Since I was the one to mention "fire" and "library" in the same sentence, I
should be the one to clean up the mess. I think in my original message I
was pretty clear: the danger isn't the risk of fire (there is, by the way,
someone in the library 24 hours a day, and, so far as I know, there has
n
I'd like to address a couple of the issues raised by the anonymous library
letter.
Disgruntled employees are a reality in most organizations, and certainly not
uncommon in an organization as large as our library system (with about 400
staff members). And tensions are always highest when contract
In an exchange over the weekend, it was said that only residents would pay
for the library referendum. This is not the case. The referendum will
affect ALL property owners, whether the property is residential, commercial
or industrial, and it will affect them equally. The cost for every $100,00
This morning I responded to one of Lisa McDonald's questions; having spoken
with the Mary Lawson, the Library Director, I think I can now answer the
second.
One of the reasons to rebuild the Central Library is to make more of the
collection accessible to the public. Today, only about 15% is on p
Lisa McDonald raises two excellent questions. I'll try to answer one (about
computers), and leave the other to the library administration.
I'm in 100% agreement that simply making more computers available is not
enough, or at least not enough for everyone. Most of us struggled when we
first tri
B. Robson asked for clarification of a couple library issues. I hope this
helps.
1) The Library was built to hold 1.6 million books, and it now holds 2.5
million. Due to overcrowding, 85% of the collection is inaccessible to the
public (or more accurately, 85% of the collection can only be acce
I welcome the series of messages that followed Mr. Swan's letter and hope
they represent the beginning of a long overdue dialogue on the library
referendum.
Over the past couple days, two basic questions have been raised: 1) Is this
the right time to reinvest in public libraries, and 2) Is the re
People may not be talking about libraries, but they certainly are using
them.
In 1999, the Minneapolis Public Library answered 2.3 million reference
calls, received 2.4 million visitors, and circulated 2.5 million books, CDs
and videos. This year, Central Library circulation is up 14%. Today, t
