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OCLC Founder Frederick G. Kilgour Dies at 92
Frederick G. Kilgour, founder of the OCLC Online Computer Library Center, died July 31 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at age 92. The Ohio College Association hired Kilgour in 1967 to establish a computerized library network on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus that became known as the Ohio College Library Center. Today OCLC’s WorldCat database contains over 70 million entries with more than 9,000 institutions as members....

House passes bill restricting social-networking sites in libraries
Schools and libraries that rely on e-rate funding would be required to prohibit minors from using chat rooms and social-networking sites like MySpace under legislation passed July 26 by the House of Representatives. By a 410–15 vote, legislators passed the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), H.R. 5319 (PDF file), despite skepticism from some Democrats that the measure was ineffective....

It’s back to school libraries for A Visit to Cuba
A U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction July 24 ordering the Miami-Dade County (Fla.) Public Schools to return to media center shelves districtwide a 24-part children’s book series about youngsters’ lives in other countries. The injunction, which extends until the case goes to trial an emergency order issued June 27, will make accessible once again the English- and Spanish-language editions of A Visit to Cuba—the only title in the series that was actually challenged....

LC to support preservation of foreign news broadcasts
The Library of Congress has entered a cooperative agreement to ensure the preservation of high-interest foreign news broadcasts such as those from the Arabic-language television channel Al Jazeerah....

Man indicted in library toe-sucking
A grand jury indicted Joseph Colella, 28, for felony gross sexual imposition after he allegedly kissed a woman’s foot and sucked her toe at the Boardman branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio....

ALA surveys non-MLS positions
For the first time, the ALA-Allied Professional Association and ALA’s Office for Research and Statistics are publishing the ALA-APA Non-MLS Salary Survey. This is the first survey to collect information on a large number of the positions within libraries that do not require an MLS degree from an ALA-accredited institution. The survey will be available through the ALA Store by the end of August....

ALA disappointed by House passage of DOPA
President Leslie Burger on the House passage of the Deleting Online Predators Act: “This unnecessary and overly broad legislation will hinder students’ ability to engage in distance learning and block library computer users from accessing a wide array of essential internet applications including instant messaging, email, wikis, and blogs.” ALA Council had passed a resolution opposing the legislation at Annual Conference....

George Lopez PSAs available
With Library Card Sign-up Month (September) just around the corner, libraries have a new tool to help get the word out—free, downloadable radio public service announcements. The two 30-second PSAs were recorded by actor-comedian George Lopez....

ALA testimony against Library of Congress cataloging changes
ALA submitted testimony July 27 to the Committee on House Administration regarding the Library of Congress’ decision to cease the creation of series authority records and treat all series only via transcription in bibliographic records....

Online scrapbook highlights media coverage
The ALA Public Information Office has created an online scrapbook that highlights media coverage of Annual Conference in New Orleans. The scrapbook includes video clips of television news coverage and links to newspaper articles; video and photos of volunteer activities; press conferences; and letters from supporters who thanked ALA for holding its conference in the Big Easy....

AASL provides support for two Emerging Leaders
AASL has announced its support of the Emerging Leaders 2007 initiative. ALA President Leslie Burger launched the new initiative to “enable 100 new librarians to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership” and enrich the Association’s incoming volunteer base with practical skills and applicable knowledge....

New ACRL advocacy toolkit
A new advocacy toolkit from ACRL is now available online. The toolkit will help librarians and library workers to develop their personal powers of persuasion to advance the agenda of the academic library. This publication provides basic content on persuasion, techniques for persuading others, applications of persuasion techniques for libraries, and recommended processes and examples for persuading others within higher education environments....

ACRL membership survey, part 3
Based on the survey, Steven Bell reports on the top 12 opportunities that ACRL may choose to pursue, and some of the key recommendations for action that the division will want to take in responding to the needs of the membership....
ACRLog, July 31

LAMA launches learning online
LAMA will offer its first fully online course, “The Complex Edifice: Analyzing Your Dream Library,” August 7 through September 13. This course, which fulfills a core requirement for the Certified Public Library Administrator Program (CPLA), is open to all interested librarians and facilities planners....

Notable IRRT members
ALA members (like Ching-chih Chen, right) have played an important role in promoting understanding of and interests in library services around the globe. Many of them indeed think, plan, and act globally. In an effort to recognize the accomplishments of these individuals, the International Relations Round Table created this Notable IRRT Members web page....

MAGERT map scanning registry
The Map and Geography Round Table is developing a Map Scanning Registry to find out what scanning projects are planned, in process, or complete for particular geographic areas in the U.S. or elsewhere. You can search the registry to locate a particular digital image, or submit a project to be added....

Pura Belpré Award DVD
ALSC is making available a special DVD, The Pura Belpré Award: Celebrating the Latino Experience in Children’s Literature. The DVD highlights the significance of the award to readers, authors, illustrators, librarians, and educators through interviews with the founders and winners of the award....

National Indian Law Library wins AALL award
The American Association of Law Libraries awarded Monica Martens and David Selden at the National Indian Law Library in Boulder, Colorado, its Public Access to Government Information Award in June for their work in making tribal law available to the public. The library’s work in providing access has focused on collecting hundreds of tribal codes and constitutions and offering a variety of user-friendly tools to access this difficult-to-find information....
Native American Rights Fund, July 27

David H. Clift Scholarship winner
Ashley E. Locke of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, is the 2006 recipient of the David H. Clift Scholarship. The Clift Scholarship, named for David H. Clift, a former ALA executive director, provides $3,000 to individuals pursuing a master’s degree in library and information studies....

Miriam L. Hornback Scholarship winner
Andrea Wallis of Everett, Washington, is the 2006 recipient of the Miriam L. Hornback Scholarship. The $3,000 award is given to an ALA or library support staff member to finance studies toward a master’s degree in library and information studies....

Tony B. Leisner Scholarship winner
Paula Elizabeth Heaney of Jerusalem, Arkansas, is the 2006 recipient of the Tony B. Leisner Scholarship. The $3,000 scholarship, named for Tony B. Leisner, an active ALA member and former member of the ALA Council, is awarded to a library support staff member pursuing a master’s degree in library and information studies....

Tom and Roberta Drewes Scholarship winner
Amanda Eaton Macomber of South Portland, Maine, is the recipient of the 2006 Tom and Roberta Drewes Scholarship. The $3,000 scholarship is awarded to individuals currently working as library support staff and is to be used towards studies for a master’s degree in library and information science....

Christopher J. Hoy/ERT Scholarship winner
Audra Eagle of Helendale, California, is the 2006 recipient of the Christopher J. Hoy/ERT Scholarship. The $5,000 scholarship was established by a donation from Hoy’s family and the ALA Exhibits Round Table....

Mary V. Gaver Scholarship winner
Emily Suzanne Arnold of San Antonio, Texas, is the 2006 recipient of the Mary V. Gaver Scholarship. The $3,000 scholarship was established to honor the memory of Gaver, a past ALA president and Rutgers University professor, who made many contributions to library youth services....

Marshall Cavendish Scholarship winner
Kate Napolitano of Ringwood, New Jersey, is the 2006 recipient of the Marshall Cavendish Scholarship. The $3,000 scholarship was established with a donation from the Marshall Cavendish Corporation in Tarrytown, New York, publishers of illustrated reference books for libraries....

D.C. will test library chief’s political savvy
Does anyone really expect the District of Columbia’s crumbling libraries to improve? Ginnie Cooper does. She took over as director of the D.C. libraries last week, and she’s already promising to make them “the friendliest part of local government.” Cut her a break; she’s from out of town....
Washington Post, Aug. 1

House misfires on internet safety
Syndicated columnist Larry Magid says passing DOPA was a mistake: “DOPA does nothing to strengthen penalties or increase prosecution of criminals who prey on children. Instead, it punishes the potential victims and educational institutions chartered to serve them, by denying access to interactive sites at school and libraries. It would be like trying to protect children from being injured or killed by drunk drivers by ruling that kids can no longer walk, ride a bike, or even ride in a car or bus to school.”...
CBS News, Aug. 1

Ancient book of psalms found in Ireland
This Irish equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls is being hailed by the National Museum’s experts as the greatest find ever from a European bog. Fragments of what appear to be an ancient psalter or book of psalms were uncovered July 20 by a construction worker in a bog in the south Midlands. It is impossible to say how the manuscript ended up in the bog. It may have been lost in transit or dumped after a Viking raid sometime between 800 and 1000 C.E....
National Museum of Ireland, July 27; Associated Press, July 25

Prayer book reveals Archimedean secret
Exactly when isn’t clear, but some decades ago a Parisian art forger washed the Greek religious text off pages of a parchment book and painted them over with images of evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But the prayer book held a deeper secret still. Faintly beneath the prayers, the scraps of sheepskin parchment held seven treatises of Archimedes—he who famously ran shouting “Eureka!” through the streets of Syracuse—considered by many as the greatest mathematician of antiquity....
San Mateo County (Calif.) Times, Aug. 2

Arizona library Teen Advisory Group creates its own magazine
“It’s your voice and your magazine!” That’s what the Elsie S. Hogan Library in Willcox, Arizona, wants local teens to know about TAG magazine, published by its Teen Advisory Group. The premier edition was published in April under the auspices of the Friends of the Library. The magazine is completely written by and for area teenagers....
Willcox Arizona Range News, July 27

Maryland student designs new library’s logo
Urbana (Md.) High School senior Tamara Treadway designed a winning logo for Frederick County’s new Urbana Regional Library, scheduled to open in late fall. The design was selected from several schemes submitted by students in an advanced computer graphics class at the school....
Frederick (Md.) News-Post, July 27

Public library use in Israel
Israelis spent an estimated NIS 15.9 million ($3.6 million), about 21.2% of total household spending on reading material, on book borrowing from public libraries in 2005. The proportion of people who are members of public libraries in Israel is just 16%. In comparison, the rates in Finland and Britain are more than three times as high, at 51% and 58% respectively....
Tel Aviv Ha’aretz, July 28

Hungarian national treasures on display
The Philostratus Corvina, a 15th-century Latin translation of the work of Greek philosopher Philostratus commissioned by King Matthias Corvinus, is one of many rarities on exhibit at the National Széchenyi Library in Budapest until October. The Corvina display is the first in a National Relic exhibition series, which will show such important Hungarian documents as the manuscripts of the National Anthem and the laws of King István....
Budapest Sun, July 27

Endlesse searche
Yale University’s Todd Gilman writes about working conditions in academic libraries: “An opening is posted for an academic librarian. Applicants promptly and eagerly forward their materials. Then they hear nothing. For months and months, they are trapped in—to paraphrase the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser—an ‘endlesse searche.’”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, July 27

Flickr + libraries = scary, scary, scary to some folks
Michael Stephens has some insight on Flickr, filtering, and fear: “I want to tell everyone about a bit of drama that’s playing out right now, right after DOPA passed the House, and what may be boiling up (and over) in an important moment in time for social software, users, and libraries. The theme here for me is FEAR.”...
ALA Tech Source, July 28

Calling Melvil Dewey
Efforts to simplify catalog systems at the Library of Congress may soon make scholarly research a lot more complicated. Many librarians argue that moves by the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution could hinder the ability of professors and students nationwide to gather information....
Inside Higher Education, July 28

Comments requested on NCLIS/IMLS merger
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is requesting comments on a draft plan for the consolidation into IMLS of the National Commission on Library and Information Science and the public and state library statistics surveys of the National Center for Education Statistics. The plan, which would go into effect in fiscal year 2008, results from President Bush’s fiscal year 2007 budget request....
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Aug. 2

New Yorker debuts “Ask the Librarians”
New Yorker librarians Jon Michaud and Erin Overbey have begun a monthly column called “Ask the Librarians.” Its debut includes answers to the questions, “When did Calvin Trillin start writing food pieces?” and “What’s the first movie the New Yorker ever reviewed?”...
Emdash, July 25

Amazon.com to offer MARC records
Amazon.com announced July 31 that it has launched Library Processing, a service that enables its library customers to receive Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) records and have books and other media they order from Amazon.com fitted with Mylar jackets, barcodes, and other essential preparation services....
Business Wire, July 31

Wikipedia celebrates 750 years of American independence (satire)
Wikipedia, the online, reader-edited encyclopedia, honored the 750th anniversary of American independence on July 25 with a special featured section on its main page Tuesday. Founder Jimmy Wales said, “According to our database, that’s 212 years older than the Eiffel Tower, 347 years older than the earliest known woolly-mammoth fossil, and a full 493 years older than the microwave oven.”...
The Onion, July 26

Best titles ever! (not satire)
After several emails on govdoc-l, the Free Government Information site compiled this list of government document titles that are interesting, strange, and intriguing—such as Distinguishing Bolts from Screws, Fertilizers in a National Emergency, and State-of-the-Art Dummy Selection....
Free Government Information, July 13

UK version of PubMed Central announced
Based on a model currently used in the United States, a new UK PubMed Central will provide free access to an online digital archive of peer-reviewed research papers in the medical and life sciences. The Wellcome Trust, as part of a nine-member group of British research funders, announced July 31 that the contract to run UKPMC has been awarded to a partnership between the British Library, The University of Manchester and the European Bioinformatics Institute....
British Library, July 31

ACQUISITIONS LIBRARIAN, University of Oregon, Eugene. As part of the Collection Development and Acquisitions Department, leads a busy unit responsible for acquisitions of library materials, including firm orders, approvals, books in hand, and subscriptions..... See JobLIST for more career opportunities.

Senators need to hear the views of library and information professionals on the Deleting Online Predators Act (H.R. 5319), which the House has passed and referred to the Senate. You can share with them personal stories about how you or your library patrons use social-networking sites in educational ways, or let them know how DOPA or similar legislation will affect libraries and library users if it passes.

Teen Tech Week
is a new YALSA celebration aimed at getting teens to use their libraries for the different technologies that are offered there, such as DVDs, databases, audiobooks, video games, and more. Teen Tech Week will be celebrated for the first time March 4–10, 2007.

Register by September 15 to ensure your spot at the AASL 2006 Fall Forum, “Assessing Student Learning in the School Library Media Center,” October 13–15, in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Plan to join ALSC for its biennial National Institute, September 14–16, in Pittsburgh, Pa. The theme is “Children’s Services Today and Tomorrow.” A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hilton Pittsburgh until August 23.

The next deadline for Certified Public Library Administrator applicants and providers is August 10.

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