Entries from September 2009 ↓

www.freelibrary.org/closing/“>A sad and shocking statement about the closing of all branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia from President and Director Siobhan Reardon.

We deeply regret to inform you that without the necessary budgetary legislation by the State Legislature in Harrisburg, the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate our neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library after October 2, 2009.

Even as we remain hopeful that the State Legislature will act and pass the enabling funding legislation, we wanted to notify all of our customers of this very possible outcome. If you have any questions about impacts to Free Library services, call 215-686-5322, or visit the Free Library of Philadelphia website.

via LISNews: http://lisnews.org/philadelphia_closing_all_its_libraries

Holy crap, I hope the people of Philadelphia get their asses in gear to save their libraries … Good luck, guys!

An excellent list of reasons your users might choose to hang out in a coffee shop instead of a library, and something we should all think about when designing our user experience.

The electricity just went off at my house, and won’t be on for about two hours. I had been procrastinating for days on some writing with a tight deadline and I had *finally* written one sentence when I lost power.

I am now working at my favourite coffee shop, and it occurred to me that my local public library is closer to where I parked my car. So why am I here, not in there?

Read the rest at http://librariansmatter.com/blog/2009/09/09/why-am-i-in-a-coffee-shop-and-not-a-library/

3 stages in the life of a puppy (who is still under 4 months old, but growing fast!)

Working on learning how to use Camtasia better.

Check out the press release: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS168058+09-Sep-2009+BW20090909

“A small district in Adams County, Colo., is changing the face of public libraries. Introducing AnythinkTM, a new style of library that celebrates imagination, play and interactivity. Studies have shown that people who have had transformative experiences at their local library are more willing to support them at the polls. The Anythink model was designed to help libraries remain relevant by offering more than just books to their customers. They offer innovative programming, technology, and the highest level of customer service so that everyone who walks into an Anythink feels welcome.”

Ask-WA(tch): Stats, Kudos and Comments for August 2009

September 3rd, 2009 by Ahniwa Posted in For Libraries | No Comments » Edit |

Ask-WA Statistics – August, 2009

Ask-WA maintained a busy service during the month of August, with email again outpacing chat service. In numbers:

• Email questions received: 3609
• Chat sessions requested: 3067
• Chat sessions accepted: 2599
• Qwidget requests (% of total): 789 (25.7%)

As a cooperative we maintained an answering percentage of 84.7% for the month, which is lower than in July but remains well over the goal rate of 75%. Keep up the good work! The email aspect of the service remains robust, and outpaced chat for the month. Qwidget traffic remains around 1/4th of the total chat traffic, with the main users continuing to be Seattle Public and UW Libraries.

Read the rest of this entry »

Statistics for the month of August, and more great comments from our users.

Check out the Ask-WA service here: http://ask.wa.gov