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.
June 11, 2009 - money matters
This week I'd like to do a roundup of some library financial issues.
First, effective June 1, we doubled the fines for overdue materials. We continue to offer a few days grace for such materials -- and if you give us your email address, we'll even remind you to bring things back the day before they are due.
In brief, fines for most materials went from a nickel a day to a dime a day. Our fines do max out for most materials at $5 per item. While this probably won't be a big money maker for us, we hope it will encourage people to help us keep our materials moving. There's a lot of demand for them these days.
June 4, 2009 - Colorado public libraries share ideas
Once a year, planned about 9 months in advance, the directors of Colorado's public libraries get together for an afternoon, an evening, and a morning to have frank conversations about what's going on in our operations, our communities, and our profession. This confabulation always happens around Memorial Day, when the rates of mountain lodges are cheap. (We hold our meetings on the Western Slope as a convenience to the many geographically isolated libraries who do such good work the other side of the Rockies.)
Most of Colorado's public libraries serve small communities. But big or small, there were some trends:
May 28, 2009 - there's a world of librarians
I just returned from the final "Members Council" meeting of the international library company, OCLC. Henceforth, it will move to a model based on new regional and global councils. It's the end of one era, and the beginning of another.
May 21, 2009 - copyright is an outrage!
A friend tells me that the local political party dominating his hometown has a toggle switch: outrage ON. Outrage OFF.
Our experiment today is to see which of these real life library situations flips your switch.
May 14, 2009 - Libraries mean business
by Rochelle Logan and Jamie LaRue
A couple of years ago the Douglas County Manager of Economic Development, Meme Martin, met with library representatives to talk about the business databases we buy. She wanted to know if we would consider augmenting those subscription services to support new "economic gardening" efforts at Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock.
Our interest was piqued. We wanted to know more about economic gardening. (It means, in brief, growing the seeds of businesses that are already planted in the local community.)
Libraries exist to serve their communities -- residents and business owners alike. And we're always interested in mutually beneficial partnerships.
April 23, 2009 - do you fear change?
"Change is inevitable. Change for the better is a full-time job." Adlai E. Stevenson.
People keep telling me that "no one wants or likes change." That's not how I see it.
I used to do workshops that started like this: "I'm going to name some job factors, and I want you to tell me if you want MORE, LESS, DIFFERENT,
or if this factor is ABOUT RIGHT.
* Tools (computers, software, or any other device or technology)
* Hours
* Benefits
* Pay
* Supervisors
* Workload
and so on.
April 16, 2009 - Tim Miller tweets!
[The library employs a host of wonderful people, and it's fun to see what they're up to. This week, library employee Tim Miller talks about about living in Twitter Town. - Jamie LaRue]
I've only been a citizen of what some people call "Twitter Town" for about a week now, and I love it already. My web browser always has a Twitter tab up. On The Net, this electronic tossed salad of people,places, institutions, and bots goes by the domain name twitter.com. If you haven't joined this quickly growing community of "Tweeters"already, sign up now.
April 9, 2009 - imagine the post-Kindle public library building
I can think of two, maybe three times before when the technology of text has proven disruptive.
1. Gutenberg. The widespread, rapid and inexpensive printing of the Bible let people read it themselves, bypassing the middleman of the priest. Consequence: the Protestant Reformation.
2. Broadsides. The blogs of their day (the American Colonial period), broadsides provided cheap and subversive entertainment for the masses. They also fomented enough anti-Anglican rebellion to result in the Revolutionary War.
