Library News: Won't You be My Neighbor?

Oh, Hi.  It's nice to see you again.  (change out of button-up and into worn-out Megadeath t-shirt)  You know, our libraries are fascinating and wondrous places where all kinds of things can happen. (takes off shoes for more comfortable shoelessness)  Every day, something special is happening in your library, like someone looking for a job or finding a book they read as a kid. (fixes a mixed drink of whiskey, red wine and orange power drink in a goldfish bowl) Let's see what happened in our libraries this week so far, shall we? (lights the porch on fire)


The Newcastle library and art gallery have been closed down indefinitely after local officials widened security from protesters over the removal of some fig trees and other growth.  The fig trees responded by screaming silently as they were fed into a wood chipper. Silly trees. abc.net.au

Lewis Black, comedian, has been named to the honorary board of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis.  Black plans to help the library by fundraising through performances and such, as well as dressing in shiny boots and time traveling.  ibj.com

Governor Jerry Brown of California signed in a bill this week that will restrict public library privatization.  The bill will force companies to show they are saving the taxpayers money if they take over public services.  Taxpayers could give less of a crap as long as the paper is there in the morning and the new Nicholas Sparks book is on the shelf. mercurynews

The Folger Shakespeare Library is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, one of the more influential books in history.  King James was not around to comment on the widespread craziness like those weirdos in Westboro. washingtonpost

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is in the process of moving a 340 ton boulder for an art instillation. They should hire out a company to do this, if they can prove they can do it cheaper than a bunch of museum folk, that is.  nytimes

Alec Baldwin donated around $10,000 to the Central Falls library to keep it afloat in these hard economic times.  This is a long way to go to use a library out of state. whdh

Westboro Baptist Church Claims Free Speech Group Threatening to Take Away Their Free Speech

The Westboro Baptist Church falsely claimed this week that the hacker group Anonymous had threatened to destroy their websites, reports The Escapist.  Really?  That much inbred crazy under one roof and all they could come up with is "those free speech people wanna... take away our free speech.  Yeah, that's the ticket!"  Sure, picketing the funeral of a nine year-old is all kinds of we-eat-jello-out-of-the-toilet messed up, but at least they had some reason behind it.  Did they even have a notion about what they were talking about?  I can only assume they believe any organization willing to cripple another is just as screwed up as they are and as willing to go to extremes.  What's even better is that people almost believed it because, hey, attack the crazy folk spewing hate.  I can only be lead to assume that they know they are crazy people spewing hate that deserve to be attacked.  That's even more worrisome cause at least genuinely crazy people do not know they are crazy.