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Civics
Welcome...
I have been writing a weekly newspaper column since 1987.
For 3 years, it ran in the Greeley Tribune. Since then, it has run in various subsidiaries of the Douglas County News Press. I still have most of my columns in digital format.
For many years, I only gave myself one rule: try to work the word "library" into every piece. My intent was to think in public about just what librarianship means at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st.
August 19, 2010 - library teams up with elections office
A few years ago now, the Douglas County Libraries consolidated most of our phone lines into a central Contact Center. This did two things for us. First, it let us get rid of a lot of annoying sounds and service interruptions in the public areas. Our staff can concentrate on the people who show up in our buildings.
The second thing was that it let us really monitor the number and type of calls we receive, bringing in a lot of eye-opening data. That data has helped us manage a host of operations more efficiently.
July 22, 2010 - just sign here, or not
It was just a matter of time.
Libraries generate a lot of traffic - from 1,000 to 2,000 people a day depending on the library's size. Our patrons represent a good cross-section of the community.
Library users tend to be engaged in other ways. For instance, many of them are registered to vote.
July 15, 2010 - what the nation needs
Recently libraries were in the news in Colorado and the nation. But it was weird news.
The first case was Peter Boyles, who got very exercised that some newly built libraries in Adams County didn't have flags flying in front of them. My first thought was, Good for him. What a great opportunity to encourage citizens to step up and show their civic pride.
It happens that I know something about the situation in Adams County. They've done a wonderful job of building their inviting new libraries on very tight budgets; outside improvements and landscaping happen last.
July 1, 2010 - library proud of returning soldier
Dean Ruppelt is a patriot.
He served in the Army Reserves from 1982-1987. He served another stint in the Navy from 1987-1991. In September of 2007, he joined the National Guard.
In August of 2008 he got married (on 08/08/08, in fact - a brilliant stratagem to make the date itself memorable.)
And on January 2009, he got called up.
At Fort Hood he got two months training. He left for Kuwait at the end of June, where he got two more week's training, this time in dealing with IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices).
On July 12, 2009, he arrived in Iraq.
June 24, 2010 - once upon a time there was a princess
Former county commissioner Melanie Worley told me recently about her first job. She was a fairy princess.
A local movie theater hired her, gave her a gown, cape, and wand, and instructed her to supervise the frequent hordes of children. Sometimes, she said, she had to bonk them with her wand.
It was excellent training.
April 1, 2010 - long term thinking in short supply
Last week, I wrote about my new hero, Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Fed. A quietly brilliant economics professor, Bernanke's research focused on the history of the Great Depression. Following a crash precipitated by wild speculation, Bernanke came to believe that the business people and government of the time (the 1930s) did almost everything wrong.
March 25, 2010 - and government shall save us
When I started college, I signed up for one of the economics survey classes. The teacher was funny. He let us know right up front that we could buy an A. All it would take was the rest of the money he expected to make in his career, which he then spelled out.
It was cheaper to study.
December 10, 2009 - potential ballot issues undo public infrastructure
Last week, I wrote about civic literacy. One aspect of that is knowing something about our framework of laws, the United States Constitution.
Libraries are very much about the First Amendment -- freedom of speech. Sometimes, that gets awkward.
As I think Reggie Rivers once said, nobody minds if you stand on a street corner and profess your tender affection for butterflies.
