Contents:

U.S. & World News
ALA News
New Orleans Update
Division News
Awards
Seen Online
Actions & Answers
Poll
Datebook
AL Direct FAQ

President Bush signs Patriot Act renewal
The House reauthorized the USA Patriot Act March 7, and President Bush signed the legislation March 9, a day before the major provisions of the original bill were set to expire....

First Lady announces grants
to build Gulf Coast school libraries
Accompanying her husband on a visit to inspect areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina last year, First Lady Laura Bush announced March 8 that the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries had set up a special fund to award grants to restock school libraries that lost their collections in the disaster....

Librarians outspell nuns in literacy fundraiser
A team of three librarians from Boone County (Ky.) Public Library took top honors in a spelling bee for the fourth year in a row March 9, defeating the former champions, the Benedictine Sisters of St. Walburg Monastery in Villa Hills, Kentucky, who came out of retirement for the challenge....

Damon Read poster
becomes hot NYC commodity
An ALA Read poster that features former Boston Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon is fast becoming a favorite among New York–area school and public libraries, thanks to Young Adult Librarian Laura Bernheim of the Waltham (Mass.) Public Library....

Winnipeg Public Library gets embroiled
in cartoon controversy
The Muslim community of Winnipeg, Manitoba, offered to screen a film documentary March 14 to convince Mayor Sam Katz and the city council to ask the Winnipeg Public Library to remove from its shelves a magazine issue that features Danish cartoons with caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad....

Librarian: Media fictionalized
penguin Tango flap
A week after media outlets around the world began reporting that a Missouri library system had moved And Tango Makes Three, a children’s picture book about two male penguins raising a baby together, Rolling Hills Consolidated Library Director Barbara Read was still fielding e-mails and phone calls about whether she should have restricted the title. But the book hasn’t been restricted at all, she responded over and over....

Residents support mayor in keeping
Hanover Public Library’s name
Many Hanover, Pennsylvania, residents are agreeing with Mayor Maggie Hormel that their public library should not be renamed after a major donor....

British library users try to halt closures
Citizens riled by the threatened closure of some 50 public libraries by local governments in the United Kingdom continued to show their displeasure as plans progressed....

Annual Conference
in New Orleans,
June 22–28.
Try out the new
conference wiki!

Show us your best READ Poster! Send in READ posters you have created using the READ CD 2 and you could win a $100 gift certificate from ALA Graphics and be featured in American Libraries. Submissions are due by May 31.

9th Annual Diversity Fair, Celebrating Examples of Diversity in Adult and Family Literacy Services
in Libraries, ALA Annual Conference, New Orleans, Saturday, June 24, 3–5 p.m. in the Exhibits area. Entry form.

“Selecting Spanish-Language Materials for Adults,” an introductory course to help public library staff learn the basics of developing a Spanish-language collection, Fall 2006. Contact Eileen Hardy.

Individual ALA members may now purchase high-quality technology training and management
e-learning courses (including office productivity and business fundamentals) from Element K at affordable prices. All e-learning courses are web-based. This service is brought to you through a partnership between ALA, ASCLA, and SEFLIN (Southeast Florida Library Information Network).

Hurricane Katrina Library Relief Fund surpasses $300,000
Recent donations to the fund from the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii ($1,720), the New Jersey Library Association ($1,895), the Sun City Hilton Head Community Association ($10,000), and Thomson Gale and Sleeping Bear Press ($10,415), who donated $1 for every copy sold of B Is for Bookworm by Louisiana author Anita C. Prieto helped push up the total....

ALA Recruitment Assembly
launches recruitment site
The new website LibraryCareers.org includes basic information on what it takes to become a librarian or library worker as well as information on education, financial assistance, and possible career paths....

Adult and Family Literacy is the theme
for 2006 Diversity Fair
ALA invites its members from all types of libraries to participate in the 9th Annual Diversity Fair to take place on Saturday, June 24, 3 to 5 p.m., during Annual Conference in New Orleans. This year, the Diversity Fair will initiate a pilot strategy to showcase a range of programs with a common theme, “Adult and Family Literacy Services in Libraries.”...

Advocacy Institutes will be held at NJLA and TLA/SELA conferences
ALA will host regional Advocacy Institutes at the New Jersey Library Association Conference on Monday, April 24, in Long Branch, and at the Tennessee Library Association/Southeastern Library Association in Memphis on Wednesday, April 5....

ALA New Orleans Conference wiki debuts
Maintained by Meredith Farkas, the wiki is designed to be a guide to the 2006 ALA Annual Conference that reflects the collective knowledge of our diverse membership. Anyone with information about New Orleans, the conference, or ALA participation is encouraged to contribute....

Morial Convention Center update (PDF file)
In June, Halls D through J will be open, along with its associated meeting room space, Conference Auditorium, and the La Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom. The Center’s restoration will be fully complete in November, when the remaining four halls, meeting rooms, and La Louisiane Ballroom come online....
Morial Convention Center, Mar. 10

Mardi Gras celebration will help fund recovery
To a nation that still thinks parts of New Orleans are under water, the city replaced images of refugees in boats with revelers on floats. In the end, most of the national and international media got it. But it was a battle, as they repeated ad nauseam the same old misguided story line that New Orleans was insensitive to stage Mardi Gras and that it would cost the city money better spent on housing....
New Orleans City Business, Mar. 13

Springsteen to highlight Jazzfest
Bruce Springsteen, performing with his new Seeger Sessions Band at the Fair Grounds on Sunday, April 30, will close out the first weekend of what many consider the most important Jazzfest ever....
New Orleans Times-Picayune, Mar. 9

NOMA reopens
The New Orleans Museum of Art reopened March 3, free to Louisiana residents....
New Orleans Museum of Art

Rare Beat memorabilia auctioned
for Katrina victims
An auction of first-edition books, handwritten manuscripts and letters by Beat Generation writers Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Charles Bukowski raised $225,000 to benefit a publisher left homeless by Hurricane Katrina....
San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 10

10,000 books for
hurricane-hit school libraries
Albany-area school library system helps restock school libraries hit by Katrina with books for children and YAs....
Capital Region BOCES

YALSA suggests ways to celebrate
NLW with teens
YALSA has compiled a list of program ideas to help librarians celebrate National Library Week (April 2–8, 2006) with teens in their library....

YALSA announces its 5,000th member
YALSA will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2007. To kick off the celebration, the division is recognizing its 5,000th member, Marybeth Gallant, a school library media specialist at the Ashland (Mass.) High School Library....

Keith Curry Lance receives ASCLA Leadership Achievement Award
Keith Curry Lance, director of Library Research Services at the Colorado State Library, is the 2006 recipient of the ASCLA Leadership Achievement Award, presented to recognize leadership and achievement in consulting, multitype library cooperation, and state library development....

Margaret Mann Citation goes
to Judith Hopkins
Judith Hopkins, retired technical services research and analysis officer at the University at Buffalo, is the recipient of the 2006 Margaret Mann Citation presented by the ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section....

Jill Emery wins Esther J. Piercy Award
Jill Emery, director of the Electronic Resources Program at the University of Houston Libraries, is the 2006 recipient of the ALCTS Esther J. Piercy Award for her success in the world of serials librarianship, especially her knowledge of electronic resources licensing and pricing models....

Karen Hunter receives
ALCTS serials librarianship award
Karen Hunter, senior vice president at Elsevier, is the winner of the 2006 CSA/Ulrich’s Serials Librarianship Award (formerly Bowker/Ulrich’s) for her leadership in the collaborative development of the electronic delivery of scholarly information....

First Step Award to Patrick Carr
Patrick L. Carr, serials librarian at Mississippi State University, is the recipient of the 2006 ALCTS First Step Award, a $1,500 grant to a librarian new to the serials field....

Jennifer Bowen wins Best of LRTS Award
Jennifer Bowen, head of cataloging at the University of Rochester, won the award for her article, “FRBR: Coming Soon to Your Library,” published in Library Resources & Technical Services, July 2005....

ALCTS Blackwell’s Scholarship Award
honors John Willinsky
Willinsky won for his monograph, The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship, published in 2005 by the MIT Press....

Arizona’s Stephen Bosch awarded
Leadership in Library Acquisitions Award
Sponsored annually by Harrassowitz, the ALCTS Leadership in Library Acquisitions award is given to a librarian to recognize contributions and outstanding leadership in the field of acquisitions and includes a $1,500 gift....

Gary Frost wins the Banks/Harris
Preservation Award
Gary L. Frost, conservator at the University of Iowa Libraries, is the recipient of the 2006 ALCTS Paul Banks and Carolyn Harris Preservation Award for his ongoing and detailed research into historical and modern book structures....

ALCTS names winners of
SAGE support staff travel grant
Six library support staff have been awarded a 2006 ALCTS/SAGE Support Staff Travel Grant. These grants provide airfare, three nights at a hotel, and conference registration for the individuals to attend the 2006 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans....

ALA Publishing seeks proposals
for Carnegie-Whitney awards
The ALA Publishing Committee is seeking proposals for Carnegie-Whitney grants of up to $5,000 for the preparation of print or electronic reading lists, indexes, or other guides to library resources that promote reading or the use of library resources at any type of library....

ALA Publishing seeks proposals
for Eastman grant
The ALA Publishing Committee is seeking proposals for the WNBA/Ann Heidbreder Eastman Grant. Sponsored by the Women’s National Book Association, the grant is available for librarians who are interested in learning about the relationship between the library and publishing professions....

Patrick Jones named Scholastic Library Publishing Award winner
Patrick Jones, author of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, is the recipient of the 52nd annual Scholastic Library Publishing Award (formerly known as the Grolier Foundation Award)....

Johnson County Library receives
ASCLA Exceptional Service Award
The Johnson County (Kans.) Library Outreach Services Department is the 2006 recipient of the ASCLA Exceptional Service Award....

Skokie Public Library gets KLAS/NOD Award
The Skokie (Ill.) Public Library Youth Services Department is the 2006 recipient of the ASCLA/KLAS/NOD Award, given to a library organization that has provided outstanding services for people with disabilities....

Senate confirms Radice as IMLS director
The U.S. Senate confirmed Anne-Imelda Radice, a skilled administrator, art historian, and museum professional, as director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services March 13....
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Mar. 14

Google vs. government:
Major dispute defused
The heated courtroom showdown expected between Google and the federal government cooled off March 14 when a federal judge said he intends to require the company to hand over only a slice of its closely guarded Web data....
San Jose (Calif.) Mercury-News, Mar. 15

Google partners with book publishers
Google is expanding its role in the publishing world from a search engine for books to a distributor making entire books available to read online....
San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, Mar. 13

Compaq founder pushes for
academic library online
Ever wonder where Compaq founder Rod Canion is? He’s with Questia Media, which wants to bring a university-class library to a high school near you....
C|net News.com, Mar. 13

Why boys like girls’ books
Slate’s Emily Bazelon says it may be for different reasons than girls do....
Slate, Mar. 9

Old books help enrich the minds of the young
10-year-old Sean Fry and his fourth-grade class spent the morning browsing through antique books provided by the Remnant Trust, a Southern Indiana nonprofit organization that seeks to put old books—including rare ones—in the ungloved hands of the general public....
Indianapolis Star, Mar. 7

For reading or décor,
books smarten up a room
Books are so popular in home décor that even people who don't read acquire them. They buy volumes by the yard at Half Price Books. Here are tips from the experts on how to decorate with books....
Phoenix Arizona Republic, Mar. 11

Dallas Public Library opens
Grandparent Information Center
The city’s first Grandparent Information Center opened March 2 at the Audelia Road Branch Library in Lake Highlands to provide written materials and to host a support group for grandparents assuming parenting responsibilities. Officials hope this will be the first of several such centers at Dallas libraries....
Dallas Morning News, Mar. 3

New “Dead Sea Scrolls” may be
missing link in Buddhism
Carbon dating tests of rare manuscripts dubbed the “Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism” have confirmed the priceless texts are from the first and fifth centuries AD, and could be the missing link in Buddhist history, a group of Australian scientists have reported....
New Zealand Herald, Mar. 8

Parisian libraries are worth a look
The buildings erected or adapted for libraries, dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries, are among the glories of French architecture, their stylish forms as impressive as the contents stored inside their walls....
New York Times, Mar. 5

To Kill a Mockingbird
tops British librarian poll
Of all the books ever written, the one that tops the list of “must reads” is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, according to U.K. librarians....
Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council, Mar. 2

Circulation called stagnant in Boston
The Boston Public Library system is underperforming most big city library systems, even though it has a bigger budget, more staff, and more books per capita than most, according to a study performed for the city....
Boston Globe, Mar. 11

Seven things you should know
about virtual meetings
Virtual meetings are real-time interactions that take place over the internet using integrated audio and video, chat tools, and application sharing. They offer a way to engage students in fully interactive, online learning experiences such as lectures, discussions, and tutoring....
Educause Learning Initiative

Conferencing @ your computer
Steven Bell and John D. Shank offer tips on what it takes to be a presenter who can deliver a rewarding session to an audience through virtual conferencing....
Library Journal, Mar. 1

Love/hate relationship with
traveling to conferences
Sometimes you have to travel away from home to learn things about home. Terry Calhoun discovered this when he traveled to New Orleans for the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (now the Educause Learning Initiative) conference three years ago....
Information Technology Trends, Mar. 9

This isn’t a great year for mid-level
administrative salaries
Data being released March 13 by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources shows that the median base salary for administrators in these positions is up only 3.3% over last year. The head football coach’s salary would cover the salaries at doctoral institutions of three reference librarians.... (Takes a while to load)
Inside Higher Ed, Mar. 13

New look for the Catalog of
U.S. Government Publications
The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications is the finding tool for electronic and print publications from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. The online counterpart of the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, the CGP contains more than 500,000 records created or updated since July 1976. This version is the OPAC module of the GPO’s new integrated library system....
Government Printing Office

How OPACs suck, part 1: Relevance ranking
Karen Schneider examines how online catalogs do not excel in sorting for relevance in keyword searches....
ALA TechSource, Mar. 13

Library terms that users understand
UC-Berkeley Reference Librarian John Kupersmith hosts a site that serves as a clearinghouse of utility test data to evaluate the terminology on library websites, and lists terms that testing reveals are either effective or ineffective labels. It also suggests test methods and best practices for reducing cognitive barriers caused by technology....

Creating a buzz:
Attracting sci/tech students to the library
The Georgia Institute of Technology library launched several initiatives in 2005, all designed to raise the library’s profile, increase resource usage, and expand campus-wide partnership opportunities....
Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship, no. 45 (Winter)

Ten ways to lose your techie librarians
Newly appointed Dominican University GSLIS Instructor Michael Stephens offers some advice on how not to treat your systems staff....
Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology, Mar. 9