LaRue's Views

This digital archives comprises Library Director Jamie LaRue's newspaper columns from January 3, 1996 - August 26, 2010.

In general, they appeared on the dates shown in various Colorado Community Newspapers.

October 29, 2009 - pay me now or pay me later

Nationally, more than 2.3 million adults are in American jails or prisons -- more than one in every 100 adults. That costs taxpayers $50 billion a year.

Today, Colorado incarcerates some 38,273 people at an average annual cost of $27,000 per inmate.

October 22, 2009 - bark for books

When he was three years old, Caiden started to stutter. A lot of children do around that age, especially the smart ones.

Most of the time, kids grow out of it. It's a synchronization issue. Neurologically speaking, learning to match brain speed to vocal articulation is a surprisingly complex thing.

October 15, 2009 - read America!

It's fall, the time of library conferences. I've been invited to speak at several of these lately, which I do on my own time.

October 8, 2009 - knowledge is nothing to sneeze at

I am understandably reluctant to wade into the health care debate again, but this is just too good to resist.

October 1, 2009 - thank you, Castle Pines friends

October 1, 2009 – thank you Castle Pine friends

Last Saturday, September 19, 2009, we opened a new storefront library in Castle Pines North. (Address: 7437 Village Square Drive - #110, Castle Pines North.) Called "The Castle Pines Library," it's not very big: about 2500 square feet, with some of that taken up by bathrooms, storage space, a checkin area, an office, and a staff break room.

September 24, 2009 - stop doing it!

Recently I interviewed an author (Kate Lawrence, author of "The Practical Peacemaker") who made a beguiling argument: the path to peace begins with a simplified life.

September 17, 2009 - Pick 3, Spend 50

Recently, former DCL manager Peg Hooper emailed me a link to a fascinating campaign. It's called the 3/50 project (www.the350project.net) -- and it makes so much sense it's a wonder nobody thought of it before.

The tagline of the project is "saving the bricks and mortars our nation is built on." The whole idea is this (pulled from the project home page):

"What three independently owned businesses would you miss if they disappeared? Stop in. Say hello. Pick up something that brings a smile. Your purchases are what keeps those businesses around.

September 10, 2009 - welcome to Reloville!

Something magical happens to children. They grow from extraordinarily self-centered creatures (think of the toddler whose vocabulary centers around the words "no!" and "mine!") to members of a family, capable of both compassion and acts of genuine altruism.

I've been thinking about that after reading an article in Forbes Magazines called "America's 25 Best Places to Live," by Peter Kilborn. You can find it online at www.forbes.com/2009/07/07/relocate-relocation-cities-lifestyle-real-estate-affordable-moving_print.html. It's worth a read.

Here's the good news: of the top 25 places in the United States to relocate (usually in pursuit of a climb up the corporate ladder), three of them are in Douglas County. Coming in at number 4 is Parker. Number 5 is Castle Rock. Number 20 is Highlands Ranch.

September 3, 2009 - libraries should measure community impact

I've been thinking a lot lately about library development: how the public institution I serve has changed over time.

At the beginning of library development, the focus, the measures of success, are mostly about inputs. Is there enough money to hire staff, buy materials, build buildings, and invest in technology?

Assuming that those basic needs are met, then libraries start focusing on other kinds of measures: outputs. Internally, we use benchmarks. For instance, we divide the number of checkouts (or the number of new materials ordered and processed) by the number of people it took to do that. Then we compare it to last year's number. Objective: get more productive and efficient. (We have!)