Warrior Librarian proof reeder Rosemary Shakespeare hes retreeted to the NSW north coast together with infamoose husbend Martin.

Allthow only gorn for a weak, teaking leaf as theses nixt adhesion wares goeing to prezz; wear en awfel shook two the edetoreal starf.

Roosemery stayted en a emeal thet here intension wares too do "nothing as hard as we can" fir there helodey et de beatch. Hooevar, es wee doyn.t pay heir in diss honary persition, itz nort lick we ken wine aboot et."

Enjay tha brake, Rozemary! E'm shore dat reedas well menage too werk aroand eny smell erraz thet mite creap en ...

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Australian book stores are confirming the Bureau of Statistics release of annual booksales figures. Chris Harrington, President of the Australian Booksellers Association (pictured), said that imported fiction was boosted by sales of Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter.

The figures show that non-fiction has grown to 59% of all book sales, while fiction fell to 25%. Children's books was up to 16%.

Interestingly, Peter Field - President of the Australian Publishers Association - questioned if there was a connection between the decline of fiction reading and falling literacy standards in schools.

Library borrowing figures were not taken into account ...

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In the time-honored tradition of elected officials globally, new NSW state Premier Morris Iemma rushed with NSW Department of Education and Training Minister Carmel Tebbutt for a photo opportunity at the local public school's library.

The Minister and Premier announced a "landmark project to put more than 25,000 new books into school libraries". The scheme relies on the Dymocks book store franchises starting a fund to "raise $250,000 to buy 25,000 books". $10 books?

The Department, together with the book store, will team with a major Sydney-based broadsheet to start the Books For Schools Fund; the newspaper has pledged $80,000.

There is no information at this stage was to whether the funds will be evenly dispersed between the state's 3,000 schools, or will be targetted at those with the greatest need. Or if non-government schools will get an equal slice of the pie ...

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Library staff at Tasmania's State Library said patrons had become abusive when approached and queried about internet use, as Liberal senator Guy Barnett called on Tasmania's public libraries to rid their computers of access to pornography.

State Library digital strategies manager Lloyd Sokvitne said last week the library did not have software to stop access to porn, although an Acceptable Use Policy is in place. Senator Barnett helpfully pointed out there was "filter software available free on the web which would stop library users accessing porn" As if!

As further proof of his wide-ranging understanding of the issue, the Senator stated that he would be writing a number of letters ...

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While governments and others still in denial rabidly vaunt how wonderfully well everyone is doing in the area of Literacy, according to Providence Business News, "more than 25 percent of Rhode Island adults can’t read beyond an eighth-grade level. Many want to improve their skills by taking adult literacy classes, but more than 5,000 of them are on waiting lists for such education".

Media beat-up, or fact? It seems that the only ones who are even remotely prepared to admit there may be 'issues' in this area are those most powerless to address the problem. Maybe the local post office could help? ...

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A colleague who was also a classmate at Library School recently asked me what had made me so 'angry', when I had been such an optomist and (apparently) inspirational to the cohort. My answer was simple - reality. It was the best I could come up with at short notice.

It wasn't as witty or pithy as I would have liked, and about 2 million better answers have since occurred to me. Don't you hate that?!!!

Anyway, as a bonus to WLW readers, you can now access a pdf this edition's bonus feature, Warrior Librarian Guide to Old Fashioned Library Remedies by clicking here ...

Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality the cost becomes prohibitive.

William F. Buckley, Jr.

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It was supposed to be the week to read Lonesome Dove as part of the Pulitzer Project, but the sheer wordage of the book was not amusing.

As an alternative, Marion Keyes Other side of the story seemed a reasonable compromise, weighing in at 648 pages. Although it didn't win a Pulitzer, it was badged as a Women's Weekly Great Read by a bookclub (details of which are unknown).

And it was. A great read, that is. Not to much thinking required, nice clear fonts, a reasonable story line without being the type of cliff-hanger that keeps you reading into the small hours of the night so you get to work looking like you've had an enormously good time doing things you wouldn't want your mother to know about.

Next week, perhaps Loathsome Dive will get some attention ...

An interesting week in many ways; found an online blog from someone who for the last 3 months has been calling herself the Warrior Librarian. It isn't me! A polite email has been sent requesting an alteration.

Apart from that, the metadata tagging is continuing. Also finished five flash animations of instructions for using a graphics calculator. Not the usual sort of library-related task, but there is a limit to the amount of metadata tagging one can do before drool starts dribbling out of the side of your mouth and the little voices urge you to join in the singing of Christmas carols in August ...

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