Times are tough. Library funding is down, library use is up, and people are asking more and more questions demanding more and more time from their public library staff. In response to these increasing demands on library resources, Library Development staff at the Washington State Library have been c...

PVLD is in the process of developing a new strategic plan which is forcing us to both take a hard look at what we currently do and how we do it, and to think about what we want the library......

David Lee King helped created a trend on Twitter today with tweets over a book restriction action by his employer. Four books were proposed to be restricted from access by children: Sex for Busy People, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, The Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex. Local station KTKA has more. A qui...

On the Diane Rehm show on WAMU this morning : 11:00 The Role of Libraries in Economic Hard Times There's a recording there too. Libraries today have become multimedia centers, offering not only books but DVDs, e-books and Internet access. They can also be an especially important community resource d...

I didn't catch this on the first go-around of Philadelphia library stories, but this caught my eye in a Philadelphia Inquirer story, "True Melting Pot Helped Save Libraries": "People just came together in a very fast and almost surprising way," said Irv Ackelsberg, a former Community Legal Services ...

So the D.C. Public Library system wants to adopt a rule that will prohibit sleeping in the public libraries, and will limit customers to two bags (size not specified). The problem the system is trying to deal with is homeless people coming into the library with shopping carts full of stuff, big plas...

Washington Post reports: New rules have been proposed for D.C. public libraries, including a ban on sleeping and a limit on bringing in bags, in what library officials called an effort to make the system more welcoming. But Mary Ann Luby, an advocate for the homeless, said the bag and sleeping rules...

A Rocky Creek (Tampa area) man wants to have a film he regards as pornographic removed from the shelves of the Town 'N Country Regional Public Library. Frank DeAngelis, a former police officer and retired sociology professor, said he didn't know what to expect when he checked out "The Films of James...

I've been spending some time today sorting through the piles on my desk trying to create some order before I head off on vacation.  There is nothing worse than coming back from time off to a chaotic office....and somehow it is even worse when the return to work coincides with the start of ...

The economic downturn is affecting everyone including public libraries. So far, the Free Library of Philadelphia announced that they will close 11 branches and cut 111 positions. In a message to staff, library director Siobhan Reardon, noting that 85 percent of the budget goes to staff, said 40 jobs...