Yearly Archives: 2007

564 posts

Libraries, Netflix & BookSwim

http://www.bookswim.com/temp_index.php Jeff up in TC alerts me to this post at http://rossnotes.com/archives/2007/01/02/how-i-would-run-a-library-system/ How I Would Run a Library System: In a word: Netflix. The queue system is a perfect fit for books, maybe even a better fit than it is for movies. People will pay money for this service(perhaps not $20 a month). Removing unpopular books from shelves isn’t such a bad idea, but keep them somewhere, available for circulation. Stick a URL on the inside cover of every book that goes to an online discussion board for that book. Either after check-in or a week after check-out, email the […]

Lock the Doors! Lock the Doors! (Updated)

I’m a tad dumb-founded over this: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/nyregion/02library.html?ex=1168405200&en=954c51bc14b566e8&ei=5070&emc=eta1 Every afternoon at Maplewood Middle School’s final bell, dozens of students pour across Baker Street to the public library. Some study quietly. The Baker Street library in Maplewood, N.J., near a middle school, will soon close from 2:45 to 5 p.m. Others, library officials say, fight, urinate on the bathroom floor, scrawl graffiti on the walls, talk back to librarians or refuse to leave when asked. One recently threatened to burn down the branch library. Librarians call the police, sometimes twice a day. As a result, starting on Jan. 16, the Maplewood Memorial […]