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U.S. & World News
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Booklist Online
New Orleans Update
Division News
Awards
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MARC creator
Henriette Avram dies
Henriette Avram, credited with the development and implementation of the MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) format, died April 22 at age 86. Avram, who retired from the Library of Congress in 1992 after 26 years of service, was named LC’s first director for processing systems, networks, and automation planning in 1980....

FBI seeks to search journalist’s archives for classified documents
The FBI is demanding access to some 200 boxes of the papers and notes of Jack Anderson that the late investigative journalist’s family is donating to the George Washington University library to remove any leaked classified documents. However, the family has resisted the government’s efforts, claiming that turning over the materials would be inconsistent with the reporter’s life work....

Harassment claim dropped against Ohio State librarian
Ohio State University officials have found no evidence that a librarian at the school’s Mansfield campus engaged in harassment when he suggested four best-selling conservative books be added to the freshman reading list....

Gwinnett board chair resigns over director hearing
A testy exchange between two patrons and Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Library Executive Director Jo Ann Pinder on March 17 led to trustees calling a special hearing to decide whether to discipline Pinder. However, two days before the April 17 hearing took place, board Chair Dan English submitted his letter of resignation....

Miami school board blocks reconsideration end run
The board of the Miami–Dade County Public Schools voted 6–3 April 18 not to interfere with the system’s established materials-reconsideration process in the review of A Visit to Cuba, which has been challenged by a Cuban expatriate....

LC, British Library support e-journal standard
The Library of Congress and the British Library have agreed on a common standard for scholarly electronic journals that will help ensure long-term access to online content....

Brooklyn takes criticism for closed branch
Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library officials came under fire at a town hall meeting April 19 for closing the Brownsville branch for one week after a staff member was injured breaking up a fight March 15....

Hanover to keep Guthrie name on public library
The Hanover (Pa.) Public Service Committee voted 8–2 April 17 to send a motion to the borough council approving the name of its new library as the “Guthrie Memorial Library, Hanover’s Public Library.”...

Wind gust tears roof off school library
Wind removed the 2,100-square-foot roof of the Mountain Elementary School Library in Los Alamos, New Mexico, on April 15. The damage occurred early on a Saturday and was not discovered until the local Key Club came to paint at the school that day....

Free teleconference on “Confronting the Crisis in Library Education”
ALA President Michael Gorman will host a free national satellite teleconference on Friday, June 9, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CDT. “Confronting the Crisis in Library Education” will address the question of whether today’s library education programs are doing an adequate job of training the next generation of librarians and discuss the related issues of continuing education and certification....

Gorman responds to FBI efforts to access Anderson papers
ALA President Michael Gorman issued a statement April 21 in the wake of reported efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to access the personal papers of journalist Jack Anderson....

Shades of Glory chronicles the story of African-American baseball
The Campaign for America’s Libraries announced a new Annual Conference program entitled “Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball,” which will feature James L. Gates, library director at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y....

PR Forum to focus on word-of-mouth marketing
“Word-of-mouth marketing” is the latest buzzword when it comes to promoting your library, but what does it really mean? The PR Forum will take place in New Orleans on Sunday, June 25, from 8 to 10 a.m. The program is geared toward library public relations and marketing professionals but is open to any ALA member wishing to attend....

SELA joins Advocacy Institute sponsors
The Southeastern Library Association has joined the list of cosponsors for the ALA Advocacy Institute, scheduled for Friday, June 23, during Annual Conference in New Orleans....

Forget about “Katrina cough”
Despite claims that there have been more coughs, sore throats, and runny noses since Hurricane Katrina roared through the New Orleans area, a new state health department study has found that the monster storm’s lingering local effects do not include an increase in severe respiratory problems....
New Orleans Times-Picayune, Apr. 19

Katrina’s tide carries many to hopeful shores
The New York Times analyzed relocation patterns in 17 counties in and around Atlanta and Houston, two leading destinations for Katrina evacuees. The average evacuee has landed in a neighborhood with nearly twice the income as the one left behind, less than half as much poverty, and significantly higher levels of education, employment, and home ownership....
New York Times, Apr. 23

Renovation and repair at Dillard University (subscription required)
Over the course of eight years, Arthur J. Clement oversaw $55 million in renovation and new construction on Dillard University’s historic campus in New Orleans. Then he watched with horror as Hurricane Katrina washed much of the work away....
Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 28

Money worth spending
Wetlands restoration has been pushed to the bottom of a very long post-hurricane priority list. That may not be surprising, but it is a big mistake. The future of the region’s habitability is tied to the health of its wetlands. Long before there were levees to hold back the floodwaters, there were wetlands acting as a buffer....
New York Times, Apr. 23

New Orleans Museum of Art welcomes ALA
NOMA (in City Park, a short taxi ride from the Convention Center) offers free admission on June 23–25 to ALA attendees who bring their conference name tags. Librarian Sheila A. Cork can offer a limited number of tours of the Felix J. Dreyfous Library on Friday, June 23, between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., if you e-mail her well in advance....
New Orleans Museum of Art

ALCTS Publishing releases new spring titles
Five new titles from ALCTS include a selection of the writings of Ross Atkinson, preservation cost analysis, managing electronic resources, the future of the library catalog, and knowledge management....

ALSC 2006 National Institute registration open
“Children’s Services Today and Tomorrow” is the theme of ALSC’s 2006 National Institute, to be held September 14–16 at the Hilton Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....

ChoiceReviews.online to get a new look this summer
ChoiceReviews.online has been totally redesigned and will be relaunched as CRO2 in the summer. The service will have a new user-friendly interface and expanded functionality. CRO2 subscribers will have access to 115,000 Choice reviews, as well as all editorial content from recent issues of Choice....

New ASCLA online course
ASCLA is introducing “Selecting Spanish-Language Materials for Adults,” its first internet-based course designed for library staff serving Spanish-speaking populations. The course includes threaded discussions and chat sessions, and will be held on August 21–September 15 and October 23–November 17....

Loriene Roy receives 2006 Equality Award
Loriene Roy, professor in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin, is the 2006 recipient of the ALA Equality Award, which recognizes contributions for promoting equality in the library profession....

Janice Trapp wins the Sullivan Award
Janice Trapp, director of the James V. Brown Library in Williamsport, Pa., is the recipient of the Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children Award. The award, donated by Peggy Sullivan, honors an individual who has shown exceptional understanding and support of public library service to children....

Trina Magi named Futas winner
Trina Magi, government documents librarian at the University of Vermont in Burlington is the winner of the Elizabeth Futas Catalyst for Change Award. Magi played a pivotal role in mobilizing opposition to Section 215 (the library records provision) of the USA Patriot Act....

Thomson Gale Financial Development Award winner
The Arley (Ala.) Public Library is the 2006 recipient of ALA’s Thomas Gale Financial Development Award. The award, $2,500 and a citation donated by Thomson Gale, is presented annually to a library organization that exhibited meritorious achievement in carrying out a library financial development project....

Beta Phi Mu Award recipient named
Lois Mai Chan, professor at the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science, is the 2006 recipient of the Beta Phi Mu Award, presented to a library school faculty member or to an individual for distinguished service to education in librarianship....

AASL selects 2006 NSLMPY Award winners
The Hilliard (Ohio) City School District; the Biblioteca Las Américas in Mercedes, Texas; and Kapolei (Hawaii) High School are the winners of AASL’s National School Library Media Program of the Year Award....

EBSCO/ALA Conference Scholarship Award
The winners of the 2006 EBSCO/ALA Conference Scholarship Award are Rita Baladad, Tina Bradley, Emily Chandler, Amy Joanne Chow, Nancy Cope, Angela Gonzalez, Teresa Maria Mares, Cassandra Plater, Mildred Walters, and Li Zhang....

Elsevier reviews its subscription model
Elsevier is assessing new pricing models that could see archive databases included with journal subscriptions. The scientific publishing giant is collaborating with major libraries and believes there is demand for a return to title-by-title subscriptions with the added benefit of access to comprehensive databases....
Information World Review, Apr. 24

Falcons at the Evanston Public Library
For the third year in a row, peregrine falcons have chosen to nest at the Evanston (Ill.) Public Library. The nest isn’t visible from either inside or outside the library, so the staff set up a FalconCam to monitor the hatching process. The video updates every few minutes....
Evanston Public Library

Author Nicholas Basbanes dedicates Army library in Iraq
My escort on what was the unlikeliest of bibliophilic adventures, Lt. Col. Brian C. McNerney, took me to a recreation center in which a new library was about to open its doors to eager readers at LSA Anaconda near Balad, Iraq. The freshly installed wooden shelves had been stocked through the efforts of octogenarian Army veterans in the United States....
Los Angeles Times, Apr. 24

San Bernardino County supervisor urged to keep manga book on shelf
Two weeks after ordering the removal of a comic book that contained explicit graphic images from the San Bernardino (Calif.) County Library, First District Supervisor Bill Postmus has received a letter from the National Coalition Against Censorship in which he is accused of censoring a “critically acclaimed book.”...
Vacaville (Calif.) Daily Press, Apr. 25

Library-related cartoon caption contest provokes merriment
There were three winning entries (and eight honorable mentions) to create a caption for a cartoon featuring a rough-looking motorcyclist staffing the reference desk...
Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette, Apr. 23

Altered Books available for check-out
Last year, the Portland (Maine) Public Library joined forces with the Maine College of Art for a project in which artists were invited to take any of the library’s discarded volumes and do with them as they pleased. In February, 186 altered books were put into circulation, and within two weeks about 100 had been checked out. Some library patrons used them as centerpieces at dinner parties, others held mini-exhibitions in their homes....
New York Times, Apr. 23

List of Web 2.0 products and services
Confused about what Web 2.0 is all about? There are now many Web 2.0 services that could replace current desktop applications. Here is a major apps list, arranged by popular vote....
Listible

The world’s greatest library
Established 206 years ago, on April 24, 1800, the Library of Congress was initially intended merely to provide reference assistance for a small number of government workers. But thanks in large part to the efforts of one visionary Civil War–era assistant librarian, it was ultimately built up into one of the most impressive repositories of human knowledge on the planet....
American Heritage, Apr. 24

What students have to say about academic libraries (Podcast or streaming video)
Five Arizona State University students from various academic backgrounds were engaged as a panel by moderator JoAnn Mulvihill on February 17. Panelists sounded off on what types of technologies they preferred to use, what time and where they preferred to write papers, how they learned about how to use the library, and what improvements they’d like to see....
Arizona State University

The devaluing of higher education
In 2005–2006, average faculty salaries increased by less than the inflation rate for the second consecutive year, making faculty positions less appealing for the next generation of scholars. That is one of the findings of the AAUP’s annual report on faculty compensation....
American Association of University Professors, Apr. 24

Jet-age design for Mexican library
More than 200 Boeing 727 and 737 fuselages are stacked in a north-south slant in relation to sun exposure for energy efficiency in this design for a new Jalisco Library in Guadalajara, Mexico, by the New York architecture firm LOT-EK. The building utilizes the space inside the fuselages to contain and organize functions that require enclosed spaces—such as book collections, meeting rooms, and administration offices....
Noticias Arquitectura, Apr. 17

Audio preservation and restoration directory (PDF file)
This directory lists companies and individuals who offer services, equipment, or supplies for audio preservation and restoration....
Association for Recorded Sound Collections

The great library card collection
13-year-old Cory Peterson of Suisun City, California, has spent his past five summer vacations touring U.S. public libraries in quest of library cards to add to his collection. Your library could be on his 2006 trip list. Check out his website to see part of the collection....
Cory Peterson

Annual Conference
in New Orleans,
June 22–28. Take advantage of advance registration rates by May 19.

The polls for the ALA Election closed on Monday, April 24, and the results will be announced on the ALA website May 1 and in the May 3 AL Direct. The final ballot count was 14,696, representing 12,646 electronic votes and 2,050 paper votes. 25% of eligible ALA members participated.

El día de los niños/El día de los libros, a celebration of children, families, and reading, is held annually on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of advocating literacy for every child regardless of linguistic and cultural background.

As of April 20, contributions to the Cultural Communities Fund stood at $231,806. Please help us meet our 2005–2006 goal of raising $115,000 more by July 31 in order to qualify for up to $80,000 in matching funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.