more on libraries in tough times, I blogged about this topic months ago - Libraries in tough economic times.

I've tallied how much money the library has saved me this year (based on prices listed on Amazon):
Books I've read:
Elsie's Business - $17.95
Revenge of the Spellmans - $16.50
Curse of the Spellmans - $10.98
Hunting and Gathering - $16.00
The Help - $24.95

Books I'm reading:
The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner - $15.00
Middlesex - $7.95

Total: $108.88

This list doesn't even include a few books that I just could not get through. Many of these books were also shipped to my library as part of library exchange program.

According to Stanley, more than 28,000 Waltham residents have library cards.

Do you?

In Revere, In Those Days - Roland Merullo

The library book club’s most recent pick, In Revere, In Those Days was another book that I wouldn’t have picked up on my own.

I was glad that I did. I don’t want to give away anything. In a nutshell, follows Anthony Benedetto growing up in Revere, Mass. I thought this was a good hearted novel, that was almost free of wrinkles. (There were a few, but not enough to disrupt the flow.)

Tonio experiences a lot of tragedy in his life, but with the love and support of his large, close knit Italian family he’s able to overcome it. This was a goodhearted novel full of beautifully written scenes and vibrant characters.

Tonio’s closest relationships are with his grandparents and his Uncle Peter. Each of them, in their own unique way, shelters Tonio and helps him thrive. I particularly liked his grandmother.

“So are you happy here?” she asked when we were climbing the small rise to the dirt road that ran past the gym.

“Three out of every four days,” I said. It was a line I borrowed frommy grandmother, who believed the secret to happiness was to expect some disappointment, sorrow, and pain, not to resist it too strenuously, to think of it as the fourth day.”

Despite some hiccups, In Revere, In Those Days was a hit.

After several enjoyable books, I’m at a loss what to read next. Too many choices!

Waltham Public Library goes high tech

My local library is embracing the brave new world of technology. Waltham Public Library has been blogging for quite awhile. There are three blogs: general blog, library book blog and suggestions blog.

They’re also twittering now. If you want to follow them, the twitter handle is walthamlibrary.

For those unfamiliar with this concept, twiiter is a microblogging system that people use to send out notes or updates.

I think it’s pretty cool that the library is doing this. It’s a great way to engage young people who are social media savvy. My only complaint is that they don’t have that many tweets up yet.

There are a lot of ways to disseminate information these days and more people are turning to new social media tools like twitter to share information. By spreading the net wide, hopefully the library can garner even more attention and lure more visits.

Waltham public library:

http://waltham.lib.ma.us/

http://www.waltham.lib.ma.us/blog/main/

http://waltham.lib.ma.us/blog//

http://waltham.lib.ma.us/blog/suggestions/

It’s great to see more libraries embracing technology to become more mainstream. One of my favorite book blogs is the Seattle Public Library’s Shelf Talk, http://shelftalk.spl.org/