BOOKBOY

Gleason Public Library (somewhere in Massachusetts) goes fine free.

Partly a simple economic decision as they spent more money collecting the fines than they received in fines:

Moreover, processing the monies collected from overdue books bears its own costs in terms of staff time, for collecting and reconciling accounts, and infrastructure such as change boxes and safes.

“Every transaction, which was often only 10 or 20 cents, had a cost associated with it,’’ Mollet said.

“At the rate we were collecting fines, the management cost was greater than the revenue.’’

But also a philosophical decision:

But to Mollet, the decision isn’t only pragmatic; it is also philosophical. “As an institution, we put a lot of emphasis on meeting the needs of the patron,’’ she said. “We look for ways to let people know this is their library. They’re already paying for it through their taxes.’’

The staff and trustees at the Gleason Public Library are also eager to eliminate any obstacles to reading, especially for children.

There is part of me that would love to see the end of library fines. I’m sure is would make a lot of people happy. There is also a part of me that fears I would stop dealing with people grumpy about late fines, and start dealing with people grumpy about the fact the book they are waiting for has not been returned even though it was due two weeks ago.

Patrick Rhone over at Minimal Mac has some nice things to say about cloud based ebook service booki.sh:

What was that? I thought I heard you say you were looking for a cloud based library for all of your DRM free ePub books. One that would allow you to read them on just about any compatible browser including iOS and Android. One where the books operate in much the same way when loaded in said browser as they would in iBooks or Kindle. Oh, and you said you wanted to be able to download these things for offline reading too?

OK, great. Got it. Click the link above and you can have all of that and more.

I’m going to presume he didn’t notice they had recently been bought by Overdrive. If you ask me, that casts a cloud (see what I did there?) over the future development of the booki.sh platform in favour of incorporating their technology into Overdrive products.

What a wonderful way to encourage kids learning to read.

The dogs that participate in the program have been trained through the TOUCH Program and selected by the Support Dogs staff based on the qualities that make them suitable for the program. These dogs are especially calm and unobtrusive and settle in as part of the class. The children view the dogs as lovable and non-judgmental, which are the keys to success in this program. Children have said that the dogs give them confidence because the dog does not make fun of them if they read slowly or mess up pronouncing a word. The dogs are great listeners and give the child a sense of comfort while reading. Children have been known to practice with their personal pets at home in preparation for the Paws for Reading dogs.

(hat tip to @library_vic)

Margo Lanagan, speaking on Radio National Books+ show Feb 18, 2012:

I think that fiction is about throwing up questions, I don’t think it’s about answering questions. I think fiction that answers questions and gives moral lessons is very dull to read. I like to finish a book feeling a little abuzz with the things that it’s made me think about rather than feeling, ‘right, I know the truth and I will carry that truth forward into my life’.

I think that part of fiction’s role is to prod and poke at uncomfortable areas of life to see what we think of them. To see if we can work out something about them or towards them, if we can gain something useful from the complications of them.

People coming and going constantly filter through Union Station, a working piece of the city’s history.

But in between being on the go, there can be plenty of waiting for a train or bus, and the Friends of the Worcester Public Library hope people take advantage of the downtime to read a book from The Give and Take, a bookshelf of free titles for people to peruse and even take with them.

I love this idea!

via Bookshelf