Looking to the end of the year and library schedules? Here are the details:
NOVEMBER
The Library will close on Wednesday, November 11, in observance of Veterans Day.
The Library will close at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25 and and close on Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving Day) and Friday, November 27 (Day After Thanksgiving). Regular hours resume on Saturday, November 28.
DECEMBER
The Library will close Thursday, December 24 (Christmas Eve) and Friday, December 25 (Christmas Day). Regular hours resume on Saturday, December 26.
JANUARY, 2010
The Library will close at 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 31 (New Years Eve) and remain closed on Friday, January 1 (New Years Day). Regular hours resume on Saturday January 2.
A Collier Citizen article summarizes the efforts of North Naples residents to coordinate community efforts in keeping the Vanderbilt Beach branch open on Fridays.
Thus far, the North Naples Community Alliance has raised a total of $39,941, which was donated to the county to keep the Vanderbilt library open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays. After a brief closure, Friday hours were restored in the beginning of June and will continue at least through March 2010, as approved by county commissioners, Sept. 29.
For 20 years, First Book has delivered books to needy kids around the country — the brainchild of a corporate lawyer who volunteers to tutor inner-city children.
The annual “What Book Got You Hooked?” campaign encourages readers everywhere to identify childhood books that encouraged them to become life-long readers. This year’s state winner is Hawaii, with Florida coming in number 14.
Typical titles are familiar children’s classics; this year’s top five: Dr. Seuss books, Nancy Drew mystery stories, Little House on the Prairie, Where the Wild Things Are, and Charlotte’s Web.
USA Learns! is a free online language program intended for Spanish speakers learning English. The program was developed by the U.S. Dept of Education’s Division of Adult Education and Literacy with assistance by the University of Michigan and is administered by the California Dept. of Education.
The self-paced, individualized program is easy to use, even for users with limited computer skills. USA Learns! incorporates videos, stories, and activities in over 40 lessons addressing listening, reading, writing, speaking and life skills.
The Library recommends USA Learns! to our patrons and visitors.
Information Week reports that an effort to make the nation’s public libraries a major source of robust Internet access is gaining momentum.
A disparate group of foundations, companies, and trade and government agencies from Google to the Gates Foundation to the U.S. House Communications Subcommittee strongly support bringing fiber optic technology to the country’s 16,500 public libraries.
Don Means, founder of the Fiber to the Library Project, notes that
improving Internet broadband access to public libraries “provides the biggest bang for the stimulus buck.”
The Gates Foundation, in a presentation before the Federal Communications Commission, estimates that an investment of $700 million to $1.7 billion would pay for the installation fiber for 87 percent of public libraries currently without fiber.
“We see libraries as early adopters of technologies,” said Means in a statement. “A lot of people had their first experience with first-generation broadband at a library. We think libraries are demand drivers for emerging technologies.”
Google’s Richard Whitt, telecommunications and media counsel in Washington, stated that upgrading public libraries “will help transform those institutions into future technology hubs, local community nodes, and the essential information centers for the 21st century.”
A long-lost father assumed to be deceased will be reunited with daughters after a near-life time absence — due in part to the assistance of staff at the Bartlow Public Library in Polk County, Florida.
Through the help of several employees at Bartow Public Library, [Marquita Johnson] found her father, Earl V. Whipple, whom she had not seen since she was 6 years old, 56 years ago. …
Mrs. Johnson’s search began almost on a whim. She and her husband, Anthony Johnson, began coming to the library in April for a different reason — to find information on Mr. Johnson’s genealogical roots through Native American records.
The Johnsons live in Bartow, and Mrs. Johnson’s 87-year old father lives in Maryland. The Johnsons are now moving to Maryland.
They are grateful to the library staff at Bartow.
“The assistants here were always helpful and patient with us, even when we needed things repeated. They would extend our time on the computers and did everything they could do to help us.”
“If it wasn’t for them, we might never have found my dad,” Mrs. Johnson said.
Article in the Polk County Democrat.
Two recent media stories highlight libraries and librarians serving the public affected by the economic recession. A New York Times article highlights the work of New Jersey librarians:
Thousands of unemployed people in New Jersey have used the state’s public library system to look for jobs online, polish résumés with word processing software, research new careers and ask Web-savvy librarians for help with all of the above. But many library visitors are also quietly looking for help finding mortgage assistance, food stamps and subsidized child care, but are too embarrassed to describe their situation to the librarians.
A National Public Radio (NPR) report presents a Lorain, Ohio librarian’s blog entry on a stint at a “recession resources fair” for job-seekers.
It was a concentrated version of what librarians do every day — tell people about what we have and where else they might go for more help.
The New York Times discusses Simon & Schuster’s “vook,” a hybrid book with embedded video.
In the age of the iPhone, Kindle and YouTube, the notion of the book is becoming increasingly elastic as publishers mash together text, video and Web features in a scramble to keep readers interested in an archaic form of entertainment.
But the debate has just begun.
Some publishers say this kind of multimedia hybrid is necessary to lure modern readers who crave something different. But reading experts question whether fiddling with the parameters of books ultimately degrades the act of reading.
See the Vook website.
PC Magazine reports that “access to high-speed Internet service is quickly moving from a luxury to a necessity.” The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is charged with creating a national broadband policy, has so far revealed that:
- broadband is slower than claimed, even slower during business hours;
- broadband applications are focused on entertainment and communications, but a shift in demand to education, job training, and business needs is pressing;
- about 1 percent of all users drive 20 percent of traffic and 20 percent of all users drive 80 percent of traffic.
Libraries are working to assist municipalities and rural areas in improving broadband access. The American Library Association is receiving positive feedback in working with Congress on apportioning stimulus funds to increase local internet access.
At a recent Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet hearing with FCC Chairman Genachowski, the chairman acknowledged that public libraries are “strategic institutions” in the national broadband policy due for release in February 2010.
September 23rd, 2009
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The annual Fall book sale will be held Friday, October 30, through Friday, November 6, at the Naples Regional Library, 650 Central Ave. Book sale hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. NOTE: The Naples Regional library is closed on Sunday, Nov. 1.