Library Levy Was Highly Visible

I've read a couple of references in the past two issues of the Twinsburg Bulletin that I am really having trouble understanding. Someone is saying that the School Board slipped a library levy by the vigilant eyes of the voters of the Twinsburg School District. My confusion is this - since the Library personnel first presented their intention to the school board December of last year, at least six public meetings were held (three were televised), fourteen articles, ads, or columns appeared in the Twinsburg Bulletin, Sun, Beacon Journal, or Cleveland Plain Dealer. three mailings were sent to each household, and seventy-five yard signs were placed throughout the community.

I have to assume that people who don't use the library may be a bit upset that the levy passed, but if you came to the Library this summer you sure couldn't miss the twenty foot banner in the main check-out area or the fliers that were pasted on every door, column or desk announcing the levy.  I can assure you that the fifteen thousand people who did visit the library this summer were very aware of the levy and were happy that it passed.

Public Libraries are not their own taxing authority. That means that they must have another government agency place library issues on the ballot.  Our local school board functions as the taxing authority for our library.  I don't believe it can refuse to do so.  In the spirit of cooperation the library tries not to be on the ballot at the same time as the schools.  The Schools and Library work very well together, but the Twinsburg Public Library is an independent agency.

Public Meetings

1. December 27, 2007 - Board President Bonny Cairns, Director Karen Tschudy, and Clerk/Treasurer Eileen Holloway, met with Twinsburg City School District Board of Education to let them know that the Library was planning on a levy issue for August 2008 special election.
2. March 5, 2008 - Library Levy Resolution of Necessity passed by School Board - TELEVISED meeting available on TSD's website, see Link
3. March 19, 2008 - Library Levy Resolution to Proceed passed by School Board - TELEVISED meeting available on TSD's website, see Link
4. June 24, 2008 -  Twinsburg City Council Meeting (TELEVISED) - New Library Director, Laura Leonard spoke five minutes during remonstrance period of City Council Meeting about the Library Levy.
5. July 16, 2008 - Twinsburg Township Trustees Meeting - Township Agenda - Director Laura Leonard spoke on Levy during remonstrance period.
6. July 17, 2008 - Meet the New Director and "Frequently Asked Questions about the Levy"

Press/Levy Literature

1. April 3, 2008 - Twinsburg Bulletin front page headline - Library Asks for Support
2. May 29, 2008 - Twinsburg Bulletin, page 2 - Library Levy on August Ballot
3. June 1, 2008 - Levy information available in Library and on Library Web Page, 20 foot banner strung across Circulation Area with announcement of levy, every door in and out of Library had poster with Levy announcement
4. June 9th - June 16th - Twinsburg School District Residents were mailed flier - Basic Facts About Issue 3
5. June 18 - Presentation to Roary Club of Twinsburg regarding Levy by Laura Leonard
6. June 19 - Twinsburg Sun article - Library Levy committee sets Dairy Queen event
7. "Live at the Library" columns in Twinsburg Bulletin mentioned upcoming levy issue - June 19th, July 3rd, July 10th, July 17, and July 24th.
8. June 25, 2008 - July/August Library Calendar of Events mailed to all residents containing "Dear Resident" information regarding issue 3.
9. July 24 - Twinsburg Bulletin endorses Library Levy "Choosing whether library service is a 'want' or a 'need'
10. July 28 - Cleveland Plain Dealer includes TPL Levy in article, "Communities turn to voters for help"
11. July 31 - Twinsburg Sun endorses Library Levy in article, "Library Levy: a bargain"
12. August 4 - Akron Beacon Journal lists TPL Levy in article on ballot issues

YouTube - Twinsburg Library Levy announcement, posted July 1, 2008. Narrated by Laura Leonard, Library Director 

PAC Committee (Citizens Supporting Twinsburg Public Library) - were responsible for the following:

1. Web page devoted to information about the Levy campaign, linked from the Library's front page
2. June 25 - Dairy Queen Night for Citizens Supporting Twinsburg Public Library
3. 75 yard signs distributed throughout the District
4. July 20 - Blue Canyon Night for Citizens Supporting Twinsburg Public Library
5. July 21 - Flier mailed out to all registered voters in the school district - Top Ten Reasons to vote YES on Issue #3, August 5
6. Full page ads "Support Your Library" Vote Yes on Issue 3 August 5, which appeared in both the Sun and Bulletin

Sorry guys, if you "missed" all of the above, then you must have had your head buried in the sand.  I believe only one person called before August 5th to comment on the levy. 

The Library Board went to the voters as a last resort.  All the cost savings and budget cuts possible had already been done over the past three years.  What was next - cut hours, services, and staff? Since the levy was passed by people who cared about keeping the library adequately funded, that bullet has been dodged. 

To Twitter or Blog or Both

Twitter is a networking site that limits posts to no more than 140 characters. What I love about Twitter is that with just a few tweaks, such as adding a photo to my profile and some links, I was able to start posting right away.  

I'm noticing that some libraries (Hubble - New Orleans, Philadelphia Free Library), library staff (Emily Lloyd, creator of Self Check), and organizations (ALA/RUSA) are beginning to use Twitter for quick announcements instead of posting everything to their blogs.  It's just a nifty tool for spontaneous, short comments, links, or news that I want to share without spending more than a minute or two typing.  

It's also a great tool to keep in touch with family and friends by embedding Twitter on your other social networking sites.  See one of my older posts to follow a link on how to do this.

Even authors, entertainers, and politicians are beginning to rely on Twitter to help keep their fans/supporters up-to-date with their activities.  John McCain's campaign committee has a very good Blog, but I haven't found an official McCain Twitter link yet.  Barack Obama's campaign is using Twitter for quick up-dates to their candidate's blog.  The site has over 65,000 followers and is following 68,000 other Twitters.

Are the New Mini-notebooks Practical or Just a Fad?

I need both a new laptop and a new heavy duty desktop, but I don’t want to eat Ramen noodles for the rest of the year. So I’m postponing the desktop to next spring when the new iMacs are available, but right now I need something inexpensive to use for e-mail and to update my blogs.

There’s something intriguing about the ultra small notebooks that have been or will be released this year that makes me want to buy one. They’re not much bigger than a hardback novel and some of them are available in shiny new colors. Part of the novelty is that they don’t cost much more than an iPod Touch, have Wi-Fi built-in, and nearly full-sized keyboards with a choice of Linux or Windows XP operating systems.

I bought one of the first Asus Eee PCs last year for staff members to take to meetings and conferences. I fell in love with it, but not sure that anyone else made use of it.

They’re not meant to take the place of a desktop PC or to be used for gaming or multimedia devices, but if you need to send/read email, type notes, or find something quickly on the internet anywhere you have access to Wi-Fi, then this may be the device for you.

Mini-notebooks are not that much larger than a Kindle, so I’m wondering if they could also be used as e-book readers (although they’re not being advertised as such). I restricted these liliputian notebooks to 8.9” models, although some manufacturers may have larger versions available now or in the near future.

Acer Aspire One MiniNote – 8 GB hard drive, 8.9” screen, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 512 MB RAM, Linux Lite OS - $379 or Windows XP - $399; available in white, blue, pink or brown (3G data support is being promised for future versions)

Asus Eee PC – 16 GB hard drive, 8.9” screen, Intel Mobile CPU, 1 GB RAM, Linux OS - $399 or Windows XP - $449; available in Pearl White or Galaxy Black (Amazon.com)

Dell e Mini-notebook – 4 GB hard drive, 8.9” screen, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU, 512 MB RAM, Linux - $299 or Windows XP – price unknown; other options (including webcam) add to cost; sacrificed function keys to provide larger keyboard; photos show red or dark grey case; not yet available (larger hard drives will increase cost)

HP mini-note – 4 GB Flash Drive, 8.9” screen, 1.0 GHz Processor, 512 MB RAM, Linux - $499 or Windows Vista - $599 (includes 120 GB drive, 1 GB RAM)

Lenovo IdeaPad S9 – 8 GB hard drive, 8.9” screen, Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB RAM, webcam, Linux or Windows XP - $418 approx. (not sure if same price for both OS); may not be available in the US until October.

There are a number of other ultra-portable notebooks that have been designed for children, but these specific models seem to be trying to appeal to adults wanting subcompact laptops. The appearance and projected price ($299) of the Dell make it a strong contender, but I'll have to wait until I read reviews by actual users. The Acer Aspire has a richer look to it than the Asus Eee PC. I remember that the Asus keyboard was very tiny and a bit clunky to use. Haven't heard if that's been improved.

Some warnings about these machines - they tend to run hot, best to place on a surface not your lap for any length of time; whatever version of Linux operating system they have available will probably work faster and more efficiently than Windows. If you must use Vista, I would recommend going with a regular sized laptop.

The Library Levy Passed!

Great news! The TPL levy passed 57.68% for 42.32% against. Special thanks to levy campaign committee members, Ed Kancler, co-chair, Marilyn Beringer, treasurer, and all those who assisted us on their own time with webpage design, preparing fliers & signage, fundraising events, and placing yard signs throughout the communities. It was a pleasure working with all of you and helping to secure library funding for the next decade of this century.

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

A concerned citizen's thoughts on the new Twinsburg Public Library Levy:

Fundraising, grants, foundations, no matter how successful, cannot raise enough immediate funds to sustain general operations on an annual basis. The only recourse to a library administration that has already cut every line item it can without laying off staff, not buying materials that library patrons demand, or reducing library hours and services is to ask the voters to support a library levy.

The other alternative is to cut all those services and materials that local residents are flocking to public libraries to use during this economic downturn. This reminds me of the old adage of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Ohio libraries haven’t just begun dealing with a loss of revenue; they’ve been dealing with it for seven years. At the beginning of this cycle, many libraries dependent entirely on state funding froze salaries and stopped buying books and audio-visual materials.

Libraries with local levies, such as the Twinsburg Public Library, worked hard to spend both state and local tax revenues wisely. Unfortunately state support has been “slip, slip, sliding away.” Along with the warning of a projected 10% cut in the next state biennium budget, local funding will also be reduced with the local tangible personal property tax gradually being cut each year until it is gone entirely by 2018. The tangible personal property tax affects businesses only, so the average tax payer may be unaware of it.

Perhaps it all boils down to this – how much of a hardship is it to pay $3 to $5 more a month to keep our Library operating at its current level or better? As someone on a fixed income who visits the library weekly, I receive my tax support back in trade every single time I walk through those front doors. I guess that I would have to respond that it would be more of a hardship for me to lose the great resources and services our public library offers than paying the new tax, so next Tuesday I’m voting YES on issue #3.