Those who said libraries dead should eat their words

A CITY OF READERS
Toronto Star, Jan 17, 2008. Philip Marchand Entertainment Reporter
Like `everybody's living room,' libraries are vital to civic life, their supporters say.

Toronto culture has its ups and downs, but the city's libraries have always remained solid.

We seem to be, relatively speaking, a city of readers and our library system is supreme in North America – far overshadowing in total circulation, number of branches and number of visits, the library systems of such cities as Chicago and Los Angeles. continue reading

On the same shelf:

• Why We Absolutely Need To Care More About Library Funding
• So what do we lose when we lose libraries? -- Thought for the day
• Five Myths About the 'Information Age'

Library behind bars gets forced into closet

Oct 24, 2007 04:30 AM Joe Fiorito, Toronto Star
Darlene Soares helped a lot of guys escape from jail. Oh, relax. She put no files in cakes. She ran the library at the Toronto Jail. She gave out books.

Not any more.

We met in her apartment building the other day. She took me back to the beginning. "I was a legal secretary for 20 years. After I retired, I started working as a volunteer for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, at Old City Hall. One day we went over to the jail for a visit and I found myself filling out an application as a volunteer."

And then, almost just-like-that, the woman who had been running the library went on vacation and never came back, and Darlene had a library on her hands.
She said, "It was a mess in the beginning. There were empty shelves. There was no budget. I went to the Riverdale Library and asked for any books they were throwing out. I'd bring them home, clean them up, glue them, tape them, and bring them to jail in my bundle buggy." She became an expert at finding good used books for free; and in time – a nice touch, this – she began to get an annual donation of books from the Criminal Lawyers' Association. continue reading

Info courtesy [Found by Bookninja] @ Slow Reading

Indo-American Librarian Series - Dr. Sarla R. Murgai

"Professor Sarla Murgai came to the university from Chattanooga City College in 1969 when it was absorbed into UTC as a result of the UT/UC merger that year. She had been with the City College for a year, and when she came to UTC the library was in Fletcher Hall. Over the years she has worked for four different library deans, and two interim library heads. She notes that every Dean brought a different personality and perspective, view, and vision to the library and the campus, as well as to librarianship and campus goals."

"She once served as Head of Circulation, and was in that position when the university converted its catalog to the online VTLS system in the early 1980s. The biggest changes she’s seen in her thirty-six years at UTC have been the move to the new library building in 1974, the digitization of records, automation of circulation and reference databases, and the acquisition of over one hundred databases. Prior to coming to the United States, Dr. Murgai was teaching Library Science at the Women’s Polytechnic in Delhi, India. She had received her first library science degree from the University of Delhi, and received another from Atlanta University. She also received certification in medical librarianship from Emory University in Atlanta. UTC and Lupton Library has benefited from having Dr. Murgai serve the campus community in Lupton Library!" [ source ]
She completed her Ed.D. degree in Education from UTK in 1987. More about Sarla Murgai is on her Web site and at the Faculty profile

Contact:
Professor and Reference Librarian
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Dept., 6456, 615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga, TN USA 37403-2598
phone: 423-425-2672
fax: 423-425-4510

Good old Indian folk tales need a magic genie

New Delhi: Once upon a time, traditional folk tales from the Panchatantra or, say, stories of Akbar and Birbal used to be hugely popular with Indian children. But ask a kid today about her favourite book, and chances are she will name an Enid Blyton, a Nancy Drew, a Hardy Boy and - even more likely - a Harry Potter.

To give an example, the pre-bookings for the seventh edition of the Harry Potter series to be released July 21, is escalating at a rapid rate. The sixth in the series sold a smashing 160,000 copies in India last year.

The story is entirely different for Indian folk tales and other children's books. A predictable storyline, monotonous illustrations, lots of moral baggage and more importantly sloppy marketing have led to their taking a beating. continue