Libraries

Libraries of DBKP Stories and VideosNOW, all the DBKP Libraries of stories are gathered--for the readers' convenience--in one location.To go to a particular library, click on the appropriate banner below. Each library has a listing of the DBKP stories and videos for that topic.NOTE: The Dog the Bounty Hunter Library hasn't been completely transferred over to DBKP.com--yet.Coming Soon!The following

HP dan MIT Libraries serius dalam memikirkan kerja sama mereka untuk langkah selanjutnya dalam membangun platform software untuk membuat digital penyimpanan data (DSpace). Merujuk pada Linuxlookup, HP dan MIT Libraries membuat public set-up organisasi non-profit, yang mereka namakan DSpace Foundation. Organisasi ini akan menyediakan dukungan kepada institusi yang menggunakan DSpace. Ketika kali pe

The Google Ajax Libraries API WordPress plugin make it easy to use the Google hosted libraries without the need to mess with your theme and plugin code. When activated, the plugin will “listen” to all of the scripts added (via the WordPress wp_enqueue_script function) to your pages header and automagically switch the locally hosted library to a [...]

Please note, by library here I mean proper, academic libraries, not community libraries that hold fiction books for children, etc. Since the advent of the internet, there has been great discussion about the imminent and resulting demise of books, and thus, libraries. Information that once required hours skimming through hundreds of books can be be garnered through two minutes of googling on the we

Google tries to make the use JavaScript frameworks easier and faster with the Ajax Libraries API. Main idea is hosting the JavaScript framework files on Google servers, serving them faster by Google’s fast & distributed servers, gzipping them when needed and most importantly, preventing several downloads of the same libraries by caching. Currently supported frameworks are: jQuery protot

I’ve been playing with Mojo for a few days now and I think it is absolutely amazing.  What Mojo lets you do is let you browse tracks within your friends iTunes Libraries over the internet, and then DOWNLOAD THEM!  Once installed, a buddy window is available within Mojo that lets you check out the libraries [...]

$59.95 Integrating new technologies into existing library services is the key to meeting user needs. Newest in the renowned series from the Library and Information Technology Association (a division of the American Library Association), this cu ing-edge guide provides practical advice, detailed examples, implementation ideas, and helpful forecasts for the future roles of four major interactive [..

During last week I had to do a small application for AIR. That was until friday when I had to release it and found out that the app had to work also in normal browser. Since almost all the code was independent of the type of app (AIR/Flex) my task was pretty easy: Get all existing [...]

In The U.S. Presidential Libraries promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. Presidential Libraries preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire. So why don’t we have Presidential Libraries in Ethiopia? And if we had them what would the public learn from them? Pretty [...]

When you’re researching your family tree, one of the many wonderful resources is your local library or genealogical research centre. Larger libraries often have a dedicated area for this type of research; but even the smaller ones can prove useful when used effectively. This article will explain what you’re likely to find [...]

A cautionary tale concerning image libraries.On the magazine I work for, we do use photographers but we also buy some of our pictures from a popular image library for £60 a pop. Recently, to illustrate a feature about debt, we downloaded a (presumably manipulated) photograph of a mousetrap that had as its base a credit card - metaphorically showing the dangers of credit. I would love to show you the image here on the blog but that would cost me £60, so I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination.Anyway, we placed the credit card/mousetrap image on page and it wasn't until much later, when I was doing the final corrections, that I noticed the name on the credit card: Mr Hugh Jassdetter. Read it quickly and it sounds suspiciously like 'huge-assed debtor'. A little joke on the part of wh

Modal window effects or well known as lightbox effects has became a new web 2.0 buzz words, since lightbox released, many clones has launched, made by creative developers around world wide web. Lightbox effects used to implemented to overlay image, to have flash likes effect in non flash web page using javascript, but nowdays the implementation [...]

Warning, this is an angry post. I had an upsetting incident at a library and I'm steaming.Here's the scene. We are in the children's section of the library (not our local one) and my 2 year old is exploring and chatting at a normal volume - believe me he wasn't being loud. I was tidying up some books my 2 year old had pulled out. My 4 year old is sitting a child-sized desk reading aloud from a book we had just checked out. We had been there less than 5 minutes. A "lady" in the adjacent section pops her head over the bookshelves (separating us from this anti-child fruitcake) and asks us to be quiet, we are "disturbing the computer users." Huh??????Is the library intended for computer use or for reading and promoting literacy? We were in the children's section and my son was reading! I wish

Library collection agency service and collection agency for library: If you are using these types of search terms to find a collection agency for your library, you have probably found there are not many to choose from! Only a few collection agencies are either completely dedicated to the collection needs for libraries, or can offer the kind of customized collection services libraries need.One collection agency that can do precisely what a library needs is NorthStar Technologies. In addition to being a full service collection agency, NorthStar is also a technology service. Because it combines a full range of technology with the best collection agency techniques, it can meet the customized needs of any U.S. library. As stated on , NorthStar can send out a series of three library collect

I'm just catching up with my (probably far too many) blogs -reminded of a David Weinberger post from 2005, "No, I'm not keeping up with your blog" (if he thought that then...) - but I have just read - nearly missed it - a posting on Kindle News: Why not Rent-A-Book for Kindle, and it struck me that libraries (public, university, whatever) could be missing a chance here. It's what we do. We lend books.Now Kindle is clearly a lost cause for us as it's linked - without question - to buying books on Amazon and doesn't seem likely to reach the UK for a decade or so, but what about the iRex iLiad (of which I have spoken before, and which is gradually getting more press over here - it even has its own blog now: i to i blog and a wikipedia entry). I often say that I can see a time when students

Following on from Bob's most recent blog about the other Bob's book, which he linked to CILIP and professionalism in public libraries (he did get a bit carried away in the middle with Che Guevara and James Bond(!), but the essential message that in 2008 CILIP will make professionalism a major issue is very clear)...I wanted to point to a Panlibus post which highlights MLA Chief Executive Roy Clare, who spoke so well at Talis Insight, appeared on yesterday's edition of the Radio 4 You and Yours programme (podcast). I missed this, but the BBC had had early sight of the CIPFA annual report of the audit of UK public libraries, which mentioned the 10% reduction in income and the (much publicised in recent newspapers, e.g. The Independent, The Telegraph) 40 libraries which closed during 2007. R

Struts supports following tag libraries:a).Bean Tags: All tags which correspond to struts-bean.tld  provide capability of accessing beans related activities.b).HTML Tags: All tags which correspond to struts-html.tld used for HTML UI/Forms creation. c).Logic Tags: All tags which correspond to struts-logic.tld  manages condition based logic,iterate over a statement based on some logic and application flow  management. d).Nested Tags: All tags which correspond to struts-nested.tld make it easy to manage nested beans.e).Template Tags: All tags which correspond to struts-template.tld used for template creation while providing better maintenance of such websites. f). Tiles Tags: All tags which correspond to struts-tiles.tldJava Standard Tag Library (or JSTL as it's known), provides a specification for four separate areas of concern:     * Core    * XML Processing    * Internationalization    * DatabaseThe specif

Let's say you are using a 3rd Party Library like ELMAH in your web site project to handle unhandled exceptions and it's throwing an exception and you don't know why.  Since the code is open source, you would LOVE to see what line its crashing on and then submit your changes to the project so that others can benefit from the fix you made.  It gives you that good feeling, right? Well, unfortunately, you put the compiled DLL in the bin folder and when it crashes, it just crashes and burns. How can you see the source code?  Simple!  Compile the source code on your machine, and copy the PDB ("Debugging Database") file to your bin folder along with the DLL, and then your web site crashes while in debug mode, it will go to the exact folder on your file system where the DLL was compiled from

I’m going “off piste” for a post about something that’s incredibly important to me. Normal posting about music will resume shortly. Government spending is always a hot topic. Local government spending even more so, as it actually affects your day to day lives wherever you live. One of my pet subjects so to speak is libraries. They’re incredibly important to everyone in the community, young and old, and I think recently across the country as a whole they’ve lost their way a bit, not embracing changing demographics and technological improvements. First though a disclaimer: I work for Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) in their library service, and have worked at five libraries around the county, so whilst I like to think I have a feeling for what’s going on, I can’t claim to have an extensive knowledge of the whole council or nationwide, only garnering what I’ve seen or read in the press. I read this article a couple of days ago on Tim Coates’ marvellous blog that menti

Scott hat es soeben gepostet [1]. Eine Nachricht die viele erfreuen wird: "... Today I'm excited to announce that we'll be providing this with the .NET 3.5 and VS 2008 release later this year. We'll begin by offering the source code (with source file comments included) for the .NET Base Class Libraries (System, System.IO, System.Collections, System.Configuration, System.Threading, System.Net, System.Security, System.Runtime, System.Text, etc), ASP.NET (System.Web), Windows Forms (System.Windows.Forms), ADO.NET (System.Data), XML (System.Xml), and WPF (System.Windows).  We'll then be adding more libraries in the months ahead (including WCF, Workflow, and LINQ).  The source code will be released under the Microsoft Reference License (MS-RL). You'll be able to download the .NET Framework source libraries via a standalone install (allowing you to use any text editor to browse it locally).  We will also provide integrated debugging support of it

By: Jon T NorwoodThe idea of a paperless society has been the dream of computer enthusiasts for many years. Along with the cashless society, the hope that computers would replace the written word has resonated through sections of American society for many years. Although home computer usage has grown incredibly in the last 15 years making this seemingly possible in the near future, government agencies are slow to catch up. Libraries will have shelves of books for many years too come.With home computer and Internet usage at an all time high it is no surprise that public libraries are struggling to make ends meet. Research that would have in the past required the use of a library can now be done much faster using a home PC and a few hours on Google. Couple this with the fact that library computers are generally out of date and over crowded, home research becomes the obvious choice. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in association with the American Library Association (ALA) recently f

Business Week magazine subscriptions is the magazine that delivers trusted content to inspire modern leaders to make smarter decisions in both their professional and personal lives. It creates open discussions in a global community wishing to generate and share ideas using passionate voices and provocative viewpoints. This publication provides insight to help professionals to take the correct decisions in the right place, at the right time and in the right way. Whether you are looking for business, gift, personal, or library magazine subscriptions Business Week is a great choice for a wide range of people who are at or aiming for the top in the world of business. When running or leading a large or complex organisation, it is vital to stay on top of developments in a wide range of fields. It is not always easy to gather information on the different aspects of technology, economics, the media and marketing trends that will affect particular business and market segments. It can also be di

Did you know you can create virtual training libraries using Virtual Observer?You simply have to create a media list of your highest rated events and publish them to your company's web server. Make sure it's a secure server or directory, of course. You could then create several sub-directories from which to populate content: "Best handled cancellations", "Best upsells", "Best ways to handle irritated customers", "Best use of our CRM to locate customer information", "Five star calls", etc...Using our E-learning module, you could set Virtual Observer to automatically deliver an email with a link to the website address for "Best handled cancellations" to anyone who does not score well on that specific evaluation criteria.You can also publish media lists to cds or dvds and distribute them to new hires or present them to training groups. You may need to get your IT team involved in order to publish to your company's secure web server or intranet.

"The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries." — Carl Sagan, Cosmos

As long as you have no more than two of them. Essentially it is a program that installs on your iPhone, and switches between your two libraries on your iPhone. It sounds pretty nifty, if, like the guy who wrote it, you have a PC at work and a PC at home, both with different iTunes libraries. Regardless, it seems like a nice feature, I don’t have two separate PC’s for work and home, but I do have a laptop and a desktop, so if I were gone and only had my laptop and bought a new CD off of iTunes I would want to be able to listen to it without having to turn on my laptop every time. Switching libraries is as easy as running the program, which comes up with the customized waiting screen that’s pictured. (more…) Share This

What’s spinelz? Spinelz is a JavaScript library which enables web developers to create Rich Internet Applications. About spinelz Spinelz based on script.aculo.us. We offer the function which is some convenience that utilized Ajax and animation effects of script.aculo.us to the maximum. Please try them and feed me back, like bug report etc. About development of spinelz The scripts you can get here are used in Rubricks which is ajax style content management system powered by Rails. And we are participating in the project. Check out Rubricks from here! (more…) Share This

wondertouch, a leading software developer of high performance particle effects creation tools, today released an additional three new libraries in its Professional Emitters (Pro Emitters) software line for particleIllusion 3.0. Each library contains 30 complex, ready-to-use, particle-based emitters that allow digital content creators to easily customize particle effects projects quickly and cost efficiently. The Pro Emitters supplement the already impressive selection of more than 2000 different preset emitters that ship with particleIllusion 3.0, as well as the additional emitters that the company releases free-of-charge each month, to provide artists with an impressive variety of effects choices. With today’s announcement, the expanded wondertouch Pro Emitters collection now offers a total of 360 particleIllusion 3.0 emitters arranged into twelve themed libraries ranging from real-world effects such as explosions, fire, auroras, and breaking glass to motion graphics and artisti

Michael Moritz, the venture capitalist who built a personal $1.5 billion fortune discovering the likes of Google, YouTube, Yahoo and PayPal, and taking them public, may seem preternaturally in tune with new media. But it is the imprint of old media — books by the thousands sprawling through his Bay Area house — that occupies his mind. “My wife calls me the Imelda Marcos of books,” Mr. Moritz said in an interview. “As soon as a book enters our home it is guaranteed a permanent place in our lives. Because I have never been able to part with even one, they have gradually accumulated like sediment.” Serious leaders who are serious readers build personal libraries dedicated to how to think, not how to compete. Ken Lopez, a bookseller in Hadley, Mass., says it is impossible to put together a serious library on almost any subject for less than several hundred thousand dollars. Perhaps that is why — more than their sex lives or bank accounts — chief executives keep their

For many of us, the library is not a place we remember anymore. If I ask my friends right now about it, they would not even know where one is located. Some would not be able to guarantee that one even exists! I conducted a survey at the front door of the grocery store where a library was located within walking distance and got the following results. Last Time You Went to The Library Within the last 12 months: 15.7% Within the last 5 years but longer than 12 months: 7.8% Longer than 5 years: 76.5% Primary Reason For Going To Library Study: 21.6% Nothing else to do: 9.8% Regular event in my schedule: 15.7% Don’t currently go to the library: 52.9% Note that everyone who declined to comment is not included because it would have skewed the results as most people did not want to take the survey. As you can see from the above, most people have not been to the library for the last 5 years. Some of the people actually do not like libraries because it always reminds me of their study days

I have publicly supported three petitions on the Prime Minister's epetitions web site... and none of them have succeeded. That is, all of them have been rejected with a formal response - there is no record on the site of successful petitions, I note. (Can we draw some sort of conclusion from that, do you think?)The last petition - "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make the provision of professionally staffed libraries within all schools, both secondary and primary, statutory."- received a disappointingly low level of support (1,794 signatures) so it is unsurprising that it failed. However, the level of misleading verbiage in the response is disappointing (I assume that it doesn't actually demonstrate ignorance), and I reproduce the response in full below:The provision of a school library is not a statutory requirement and there are no current plans to alter this situation and change the legislation. It is the Government's policy to put as much money as possible dire

In an attempt to keep this short, this week may seem like nothing happened when really a lot did. I haven't had a normal night's sleep. It's hot in the dorm and the bed is far from comfortable, unlike that I have at home. -_____- True subjects are far more difficult now but I shouldn't give up. Studying in Pisay was my choice to begin with and I should stick through especially now at the last

In an attempt to keep this short, this week may seem like nothing happened when really a lot did. I haven't had a normal night's sleep. It's hot in the dorm and the bed is far from comfortable, unlike that I have at home. -_____- True subjects are far more difficult now but I shouldn't give up. Studying in Pisay was my choice to begin with and I should stick through especially now at the last

I think that I last read a copy of Reader's Digest as a child - probably when I was given a subscription in an attempt to widen my reading - or in a dentist's waiting room of about the same period... but it has suddenly popped up again, and with a most unexpected message:On a page headed 'That's Outrageous', the article shouts: Our Libraries: Where Has All the Cash Gone? and has a very-RD graphic (still recognisable after all these years!) of book pages transmogrifying into bank notes that fly away, before a tempter to get you reading the meat of the article: "We’re paying more than ever before—£50 a year for every family in Britain—and yet the service is dwindling"Of course, you've guessed it - Tim Coates is responsible for spreading his message still wider. The statistics he quotes are very worrying, and the idea that we are all paying more for less is clearly designed to stimulate action - at least amonst the Reader's Digest readers in my dentist's waiting room.>>Tech

There's an old joke about asking the way to somewhere and being told it would be best not to start from where you are. It's a good way to frame some thoughts about whether our present system of scholarly communication aids the progress of science or gets in the way. If we could start now, equipped with the World Wide Web, computers in every laboratory or institution and a global view of the scientific research effort, would we come up with the system for communicating knowledge that we have today?So began Alma Swan in an article in American Scientist Online dealing with open access (thanks to Information Research for the 'heads-up'). It made me wonder."If we could start now, equipped with the World Wide Web, [etc]" what would we make a library look like? Would we even bother?Libraries are having a hard time - witness another quotation from Swan, this time from her weblog: The library is a woeful brand. Look on the website of almost any UK university and the librar

These libraries allow the use of DirectX 10 games on platforms other than Microsoft Vista, and increase hardware compatibility even on Vista, by compiling Geometry Shaders down to native machine code for execution where hardware isn't capable of running it. No longer will you have to upgrade your OS and video card(s) to play the latest games. The current preview allows you to run a number of examples from the DirectX SDK on Windows XP. They're not the greatest thing since sliced bread, but we want to whet your appetite. We hope to release builds in the coming months progressing from demos to fully functional games. Inside this zip is a README.TXT file with complete instructions on where to install the files (don't worry, we'll have an installer in the near future) and how to get and run the examples from the SDK. Homepage - http://alkyproject.blogspot.com/2007/04/finally-making-use-of-this-blog-i.htmlFinally making use of this blog I created almost a year ago. What a busy

Harry Potter’s US publisher has set out stringent rules as to how J K Rowling’s final novel Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows are to be handled. The rules limit the number of employees that can handle the book before its release date of July 21st. According to the contract from Scholastic Inc, libraries must also supply names and contact information of each branch manager, and states that failure to keep Deadly hallows under tight wraps until its release date might get libraries removed from future restricted titles. ---Related Articles at In Entertainment:Final Harry Potter book set to be record breakerRadcliffe to be Potter for final twoPotter stamps in FrancePotter Train vandalisedPotter seen puffing

If your library has patrons who are not paying library fees or need to be charged for lost items, why not use a collection service? One collection agency option for all U.S. libraries is NorthStar Technologies. NorthStar is polite but firm and matches its library collection competitors in every way but one: NorthStar is less expensive than the other collection services typically used by libraries. NorthStar’s library collection service comes in two forms. There is a free contingency based service if your library wants a free option. At no cost to your library NorthStar will seek to return the submitted debt and return to you 65% of what is collected. With this free service you receive free status reporting on the debt collection if you wish, receive NorthStar’s free support center with a toll free number, and have access to 24/7 web reporting.A second option is a series of professional collection letters. For $5.85 NorthStar will send out a series of collection letters. If

A Wethersfield special education teacher has apparently tried to sell, one book at a time, parts of the libraries of the two schools in which she works. According to the Norwich Bulletin, local police were able to buy one of the missing books on eBay and prove both that it belonged to one of the schools and that the seller was the arrested school teacher.Kress is accused of stealing more than 600 books from Hanmer and Charles Wright elementary schools, where she worked as a special education teacher, police said.Police began investigating a report about a year ago that books from various classrooms were missing. Police say some missing items turned up on the eBay online auction site and they were able to identify Kress as the seller.Police purchased a book and the police lab identified it as property of Hanmer Elementary School, police said.They obtained and executed a search warrant for Kress' home where they said they found 600 of the school's books. Police said they have no estim

Lord of the Libraries finishes the story begun in the Rover and Destruction of the Books. Be prepared for some surprising plot twists as Mel fills you in on the real story behind the wars to destroy the old world and all the libraries.It finishes the story in grand fashion. Juhg defies the typical dweller stereotype and becomes a true hero, finding the four pieces to the Book of Time and rescuing Wick. Juhg fulfills his destiny to bring reading, writing and books back to the world, allowing the races to break out of the stagnant rut they had been in for thousands of years.This is a much more mature book than the Rover. It has a darker feel to it, but it is also much more interesting and compelling. I had a hard time putting it down. Yet again, Mel's characters and world are rich and vibrant and his story telling superb. A must read for fantasy lovers.

A nice intersect of timing: a report from the UK and a book from the US announced on the same day.From JISC TechWatch, there is a report entitled “What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education” (TSW0701) announced on the UK WebFocus blog. According to the JISC website: This TechWatch report was commissioned to investigate the substance behind the hyperbole surrounding ‘Web 2.0’. It reports on the implications this may have for the UK Higher and Further Education sector, with a special focus on collection and preservation activities within libraries. The US offering is the book, Social Software in Libraries by Meredith Farkas, with a Foreword by Roy Tennant, who notes that the book explores: the growing phenomenon of social software and how these technologies can be applied in libraries. Social software lets libraries show a human face online, helping them communicate, educate, and interact with their communities. This nuts-and-bolts guide provide

by Ryo Ishida PUBLISHED 3/4/2007 2:27:51 PM Harry Potter aficionados count the final days until the release of the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. However, on July 21, 2007, the expected release date, don’t expect to find it in a school library near you.

The Code Project -Free articles & source code of Atlas and AJAX Ajax.NET - A free library for the Microsoft .NET Framework -Examples using the free Ajax.NET libraryW3Schools.com -An AJAX tutorial from the helpful people at W3Schools.18-Week Free AJAX Programming (with Passion!) Online Course -The first session of this free online AJAX course is already underway, but there are slides and various other resources available. This is a Java site so the AJAX course ultimately involves JavaServer Faces and AJAX integration.Creating a MySQL connection with PHP/AJAX -This is a short ajax tutorial on opening a connection to MySql using ajax.Getting Started with Ajax -This article at A List Apart is an excerpt from the book Web Design in a Nutshell and covers using ajax with innerHTML and Nodes to manipulate page content dynamically.SAJAX -SAJAX is an open source tool to make programming websites using the Ajax framework also known as XMLHTTPRequest or remote scripting as easy as possible. Sajax

AJAX web applications, made famous by GMail and Google Maps, seem to be the flavour of the month in some circles. Using a combination of HTML/XHTML, XML, CSS, DOM scripting via JavaScript, and XMLHttpRequest (for exchanging data with a server asynchronously), AJAX allows you to do many interactive things with your website, making it appear almost like a native application running on your system. Incidentally, in case you were wondering, AJAX is an acronym for "Asynchronous JavaScript and XML".If you are looking for a tutorial on Ajax, you might want to try the following online articles from IBM: * Mastering Ajax, Part 1: Introduction to Ajax * Mastering Ajax, Part 2: Making asynchronous requests with JavaScript and Ajax * Mastering Ajax, Part 3: Advanced requests and Responses in Ajax Free AJAX Toolkits, Frameworks, Libraries and Source CodeGoogle Web Toolkit - Build AJAX applications in the Java language Google Web Toolkit helps you in developing AJAX web applications li

Protecting Public Educational Facilities and Libraries with Security Cameras The security and safety of any property, public or private, should be a primary concern of its managers. Just about every kind of facility, especially publ

Well, 4-0… It’d be wrong to say the scoreline was flattering, but hardly the most stellar performance. We seriously need to up the atmosphere at the Emirates still.. Justin HOYTE HOYTE HOYTE! Arsenal players are loving the dancing of late, must be a new training ritual. Well funny to see Thierry and Ade’s planned celebration, Wenger got a Hi-5 too. Hoyte wins the award for most enthusiastic dance and celebration though. Props! Charlton go 3 down, and towards the end of the match we’re totally mute.. “THREE NIL, AND YOU STILL DON’T SING.. THREE NIL……” Then three becomes four, and predictably it’s “WHO ARE YA!”.. For a short duration, before they cleverly alter their chant slightly… Something like: “FOUR NIL, AND YOU STILL DON’T SING!” Hmmm. They’re absolutely right too.. Rubbish. Fell asleep in the library today, for f*cking ages as well! Over-stimulation to the enthralling Business Str

Leading reason why not to send your children to a government school (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin and Moonbattery): Sixth-graders at a Queens school were getting quite an education - in homosexuality, French kissing and cursing - thanks to three books widely available in classroom libraries. But after numerous complaints from parents at Public School 150 in Sunnyside, the books - a profanity-laced poetry book, short stories about homosexuality and a novel called "First French Kiss" - were pulled from the shelves last week. Several parents learned of the racy books after overhearing their kids snickering about the sexual themes. The poem "I Hate School" in a book called "You Hear Me?" includes the rhyme, "F--- this s---, up the a--. I don't think I'll ever pass." Another poem compares eating an orange to having sex, while several passages repeatedly use vulgar slang for genitalia. And the book "Am I Blue?" is an anthology of stories about gay teenagers that parents found too adult-them

By way of drawing a line (for now at least) under this particular theme, I copy below the text of a letter from Mark Field MP, Shadow Minister for Culture which was published today in The Bookseller, and which was sent to me by Libri: I agree with every word that Richard Charkin wrote in last week's Bookseller especially his recommendations and his final comment that the government should stop pretending things are fine in the library service. I have not yet met or conversed with Mr Charkin but his global knowledge of the value of books, reading and libraries will surely far exceed my own and, I suggest, most of the government's advisers. The British public is greatly concerned that our public book lending service is being cruelly damaged through this government's lack of vision and direction. The Conservative Party can and will battle to represent the library customer in this deepening crisis. We aim to encourage local councils to review their strategies and build on t

Following the publication of my message yesterday, I have received a lone supportive response from the profession, support from Tim Coates (naturally!), and an endorsing email from the Chairman of Libri, which I reproduce in full below. Dear Mr ArmstrongI have been shown your recent e mail of 25 September and am sending you copies of recent media coverage related to the public library service.A lot of work has been done to assess the various published statistics and consultancy reports as well as replies to Parliamentary Questions etc.I have also spent considerable time meeting with the Minister, the shadow team, officials, MLA, SCL , LGA, PKF and PwC consultants and concerned organisations (eg Society of Authors, PA, Library Users) to understand the issues and to try to find solutions.There seems to be a serious lack of leadership, an absence of a shared vision for public libraries in the 21st Century and a task force to help the 149 library authorities implement urgen

Many of us will have read, probably with mounting frustration, the continued attack by Tim Coates on the management and policies surrounding public libraries in the UK. Recently, Richard Charkin of Macmillan Publishers was invited to speak to the National Acquisitions Group during their conference, and he has summarized what he said - and what he has since published in The Bookseller - on his blog. Broadly speaking, he is of one accord with Tim Coates, at least insofar as being appalled by the statistics of decline. Less interestingly, he also has a solution - but that, like the statistics themselves, for which I cannot vouch and which I do not recommend to you in any way other than to suggest that they need investigating and verifying if you are a public librarian, is not the point of this posting.Rather, it is to suggest that two things should be happening in the light of the ongoing publication and publicising of this issue; indeed should have been happening for

Richard Charkin (Macmillan) is to attend the September annual conference of National Acqusitions Group, and in preparation says (Chark Blog) that he is "keeping my ears open for library relevant material". I wonder what he will make of the coincidence of the MLA Better Stock, Better Libraries, which according to their press release, "outlines a national library purchasing model. The new procurement arrangements, which maintain local accountability for stock selection, would mean better availability and more efficient management of stock, more flexibility to meet local needs and reduced unit costs of stock" and the article in The Bookseller by Katherine Rushton, which - according to Tim Coates' Good Library Blog - says that the public library service is "severely over-staffed" ... and that money could be better spent, particuarly on books.At least Mr Charkin has a positive spin on libraries: "Working with libraries seems to me an essential part of a publisher's support for a