January
25, 2006
AL Direct is a weekly electronic newsletter sent by
the American Library Association every
Wednesday
to personal members by e-mail as a perquisite of membership.
Contents:
U.S. & World News
ALA News
Division News
Awards
Seen Online
Actions & Answers
Poll
Datebook
AL Direct
FAQ
Google
defies DOJ demand for search records
The Department of Justice sought a court order January
18 from the U.S. District Court of Northern California demanding that
Google comply with its August 2005 subpoena for millions of randomly selected
online search records held by the Silicon Valley–based search-engine
firm....
Clinton
Library begins accepting
document requests
On January 20, the fifth anniversary of President Clinton’s
departure from office, the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock,
Arkansas, began accepting Freedom of Information Act document requests
from researchers interested in the history of the administration....
Task
force recommends D.C. library overhaul
The District of Columbia Public Library needs more than
$450 million in improvements—including a new $280-million headquarters
library, 400 new computers, and replacement of half its collection over
the next three years—according to a draft report released January
17 by a task force organized in 2004 by Mayor Anthony A. Williams....
New
Bronx library center opens
The New York Public Library held a dedication ceremony
January 17 for a new, state-of-the-art, five-story central branch in the
Bronx—a facility three times the size of the Fordham Library Center
that had served the borough for 82 years....
Thieves
can profit from book-heist story
A federal judge ruled in mid-January that the four men
who were sentenced in December for book theft and assault at Transylvania
University library in Lexington, Kentucky, can keep any profits from selling
the story of their crime to the media....
Salinas
library hours to double
The Salinas, California, city council approved a plan January
17 that will increase hours at the city’s three libraries by this
spring. The plan will use $250,000 in money from the Rally Salinas campaign
to expand weekly library hours from 33 to 69, the Salinas Californian
reported January 18....
France
to put history professor on trial
for stolen documents
A Paris court intends to bring a retired Marquette University
history professor and an accomplice to trial for stealing valuable documents
from the French National Archives in the 1980s....
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Feb. 1–4: Ontario Library Association Super Conference, Toronto. Contact: OLA, 416-363-3388. Mar. 10–11:
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“First, full disclosure. I am a big fan of librarians. In 40-plus years of using public and university libraries, I have found them to be, as a class of people, smart, generous with their time and help, sometimes a little quirky, but invariably, kind.” —Editor Regina McGee, saluting ALA for keeping the 2006 Annual Conference in New Orleans, in “Hats Off to the ALA,” Association Meetings, December 2005. |
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San
Antonio meeting spotlights
education for librarianship
ALA President Michael Gorman (far right) kicked off the
Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, January 20–25, with a half-day
forum on education for librarianship. Extending that theme into his President’s
Program, Gorman welcomed author and National Public Radio commentator
Andrei Codrescu, ostensibly to engage in a dialogue about the future of
the profession....
60
libraries will receive
Jewish literature discussion program grants
ALA’s Public Programs Office and Nextbook—a gateway
to Jewish literature, culture and ideas—selected
60 public and academic libraries to receive grants for Let’s
Talk About It: Jewish Literature programs. During
the course of the three-year initiative, a total of 159 libraries have
been selected to participate....
Preconference
on library programming
will lead off PLA meeting
Poet Mark Doty, film studies professor Thomas Doherty,
and Middle Eastern specialist Barbara E. Petzen have been added to the
roster of speakers for “Cultural Programming for Libraries: Linking
Libraries, Communities and Culture,” to be held March 21–22
in Boston....
The
three C’s of teens
Community, Collaboration, Creation. A summary of author
Linda Braun’s presentation at the YALSA Teens and Technology Institute,
held at the ALA Midwinter Meeting....
PLA
Blog
Top
technology trends
A summary of the LITA discussion on tech trends
at the ALA Midwinter Meeting....
LITA
Blog
Perkins,
Raschka win 2006 Newbery, Caldecott medals
The writer of a novel about a group of teens who over the
course of a summer search for the meaning of life and the illustrator
of a story about a girl’s magical visit to her multiracial grandparents’
home were named respective winners of ALA’s Newbery and Caldecott
medals honoring children’s literature....
More
ALA children’s/YA literary award winners
See a list of all the awards for books and videos for children
and young adults presented at the ALA Midwinter Meeting....
Nominations
sought for 2006
JCLC awards, scholarships
The Joint Conference of Librarians of Color 2006 invites
nominations for its awards and scholarships, which will be presented during
its conference, “Gathering at the Waters: Embracing Our Spirits;
Telling Our Stories,” to be held in Dallas, October 11–15, 2006....
GLBTRT
Stonewall Award winners
ALA’s
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Round Table named Abha Dawesar,
author of Babyji (Anchor Books) and Joshua Gamson, author of The
Fabulous Sylvester: the Legend, the Music, the 70s in San Francisco,
the winners of its two Stonewall Awards....
LAMA
announces John Cotton Dana
PR award winners
Six
libraries are winners of the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations
Award, which recognizes and honors outstanding achievement in library
public relations....
RUSA’s
Notable Books Council
reveals 2006 top picks
The Notable Books Council has compiled its 2006 list of
outstanding books for the general reader. These titles have been selected
for their significant contribution to the expansion of knowledge and for
the pleasure they can provide to adult readers....
First
Sophie Brody Medal for outstanding achievement in Jewish literature
Avner Mandelman won the RUSA award for his book Talking
to the Enemy, published by Seven Stories Press....
YALSA
collection development grant winners
Two public librarians, Karin Thogersen of Huntley Area
Public Library (Ill.) and Rachel Orozco of the Rita and Truett Smith Public
Library (Texas), have been named winners....
YALSA
selected audiobooks for young adults
Titles were selected for their appeal to a teen audience,
the quality of their recording, and their enhancement of an audience’s
appreciation of any written work on which they may be based....
YALSA
Sagebrush Award winner
Vaunda Nelson, teen librarian at the Rio Rancho (N. Mex.)
Public Library, won the award for her Lights! Camera! Books! 2005 Teen
Summer Reading Program....
YALSA
Baker & Taylor Scholarship winner
Library Media Specialist Felice Piggott has won a YALSA
Baker & Taylor Scholarship Grant for 2006. Piggott will receive $1,000
to attend ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans....
New
Des Moines library
will feature a bakery
La Mie Bakery & Restaurant will open a cafe in downtown
Des Moines’ new public library this spring....
Des Moines (Iowa) Register, Jan. 20
UNC,
Virginia Tech get NSF grant
for digital library curriculum
The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year
grant of over half a million dollars to the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
to develop “Collaborative Research: Curriculum Development: Digital
Libraries.”...
University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Jan. 19
Librarian
wants more librarians
on postage stamps
Retired librarian Vladimir Wertsman is mounting a
drive to see more of the world’s librarians honored with commemorative
postage stamps....
New
York Daily News, Jan. 23
Former
Ocmulgee director to be
sentenced this week
David C. Wilson will be sentenced January 26 on seven federal
felony counts stemming from a middle Georgia library corruption case....
Savannah
(Ga.) Morning News, Jan. 12
50
British public libraries face closure
as local councils balance their books
Around 50 libraries in at least six different counties
are facing possible closure in the coming months. Most are in small and
sometimes isolated communities. David Lammy, the culture minister, is
writing to every council urging it not to close libraries as part of its
budget measures....
The
Telegraph (London), Jan. 23
Internet
searches and privacy protection:
A guide for the perplexed
Internet consultant Danny Sullivan discusses the pitfalls
of retaining your privacy while googling....
Search
Engine Watch, January 23
The
academic library as
a virtual destination
USC Library Dean Jerry Campbell weighs in on the changing
mission of university libraries and the evolving role of librarians as
digital technologies gradually take over many of their traditional functions....
Educause
Review, January/February 2006
A
librarian’s guide to finding
websites you can trust
Librarian’s
Internet Index Director Karen Schneider gives five characteristics of
authoritative online resources, with some tips on how to evaluate them....
Google
Librarian’s Newsletter, January 2006
Congressional
sponsors needed
for Katrina library relief bill
Washington Office Action alert: ALA has drafted a bill
that would authorize an appropriation of $100 million for FY 2006 to provide
targeted grants to Gulf-state libraries serving communities impacted by
Hurricane Katrina. Library supporters in targeted states are asked to
contact their representatives and ask them to sponsor it....
ALA
Washington Office
The
“Are you a librarian?” test
Test your professional knowledge with this challenging
29-question test, which includes many ALA-related questions. You don’t
need to join the sponsoring site (a dating service) to take the test....
OKCupid