SaveLAPL – Good Changes at Los Angeles Public Library

My friend Kim Cooper was one of the people behind the SaveLAPL website which you may have read about here a month ago. Just wanted to mention that their lobbying and activism efforts appear to have been successful within the scope of what they were aiming for and this is good news for LAPL patrons and staff generally in my opinion. Congrats Kim and Co. and everyone else who made an effort and got involved.

Based on the recommendations made on May 14, the proposed Sunday closures of the eight regional branch libraries will not be happening, and 36.5 library jobs have been saved! $2,000,000 is being restored to the library’s book buying budget, from $7.7 million to $9.7 million!

Vermont Library Association conference this Tue/Wed

I’ll be heading up to Burlington for the Vermont Library Conference both to attend and to present. I’ll be giving a talk on how I got the VLA website up and running with WordPress and Meredith and I will be presenting a Top Tech Trends talk on Wednesday. Both talks are at 1:45 if you happen to already be in the area. I’m looking forward to schmoozing with some of my favorite librarians and just generally immersing myself in Vermont library culture. Please say hi if you’re in the area.

Saskatchewan Manitoba Libraries Conference talk

I’m getting to the point where I’ve been writing my talks out more, rather than having points in my slides that I elaborate over. This is partly a result of doing more “big picture” keynote/endnote type talks but also just because they seem to go better and I’m more at ease beforehand. I did the endnote talk for the Saskatchewan-Manitoba Library Conference last week (say that to the Customs guy at the border and watch his eyes glaze over really fast…) and I’ve put up both a PDF of the slides as well as the whole talk as I’ve written it. Some of it is still ad-libbed, I have notes like “tell Katrina story” and, my favorite, “wrap up” but I figured some people might like to read a talk start to finish. Thanks are due to all the wonderful librarians who I met and talked with. Next time I’m up that way I hope to be able to actually see some libraries and not just the inside of the conference center.

check out Blake’s new site LISWire

Blake Carver has launched his new site LISWire this week. Working with Robin “birdie” Blum they are creating a site where businesses and individuals can send news releases and get them online and subscribable/linkable. I am looking forward to being able to send this URL to all the nice well-meaning people who send me press releases in email. I always write back to them, “this sounds great, do you have a URL where I can link to this information?” and now I can give them someplace to send it so it can be linkable by them and readable by others. Blake is inviting feedback on the new site, if you have a second, drop by and give him some critique.