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New Orleans Update
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Four Connecticut librarians shed John Doe gag
“I am relieved that a federal court has at long last lifted a Patriot Act gag order and allowed me to acknowledge that I am the recipient of a National Security Letter [NSL] on behalf of my organization, Library Connection,” asserted Executive Director George Christian at a May 30 press conference at the New York City headquarters of the American Civil Liberties Union. The statement ended months of speculation that the Library Connection—a nonprofit consortium of 27 public and academic libraries in central Connecticut—is the John Doe plaintiff in Doe v. Gonzales....

Supreme Court sends mixed signals on public employees’ speech
In a 5–4 ruling on the Garcetti v. Ceballos case, the Supreme Court asserted May 30 that the Constitution does not necessarily protect government employees from retaliation by their supervisors for anything they might say in the course of their employment....

Justice Department urges internet firms to retain user data
In a private May 26 meeting with leading internet companies, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller said internet service providers should retain subscriber information and network data for two years in order to aid investigations into child pornography and terrorism activities....

Laura Bush announces $1.5 million in Gulf Coast grants
During a May 31 visit to New Orleans, First Lady Laura Bush announced that the Institute of Museum and Library Services will grant an additional $1.5 million to aid the recovery of libraries and museums in disaster areas....

Smithsonian head testifies on Showtime contract
Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small told the House Administration Committee May 25 that the museum is locked into its contract with the Showtime Networks cable channels for 30 years. He also testified that the controversial deal between the Smithsonian and Showtime to create television programming guarantees the museum $500,000 a year and gives it 10% ownership in the new Smithsonian on Demand channel....

Maryland Gov. Ehrlich kicks off summer reading in Baltimore County
The Baltimore County Public Library in Towson unrolled the red carpet May 15 to welcome Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. as he kicked off the summer statewide reading program, “Clue into Reading.” Visiting students listened to Ehrlich read Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham for the event....

Tax-limit override for Medway Library discouraged
Town officials May 22 recommended against the Medway (Mass.) Public Library board’s request for a second ballot measure overriding the state’s Proposition 2 1/2 tax-limitation law. The selectmen instead suggested that the library investigate whether other city departments would accept budget cuts to provide the additional $200,000 the library needs to stay open after July 1....

Grande Bibliothèque issues report on falling glass panels
The Grande Bibliothèque du Québec released an independent contractor’s report May 31 on six decorative panels of glass that shattered and fell from the library’s exterior in June and July 2005. A seventh glass panel burst May 2....

Canada’s Library of Parliament reopens
Canada’s Library of Parliament reopened to the public June 3 after a four-year, $136-million ($124 million U.S.) construction project to preserve and renovate the 130-year-old building in Ottawa. The rehabilitation work was necessary to repair leaking windows, dangerous electrical wiring, and structural problems....

OLOS 35th anniversary lecture features Carla Hayden
ALA’s 2003–2004 President Carla D. Hayden will give the 2006 Jean Coleman Outreach Lecture at “Jazz in the Morning,” a 35th anniversary breakfast and celebration of the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services on Monday, June 26, 7:30 to 10 a.m., at Annual Conference. The lecture, entitled “Access Agenda for all Libraries,” will celebrate 35 years of advocacy for staff serving traditionally underserved populations in libraries....

Preconference on library service to older adults
Sponsored by OLOS, the “Reaching Out to Older Adults: The Why and How of Library Services” preconference to be held in New Orleans June 22–23, will introduce local library staff to issues reflecting effective service delivery based on tried and true practices. Online registration is open until June 9....

ALA offers special “drive-in” rate for Monday of Annual Conference
With a banner day planned at the Morial Convention Center, ALA is offering a special one-day rate for Monday, June 26, during Annual Conference in New Orleans (June 22–28). Members may attend for $99, and nonmembers will pay $125. Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday will be at the regular rate....

Wi-Fi at Morial Convention Center
ALA has contracted with the Morial Convention Center to provide Wi-Fi access at the Annual Conference. This access will be available to all users (councillors and attendees) for the duration of the event. Wi-Fi coverage is available throughout the building with the exception of the exhibit halls....

Its first big convention since Katrina will be a test for New Orleans
Later this month, nearly 20,000 delegates of the American Library Association will arrive here for the first citywide convention since Hurricane Katrina. “It’s not a matter of choice—they’ve got to get it right,” said Steven Hacker, president of the Dallas-based International Association for Exhibition Management....
Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, June 4

Hurricane season started June 1
But if this year is anything like every year since 1855, don’t expect to see many hurricanes in the Gulf for the next month or so. In more than 150 years, not a single hurricane has come near New Orleans in June. During the same period, only four tropical storms have hit the city in summer’s first weeks....
New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 1

School superintendents point to the city as a model for the future
Could the school district reputed to be the worst in the nation—the one in New Orleans—provide a model for revamping schools across the U.S. as it rebuilds after Hurricane Katrina? Superintendents Randy Bridges of Rock Hill and Vickie Phelps of Clover think it will be closely watched....
Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald, June 4

New Orleans still struggling
Little in this city is the way it was before Aug. 29, 2005. It’s easy to find a parking spot along Canal Street, nearly impossible pre-Katrina. Motorists cruise with ease during evening rush hour through downtown. In Jackson Square, where President Bush pledged to help New Orleanians until the recovery is complete, few tourists snap photographs of historic St. Louis Cathedral....
Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, June 4

City is sinking faster than expected
Everyone has known New Orleans is a sinking city. Now new research, reported in the journal Nature and based on satellite radar data for the three years before Katrina struck in 2005, shows that some areas are sinking four or five times faster than the rest of the city. And that, experts say, could be deadly....
ABC News, May 31

New Orleans museums
Visit NewOrleansMuseums.com for background on art museums, history museums, historic homes, multicultural museums, zoos and gardens, and religious museums. A museums map pinpoints their locations....
New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation

Bus and streetcar information
At present, there is no charge to ride any RTA bus line within the city limits of New Orleans (Orleans Parish). Service on RTA lines numbered 2 through 115 is free. Free fares will continue at least through June 30, since FEMA has agreed to pick up these costs through that date....
New Orleans Regional Transit Authority

Taxicab information
Many taxis are privately owned, so they will look different from each other. Rates vary, but approximate rates from the airport are $21 for up to two passengers....
Tripsmarter

Library Consultants Directory entries wanted
LAMA is seeking entries for the 2006 edition of its Library Consultants Directory, a special insert to be published in the Fall 2006 issue of Library Administration & Management, which will appear in September. Listing information and payment must be received by July 15 for inclusion in the 2006 Directory....

PR materials sought for Swap & Shop
Libraries of all types and sizes are invited to share their creative public-relations efforts with colleagues at LAMA’s annual “Swap & Shop: Great PR Exposed!” event at Annual Conference in New Orleans. Swap & Shop showcases public relations materials (annual reports, newsletters, and reading promotions), including a juried selection of the best PR materials produced in the past year and the 2007 John Cotton Dana Awards for outstanding achievement in library public relations....

ALCTS announces upcoming CE events
Registration for the ALCTS summer continuing education programs is now open. Program topics include metadata applications, digital library development, fundamentals of acquisitions, and principles of controlled vocabulary....

LHRT publishes Spring 2006 library history bibliography
Ed Goedeken, humanities bibliographer at Iowa State University, has compiled the Spring 2006 “Bibliography of Writings on the History of Libraries, Librarianship, and Book Culture” for the semiannual newsletter of the Library History Round Table....

Laura Bush grants to school libraries announced (PDF file)
The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries announced June 5 that 206 school libraries are being awarded over $1 million in grants. The schools receive grants of up to $5,000 to create or expand their library book collections. Awards were made in 42 states, plus the District of Columbia....
Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries, June 5

ARLIS/NA confers Distinguished Service Award on Sherman Clarke (PDF file)
At its 34th annual conference in Banff, Alberta, May 5–9, the Art Libraries Society of North America presented its Distinguished Service Award to Sherman Clarke, head of original cataloging at New York University....
Art Libraries Society of North America

Hartford Courant cartoonist Bob Englehart salutes Connecticut librarians
Englehart wrote the following comments to accompany his editorial cartoon: “I salute Connnecticut’s brave librarians. It’s not very often I draw a salute. It’s not very often I have reason to. But those four librarians who enlisted the aid of the ACLU to fight odious provisions of the USA Patriot Act, and won, deserve our praise.”...
Hartford (Conn.) Courant, June 4

California Proposition 81 defeated
Proposition 81, which would have provided more money for public libraries, was defeated by voters 53%–47% June 6. The proposition called for spending $600 million to improve public libraries around the state. A recent survey by the California State Library estimated it would cost more than $4 billion to adequately upgrade the state’s libraries....
KFMB-TV, San Diego, June 7

Counterterrorism exemption proposed for Privacy Act
A little-noticed proposal from the Senate intelligence committee would exempt federal agencies from important provisions of the Privacy Act in the name of the war on terrorism. The bill would initiate a three-year pilot program, during which U.S. intelligence agencies would be able to access personal information about Americans held by other federal departments or agencies if it is thought to be relevant to counterterrorism or counterproliferation....
United Press International, June 6

High-tech firms want to maintain network neutrality
The nation’s largest high-tech trade association jumped into the network neutrality debate June 1, siding with content providers like Google that want to stop telephone and cable companies from charging them higher fees for preferred internet delivery. The American Electronics Association urged Congress to give the FCC rule-making and enforcement authority to preserve the way internet traffic is delivered on a first-come, first-served basis....
San Francisco Chronicle, June 2

Hahn resigns as NCLIS executive director (PDF file)
Trudi Bellardo Hahn is resigning as executive director of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, effective June 30. Hahn was appointed to the position in May 2005; prior to that she was interim director from 2004....
National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, May 30

Ex-staffer writes book about Boulder flag flap
In 2001, when Boulder’s library director nixed his idea for a large American flag in the front entrance but approved a display of 21 ceramic penises, his star started falling, said Christopher J. Power, author of Long May They Wave. Power said he found himself snubbed by library officials and ultimately laid off....
Denver Rocky Mountain News, June 6

Undergrads have not squeezed out readers
British Library Chief Executive Lynne Brindley says she does not apologize for making the library a place available in 2004 to everyone who wants to do research. Certain claims that “allowing undergraduates into the British Library’s reading rooms has led to exclusion, not inclusion” do not paint an accurate picture. “A busy British Library is a successful British Library,” she writes....
The Guardian, June 1

The user is not broken: A meme manifesting as a manifesto
In the wake of “a discussion with a passionate young librarian who cares,” Karen Schneider has composed a list of Marcus Aurelius–like meditations on libraries and technology, such as: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to find a library website that is usable and friendly and provides services rather than talking about them in weird library jargon.”...
Free Range Librarian, June 3

Lighten up, please: Why the uninformed librarian should be informed on library humor
Norman D. Stevens, director of university libraries emeritus at the University of Connecticut, examines the current status of library humor, our response to it, and why—now more than ever—informed librarians should not only be appreciating library humor but creating it....
Informed Librarian, June

CIP survey for libraries
While the Cataloging in Publication program has grown significantly over the years, the resources that support it have not. Given limited resources and dramatic changes in information technology, the Library of Congress is asking libraries (and publishers) to fill out a survey to determine its future. The survey has 56 questions. LC tried to keep it brief, but CIP serves many constituents, and cataloging is not a simple business....
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Division

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita web archive
Internet Archive and many individual contributors created a comprehensive list of websites documenting the historic devastation and massive relief effort due to Hurricane Katrina. The sites were crawled between the dates of September 4 and October 17. This collection, containing more than 25 million searchable documents, will be preserved by Internet Archive with access to historians, researchers, scholars, and the general public....
Internet Archive

New Chinese-Canadian roots website
Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library’s new Chinese-Canadian Genealogy website, sponsored in part by Library and Archives Canada, offers a variety of practical tools and resources to support all stages of genealogical research, from basic techniques commonly used by genealogists, to more advanced guidance....
Library and Archives Canada, May 31

Home broadband adoption, 2006 (PDF file)
At the end of March 2006, 42% of Americans had high-speed at home, up from 30% in March 2005, or a 40% increase. And 48 million Americans—mostly those with high-speed at home—have posted content to the internet....
Pew Internet & American Life Project, May 28

Study shows how kids’ media use helps parents cope
Electronic media is a central focus of many very young children’s lives, used by parents to help manage busy schedules, keep the peace, and facilitate family routines, according to a new national study (PDF file). In a typical day, 83% of children under the age of 6 use screen media, with those children averaging about two hours a day (1:57). Media use increases with age, from 61% of babies one year or younger who watch screen media in a typical day (for an average of 1:20) to 90% of 4 to 6 year-olds (for an average of 2:03)....
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, May 24

Presidential speech audio and text archive
The University of Virginia’s Scripps Library and Multimedia Archive has an archive of some of the most important presidential speeches of the past 60 years available. Recently they expanded the collection to include the full text of some of the more important presidential speeches from the 18th and 19th centuries....

Annual Conference
in New Orleans,
June 22–28.

Visit over 1,600 booths with products and services designed to help you manage the library of the Millennium. Exhibit hours are: 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Saturday, June 24, to Monday, June 26; and 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 27.

The Joint Conference of Librarians of Color is the first-ever national conference to be held and sponsored by the five caucus associations of color—AILA, APALA, BCALA, CALA, and Reforma—at the same time (Oct. 11–15) in the same place (Dallas). Registration deadline extended to July 14.

Banned Books Week this year is September 23–30. The 2006 Banned Books Week Kit is an opportunity to conduct or sponsor positive educational programs, including exhibits, lectures, discussions, plays, and films, demonstrating the harms of censorship.