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November 30, 2009

Fire rips through Cliffside Park library

Monday, November 30, 2009
BY MARLENE NAANES
The Record
northjersery.com
STAFF WRITER

CLIFFSIDE PARK -- A fire ripped through the borough public library this morning, causing extensive damage to books and two offices inside, fire officials said.

Fire crews responded to an early morning fire at the Cliffside Park Public Library. The fire began about 7:15 a.m. at the library on Palisade Avenue just after a transformer outside the building exploded, said Fire Chief Anthony Lupica. The explosion likely sent a surge of electrical current into the building, setting an electrical panel on fire, he said.

The blaze burned for about an hour, causing damage to the main library and two offices. No one was injured.

"There's a lot of damage inside," Lupica said. "Between smoke and water, there's extensive damage."

The library will remained closed while the fire is under investigation. Check back for more information.

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November 24, 2009

Electronic access could solve security problem at Warren County Technical School

By Precious Petty
Express-times.com

November 20, 2009, 12:32AM

Officials say a new set of doors will likely solve security concerns for the Warren County Technical School without eliminating Franklin Township library branch patrons' ability to access a restroom.

Currently a set of doors connects the library and school, which houses the restroom used by library patrons. A recent security breach prompted officials to rethink the arrangement and the library was temporarily closed.

"I think we can work this out," Warren County Library Director Maureen Baker Wilkinson said. "It's just a matter of getting together."

New doors would feature an electronic access function. Only people with access cards would be able to enter the school. A buzzer system would be installed, as well.

Previously, officials seemed intent on hiring security guards to watch the entrance. Officials say that possibility hasn't been ruled out, but there is now more support for new doors.

Library, school and county officials are expected to meet in the coming weeks to decide on a course of action.

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Library celebrates additional space, services

November 24, 2009
c-n.com
EAST BRUNSWICK — The East Brunswick Public Library has announced the completion of a 2,000-square-foot “push out” that will provide more space for children’s programming, quiet reading and study and information on health issues.

A ribbon- cutting ceremony for the $230,000 capital project took place on Nov. 8.

Mayor David Stahl, Township Council members, the East Brunswick Public Library Board of Trustees, Friends of the Library and representatives from the Department of Aging were on hand.

Also celebrated was the newest addition to the Library family, A Novel Café, which recently began serving food, drinks and snacks at the Library.

For more information, call 732-390-6767 or go to The Library’s Web site at www.ebpl.org and click on “News & Events.”

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November 22, 2009

Main library in Flemington cutting its hours to cope with shortage of staff

nj.com

By Beverly S. McCarron
November 22, 2009, 8:06AM
FLEMINGTON--Blaming a shortage of staff, the Hunterdon County Library is curtailing hours in 2010.
The county-wide hiring freeze has left the library staff thin, and the library commission decided in a Friday meeting that its main branch on Route 12 cannot continue to stay open on Monday and Friday nights.

“We’ve been pushing this off,” said library Director Mark Titus.

After losing three librarians and three assistant librarians, and with another librarian retiring at the end of this year, Titus said the county’s library system simply won’t have enough staff to keep the main branch in Raritan Township open as many hours as in the past.

The commission unanimously approved the change, pending any contractual issues with the union.

Instead of closing at 9 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays, the main library building starting in January will close at 5 p.m. It also will open a half-hour later on weekdays, at 9 a.m. instead of 8:30 a.m.

This change of hours follows several months of Titus and the library commission members asking the freeholders to hire a replacement for the North County Branch in Clinton, which is losing its librarian to retirement.

But the departure of the North County librarian isn’t the only reason they are cutting hours, he said.

“It’s just the tipping point,” said Titus. “We have security issues in this building because we have been continuously losing personnel.”
The main branch of the library will still be open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
Titus said he chose to cut the hours from Monday and Friday evenings because they are the slowest, though he acknowledged that, no matter what, someone will be unhappy with the change.
Freeholder George Melick addressed the commission Friday morning, saying: “The thing that has brought us to this point is that we have a declining ratable base.”
In addition to property values going down, the county’s miscellaneous revenues have gone down, he said, except for the civil side of the sheriff’s office, where revenue is up due to increased foreclosures.
That means even if county departments like the library spend the same amount in 2010 as they did in 2009, the tax rate would go increase he said.
Because the county isn’t able to lay off workers protected by union contracts, downsizing by attrition is one of the few tools it has to cut costs, he said.
The county government has not replaced 31 people who left their county jobs this year

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November 20, 2009

Library group offers text search to 4.6M books

Posted on Fri, Nov. 20, 2009
The Associated Press

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - A group of major national research libraries says users now can search the full text of 1.6 billion pages from 4.6 million digitized volumes.

Last year, the University of Michigan and 24 other research libraries launched the HathiTrust Digital Library. The consortium said Thursday it's offering full-text search capability to all digitized works. Access to non-copyright books started in 2008.

The group says it adds hundreds of thousands of volumes monthly.

Participants include the University of California system; California Digital Library; Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue universities; and the universities of Chicago, Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin-Madison and Virginia.

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November 19, 2009

West Long Branch library to be dissolved, absorbed by county

App.com
By CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • November 18, 2009

WEST LONG BRANCH — If all goes according to plan, the borough library will be dissolved and the Poplar Avenue facility's collections and services would be absorbed by the Monmouth County Library system by the start of 2010.

According to Kenneth Sheinbaum, Monmouth County Library System director, the changeover is set to occur by Jan. 4 and is aided by the fact that the borough library has long been a member of the county system, and now would become an official branch of the system.
"We're hopeful we will be able to open as a branch of the county library the Monday after New Year's," he said. "We're just not anticipating a whole lot of problems. The hours will change a little bit but not substantially."

Because the county and the borough library share automation and software, they already are ahead of the game, said Sheinbaum. Patrons either will keep their library cards which will be reidentified as county cards or be issued new ones, he said.

Voters decided earlier this month, by more than a 2-to-1 margin, that they favored the change, which local officials were pushing as a way to save taxes. Because of a fluke in the system, said Borough Councilman J. Thomas DeBruin, local taxpayers were actually paying twice for library services.

Opponents of the move, such as the West Long Branch Library Board of Trustees, had an alternative. They wanted to sever ties with Monmouth County and join LMxAC, or Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium, a group of 55 libraries with a far larger collection than the Monmouth County system. Long Branch, Red Bank and Matawan-Aberdeen public libraries already are members, Carol Herskowitz, vice president of the West Long Branch library board, had said.

While disappointed with the borough vote, Herskowitz said it appears to have been solely a financial issue.

"It was very conclusive, and it was all about money," said Herskowitz of the Nov. 3 vote. "That was the bottom line. We are looking for a smooth transition."
The board of trustees will meet tonight, its first meeting since the vote, to discuss its own future. It could end up as some sort of advisory board or friends group, said Herskowitz, noting other county branches have such affiliations.

Sheinbaum said the county currently is working to bring the borough library personnel on board. Some will continue to work in the borough, and some will be transferred to library headquarters in Manalapan. Once they become county employees, they also will be free to apply for other positions as they become available, he noted.

"We have to process all the staff," he said. "We will go in and remap their catalog and do what conversations they need to do and that is it."

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Courthouse libraries in Morris and Sussex to be downsized

DailyRecord.com
By PEGGY WRIGHT • STAFF WRITER • November 19, 2009

The Internet and automated technology is claiming another casualty -- the law libraries in the Morris and Sussex County Superior courthouses.

Both libraries, which are open to the public and attorneys alike, will significantly be downsized in the near future for a savings of about $120,000, and their librarians will be reassigned to other court duties, said Michael Arnold, trial court administrator for the Morris-Sussex court vicinage.

The vicinage's ''other expenses'' category was reduced by $120,000 so the library downsizings seemed a prudent way to make up the shortfall, Arnold said. Also, due to the online availability of court forms and legal information packets made available at the courthouses to pro se litigants, the libraries these days see ''very few'' patrons.

''We'll have a public access computer terminal and we're keeping some series of (law) books but we'll have significantly-pared down versions of the libraries. Some of the series of books we have are very expensive and don't get much use,'' Arnold said.

Court staff in Morris County currently is working with the county buildings and grounds department on ways to convert the existing law library on the fourth floor of the courthouse in Morristown into a new courtroom.

The law library in Sussex County currently is situated on the first floor of the judicial complex in Newton.

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November 18, 2009

Bridgeton Public Library stays dry with a little help from its "Friends"

nj.com

By Matt Dunn
November 16, 2009, 7:32PM
BRIDGETON – The leaky roof of the Bridgeton Public Library will be repaired, thanks to the efforts of the library’s many “Friends.”

City council gave permission Monday to contract for renovation work to the public library in Bridgeton, after reporting that the “Save the Library!” group, along with the “Friends of the Bridgeton Library” group, has raised necessary funds for the repairs.

Norma De Noble, vice president of Friends of the Bridgeton Library, said over $31,000 was raised by private donors towards repairing the library’s leaky roof.

“People were very generous. We’ve had people donate as much as $5,000 toward the fund,” she said. “Our number one priority is to get the roof fixed so that there no more leaks.”

The Bridgeton library, located on East Commerce Street, is comprised of the former Cumberland National Bank building — constructed in 1816 — and an annex which was built onto the original structure in 1967.

The Bridgeton Historic District Commission previously gave permission for repairs on the roof, which De Noble said she hopes to get underway before winter.

A major concern is the library’s collection of Lenni Lenape artifacts.

The City of Bridgeton agreed Monday to insure the construction “of no less than $1 million in liability and workers compensation coverage.”

To learn that the fundraising target for the roof construction has been met is good news to supporters of the library.

Less than two weeks ago, library backers expressed concern to city council over whether the library would receive proper funding with a change in administration in Trenton, in the departure of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine after his defeat by Republican governor-elect Chris Christy.

The library’s board of directors contemplated closing the library earlier this month, but decided to delay the closing.

Raising money for further renovations to make the library handicap-accessible and more energy-efficient are both part of the future plans of “Save the Library!” and “Friends of the Bridgeton Library”.

Without knowledge of next year’s funding situation, the future of the library may not be set in stone; but, at least one battle has been won in the present.

“The response to our campaign was phenomenal,” De Noble said Monday.

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Teen donates 25,000 books to Trenton library

nj.com

By Carmen Cusido
November 16, 2009, 6:41PM

TRENTON — It all started with 17-year-old Lindsey Curewitz wanting to clean her room and get rid of some books.

The avid reader, who has read Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” four times, culled about 100 books from her shelves.

But she didn’t stop there.

Soon the Yardley teen had embarked on a summer campaign to collect about 10,000 books and donate them to the Trenton Free Public Library.

Curewitz called her collection effort “Books Going Places,” and accepted donations from individuals, friends, day camps, doctors’ offices, the Trenton Thunder and area corporations.

By the time she was done, she had amassed 25,000 titles, including books on tape, DVDs, young adult fiction and non-fiction and children’s books.

“Reading is a way to expand your horizon,” said Curewitz, a Pennsbury High School senior. “I saw that they had a need here, and I had all these books.”

Curewitz was honored Monday by library officials and Mayor Douglas Palmer, who presented the teen with a certificate for outstanding community service at Trenton’s library headquarters branch on Academy Street.

“I am shocked at the number she was able to get,” said Susan Sternberg, the assistant director of the Trenton Free Public Library. “It really speaks to her organizational ability.”
The previous largest donation of books the library received was 300, Sternberg said.

Some of the books will be sent to the library system’s five branches. Others, including art books worth hundreds of dollars, will be sold through Amazon.com, as part of a fundraising effort. Some will be sold to the public at the Friends of the Trenton Free Public Library Dec. 10 and 11. Sternberg said the money raised from the book sale will go into the Friends’ treasury, and they and the library administration will determine how it’ll be spent.

Sternberg said any remaining books will find a home within the state’s prison system, in particular Trenton State Prison.

“Lindsey just wanted to be assured that the books wouldn’t be in the trash,” Sternberg said. “We will definitely find a home for them.”

The teen began collecting books in June and finished in late September.

On Monday, her younger brother Max Curewitz, 15, who helped count the books and pack them in boxes, said he is proud of his sister. And Lindsey’s parents, Barry and Melissa, say their daughter has always loved to read. “We couldn’t pass a Barnes & Noble, even on vacation, without having to go in,” Melissa Curewitz said.

Lindsey Curewitz’s community service efforts don’t end with the library. She is a volunteer for various organizations, including the Jewish Community Youth Foundation, a philanthropy program for teens in grades 8-12, through the United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks. She is on JCYF’s advisory board, and helps decide where to allocate money she and other teens collect.

She also spent two weeks this summer in New Orleans as a member of the Mitzvah Corps., the teen service arm of the Union of Reform Judaism, to help rebuild a community school.

Curewitz is planning to study international law, and is applying to several colleges, including Harvard, Yale, Tulane, Brandeis and the University of Pittsburgh.

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Businessman Gives Town $20M Libary

aol.com

(Nov. 16) - For three decades residents of Townsend, Mass., could not raise the money needed for a new public library. Now they have a state-of-the-art facility valued at more than $20 million that was built and donated by a reclusive local executive.

Two years ago, Sterilite Chairman Albert Stone sent a letter to officials in Townsend, where his plastics manufacturing company is headquartered, offering up the library. No conditions, naming rights or requirements for matching funds were attached, reported the Boston Globe.

Residents of Townsend, Mass. now enjoy a large state-of-the-art library and senior center complex, made possible by local businessman Albert Stone. The donated facility is valued at over $20 million.The generous gift stunned townspeople, who primarily knew Stone as a fiercely private, and often gruff, local fixture.

The 22,000-square-foot complex was opened earlier this month and also houses a senior center and public meeting hall. The library boasts 56 computers plus wireless Internet access.
In his dedication speech -- a rare public appearance -- Stone talked about the importance of libraries, especially during an economic recession: "Libraries are the resources we turn to in tough times."

"Bar none, this is the gift of the century, and our good fortune to be receiving it," Townsend Selectmen Chairman David Chenelle said, according to Nashoba Publishing.

The library gift was not the only philanthropic effort by Stone. He had previously given Townsend a highway equipment garage, defibrillators, a playground and a building for the food pantry, the Globe reported.

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November 17, 2009

Terms of Digital Book Deal With Google Revised

nytimes.com
Nov. 14, 2009

Revised By BRAD STONE and MIGUEL HELFT

SAN FRANCISCO - Google and groups representing book publishers and authors filed a modified version of their controversial books settlement with a federal court on Friday. The changes would pave the way for other companies to license Google's vast digital collection of copyrighted out-of-print books, and might resolve Google's conflicts with European governments.

The settlement, for a 2005 lawsuit over Google's ambitious plan to digitize books from major American libraries, outlined a plan to create a comprehensive database of in-print and out-of-print works.
But the original agreement, primarily between Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, drew much criticism.

The Justice Department and others said Google was potentially violating copyright law, setting itself up to unfairly control access to electronic versions of older books and depriving authors and their heirs of proper compensation.

The revisions to the settlement primarily address the handling of so-called orphan works, the millions of books whose rights holders are unknown or cannot be found. The changes call for the appointment of an independent fiduciary, or trustee, who will be solely responsible for decisions regarding orphan works.

The trustee, with Congressional approval, can grant licenses to other companies who also want to sell these books, and will oversee the pool of unclaimed funds that they generate. If the money goes unclaimed for 10 years, according to the revised settlement, it will go to philanthropy and to an effort to locate rights holders. In the original settlement, unclaimed funds reverted to known rights holders after five years.

The changes also restrict the Google catalog to books published in the United States, Britain, Australia or Canada. That move is intended to resolve objections from the French and German governments, which complained that the settlement did not abide by copyright law in those countries.

The revised settlement could make it easier for other companies to compete with Google in offering their own digitized versions of older library books because it drops a provision that was widely interpreted as ensuring that no other company could get a better deal with authors and publishers than the one Google had struck.

"We're disappointed that we won't be able to provide access to as many books from as many countries through the settlement as a result of our modifications, but we look forward to continuing to work with rightsholders from around the world to fulfill our longstanding mission of increasing access to all the world's books," the engineering director for Google Book Search, Dan Clancy, wrote in a blog post on the company's Web site.

In the next week, Judge Denny Chin of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is expected to set a date for a fairness hearing, where arguments from both sides will be heard about whether or not to approve the settlement.

The changes have not placated all opponents of the original settlement. In a blog post on Friday night, the Open Book Alliance, a coalition whose members include Yahoo, Microsoft and Amazon, referred to the changes as a "sleight of hand" and said they did not address the "fundamental flaws" addressed by critics.

"This settlement remains a set-piece designed to serve the private commercial interests of Google and its partners," wrote Peter Brantley, co-founder of the alliance.

But the parties are hoping they will placate the concerns raised by the Justice Department, which in September asked a federal judge to reject the original $125 million agreement. While the decision on whether to approve the deal will be in the hands of Judge Chin, the Justice Department's opinion is an important factor.

Gina Talamona, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said that the department would review the filing, and that its investigation into possible anticompetitive practices involving the rights to digital books was continuing.

Google and its partners had hailed the original agreement, signed in October 2008, as a public good. They said it would allow Google to create an immense digital library that would expand access to millions of out-of-print books, while creating new ways for authors and publishers to profit from digital versions of their works.

Google's library would be searchable online, and users would have free access to 20 percent of the text in each book. Google would also sell subscriptions to the entire collection to universities and other institutions. Every public library in the United States would be able to offer its patrons free access to the full collection at one terminal. Users would be able to buy access to full texts at home. Google, authors and publishers would split all revenue generated through the system.

As part of the settlement, Google would pay to establish a Books Rights Registry, to be run by representatives of authors and publishers, that would administer payments.

But earlier this year, academics, legal scholars and some librarians expressed concern that the settlement would grant Google a virtual monopoly over orphan works, making it nearly impossible for anyone else to build a comprehensive digital library. Some librarians feared that without competition, Google would be free to raise prices arbitrarily.

Other critics said the agreement turned copyright law on its head by granting Google the license to profit from works unless rights holders objected. Some argued that orphan works authors and foreign authors were not properly represented by the Authors Guild. The proposed settlement prompted several hundred filings with the court, the vast majority opposing all or parts of the deal.

In a Sept. 18 filling, the Justice Department echoed many of the concerns. While saying that the settlement provided many benefits, it urged Judge Chin to reject it, saying it raised antitrust, class-action and copyright issues. But the Justice Department also encouraged the parties to work to modify the agreement to salvage its benefits and overcome its problems.

The Justice Department filing prompted the parties to withdraw the original agreement and revise it. =

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November 13, 2009

Warren County to relocate library branch in Independence Township

Express-times.com
By Bill Wichert
November 09, 2009, 1:25PM
The Northeast Branch of the Warren County Library system could soon be on the move.

Warren County freeholders are considering purchasing a Route 46 building in Independence
Express-Times File Photo | BRUCE WINTERMonika Vaccaro, of Allamuchy Township, volunteers at the Warren County Library Northeast Branch in Independence Township in 2000, placing books in their proper place, back on the shelves. Township in order to relocate the existing branch down the road. The building is the former home of a farm market.

The freeholders are expected to consider the introduction of an ordinance at their Tuesday meeting that would permit spending $1.1 million on the acquisition of the property and other related costs.

The existing branch, which opened in February 1993, has limited parking and poor access off the highway, officials said. When events are held, patrons have had to park along Route 46, according to Virginia Rutledge, chairwoman of the Warren County Library Commission.

"It'll service that area a lot better than it has been," Rutledge said. "It's a wonderful library, but it's just too small."

The proposed branch building, which is owned by Ralph and Kathleen Cerminara, would mark the first new branch location within the county's library system in nearly 15 years. County Administrator Steve Marvin said the county hopes to close on the building by the end of next month and open the new branch sometime next year.

The county freeholders are set to consider the capital ordinance and a resolution approving the sale 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Wayne Dumont, Jr. Administration Building, 165 Route 519 South in White Township.

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November 9, 2009

It's a whole new Denville library - but you'd never know it from the outside

DailyRecord.com

By TEHANI SCHNEIDER • STAFF WRITER • November 9, 2009

From the outside, the brick building on Diamond Spring Road still looks like the old, run-of-the-mill facility.

But inside the Denville Public Library, the newly transformed interior — the result of approximately $1.6 million in renovations to the 9,900 square-foot facility — is visually stunning.

"It was very open, but very blah," said library director Betsy Kanouse, of the former interior. "No uniqueness, no personality."

The 25 year-old building also had weathered carpeting, poor lighting, an inefficient children's room and drafty windows, said Councilman Tom Andes.

Those problems were quickly solved in 2005 when the library board of trustees hired Dennis Kowal Architects, a Somerville-based firm that specializes in library design.

The result? A modernized facility that incorporates Denville's attributes while effectively using the space and natural surroudings. Gone is the reader's nook in the back, hidden from view by rows of bookshelves. In its place, a designated children's room, complete with a sunny yellow playhouse and picture windows with a view of the woods.

The new circulation and reference desks feature wooden arbors accentuated with soft pendant lighting. And other areas boast their own unique touches, including stone columns in the teen's lounge and an abstract ceiling with an inverted boat design in the adult reading room.

Even the library's meeting space was overhauled and converted into a theater area, with plush red carpet, a flat-screen TV, and portholes to fit the theme of lakes within the township.

In addition to the nautical theme, the architects said the overall look also features Denville's other unique assets, with cultured stones representing rural areas.

''It's a beautiful lakeside community,'' said Susan Kowal, who co-designed the space with her husband, Dennis and fellow architect Kelly Smozanek. ''We wanted to bring that in here and have subtle details throughout.''

The library board raised half the funding for the project, while the township council approved a bond ordinance for the total cost in 2008.

More than 40 residents joined township officials and local dignitaries, including Freeholder Director Gene Feyl, a former Denville mayor, and state Sen. Anthony R. Bucco, R-Boonton, for a re-dedication ceremony and celebration on Sunday afternoon. Library board President Rose Ann Cotreau cut the ribbon, while Council President Chris Dour spoke on behalf of the governing body. Mayor Ted Hussa was unable to attend the ceremony because of a prior commitment to the New Jersey National Guard.

Dour praised the library board, designers and contractors for their combined work on the project.

''When you see the amount of information that is here, the wealth of space that is here, it's going to be a beautiful metamorphosis,'' he said. ''It's a great, inviting place that you'll want to spend more time in.''

The library remained open during construction of the project, which began by Wallington-based Brahma Construction Corp. this past January and ended in late September.

"It's much more acclimated for reading," said parent Iris Drey said, as she held her son, Stefan Prvcilovich, 8, on her lap, in the children's room. "We come here all the time. We've very avid readers."

Dennis Kowal said the biggest challenge was working with the existing space.

"It should be timeless," said Kowal, who previously designed the libraries in Mount Olive and Chester. "There's classic elements but it's a very contemporary feeling.."

And the community of 16,000 has responded favorably to the new facility, with 248 new users alone in October, said Kanouse.

''Our (monthly) average is about 20 (new users),'' she said. ''That new stat just jumps out at you.''

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November 5, 2009

Franklin branch of Warren County Library reaches deal with Warren Technical School to resolve security issues

By Express-Times staff
October 29, 2009, 12:32AM

The 20th anniversary of the Franklin Township branch of the Warren County Library today will also serve as a grand reopening after a one-week shutdown due to security issues.

Warren County Technical School and the library are connected by a pair of doors and school administrators ordered those doors locked last week.

With the doors locked, library staff and patrons do not have access to the bathrooms in the school and the library does not have an emergency exit.

In an agreement reached Wednesday, the school will hire security guards to watch both the school's main entrance and the hallway that connects the two buildings, according to officials' descriptions of the deal.

"The library seems to be comfortable with this and I'm happy with it," Superintendent Robert Glowacky said. "We'll pay for it to get it started."

While the agreement allows the library to open immediately, the guards have not been hired. Glowacky said they hope to fill the positions with retired law enforcement officers.

A cake party marking the anniversary and reopening is scheduled for noon, according to Library Director Maureen Baker Wilkinson.

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Ohio voters OK new taxes for 30 library systems

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Voters in a number of Ohio communities came to the aid of public libraries that have been cutting hours and staff due to state budget cuts.

Levies were approved Tuesday to support 30 library systems, including one of the state's largest. The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County expects to receive $100 million over five years through a property tax measure that will cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $30 a year.

"We are just so thankful that the community felt strongly enough about libraries that they were willing to give us this level of support and take on an additional tax to make sure we could keep our libraries open," said Kim Fender, the Cincinnati library's executive director.

Fender said defeat of the levy would have meant reduced hours and possible closure of half of the system's 40 branches.

Eight library measures passed in the Dayton area, including one to provide $13.6 million annually for the Dayton Metro Library. Director Tim Kambitsch says the vote confirms people think libraries are important.

The Ohio Library Council had estimated that at least 15 percent of the state's 251 systems had levies or a bond issue on Tuesday's ballot and said only seven levies and one bond issue failed.

The number of library levies on Tuesday's ballot was the highest number sought by libraries at one time in the 30 years the Ohio Library Council has kept records.

"This was an unprecedented show of support for libraries, particularly in this economic situation," said Douglas Evans, the council's executive director.

He said the losses were by slim margins, and he expects many of those libraries to try again in the May election.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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LF Library holding book drive for kids in need

Thursday, November 5, 2009
BY SUE TOTH
Passaic Valley Today
CORRESPONDENT

LITTLE FALLS — With the holiday season right around the corner, the Little Falls Public Library is again collecting children's books for donations to youth who do not have easy access them.

Books are being collected through the New Jersey Library Association's (NJLA) annual Books for Kids campaign. Books for children aged infant through teen are welcome.

According to Mary Louise Helwig-Rodriguez, the Little Falls library has participated in this program for several years now, with great success.

"Since we were under construction last year, we did not participate in the program," Helwig-Rodriguez said. "But there was one year that we received more than 1,000 books. That was a tremendous year."

Once the books are collected, they are packed and shipped to the NJLA magnet library in Paterson. From there, they are delivered to children who cannot easily obtain books.

"We also give some to different charities around the area," Helwig-Rodriguez said. "We have given some to shelters and mother and child charities, and some to the Paterson schools."

The library publicizes the collection mostly through word of mouth, and a display at the library.

"Donations have been small so far this year, but it's early yet," Helwig-Rodriguez said. "People often wait till the last minute for things like this, so I'm hoping we'll have a lot more donations by the end of November."

For more information on the book donation effort, call the library at 973-256-2784, or e-mail Helwig-Rodriguez at helwig@littlefallslibrary.com.

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Swedesboro Branch Library breaks ground for 3,000-foot addition

NJ.COM

Friday, October 30, 2009
By Jessica Driscoll
jdriscoll@sjnewsco.com
SWEDESBORO The Gloucester County Library System and the borough broke ground Thursday to expand the Swedesboro Branch Library which serves more than 10,000 residents in Swedesboro and Woolwich Township.

The library which is currently 2,500-square-feet needs space for programs and special events, a larger children's area, a meeting room for the community, additional space for audiobooks, DVDs and CDs, more computers to meet the demands of the public and more seating.

A 3,000-square-foot addition will be added to the existing building which has housed the library since 1944. The Swedesboro Library is one of the oldest in the state, founded in 1783, and had several homes in its history.

"It's another great day in Swedesboro and what makes this day so special are the efforts of the Friends of the Library that have brought us to this point," said Mayor Thomas Fromm. "We appreciate that you stood up for this town and its need for the library."

"All the effort that has been made to see this come to fruition is to be admired," said Christopher Powell, chair of the Gloucester County Library Commission. "This is one of the oldest libraries in the New Jersey Library system and it is certainly time for an expansion.

The new addition will be on two floors because of limited space at the current site and the upper floor will be level with the main floor of the library. The rear wall will be removed to create a clear view of the new space from the library's entrance on Kings Highway and the rear wall of the addition will have a large picture window for natural light. An elevator and stairwell will lead to the lower level of the addition which will include the meeting room, new restrooms, a new HVAC system, a mechanical room for the elevator, a kitchen and room for a community art exhibit. An exterior exit from the lower level will be handicapped-accessible and will lead to the rear parking lot. The existing mezzanine of the library will be used for storage, the current circulation desk will be expanded and furniture for additional computers will be provided.

Cost estimates for the rebuilding total $902,456, including $823,662 for construction and $78,794 for shelving, equipment and furniture.

"This is a wonderful thing to happen for Swedesboro," said Associate State Librarian Tina Keresztury. "A library is the heart and cornerstone of a community and it's going to do so much for the town."

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Security concerns shut library branch in Franklin Township

NJ.COM
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Kurt Bresswein
FOR THE STAR-LEDGER
Security concerns at the building housing Warren Tech and the Warren County Library Franklin Township Branch led to the library's indefinite closure last week.

For the 20 years the facilities shared a building -- an anniversary celebration has been canceled because of the situation -- library patrons used two doors leading to the school to access restrooms. The doors also served as the library's emergency exits.

Warren County Technical School administrators rethought that arrangement after an incident this month that chief school administrator Robert Glowacky declined to describe.

"When this partnership started back in 1988, no one foresaw the changes in security protocol that we're now faced with," he said Friday, adding the school has since installed security cameras and limited access through intercoms and a buzzer system.

"I can have this school locked down," he continued. "You can actually walk in the main library door, walk through the library, walk through another set of doors and you're in the school. So we had to address that issue of securing at least my interior doors."

Glowacky suggested a buzzer system at the library entrance could begin to solve the dispute by requiring patrons to show a library card. Warren County Library director Maureen Baker Wilkinson has said no to that, pointing to guidelines on school-library joint-use facility access from the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, New Jersey Library Association and New Jersey State Library. They warn of civil rights liability in denying access to everyone.

"The basic problem is while we both want to protect children, we have very different mandates," she said. "We have to have open doors to our facilities."

Then there is the matter of restroom access. "That's going to be a difficult thing to solve," Wilkinson said. "When you have a bunch of 2-year-olds in for story time, not having access to bathrooms will be an issue for some parents."

The library branch closed Wednesday after Warren County fire marshal Joe Lake ruled it cannot operate without the doors to Warren Tech remaining open.

"With the present situation they do not have the correct number of emergency exits for the occupancy level," Lake said Friday. "You've either got to have more exits or you've got to be closed."

Wilkinson has moved the branch's eight union workers to the headquarters, on Hardwick Street in Belvidere. On Thursday, staff moved newer materials and items patrons had reserved to the headquarters as well. Patrons can use drop boxes outside the Franklin Township branch, and library administrators are considering parking one of two county bookmobiles at the branch to return some level of service there.

Students at Warren Tech continue to use the branch as their library, but only for studying, Glowacky said. They are not allowed to take items out in the absence of staff to manage the collection.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at (610) 258-7171 or kbresswein@express-times.com.

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Hunterdon County Library may have to open late, shut early as of Jan. 1

NJ.COM

By Warren Cooper
November 05, 2009, 4:21PM
Hours at the Route 12 county library could change dramatically on Jan. 1, opening later on weekdays and closing early on Mondays and Fridays.

On Wednesday, the Freeholders told Library Director Mark Titus he could not hire someone to replace North Branch supervising librarian Barbara Riesenfeld, who is set to retire at the end of this year.

The Freeholders’ hiring freeze has thawed slightly over recent months, particularly in the Department of Human Services where the recession has increased the workload in several divisions. But that hasn't extended to all departments.

According to Freeholder Ron Sworen, “The library is down more people than any other group.” The Freeholders have not allowed the library to replace any of a half dozen people who have left this year, three librarians and three library assistants.

On Oct. 20, Library Commission Director Tom Valasek told the Freeholders that those employees represented 139 hours of staffing weekly.

According to Titus, the Freeholders' decision means he’ll have to assign one of three supervising librarians at the Route 12 headquarters to the sole North Branch post. That loss, added to the existing staffing shortages means there’s insufficient personnel to cover the existing schedule there.

After analyzing library patrons’ usage patterns and taking into consideration the impact of union contracts on shift schedules, Titus determined that the library would have to close at 5 p.m. on Monday and Friday and open a half hour later, at 9 a.m., Monday through Friday. The schedule will go into effect on Jan. 1, he said, unless the Freeholders change their minds.

Sworen said he opposed the move, but was outnumbered. “We voted to have them move the supervising librarian to see if it would work,” said Sworen. “If it doesn’t,” he said, “they’ll come back before the board.”

After all the effort that has gone into expanding programs at the library, Titus finds the prospect of cutting back discouraging. “Friday night has become a big community night,” he said. “Service and programs will have to be scaled back. We’ll have to find different ways to meet those needs.”

What those ways might be, he couldn’t say.

“We’re kind of at the tipping point right now and trying to hang on as long as we can,” he said.

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Job Hunting with Social Networking at Scotch Plains Public Library

c-n.com

Jenny Lichtenwalner • Reader Submitted • November 4, 2009

Job Hunting with Social Networking at Scotch Plains Public Library
For Immediate Release:
SCOTCH PLAINS: Take your job search to the next level! Learn how to leverage social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and more. Amy J. Kearns, MLIS, tech guru, will show you how and why to create your online identity for today's job search!
This presentation, a part of the Scotch Plains Public Library's monthly Career Transition Networking Group, will be held on Monday, November 23rd at 7:00 PM.
Amy J. Kearns, MLIS is the Program Coordinator at the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative and is a part- time teacher at Rutgers. She is also the Past President if the New Jersey Library Association's information Technology Section. She is a frequent speaker on technology topics.
Interested participants are asked to pre-register for this event by going to our web site, http://www.scotlib.org and clicking on Events, by calling 908-322-5007 x204, or by sending an e-mail to library@scotlib.org.
The presentation will be held in the Community Room, on the lower level of the Library. All programs at the Library are free and open to all interested participants. The Scotch Plains Library is located at 1927 Bartle Avenue, one block from Park Avenue in the center of town. For further information or directions, please call 908-322-5007.

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November 4, 2009

Book lover sells home for new community library

northjersey.com
Monday, November 2, 2009
Last updated: Monday November 2, 2009, 10:24 AM
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
The Record
STAFF WRITER
WEST MILFORD — Edna Finn reads about six hours a day, so it's only fitting the house she has lived in for 70 years will one day become the site of a new community library.
Finn, 90, is selling the township her home, the store next to it and the 1 1/2 acres they sit on for $500,000. In exchange, she will live in the house, on Union Valley Road next to town hall, until her death.

"I really wasn't thinking about selling — I had never given any thought to what would happen to the house once I was gone," Finn said in her living room, where she spends most days reading and watching people pass on the busy street. "But when one of my sons said he was approached about selling so the town could build a new library, I thought about it and realized yes, that's a good thing."

Buying the site ends a decades-long search for a location to expand or replace West Milford's 6,500-square-foot library, which is so crowded that all the books can't be displayed at once.
Library board trustees have in the past contended with failed referendum attempts, a lack of funding and, finally, restrictions from the Highlands Act for new construction.
But this time it looks as though trustees will prevail. With the town council's support and bonding, the library board will use $2 million it has saved for the new project and pay off the bonds with donations and fund-raisers, said Douglas Ott, president of the board.
"We worked very hard for this," Ott said. "There was terrific cooperation between the council, the board and the residents — and what makes it even better is that no tax dollars will be used."

The new building will be constructed on land behind Finn's house and the store razed for the driveway. The future of Finn's house has not been determined yet. The township will take over the old library and move offices currently housed in the town hall basement that are not handicapped-accessible into that structure.
Ott said engineering and architectural work needs to be done before he will have cost estimates for the new library.
Back in 2001, trustees said the price for a new building ranged between $3.2 million and $4 million.
But before any construction can begin, approval is needed from the state Highlands Council, since the entire town sits in the designated preservation area for watershed land.
Mayor Bettina Bieri and other local officials who met with state representatives several months ago said they were given the impression that a library would be approved, though the town still has to go through the permit process.

Although Finn's Cape Cod-style home, built in 1927 by her in-laws, is not an official historic building, it holds a place in township history, as does Finn.
When she married her husband, Jimmy Finn, Edna moved into the house with him and his parents, who had built the house and store.
They raised six children who eventually gave her eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Jimmy, a local firefighter for decades and a fire chief for 12 years, died in 1995.
Edna did her part for the fire department as well. For almost 30 years, beginning in the 1940s, when she was at home raising her children, she had a phone residents would call to report a fire. When a call came in, she would walk to the new station two doors away and hit a switch to activate the siren.
"Then I wrote the address on a blackboard and when the men came to the firehouse, they knew where to go," Finn explained. "Later we had a switch here in the basement for a while that would sound the siren."

As she aged, many suggested she move into an assisted-living center, but she never considered leaving her home. Although she needs the help of a walker, Finn said "I can go to a window on any side of the house and see a different view. Why would I want to leave?"
Her three-bedroom, two-bath house has had various improvements over the years, but the footprint hasn't been altered. Her children help with the upkeep, and the house is filled with her books as well as toy trucks, houses and saltwater fish tanks that her son, Edward Finn, collects.

Her family — including Edward, who lives with her — will have six months to remove items from the property after her death.
"I don't know where I'm going to go when I have to move out," said Edward Finn, who works for the local school district. "I'll think about it then."
E-mail: williamsb@northjersey.com

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