Wednesday, September 29, 2010

From the New York Times


The New York Times

September 26, 2010
Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries
By DAVID STREITFELD

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A private company in Maryland has taken over public libraries in ailing cities in California, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas, growing into the country’s fifth-largest library system.

Now the company, Library Systems & Services, has been hired for the first time to run a system in a relatively healthy city, setting off an intense and often acrimonious debate about the role of outsourcing in a ravaged economy.

A $4 million deal to run the three libraries here is a chance for the company to demonstrate that a dose of private management can be good for communities, whatever their financial situation. But in an era when outsourcing is most often an act of budget desperation — with janitors, police forces and even entire city halls farmed out in one town or another — the contract in Santa Clarita has touched a deep nerve and begun a round of second-guessing.

Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then?

“There’s this American flag, apple pie thing about libraries,” said Frank A. Pezzanite, the outsourcing company’s chief executive. He has pledged to save $1 million a year in Santa Clarita, mainly by cutting overhead and replacing unionized employees. “Somehow they have been put in the category of a sacred organization.”

The company, known as L.S.S.I., runs 14 library systems operating 63 locations. Its basic pitch to cities is that it fixes broken libraries — more often than not by cleaning house.

“A lot of libraries are atrocious,” Mr. Pezzanite said. “Their policies are all about job security. That’s why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We’re not running our company that way. You come to us, you’re going to have to work.”

The members of the Santa Clarita City Council who voted to hire L.S.S.I. acknowledge there was no immediate threat to the libraries. The council members say they want to ensure the libraries’ long-term survival in a state with increasingly shaky finances.

Until now, the three branch locations have been part of the Los Angeles County library system. Under the new contract, the branches will be withdrawn from county control and all operations — including hiring staff and buying books — ceded to L.S.S.I.

“The libraries are still going to be public libraries,” said the mayor pro tem, Marsha McLean. “When people say we’re privatizing libraries, that is just not a true statement, period.”

Library employees are furious about the contract. But the reaction has been mostly led by patrons who say they cannot imagine Santa Clarita with libraries run for profit.

“A library is the heart of the community,” said one opponent, Jane Hanson. “I’m in favor of private enterprise, but I can’t feel comfortable with what the city is doing here.”

Mrs. Hanson and her husband, Tom, go to their local branch every week or two to pick up tapes for the car and books to read after dinner. Mrs. Hanson recently checked out Willa Cather’s classic “Death Comes for the Archbishop,” although she was only mildly in favor of its episodic style; she has higher hopes for her current choice, on the shadowy world of North Korea.

The suggestion that a library is different — and somehow off limits to the outsourcing fever — has been echoed wherever L.S.S.I. has gone. The head of the county library system, Margaret Donnellan Todd, says L.S.S.I. is viewed as an unwelcome outsider.

“There is no local connection,” she said. “People are receiving superb service in Santa Clarita. I challenge that L.S.S.I. will be able to do much better.”

As a recent afternoon shaded into evening, there were more than a hundred patrons at the main Santa Clarita library. Students were doing their homework. Old men paged through newspapers. Children gathered up arm’s loads of picture books. It was a portrait of civic harmony and engagement.

Mrs. Hanson, who is 81 and has been a library patron for nearly 50 years, was so bothered by the outsourcing contract that she became involved in local politics for the first time since 1969, when she worked for a recall movement related to the Vietnam War.

She drew up a petition warning that the L.S.S.I. contract would result in “greater cost, fewer books and less access,” with “no benefit to the citizens.” Using a card table in front of the main library branch, she gathered 1,200 signatures in three weekends.

L.S.S.I. says none of Mrs. Hanson’s fears are warranted, but the anti-outsourcing forces continue to air their suspicions at private meetings and public forums, even wondering whether a recall election is feasible.

“Public libraries invoke images of our freedom to learn, a cornerstone of our democracy,” Deanna Hanashiro, a retired teacher, said at the most recent city council meeting.

Frank Ferry, a Santa Clarita councilman, dismisses the criticism as the work of the Service Employees International Union, which has 87 members in the libraries. The union has been distributing red shirts defending the status quo. “Union members out in red shirts in defense of union jobs,” Mr. Ferry said.

Library employees are often the most resistant to his company, said Mr. Pezzanite, a co-founder of L.S.S.I. — and, he suggested, for reasons that only reinforce the need for a new approach.

“Pensions crushed General Motors, and it is crushing the governments in California,” he said. While the company says it rehires many of the municipal librarians, they must be content with a 401(k) retirement fund and no pension.

L.S.S.I. got its start 30 years ago developing software for government use, then expanded into running libraries for federal agencies. In the mid-1990s, it moved into the municipal library market, and now, when ranked by number of branches, it places immediately after Los Angeles County, New York City, Chicago and the City of Los Angeles.

The company is majority owned by Islington Capital Partners, a private equity firm in Boston, and has about $35 million in annual revenue and 800 employees. Officials would not discuss the company’s profitability.

Some L.S.S.I. customers have ended their contracts, while in other places, opposition has faded with time. In Redding, Calif., Jim Ceragioli, a board member of the Friends of Shasta County Library, said he initially counted himself among the skeptics.

But he has since changed his mind. “I can’t think of anything that’s been lost,” Mr. Ceragioli said.

The library in Redding has expanded its services and hours. And the volunteers are still showing up — even if their assistance is now aiding a private company. “We volunteer more than ever now,” Mr. Ceragioli said.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Latest Book Review Online

My latest book review is now available online if you'd like to check it out. It is a review the Thomas Steinbeck book In the Shadow of the Cypress.

here is the web address:

http://www.ourcommunityfocus.com/view/full_story/9669911/article-In-the-Shadow-of-the-Cypress-by-Thomas-Steinbeck?instance=lead_story_left_column

There are also two other reviews available on the site with more back issues to come at some point in the future.

Top movies

Back in the day, we used to be a book/movie club. But nobody watched the movie selections, so we cut that out. We also used to be really into "top" lists. So in the spirit of the good old days, here is IMDb's top 250 movies of all time, based on user ratings

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

I have seen 71 of them.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

From Yahoo News


Banned Books Week: 10 banned books you might not expect

Pam Gaulin Pam Gaulin – Fri Sep 24, 2:30 pm ET

The pen is mightier than the sword and, apparently, it can also be more offensive. Many of us have read the most commonly banned and challenged classics, including "The Great Gatsby," "The Catcher in the Rye," "1984" and "Catch-22." Some of the other titles on the list of banned and challenged books may surprise you.

"Captain Underpants"

Some folks had their underwear in a bunch over this children's book series by Dav Pilkey. The "Captain Underpants" series -- about two fourth-graders and their superhero of a principal -- was one of the top 10 most frequently banned and challenged books for 2002, 2004 and 2005. The books were said to contain offensive language, to be sexually explicit and to be anti-family.

"The Lord of the Rings"

J.R.R Tolkien's book was burned, not in the fires of Mount Doom, but outside of a church in Alamogordo, N.M., in 2001 because it was viewed as "Satanic."

Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary

When it comes to banning books, even the dictionary gets no respect. The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary was pulled from the shelf of a school in Menifee, Calif. The offending term in the dictionary? "Oral sex." The entry references of the dictionary also included cunnilingus and fellatio, which were not cited as the reasons for pulling the dictionary off the shelf. Merriam-Webster has been publishing language reference books for more than 150 years. They were bound to offend someone along the way.

"Fahrenheit 451"

Could a book about censorship really be banned? Absolutely. Enter "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. The book has been banned by the Mississippi School District (1999). It's also No. 69 on the American Library Association's list of top banned/challenged books from 2000 to 2009.

Harry Potter series

One of the most surprising banned books sits at the No. 1 spot on the ALA list. It's not even a book. It's the entire Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. The Harry Potter series is to teens what "Star Wars" was to an entire generation of now-40-somethings. The series has been challenged for occultism, Satanism, violence, being anti-family and having religious viewpoint. The series is No. 1 on the ALA's most challenged book list for 2000 to 2009.

"The Grapes of Wrath"

John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" is not just another classic on the list. The book was originally banned in California due to obscenity, but the catalyst behind the banning was based more in embarrassment: The people in the region did not like how their area and the workers' situation was portrayed in the novel.

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Most parents of kids under 5 have seen Eric Carle's art accompanying the book by Bill Martin. The Texas Board of Education banned the book, in January 2010, because it thought the book was written by the same Bill Martin who penned the nonchildren's book "Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation."

"James and the Giant Peach"

Author Roald Dahl is no stranger to being banned. His book "The Witches" is on the ALA's 100 most frequently challenged books for 1990 to 1999 for its depictions of women and witches. But what about James and his peach? Was there witchcraft at work? James was disobedient and there was violence in the book.

American Heritage Dictionary (1969)

The American Heritage Dictionary of 1969 was also banned in 1978 from a library in Eldon, Mo., because of 39 objectionable words. The dictionary continued to cause trouble as far away as Alaska, where it was banned by the Anchorage School Board in 1987 for its inclusion of slang words, including "balls."

Grimm's Fairy Tales

Fairy tales have always held a precarious place in children's literature. On one side, readers have fairy-tale purists who lament the morals lost in fairy tales that have been too cleaned up. Others object to any violence in fairy tales. A couple of California school districts found a whole new reason to ban Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1989: misuse of alcohol. Little Red Riding Hood's basket for her grandmother includes wine. Maybe it wasn't a California red.

You Gormster!


For those wondering what the definition of this slang term is.

As given by urbandictionary.com:

1. Gormster

A low level insult for the mildly retarded.
You stupid gormster! You're not supposed to feed the dog soap!


2. Gormster

Someone who is Gormless but you want to use a differant, more interesting term. (eg. Putting 'ster' on the end) The advantage to using this insult is that no one will no one what it means! (Not a Guarantee)
Matt: Hey Jack, you smell funny!

Jack: You're a complete gormster Matt.

Matt: What?

More Nursery Rhymes

Just in case you wanted some more, here is a pretty good site. Not only does it have a bunch of nursery rhymes available but a good percentage of them include a brief history on the origins of the songs.

enjoy.

http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Oskar's Email



You may remember the character Oskar Schell from the Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (PHBC Jan 2010 book selection). I posted that I had attempted to email the character by sending a message to the email address that was given on a business card shown in the book.

The email was never returned (thus it was a good address) but I never received a response. I assumed it was a dummy account and no one ever checked it.

I was wrong.

A PHBC blog reader recently posted that they were going to attempt to contact him. Surprisingly Oskar replied within a day or two. While I am not going to share the private message shared between the two (though I very much appreciate the information being shared with me), I can assure you our reader's message was a bit more significant than the one I sent.

If you would like to attempt to contact Oskar, here is his email address:

oskar_schell@hotmail.com

PS- His reply, very impressively, was in character. But would you expect anything less?

Nursey Rhymes


For those reading The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse you, like I, might need some refreshing on how some of those nursery rhymes mentioned in the book went.

Enjoy.

Humpty Dumpty:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again!

Little Boy Blue:
Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.
Where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
He's under a haycock, fast asleep.
Will you wake him? No, not I,
For if I do, he's sure to cry.

Wee Willie Winkie:
Wee Willie Winkie
Runs through the town,
Upstairs and downstairs
In his nightgown.
Rapping at the windows,
Crying through the lock,
"Are the children all in bed?
For it's now eight o'clock.

Little Jack Horner:
Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating a mincemeat pie.
He stuck in his thumb
And pulled out a plum,
And said, "What a good boy am I!"

Jack Sprat:
Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean,
And so betwixt the two of them
They licked the platter clean

Little Tommy Tucker:
Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper,
What shall we give him? Brown bread and butter.
How shall he cut it without a knife?
How shall he marry without a wife?

Little Miss Muffett:
Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Georgie Porgie:
Georgie Porgie, puddin' and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.

Old Mother Hubbard:
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To fetch her poor dog a bone;
But when she came there
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.
She took a clean dish
To get him some tripe;
But when she came back
He was smoking a pipe.
She went to the grocer's
To buy him some fruit;
But when she came back
He was playing the flute.
She went to the baker's
To buy him some bread;
But when she came back
The poor dog was dead.
She went to the undertaker's
To buy him a coffin;
But when she came back
The poor dog was laughing.
She went to the hatter's
To buy him a hat;
But when she came back
He was feeding the cat.
The dame made a curtsey,
The dog made a bow;
The dame said, "Your servant."
The dog said, "Bow wow!"

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Pleasant Hill Outlook

This bi-monthly issue of Pleasant Hill Outlook has two very important articles/notices in it.

The first is the joining of the Pleasant Hill Library Fund with the Pleasant Hill Community Foundation. Their mission is to support the Pleasant Hill Library through fund raising, advocacy, and increased community awareness of the educational and cultural resources of the library.

For more information contact Katherine Bracken at 925-876-9713 or info@PHCommunityFoundation.org

The second is the City Council Candidates Forum on September 22nd at 7pm in the Council Chambers at 100 Gregory Lane. Contra Costa Times political editor Lisa Vorderbrueggen will be the debate moderator.

For more info contact the chamber at 925-687-0700


To download the current issue of Pleasant Hill Outlook go to this address:

http://www.ci.pleasant-hill.ca.us/Archive.aspx?ADID=708

New Website for Pleasant Hill Community Focus


Pleasant Hill Community Focus, which delivers 40,000 papers a month to Pleasant Hill and Martinez residents, has a new website. Its new address, www.ourcommunityfocus.com, is a huge improvement from it previous website. On their old site, users were only able to download a PDF of their current issue. On this new website, not only can you read all of their current articles online, but you can read much of their archived columns. One archived column you may be interested in is their book review section (written by someone you may be familiar with:).

Currently only the past two book reviews are available (What is the What, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) but the rest should be posted soon.

Here is a direct link to the book review section:
http://ourcommunityfocus.com/pages/columns_book_review

Thursday, September 2, 2010

September Book of the Month

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin



In Robert Rankin’s latest warped fantasy, a serial killer is murdering notable nursery rhyme characters and leaving chocolate calling cards at the scene of each crime. Fast, demented fairytale–noir action—winner of the SFX Magazine Award for Best Book of the Year.

Toy Town… now older, bigger, and certainly not wiser. The Old Rich, who have made their millions from the royalties on their world–famous nursery rhymes, are being murdered. One by one. Horribly. A psychopath is on the loose. He must be stopped at any cost. It’s a job for Toy Town’s only detective—but he’s missing, leaving only Eddie Bear, and his bestest friend Jack, to track down the mad killer. A hilarious, very irreverent fantasy from the cult creator of Web Site Story, The Sprouts of Wrath, and the five–book Brentford Trilogy.