South Dakota Looking Out for Visually Special Dakotians

“Imagine that every book about South Dakota was available to everyone except you,” Colleen Kirby said. “Stop and think about what if you couldn’t go to Barnes & Noble, what if you couldn’t go to your library. Everyone else is talking about the latest book about South Dakota, but you can’t read it.”

Well, fuck that.  I need my South Dakota updates and if anyone tries to take them from me I'll rip their ears off and add them to my ear collection. 

Wait... Wait...  Okay, I get it now.  Colleen Kirby is the assistant state librarian for South Dakota.  She is talking about the large number of South Dakotian literature that is not available to the visually special population.  See, blind people need to hear books or touch them with their mutant hands, and the items are on cassettes that can not be easily played by the sightless.  As we all found out during the great "steam train disaster" of 1952, the blind can only use current gen technology.  Kirby and the state library are looking to re-record much of the archived collection using local talent rather than just buy a converter on ebay for thirty bucks.  

We at the Banned Library hope the state's project succeeds and the visually special can soon get all that great South Dakota knowledge they have been missing.  Also, we hope we did not offend any blind people with our little jokes because, as we all know, the blind have special ninja powers and could defeat all of us given enough time without rearranging the furniture.

Library seeks voices for audio books - Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

Library seeks voices for audio books Sioux Falls Argus Leader More than 1,500 books now on cassette tapes need to be recorded in a digital format, said Colleen Kirby, assistant state librarian. “This is actually a very cool project,” said Mary Johnson, Siouxland Libraries director. “We were pretty thrilled when ...

Steal a Library Card to Vote in Memphis

"Tennessee voters will be able to show Memphis library cards to cast ballots in the upcoming November election.  A Tennessee appeals court ruled on Thursday that a state requirement that voters must show photo identification is valid, but said the library cards are acceptable."

I think the great state of Tennessee trusts its voters way more than they should.  I cannot say that I have ever seen a Memphis library card (Hell, for all I know it could have everything from your name to your permanent record your second grade teacher was always yelling about on it), but allowing the public to use the library card and only a library card is damn scary.  Just because you are in position of a library card does not mean you are in possession of your library card.  

Of course, this could be a sly message to the rest of the nation that Tennessee knows where it stands.  "We don't give a shit how you get a ballot," the Tennessee courts say, "Cause it don't make a fuck load of difference.  We're votin' Republican!  Red or dead, am I right, Mable?"

Then Mable shakes her head and goes back into the woods to mind the moonshine still and the ten children.

Memphis Library Cards Will Count as Valid ID at Polls - ABC News:

ABC News

Memphis Library Cards Will Count as Valid ID at Polls ABC News Tennessee voters will be able to show Memphis library cards to cast ballots in the upcoming November election. A Tennessee appeals court ruled on Thursday that a state requirement that voters must show photo identification is valid, but said the ... Tenn. appeals voter ID ruling over library cardSan Francisco Chronicle Tennessee: State Appeals Ruling on Library IDsNew York Times State officials appeal library card voter ID ruling to TN Supreme CourtThe Tennessean Shelbyville Times-Gazette -Memphis Commercial Appeal -Houston Chronicle all 249 news articles »

Penguin and Random House Merge To Create Penguin Random House.

Two publishing giants, Random House and Penguin, have announced plans to merge and focus their efforts on being "more adventurous" with ebooks.

Tale as old as time, Random House.  The little woman wants you to try new things, experiment more.  Then you wake up in Vegas forming synergy bonds with six dollar crack whores, there's a penguin in the bedroom that smells like your wife who you may or may not have sold into white slavery, and you need to start wondering how deep you have to dig so the coyotes won't find the body.  Here's all you need to know: Keep your head up, don't look it in the eyes and above all else wear a condom.  You do not know where that penguin has been.

Penguin and Random House merge, promise a brave new e-book future - Engadget:

The Guardian

Penguin and Random House merge, promise a brave new e-book future Engadget While the two are engaged in the usual corporatespeak of creating "synergies" (read: resource cuts), we're more interested in talk of the union being a springboard for digital efforts: Penguin Random House wants to be "more adventurous" with e-book ... Penguin Random House aims to attack digital, emerging ebooks marketspaidContent.org Penguin, Random House Merger Is OfficialGood E-Reader (blog) Penguin and Random House to merge and compete against Amazon and AppleITProPortal Expatica Germany -Economic Times all 481 news articles »

Article Dump: Building and Funding A Library

It takes a lot of money to make things free to the public.  Facilities, staff, programs, all these things cost cash to keep the great information ball a-rolling.  Here's several articles from this week about libraries trying to do just that:



Library CEO says $10 million in Vision2 funds critical to Central Library renovation
Am I the only one that sees the term "Library CEO" and cringes a little?  Seems wrong in some way, but let's hope that the project funding gets passed, especially since the Tulsa library system already has raised $15 Million in capital to match the city if it does.

Libraries, Austin Studios on the ballot as Proposition 18
A bill will pass that will grant around $8 million for library renovations and upgrades as well as expanding Austin Studios.  Very odd way to slide that in on the bill, but I get arts, entertainment and the library go hand in hand.  "Hey, we doing that production of 'Murder House III?'"  "Yeah, we just gotta wait on funds for the new children's department to go through first." "Cool."

Library managers seek restoration of funding, staff
I have nothing snarky to say on this one. I am just going to quote from the article and hope.
"The Nelson County library employs one full-time staffer and several part-timers whose average age is 62, said branch manager Tanith Knight. Cuts have the library operating at 42 hours a week, six shy of the suggested weekly hours for small branches in the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library system, she said."

Repairing Library Leak to Cost $720,913; Council Vote Expected Tuesday

I think every library roof is constructed by blind mice leaving ways for their brothers to get in after they were done.  True story: I once worked at a library where the contractor went on the roof, looked at the leak and shouted down "Somebody shot your roof.  With a gun."

Library starts construction on aquarium

We ain't talking no bowl for Goldie the goldfish either.  650 gallons of pure fish torture.  Throw some highlights down there and you've got my dentist office.  Least it's not a damn fountain.

Amazon Under Fire: Erasing Ebooks and Overcharging

Right out of the gate with have this story where Techdirt explains how one Kindle user had her account wiped and Kindle locked down with no reason whatsoever given.  This is the point where you have to step back and look at the awesomeness of having thousands of books at your fingertips versus the control companies now have over that awesomeness.  Imagine a Barnes and Noble representative coming to your house and taking all your physical copies away then issuing you a statement that you were barred from all their stores.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Now let's take a look at how Amazon is taking money from British people and how the government stopped them:

According to The Telegraph:
"Amazon is making British publishers pay 20 per cent VAT on ebook sales, despite their true VAT cost for UK ebook sales being closer to 3 per cent."

It seems after this news was let out, someone in the government noticed and took swift action:

From The Guardian:
"Amazon is to be stripped of its huge tax advantage on the sales of electronic books after the European commission ordered Luxembourg to close a VAT loophole."

So you get loophole abuse by getting a lower rate.  Sure, I can get behind that.  You are a large company and large companies do things to save money.  But not passing on savings, nay, charging fees that are non-existent to you?  That's just wrong on every level.

Shame on you Amazon.  

You Know You Ban Too Many Books When the Local Church Starts Teaching Them

"A free book club that will focus on critically acclaimed literature banned by the Fremont school board is scheduled to begin Wednesday night at an Irvington district church.
Since 2008, the five-member board has banned "Bastard Out of Carolina," a National Book Award nominee about a teenage girl sexually abused by her stepfather, and last year it rejected "Angels in America," a Pulitzer Prize-winning play about AIDS in the 1980s."

It may be time to rethink your schooling practices when the local churches start calling you too harsh.  Now, I can only say that from an area of the nation that had churches actively try to ban MTV when the local cable company started offering it, but still... When the church folk have to step up and tell over protective parents, "You don't have the right to decide what my child reads," it may be time to take a step back and rethink your community's belief structures.

Of course this may be a preventative measure.  If you ban one book, then all books are open to critisism, even the Bible.  And, dude, have you read that crazy shit?  Lakes of fire, killing of first born, one dude kills thousands of people with his ass jawbone or something and another guy sics some bears on kids because they heckle him.  That book is all kinds of messed up.  Not to mention all the wars it has inspired, but I'm getting off the topic.

You know you are too tough when the local "don't do that" building starts doing your job for you.

Church offering class on literature banned by Fremont school board - San Jose Mercury News

Top Ten Ways a Library Can Get a Movie Licence

"The Bradford County Library in West Burlington Township recently acquired a movie license, which is allowing it to start showing films to the public, the library's director said.
The library will be showing "family friendly" movies from its collection of DVDs, said Jeffrey Singer, library director.
As a condition of the license, the library must show the films free of charge, Singer said."

One can only wonder how the library obtained this licence (other than read the rest of the article, but who wants that responsibility?).  So here we go, the top 10 ways your library can force a movie company into letting you show their films:

10)  Offer them free books.
9)  Threaten them with violence.
8)  Threaten them with violins.
7)  Think of horrible, hacky puns and write a blog post about it.
6)  Two words: Book Ninjas.
5)  Use research skills to dig up dirt on their top executives.
4)  Just show the movies and cite free use until they buckle.
3)  Make your own movie and not let them see it.
2)  Gungam Style.
1)  Kidnap Liam Neeson.

Library acquires license to show movies - Towanda Daily Review