The Stranger Said Boo

There is a ton of controversy going around the library right now, for several reasons. Our central branch had a re-structure of employees. They moved people around, changed managers, moved managers out to branches, combined or split apart departments, etc. None of this really affects us out in the Branches, so we are bystanders in this and can't really understand what they are going through down there. Some people seem fine with it, while others hate it vehemently.

We also have some system wide changes coming up, as you may have seen in the news. The Seattle Times, The PI Book Blog and KUOW all covered our proposed changes to the Code of Conduct. These are basically rules which patrons should observe while using the library to ensure privacy, safety and well being for all present and the changes will make these rules clear as well as the consequences for breaking them. There has been a lot of support for the changes, both by staff and the public, although there are those who feel that the rules affect certain populations more than others.

Yesterday, The Stranger decided to take that stance in an article that was actually about something else. I suppose it helps make their case that we are a homeless and immigrant hating organization. This article exposes (through leaked material by one of my coworkers) that administration is planning to change some of our circulation policies, such as reducing check outs and holds to 50 and 25 respectively, from 100 items, and adding a fee for interlibrary loans. This is not expected to make the library a ton of money, and one goal is to make people think more about the actions they take. A lot of interlibrary loans are not even picked up from the library to be checked out, as are many holds. Interlibrary loans cost an average of $15 (some cost nothing more than their transportation and staff time, others I have heard of cost $150 just to borrow from another system) and holds that sit of the shelf and are not checked out also cost money and time.

The article is inflammatory and at times incorrect. The quotes from Nancy Pearl and King County Library System are good and constructive, but anything that came from Seattle Public tends to be overly emotional and finger pointing. I don't propose that these are the best choices for SPL to make for our system and our patrons and I hope more thought will go into them before they are finalized. So far, I haven't been able to find any other news agency (giving The Stranger the benefit of the doubt about being one) covering this story, but I hope one comes out soon. We need more balance in our lives right now.

Update: The library has posted this explanation of the changes as a news release.

Power Struggle

I am going camping this weekend with my family. We are going to my favorite spot, Kalaloch, WA. It is right on the Washington coast and the worst thing about it is that the drive takes about 4 hours. :P I will post pictures when I get back.

While you are waiting for that, you should check out this interactive article over at the Seattle Times, which has answered all of the questions that people wanted answered in their poll last week. It is concise and informative, both for riders and drivers. I was especially interested to see that you CAN get a ticket for not wearing a helmet anywhere in King County including inside the Seattle city limits. $81 fine if you are caught without it. Seems like we could make up that $50 mil deficit if they just ticketed everyone that didn't wear one.

Anyone living in the Seattle area might consider watching their power usage today. Business Week has an article with the details as they are known right now. One of the substations is only operating at 50% at the moment and with temperatures going into the 90's, the use of ac and many fans could lead to power outages this weekend. I only found out about it (and looked up some news to pass on) because we got an email request to turn off as many power using devices as possible at the library.

Biked 2 days this week, and even rode from work up to Lake City and 125th, which feels like a long way and very uphill. Riding is great though and the new bike takes the hills like a champ.