Possibly the best non-librarian library rant of the week, Laurel Walker writing in JS Online News quotes her local Children's Librarian; "there are only two rules, look after it and bring it back on time".

The Smoking Gun website provides not only a copy of the police report, but also the background story of the Wisconsin woman, Heidi Dalibor aged 20.

Dalibor had been enjoying unathorized access to Janet Fitch's "White Oleander" and Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons," and had ignored overdue notices for several months. Apparently, after paying her $180 fines she was not only allowed to keep the books, but also released from custody without even a stern Talking-To or being made to scrape gum off the bottom of tables.

Sure, the library made a tidy profit and can replace the books several times over, but that's not really the point is it? ...

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The Device Gallery offers one of the most unique chairs in the world.

Created by Artist/machinist Zoran Milivojevic, the chair is made from the torpedo lifting jaws of a nuclear submarine. This complicated piece of engineering and design would fit nicely in an executive office or the bridge of your industrial starship, if not your library office.

As Device Gallery advises that the original unit is from a never used prototype so you wont see any more of these popping up. Not exactly a 'steal' at US$35,000, but remember that you'll have millions of dollars of tax-payer funded R&D under your butt.

However, we all know that library equipment is getting more expensive every day, and you just have to make the necessary budget adjustments for essential equipment ...

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Reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Jennifer Howard, the latest research from Ithika cautions "know your library user—and worry about who's not using the library" and cautions regarding the "growing ambivalence about the campus library".

Unfortunately not having a subscription to CHE Online, it was neccessary to search for the source document itself, but this raised many further questions, not least of all spelling.

According to Wikipedia, Ithaca or Ithaka (in Greek, Ιθάκη, Ithaki) is an island in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of 118 km² (45 sq. miles) and three thousand inhabitants. It is an independent municipality of the prefecture of Kefalonia and Ithaka, and lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia. The municipality of Ithaca includes some smaller islands as well. The capital, Itháki (Vathý), has one of the world's largest natural harbors."

Why a small island in Greece (regardless of its history or harbor) would be publishing research on library use is a mystery that requires much link clicking and too much coffee for this time of night. Unless, of course, it's the Cornell Library at Ithaka, NY. Which presented a whole new set of research strategy issues ...

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After two years of construction, more than 100 classrooms and four new libraries were completed over the summer in the Alvord district, just in time for the start of the new school year according to Press Enterprise.

In other parts of the civilized world, there are some school districts which are building new schools without a school library, whilst at the same time instructing their schools not to provide any funding for books in their existing libraries. This appalling move is apparently promted by a 'vision' of The Internet providing all possible sources of reading material, information, and quality library services.

Vision? Maybe that goes hand-in-hand with the little voices that speak only in the heads of the Powers that Be ...

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