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Written on: April 23rd, 2010 by: in Blog Posts, Q & A's
Q: I live in Maryland and purchased a sofa from a furniture store in Delaware. Since I had the sofa delivered they charged me both sales tax and a delivery fee. But, they said if I picked it up I wouldn’t be charged tax. How can they tax us when the item is purchased in a non-sales tax state (DE). Thank you.
A: I checked with both the Delaware tax office and the Comptroller of Maryland regarding your question.
You were charged sales tax because tax is owed in the state where you will take possession of the item, Maryland. In the case of out-of-state purchases it is called a use tax, not sales tax. The retailer charged you 6% tax since that is the amount of tax owed in MD.
If you had purchased the item in Delaware without having it delivered to avoid paying the tax, you are supposed to file tax form ST-118A.
This form is used by consumers to report and pay the use tax on taxable tangible goods that were purchased tax-free out of state and are used in Maryland and subject to Maryland’s 6 percent sales and use tax.
Learn more about the Maryland Use Tax here.
Thanks for using Ask a Librarian Delaware. Have a question? Ask us!
Written on: April 22nd, 2010 by: in Blog Posts, Informal learning, Learning, Learning Journeys, Reading
While searching for a local connection to Earth Day this morning, I visited the This Day in Delaware History spot on the Delaware Public Archives site. No Earth Day reference but I noticed that This Day is compiled by Roger Martin, historian. The librarian in me kicked in and a quick Google search revealed that this retired teacher and member of the Delaware General Assembly defines finding/following a learning path across a lifetime. Need proof? Ed Okonowicz wrote a piece about Martin for the UD Messenger in 1998 titled Rummaging for Delaware’s Forgotten History that explains it all. When you read it, you will realize I am not the only one who (un)earthed a few things.
Meanwhile, I’m tracking how often historians, historical documents and rare books seem to be popping up on my own path lately. Interesting to note, as always…
Written on: April 20th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts, News
In my initial early-adopter enthusiasm about Apple’s new iPad, I may have said some intemperate things about the future of the comic-book industry because of new distribution and readership opportunities presented by this type of emerging digital platform. My co-worker Beth-Ann suggested that since we’re both comic book readers, we should take the opportunity to ask some of the comic-book store owners in the area what they thought about the issue, and if they had any concerns, hopes, or expectations about digital comic reading.
I had a conversation with Sarah Titus, the new owner of The Comic Book Shop in North Wilmington, and Beth-Ann spoke with Joe Murray, owner of Captain Blue Hen Comics, about what they thought the actual impact of this type of technology might be on their businesses. They both had a number of interesting observations–first, importantly, they are both not worried.
Written on: April 19th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
In this week’s New York Times Sunday reviews, there are a host of reviews of new works by all manner of the most eminent authors in English and American letters- Ian McEwan, Anna Quindlen, and Ann Lammott, amongst others. In this week’s summary of the reviews, I’ve broken out a few reviews of some of the less well-known, or debut works:
Written on: April 18th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
Apparently George Washington may have actually crossed the Delaware to escape from librarians rather than Hessians. Full story here.
John Jay and Alexander Hamilton may have been lesser luminaries of the founding of our nation, but were much better at following the library rules, according to the records of the New York Society Library.
Written on: April 18th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
Via facebook, this recent photo of my awesome friend Lauren, doing something that probably couldn’t be done via iPad or Kindle! She’s reading My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler, at a dig site near Phonsavanh in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Lauren- I’m pretty sure that this title is not featured on any of the deployment reading lists that I’ve written about in the past.
Lauren is a 92-M Mortuary Affairs Specialist in the US Army, currently serving at the Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii and recently returned from an expedition to locate remains of Vietnam-war era MIA personnel and to return them with all due honor to the families of the fallen.
Written on: April 16th, 2010 by: in Q & A's
Screening for Life provides payment for cancer screening tests to qualified Delaware adults. The program is a cooperative effort of the Delaware Division of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Screening for Life covers Pap tests, Breast Exams, Mammograms, Prostate tests, and Colorectal tests.
To apply for Screening for Life please call the Delaware Helpline at 211 or 1-800-464-HELP and ask for Screening for Life.
More information on the program may be found on the Delaware Division of Public Health website: http://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/dpc/sfl.html
For eligibility guidelines please check: http://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/dpc/sfl_eligibility.html
Thanks for using Ask a Librarian Delaware. Have a question? Ask us!
Written on: April 15th, 2010 by: in Learning Journeys, Reading, Reviews
Thank you. Thank you for believing in the right to read…for believing that the free exchange of information is essential to a democracy. From one citizen to another, thank you for supporting our public libraries. I intended to lead this post toward libraries as the great equalizers of access and education, the preschool door to learning, etc., etc. But, books kept coming to my mind. Rather, stories kept coming to my mind. The magic of story to be specific. What greater gift does the public library provide?
So instead, I polled my coworkers at the Division of Libraries, Delaware Public Archives and the Government Information Center. Please, share the title of your favorite book as a child. The room become animated, discussion lively. I returned to my desk and emailed the same question to Raina Allen, Director of Community Engagement & Programs in Lt. Governor’s Denn’s office. When she responded, Raina told me that Julia Blevins, the Lt. Governor’s Policy Advisor, wanted to share too. The Lt. Governor? Ultra-busy day but this two word response came to Raina: Phantom Tollbooth.
The big winners were Dr. Seuss and Carolyn Keene. While individual titles were selected for the Doctor, Keene’s were identified as the “Nancy Drew series.” Stir Tom Sawyer, Bridge to Terabithia, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Encyclopedia Brown, Go, Dog, Go and Charlotte’s Web into the mix. Now, that is one great children’s recommended reading list; and all are available at your local public library. What would you add? My choice? Julia and I both chose Eloise by Kay Thompson.
The right story – the right book – takes up residence within us. And while we bring our own interpretations to a story, we can enjoy the shared experience as Julia and I did yesterday. Our Deputy Secretary of State, Rick Geisenberger, captured it beautifully when he responded to this query. I’ll leave you with his words. “The year she was born in 1903, my grandmother was given a beautifully illustrated Children’s Book of Shakespeare printed and published in 1901. For whatever reason, she chose to give me the book when I was young and I still have it today and read its child-friendly versions of Romeo & Juliet, a Midsummer Night’s Dream and many other favorites to my own kids. It’s presence on my bookshelf is a constant reminder that the joy of reading and story telling are gifts that we pass to each new generation.”
Written on: April 14th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
I was very fortunate to be able to spend a lot of my vacation last week “road-testing” a new iPad, and I’m happy to report my findings! First, let’s say that while the iPad is very cool indeed, there are some significant limitations overall- as an e-reader device, however, I don’t think that there’s an equal.
The iPad works pretty much out of the box, and once it was unpacked, I got down to the business of downloading a number of library-oriented applications. The iReader native Apple e-bookstore and reader app is very nice, although I think that the virtual bookshelf imagery is a bit hackneyed at this point. However there were all of the titles one could hope for- a little pricier I think that Amazon. The user-interface for the reader is very nice indeed, and extremely intuitive. The reader ‘swipes’ the page to turn it back and forward, and there are tools at the top of the screen for font size, bookmarking etc. The large size of the iPad screen makes this the closest thing to reading a real book- the appearance and ‘feel’ is very book-like: when you factor in the fact that this is only one of the many things that the iPad does (albeit one at a time- more later), you have to think that Jeff Bezos over at Amazon.com is chewing his fingernails down to the bone.
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Written on: April 13th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
With the recent emphasis nationally and in Delaware on STEM initiatives, particularly ones focused on girls, I’m embarrassed to note that I missed the recent “Ada Lovelace Day” which was held March 24th. Established last year, Ada Lovelace Day celebrates the achievements of women in science and technology, and is named for the woman who wrote the first computer programs, for Babbage’s Analytical Engine, in 1843. You can find a number of books about her at your library.
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