Since today’s generation texts at all hours of the day, mobile technology companies are capitalizing on students’ nimble thumbs to promote texting services in new industries. The latest place to send text messages: local and university libraries.

The “Text a Librarian” program at Mosio, a mobile technology company based in San Francisco, launched a year ago. The program allows patrons to text reference questions to participating libraries. On the other end, librarians can answer text questions through a computer that receives the texts.

“Librarians don’t have to buy phones or learn how to text,” said Gabriel Macias, vice president of sales and marketing at Mosio. “It’s super easy.”

Before Text a Librarian’s launch last year, libraries at UC Berkeley and UC Merced served as beta testers for the program. Now the program is used at almost 250 libraries nationwide.

“We’re signing on more and more libraries every month,” Macias said. “Libraries are going to want to continue to find technology and solutions that their patrons can use, especially on their mobile phones. Texting is cool because everyone can text – even if you don’t use it, you have the capability.”

Other university libraries, such as Harvard University and other Ivy League schools are starting to use texting programs at their libraries, Macias said. Although UC Davis libraries do not have a texting service yet, other technology options are available for around-the-clock communication.

As part of a taskforce to keep Peter J. Shields Library and other campus libraries in the loop, services such as chat rooms and e-mails have become available for students who have questions for librarians concerning research. The newest issue the taskforce is exploring is mobile technology, said David Michalski, social and culture studies librarian at Shields Library.

“We do a lot of e-mail questions,” Michalski said. “In my time [at Shields] over the past few years I’ve seen more e-mails. “

At University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the texting craze has hit its student library.

Pam Sessoms, undergraduate interim head librarian at UNC-Chapel Hill, said her library has started using the LibraryH3lp system for students to text in questions.

“Librarians answered over 10,000 questions over chat, IM and texting in 2009,” Sessoms said in an e-mail interview. “Breaking 10,000 questions last year was very exciting.”

Cost is always an issue in many under-funded library budgets. Mobile phone programs, however, are a more affordable tool.

“UNC-Chapel Hill has paid $300 per year the past two years for thechat/IM/texting system we have currently,” Sessoms said. “This is much less expensive than what we paid for other virtual reference subscriptions in the past.”

At Mosio, the Text a Librarian program is affordable for many California schools, and libraries outside of the UC system, including San Jose State, Santa Clara University and San Jose’s public city library.

“We’ve never heard a library say [Text a Librarian] is way too expensive,” Macias said. “We’ve developed our system to be as cost efficient as possible – something to suit [a library’s] budget.”

SASHA LEKACH can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

THURSDAY

Stop sign fail

At a hit and run on Russell Boulevard, someone was at a stop when the car was rear ended. The white Ford truck was signaled to pull over but took off instead.

Train track junkie

On Second Street a male was loading railroad track ties into back of his truck. When the caller confronted him and told him he was going to call the police, he unloaded them.

FRIDAY

He makes the good girls go bad

On Cranbrook Court there was a male yelling at a female. The individual was drunk in public and an arrest was made.

Long weekend overload

On Mulberry Lane, an extremely drunk female was yelling at people passing by.

SATURDAY

Environmentally friendly vagrants

Transients were loitering around the flower beds on First Street.

Retake the driver’s test

On Russell Boulevard and Highway 113, a vehicle entered the ramp from the wrong direction.

Recession blues

There was an ATM hold up on Cowell Boulevard.

SUNDAY

Get rich quick

On Research Park Drive, an intoxicated subject was sleeping on the cash register.

Next stop: DMV, AAA

On W. 8th Street, a son left his residence without permission in an unregistered/uninsured vehicle.

Bad romance

There was an assault with a deadly weapon on Olive Drive during a physical fight between a boyfriend and girlfriend.

From G St. bars to behind bars

A physical disturbance on G Street led to a subject detained on ground, and an arrest was made.

POLICE BRIEFS are compiled by SASHA LEKACH from the public logs of the Davis Police Department and represent the official version of what happened. View the crime blotter online at cityofdavis.org/police/log. This segment appears Tuesdays.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is more than a federal holiday – it is a day to reflect on civil rights of the past and future.

Despite a morning rainstorm, over 200 Davis children, students, parents, city officials and community members filled into the cinema’s seats. At the Varsity Theatre on 616 Second St., the city celebrated a man who was killed for his beliefs over 40 years ago.

Many Davisites are still fighting for the equality King dreamed of in the height of the U.S. civil rights movements of the 1960s. There were several speeches and performances. The Yolo Freedom Singers performed at the end and led the march through downtown.

Davis High School Black Student Union member Skye Belveal said in a speech to the audience that King was her personal hero.

“He inspired me to try my hardest,” Belveal said.

Fellow BSU member and DHS student Dorothy Mittow said King’s ideals still give us something to work toward, even in 2010.

“The demons we meet today are more intangible,” Mittow said. “The City of Davis has an achievement gap. Why do black and Latino students still perform worse than white and Asian students?”

The celebration, hosted by Monette Perrin, included a conversation and award ceremony for civil activists and Davis couple Carolyn and Dean Cliver. The couple, celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, was an interracial couple in the 1950s in Indiana. The Clivers continued to fight for marriage equality.

“None of our four kids were raised with stereotypes,” Carolyn Cliver said.

Dr. Dean Cliver spoke about the recent passing of Proposition 8 and its similarities to racial civil rights.

“[Equality] wouldn’t have happened if we waited for the majority,” Cliver said. “This is an issue of tyranny of the majority.”

Rep. Lois Wolk, Rep. Mariko Yamada and Davis Mayor Ruth Asmundson presented the couple with awards.

After a video of King’s famous Lincoln memorial speech, the crowd hit the streets chanting songs and peaceful words in a downtown Davis march.

“We try to do something meaningful each year,” said Kelly Stachowicz, deputy city manager of Davis. “This year we focused close to home. We found people in our community who stand for things that MLK stood for.”

SASHA LEKACH can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

The Davis City Council voted unanimously to pass the CaliforniaFIRST clean energy finance program last Tuesday.

Sponsored by the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (California Communities), an association of counties and cities, CaliforniaFIRST helps property owners to finance efficient and clean energy projects in their homes or businesses with the assistance of their local municipality, according to a Yolo County press release. Participants can then pay back the monies as line items on their tax bills.

This decision follows the Yolo County Board of Supervisors’ vote on Jan. 12 to join the program, making it possible for Yolo County cities to participate.

Yolo County Sustainability Program manager Mitch Sears explained in a City Council presentation how the process works.

“Dollars ‘up-front’ go to the property owner [to help finance the projects]” Sears said. “Dollars are [then] repaid on the tax bill.”

Sears said financing could be repaid over up to a period of 20 years.

Renewable Funding, an organization in charge of the administration of Property Assessed Clean Energy programs, like the environmentally geared “FIRST” programs, claimed on its website that local municipalities must first approve the program before residents in the area may apply to receive financing. With the City Council having passed three separate resolutions to enact the program, Davis residents are on track to receive the benefits offered by CaliforniaFIRST.

Currently, CaliforniaFIRST is a pilot program. Thirteen other counties have also joined the pilot program, including Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Sacramento and San Diego counties.

The program’s operations in Davis are a fraction of its total $16.5 million price tag. Opting for the program costs Davis $12,500 in set-up fees, but these are to be paid by stimulus funds. Government bonds will be issued to aid the program.

The program promises noticeable benefits too. Aside from giving back to the environment, CaliforniaFIRST is poised to create a multitude of “green” jobs if residents participate to the point of driving substantial demand for energy efficient technology.

“Clearly we want Davis residents to participate in this program,” Sears said.

CaliforniaFIRST is follow-up legislation written in accordance with its June 2009 progenitor, the State of California’s Clean Energy Municipal Financing Law (AB 811).

“[AB 811] is the enabling legislation,” Sears said. “It allows property owners to… establish financing districts…to repay the funds that are used through their property tax bill.”

Sears said the primary advantage is the amount stays with the property rather than being, for example, a second on a mortgage.

Projects deemed eligible for financing under CaliforniaFIRST include energy efficient windows, doors and ventilation systems, as well as renewable energy systems that can harness solar energy.

Davis Mayor Ruth Uy Asmundson said she would like to see financing through CaliforniaFIRST.

“I would like to apply for [the program] if I can,” Mayor Asmundson said.

Sears estimated Davis residents could apply for CaliforniaFIRST financing in June 2010, which is when the first monies would become available to the program.

YARA ELMJOUIE can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

After much contention, the Davis City Council discussed an area being used to curb the city’s expenditures in the face of a suffering economy.

The council passed the Individual Management Employees Memorandum of Understanding in a three to two vote at last Tuesday’s meeting. The MOU supplements the Management Group’s labor contract. The group includes 40 employees from all city departments.

The three-year agreement (July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012) specifies that the Management Group will take on an additional seven furlough days this year: six days next year and three days for the last year of the contract, or the 2011-12 fiscal year.

It will also pay a share of the employer’s contribution to the Public Employee Retirement System if rates exceed three percent a year. Meanwhile, the city will continue to pay the full employees’ share. The contract also establishes a 10-year vesting period for employees to receive retiree health care.

Along with the cuts, the MOU also includes a 3 percent Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) increase over the three years of the contract.

Councilmembers Lamar Heystek and Sue Greenwald voted against the decision.

“There’s no reason for a COLA increase, especially since it has been shown that cost of living is going down,” said Councilmember Lamar Heystek.

The “cafeteria cash-out” for public employees will be capped at $1,483 per month, or $18,000 per year. The cash-out plan has been in place since 1986. It allows employees’ families with spouses who have health insurance to take out money that would otherwise be used for health insurance benefits as part of their paychecks.

“We want to put a cap on these benefits because they are becoming increasingly costly to the city,” said Councilmember Stephen Souza. “Of course we want our employees to be insured but we would prefer to have them insured with us from here on out.”

Greenwald suggested that the cafeteria cash-out should have been either eliminated or reduced to $4,000 per year.

“This benefit currently costs the city $4 million a year,” Greenwald said. Neither the university nor the state has this provision. If we substantially reduced the cash-out, we could probably save about $3 million a year.”

Souza estimated that about 25 percent of the current management employees take the cafeteria money. New management employees will only be able to take out a maximum of $500. New employees can expect to have fewer benefits than pre-existing employees under a second-tier retirement system.

“New employees take the job with full knowledge of the fact that they will have fewer benefits,” Souza said. “And that’s full disclosure. It’s unfair to cut current employee salaries and if we asked for that it would be unfair bargaining.”

While the council majority felt that the employees had made concessions that would help bring fiscal stability to the city, Greenwald and Heystek argued the concessions were minimal.

“I think the management group should set an example as leaders and take on more responsibility,” Heystek said. “Higher paid employees can afford to shoulder more of the burden.”

Greenwald argued that the city management had not made concessions equal to those made by the university or state workers.

“The city has a number of benefits that are far greater than those of other public agencies such as the university, the state and the school districts,” Greenwald said. “My goal has been to get the benefits structure in line with those of other public agencies such as the university and the state.”

The majority of the projected savings will come from furloughs.

“Furloughs are a short term fix,” Heystek said. “Nobody is denying that we will get savings, but the question is: should the bulk of our savings come from a short term fix?”

Some believe the projected $744,000 in savings is a fictional figure and that savings in “real money” is only about $244,000 as compared to the base year, or the last fiscal year 2008-9 that is used as a comparison point. The bulk of these savings is projected to come from the first year of the plan and decrease from year to year. In fact, the third year has a 1.9 percent projected increase from the MOU base line year.

Greenwald felt the lower figure was a more useful savings estimation.

“The $744,000 is the savings from hypothetical pay increases that were built into the long-range budget,” Greenwald said. “The $244,000 is the actual savings from the baseline cost of the management contract to the city in fiscal year 08-09.”

Souza sees the MOU as groundwork for the future.

“The analogy I used is that we’re not a ski boat and we can’t just turn on a dime,” Souza said. “We are an aircraft carrier and it takes time to turn it around. I believe we have laid the groundwork for turning this ship around financially.”

Heystek feels City Council could have done more.

“It has been said that we’re setting the tone for future councils, but I don’t want to ascribe responsibility for making the city fiscally sound to future councils. It’s my responsibility now,” Heystek said.

JANE TEIXEIRA can be reached at city@theaggie.org.