Tag: libraries
Ask Slashdot: Should Libraries Eliminate Fines for Overdue Books?
Fines account for less than 1 percent of Chicago Public Library’s revenue stream, and there is also a collection cost in terms of staff time, keeping cash on hand, banking and accounting. The San Diego library system did a detailed study and found the costs were higher than the fines collected, says Molloy.
And this week the King County Library System in Washington state — serving one million patrons in 50 libraries — joined the trend, announcing that it would end all late fines for overdue books.
A local newspaper summarized the results of a six-month review by library staff presented to the Board of Trustees:
– In recent years, fines made up less than 1% of KCLS’ operating budget.
– Late fine revenue continues to decrease over time. This trend correlates with patrons’ interest in more digital and fewer physical items. Digital titles return automatically and do not accrue late fines.
– Collecting fines from patrons also has costs. Associated expenses include staff time, payment processing fees, printing notices and more.
– A majority of peer libraries have eliminated late fines.
Now Slashdot reader robotvoice writes:
Library fines were assessed since early last century as an incentive for patrons to return materials and “be responsible.” However, many studies have found that fines disproportionately affect the poor and disadvantaged in our society…
I have collected several anecdotes of dedicated library patrons who were locked out of borrowing because of excessive and punitive fines… I get daily use and enjoyment from library books and materials. While I personally have been scrupulous about paying fines — until they were eliminated — I support the idea that libraries are there to help those with the least access.
What do you think?
Share your own thoughts in the comments. Should libraries eliminate fines for overdue books?
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
10 Most Haunted Libraries In The UK
Missouri Reps Vote To Completely Defund State’s Public Libraries
ACLU-MO filed the suit on behalf of the Missouri Association of School Librarians and the Missouri Library Association (MLA) in an effort to overturn a state law passed in 2022 that bans sexually explicit material from schools. Since it was first enacted in August, librarians and other educators have faced misdemeanor charges punishable by up to a year in jail or a $2,000 fine for giving students access to books the state has deemed sexually explicit. The Missouri law defined (PDF) explicit sexual material as images “showing human masturbation, deviate sexual intercourse,” “sexual intercourse, direct physical stimulation of genitals, sadomasochistic abuse,” or showing human genitals. The lawsuit claims that school districts have been pulling books from their shelves.
“The house budget committee’s choice to retaliate against two private, volunteer-led organizations by punishing the patrons of Missouri’s public libraries is abhorrent,” Tom Bastian, deputy director for communications for ACLU-MO said in a statement to Motherboard. Like in all ACLU cases, the organization is not charging the two Missouri library groups for services. Both library organizations are also run by volunteers — every state has an equivalent of these two organizations that serve public and school libraries. In other words, a politician either lied or didn’t have his facts straight, and now 160 library districts risk losing state aid in June. “State Aid helps libraries provide relevant collections, literacy based programming, and technology resources to their communities,” Otter Bowman, president of the MLA told Motherboard in a statement. “Our rural libraries rely the most heavily on this funding to serve their communities, and they will be crippled by this drastic budget cut.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple Music Users Report Seeing Other People’s Playlists in Their Libraries
Redditor adh1003, who contacted MacRumors about the issue, has compiled several reports from users complaining about the appearance of strange playlists in the app that they do not recognize. MacRumors has since found other posts on Reddit from users reporting the same behavior.
In some cases, unknown playlists have been merged with users’ existing playlists. In other cases, users’ playlists have gone missing or been replaced by unrecognized ones.
Some users have expressed concerns that their Apple accounts have been hacked, but the more likely cause of the issue is an unspecified problem with Apple’s iCloud server. Unsyncing and then re-syncing iCloud for the Music app (Settings -> Apple ID -> iCloud -> Show All) has worked for a handful of users, but not all.
Based on reports, the appearance of unrecognized playlists is only occurring in the Music app for iPhone, with the Music app for macOS remaining unaffected. User reports regarding the issue date back to mid February, suggesting the problem could be related to the release of iOS 16.3.1, which included a bug fix for iCloud settings.
Some users have contacted Apple support to resolve the issue but none have reported success. We’ve contacted Apple about the problem and will update this article if we learn more.
The issue is reminiscent of another iCloud bug that occurred last year in which some users reported videos and images from strangers appearing in their Photos library.
This article, “Apple Music Users Report Seeing Other People’s Playlists in Their Libraries” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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Libraries Are Launching Their Own Local Music Streaming Platforms
Now, public libraries in Pittsburgh, Nashville, Fort Worth, and most recently New Orleans have launched their own community-oriented streaming services using MUSICat’s open source software. Joshua Smith works at New Orleans Public Library and has been embedded in the city’s rich music scene for over a decade. He oversaw the launch of Crescent City Sounds with help from a team of curators that represent local artists and business owners, music journalists and historians and more. “They helped me get the word out to the music community,” Smith told Motherboard, noting that their community status helped spread the word that the library now accepts digital music submissions. Smith says that for this first round, the curators accepted albums from artists that were released in the last five years, and that while living within city limits wasn’t necessarily a deal breaker, not gigging regularly in the area was. To be considered, applicants needed to submit at least one track from their album. […] He says each selected artist received a $250 honorarium to license their music to the New Orleans Public Library for five years — a far cry from the fractions-of-a-penny per stream paid to independent artists by platforms like Spotify. This honorarium and licensing agreement is roughly the standard for public libraries following Rabble’s process model. Austin does insist that libraries using MUSICat meet the basic criteria of paying artists to license their work to their libraries. But for everything else, Austin notes that these pre-established models are guidelines, not guardrails.
One example of a public library that took MUSICat and ran with it is Capital City Records — the music streaming platform of the Edmonton Public Library in Alberta, Canada. An early adopter of MUSICat, the library’s collection has grown to amass over 200 local musicians. The project also created opportunities for the library to engage in spin-off projects like limited run of vinyl pressings and running library-focused music events throughout the city. While over 2,000 artists are featured on one of MUSICat’s music platforms, Austin says the company wants to continue forming partnerships with libraries on the local level. So for music lovers looking to jump ship from Spotify, he has a clear message: “This is not Spotify for libraries,” Austin said. “It’s a little different. The localness is kind of key. I don’t think we could, for example, use the same strategy on the same fee to license on aggregate collection, which was all the local music from all the libraries available on the music hat app, right, like something like that would need to, it would need to be about the local collections and take people to them and let them play that music in context.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The Importance of Accessibility in Financial Charting Libraries
Greetings, fintech enthusiasts and gurus, there’s something important we need to talk about. Accessibility. We see ramps for wheelchairs, Braille…
The post The Importance of Accessibility in Financial Charting Libraries appeared first on TechRound.