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Examines the question of whether private library funds — often acquired by libraries through fundraising efforts — threaten the allocation of local public funds. Reports interviews with US librarians and government officials selected by convenient sampling. It is clear that concerns exist despite earlier statistical studies giving no basis for concern. Discusses protection of funds by means of funding partnerships, certain safeguards in setting up library foundations, and appropriate library advocacy. Lesgislators indicate they are listening to libraries' needs. Suggests that librarians take the initiative in protecting funds.

This article responds to the concern of small libraries that their size puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to advocating for public funds. By means of interviews with public library administrators and local government agents, it is shown that small libraries can be successful in local public funding when they use some of the same techniques of making themselves fundable that large libraries use. These are: emphasizing the dollar value of their activities to local government; taking into account local government agendas; involving the business community as spokespersons; and astutely managing library opposition. Research for the article is based in two states where local public funding has been notoriously weak, California and Pennsylvania. Libraries discussed (selected by convenient sampling) are in library service areas ranging in population from 9,278 (Borough of Carnegie, Pennsylvania) to 54,400 (San Rafael, California).

Public libraries are taking on business ventures that involve the selling of products and services. Most common are food services but these are primarily for customer and staff convenience rather than profit as they generally earn less than 0.25 percent of a library’s operating budget. The real income is in services, as in managing libraries at other institutions (Martin Library, York, PA), which earns nearly half of the library’s operating budget, or services such as issuing passports, and establishing a virtual university (Palm Springs Public Library, Palm Springs, CA) which are estimated to earn 15 to 20 percent of the library’s operating budget. In considering business ventures libraries should pay attention to the following considerations ‐ the library’s mission, its capability, the financial impact, legal aspects, community relations value, and professional and ethical issues.

Editing a journal boils down to two very separate and distinct functions. First, deciding what articles you want to publish, finding good people to write those articles, and — perhaps most challenging — getting those people to agree to write the articles. The second function is reading the articles you solicit as well as those submitted for consideration and editing those; working with authors on reshaping and redeveloping the articles or just making editorial changes. Importantly, both parts allow the editor to shape the direction, feel, and focus of the journal.

Mary Kay is one of the best-known direct sellers of women's cosmetics in the world. Its channel strategy is to use independent beauty consultants, who are independent distributors, to sell directly to consumers. Its compensation plan is multilevel, providing commissions to distributors on their own sales as well as the sales of the distributors they recruit. At the time of the case, the company is grappling with a well-established change in consumer behavior—the decline of the stay-at-home mom as she returns to the workforce—combined with the opportunities offered by Internet selling. Focuses on the company's efforts to move with consumer demand and behavior, while remaining true to its core goal of “Improving Women's Lives.” Discusses ways Internet technology can be used throughout the company's channel and supply chain structure, not just as a route to market.

A hobby is any purposeful use of leisure time. Due in part to an increase in the amount of leisure time available to most Americans, the hobby and recreation industries have grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. There are countless publications on hobbies ranging from genealogy to doll collecting, from painting to needlepoint. Obviously, a compilation such as this cannot include publications on every imaginable hobby, so rather than appear biased, this author has attempted to include primarily publications that discuss many different hobbies, or deal with one major group of hobbies.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the lived experiences of Australian public library staff during the COVID-19 library closures. The study examines the effect of mandated physical library closures on staff well-being, along with the challenges they faced as library operations moved to a remotely delivered model. The paper includes an examination of staff perceptions of their library's value in the lives of their users.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 15 Australian library staff from three library networks. A process of inductive coding resulted in a thematic description of the participants' experiences of continuing to work during a period of where their libraries were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Australian public library workers experienced many challenges that affected their well-being during the period of library closures. These included challenges relating to moving library programming to a virtual delivery model, managing significant change in their work lives, managing the emotions of self and others, and concern for the well-being of library users. Positive outcomes relating to skill development and innovative thinking were also reported.

The operational responses to the COVID-19 library closures in Australia and elsewhere have been well reported. This paper takes a different approach by examining the emotional and well-being outcomes for public library staff during these periods of closure.