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Different sections of the site are updated at different times.
Scan down the list of dates to find items posted since you last visited the site.
News items and editorials are archived after one month; LibraryLand bulletins after one week.

Recent Developments

News and Commentary:

County Voters Approve $275 Million Library Bond Referendum
Posted November 5, 2008; updated November 6, 2008

AFPL Limps into the 21st Century:
Missing Links in AFPL's Administration   Updated July 25, 2008

Stability vs. Turnover Among AFPL's Branch Managers   Updated August 2, 2008
News Archives:

Previously-Posted AFPLWATCH News & Comment

News stories and editorials about AFPL published in other media in:

2008    2007    2006    2005    2004    2003    2002    2001    2000    1999    1998    1997    1996
LibraryLand Listening Post   Updated November 19, 2008
LibraryLand Archives
LibraryLand Sources   Updated November 17, 2008

Booklover Alert Archives:   2008    2007    2006    2005    2004    2003
The Webmaster's Mailbox   Updated March 7, 2007
Mailbox Archive
Rumors & Speculations:

"Hear/Say"   Updated November 12, 2008
Gossip Archive
Inquiring Minds Want to Know...   Updated November 12, 2008
Inquiring Archive
Dept. of Wishful Thinking   Updated November 12, 2008
Wishful Archive
Challenges Facing Large Library Systems Like AFPL   Updated September 8, 2008
Challenges Archive
Wasted Taxpayer Dollars   Updated November 14, 2008
Wasted Archives:   2007   2006   2005   2004   2003
Spooky Quotations   Updated July 16, 2006
Quotation Archives:   Post-Hooker Era   Hooker Era
Comic Relief   Updated October 22, 2008
Comic Archive
Comic Relief Sources
   Updated November 14, 2008

History Lessons

Flashbacks! Moments from AFPL's Recent History   Updated October 1, 2008

The Library Lawsuits:

Upshot   Updated July 2004

Background   Posted June 2003

Documents:
Excerpts from the Lawyer's Brief for a Preliminary Injunction
Filed August 11, 2000

Excerpts from the Court Rulings on the Library’s Request
to Dismiss the Federal Lawsuit

Rulings announced December 1, 2000

Text of the U.S. Appeals Court's Ruling [in PDF Format]
Ruling issued June 6, 2003
Hurricane Hooker (August 18, 1999 - May 19, 2004):
The Hooker Dossier  Posted February 9, 2004; updated February 22, 2004

"Hooker's Howlers" - The Final Year (May 2003 - May 2004)

"Daily Affirmations" for Mary Kaye Hooker?  Posted Feb. 21, 2004

Hooker: Still Strategizing...  Posted August 17, 2003

The Ideal Library Director - And the One AFPL Got  Updated May 9, 2003

Staff Morale: In the Toilet  Updated May 5, 2003
The Amateur Hour: AFPL's Trustees at Work

Peacocks on Parade:
Embarrassing Antics of Our Clueless Trustees
  Updated May 16, 2005

"Scoundrel Time"  Final Update: January 21, 2004
Damning Documents:
Findings from a study commissioned by AFPL's Trustees
to investigate evidence of of illegal personnel transactions
authorized by AFPL Director Mary Kaye Hooker:


    Excerpts from the "AFPL Workplace Audit"
  Submitted December 31, 2003

From the Group Grievance Filed by Library Employees:

    Library Board Approves Mass Transfers of Central Library Employees
  May 24, 2000
    Text of the Group Grievance Protesting Mass Transfers
  Grievance filed June 18, 2000
    Transcript of Hearing of the Group Grievance [in PDF Format]
  Hearing conducted August 17, 2000
    Ruling of the Grievance Board
  Ruling approved October 30, 2000

Calls for Restructuring the Library Board:

   Letter from Library Director Julie Hunter to Library Board Chair Roy Yancy
   Letter dated October 22, 1997
     Library Staff Petition Calling for the Library Board of Trustees to Resign
   Submitted July 6, 1998
   Excerpt from DMG Associates’ Library Management Audit
   Report dated October 1999
   Comments from Signers of a Petition Urging Georgia Legislators
   to Pass Library Board Reform Legislation
   Petition Circulated in 2002 (regarding a board reform bill introduced for the second consecutive year)
   Text of Georgia Senate Bill 231
   Introduced March 5, 2003
   Text of the Library Reform Bill Approved by the Legislature
   Signed by the Governor May 19, 2004; effective July 1, 2004

Using the Georgia Open Records Act  Posted September 6, 2003
Down the Rabbit-Hole: Dispatches from The Surreal Library

Metaphors Gone Crazy!  Posted July 29, 2004
Hurricane Hooker Heads for Florida  Posted April 1, 2004
"Urinetown"  Posted March 30, 2004
Questions They Left Off the Library Survey  Posted August 4, 2003
Reaching Out to the Underserved  May 14, 2003; updated August 2
Sobering Thoughts in a Troubled Time  Updated May 6, 2004

A Library System in Shambles:
The AFPL Brain Drain, 1999-2004 Updated August 17, 2004

AFPL's "Disappeared Ones"  Updated March 4, 2004

The Strip Mining of AFPL's Tech Services Department  November 18, 2003

Chronicles of Mediocrity:

Why Can't AFPL Supply Bestsellers?
Updated March 23, 2004

Why Can't AFPL Provide Reliable Databases?
Updated October 3, 2003

Why Isn't AFPL's Catalog More User-Friendly?
Posted October 15, 2003
Crater Watch! 2002-2007
Spooky Quotations from the Hooker Era  Final Update: March 2004

The Library System's Darkest Day?  Posted May 6, 2003; updated February 24, 2004

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