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NARA releases document reclassification audit
According to an audit conducted by the National Archives and Records Administration, more than one-third of some 25,000 documents withdrawn from public availability by U.S. intelligence and security agencies since 1999 did not contain any classified information affecting national security....

Morgan Library to reopen after $106-million expansion
The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York reopened April 29 after a three-year, $106-million expansion designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano....

Harry Potter faces the challenge from Georgia
The latest in a succession of challenges to the wildly popular Harry Potter series is taking place in the Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Schools, where school board members held a hearing April 20 about whether the novels should be removed from the shelves of the suburban Atlanta system’s media centers....

Design firm files suit over Indianapolis library
Less than a week after the Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library board fired the original firm hired to design and implement the library’s expansion project, the architects have sued the library for breach of contract....

Columbus teen sentenced for library crash
A youth who pleaded guilty to stealing a Cadillac that crashed into the Livingston branch of the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library in February was sentenced April 27 to at least one year in juvenile prison and 120 hours of community service....

Loriene Roy elected ALA president for 2007–2008
Loriene Roy, professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Information, has been elected ALA president for the 2007–2008 term. Roy won over William Crowe, director of the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas....

Members approve dues increase
ALA members have endorsed a proposal to increase personal membership dues. As of September 2006, ALA regular members will pay $10 more per year over a three-year period. “This is a vote of confidence in the work of the Association and the goals of ALA Ahead to 2010,” said ALA President Michael Gorman....

ALA Councilors elected
Thirty-three members have been elected to ALA Council for three-year terms. Eight other Councilors also have been elected for 2006–2009. View the full list of names on the ALA website....

Wood, Sancton, and Cooper headline Auditorium Speaker Series
Room to Read’s John Wood will kick off the Annual Conference series Saturday, June 24, at 8:30 a.m. Later on Saturday, author/musician Tom Sancton (right) and his jazz ensemble will present a visual, literary, and musical journey back to 1950s and 1960s New Orleans. Journalist Anderson Cooper will keynote the Public Library Association President’s Program and Awards Presentation Monday, June 26, at 5 p.m....

Starr to discuss “Reading: The Essential Skill”
Noted scholar and librarian Kevin Starr will discuss the enduring importance of reading and literacy at the ALA President’s Program in New Orleans, June 25, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The author of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, Starr has written 10 books, seven of which are part of his “Americans and the California Dream” series....

Gorman to host forum on international library education at Annual Conference
ALA President Michael Gorman will convene a half-day Forum on International Library Education Friday, June 23, from 2 to 5 p.m. A distinguished faculty of library educators from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America will present papers and lead panel discussions exploring issues in library education in the international arena....

Step up to the plate @ your library
ALA and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum officially launched an initiative April 28 entitled Step Up to the Plate @ your library®. The national program, which was unveiled at the St. Louis Public Library and Busch Stadium, is designed to encourage fans of all ages to test their knowledge of baseball trivia while improving their literacy skills....

Poets Laureate and award-winning authors are scheduled for ALA Annual Conference
Gail Godwin (right), William Henry Lewis, Brenda Marie Osbey, Robert Pinsky, Susan Straight, and others will read from their works on the LIVE! @ your library Reading Stage at the upcoming ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 22–28....

Abstracts of poster sessions available
Plan now to visit with poster session presenters at ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, and choose among such topics as the incredibly shrinking ready reference collection, engaging students in the game of research, how to benefit from international exchanges, and wikis for reference services....

Adult and family literacy is theme for 2006 Diversity Fair
This year, the ALA Diversity Fair will initiate a pilot strategy of showcasing a range of programs with a common theme, adult and family literacy services in libraries. The Ninth Annual Diversity Fair will take place on Saturday, June 24, from 3 to 5 p.m., during ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans....

First class of certification applicants approved
The Certified Public Library Administrator Program now has 16 candidates for certification. The CPLA Certification Review Committee approved them on National Library Workers Day, April 4....

Daniel Bradbury to serve as Endowment trustee
Daniel J. Bradbury, vice president of Gossage Sager Associates, has been elected to serve as ALA’s newest Endowment Trustee. The Executive Board made the selection during its 2006 spring meeting....

Many conference-goers volunteer to help rebuild New Orleans libraries
750 attendees have signed up to participate in the Libraries Build Communities projects to help rebuild libraries and the communities in and around New Orleans on Friday, June 23, and Tuesday, June 27. With support from Highsmith Inc. and Bretford, the Children’s Resource Center, which is a branch of the New Orleans Public Library, will receive an extreme makeover of its interior....

A weekend of reunion and rebirth
One result of Hurricane Katrina has been a renewed interest worldwide in music from New Orleans. Although Jazzfest does not compile attendance figures until after the festival ends, it was clearly well attended, with more than 100,000 tickets sold in advance for its six days. Sets by headliners had sprawling and tightly packed audiences....
New York Times, May 1

New Orleans Jazz Festival: Video clips and commentary
“Jazz Fest 2006 [is] the great New Orleans homecoming. Anybody who comes to this year’s festival will bear witness to the healing power of music.”—Quint Davis, Festival Director....
MSN.music

Star-studded lineup to examine city’s cultural recovery
First Lady Laura Bush, NBC news anchorman Brian Williams, and New Orleans native and jazz legend Ellis Marsalis will join artists, educators, chefs, writers, and other cultural leaders May 30 through June 1 at Tulane University for a conference that will examine the role New Orleans’ cultural legacy will play in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina....
New Orleans City Business, May 1

Audubon Aquarium to reopen May 26
After recovering from the loss of thousands of animals to Hurricane Katrina, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas will reopen May 26. The riverfront attraction spent millions on repairs in the past eight months. Most of its animal collection has been replaced through donations and collecting efforts by the aquarium’s animal staff....
New Orleans City Business, May 1

627 restaurants open
Many New Orleans restaurants are operating with reduced hours and shorter menus than before the storm. Eighteen major new restaurants have opened in the metro area since last September. That would be an impressive number even in a normal year—let alone this one....
New Orleans Menu, May 1

New Orleans strives to revive tourism
New Orleans has lost 31 conventions since Hurricane Katrina tore through, and officials are battling to attract tourists and make up lost revenue. Unless other visitors come in their place, some of the more than 1,500 restaurants, hotels, event halls, and Bourbon Street nightclubs may have to close their doors. More than a third of New Orleans’s 86,000 tourism jobs already have disappeared in Katrina’s wake....
Bloomberg, Apr. 27

Floods killed the fire ants
Finally, a silver lining in all of that salt water that flooded parts of Louisiana during hurricanes Katrina and Rita—a lot of pesky fire ants died. The ants apparently don’t mix well with salt water....
WDSU-TV, May 1

ACRL National Conference proposals deadline is May 10
The deadline for contributed paper, panel session, preconference, and workshop proposals for ACRL’s 13th National Conference is Wednesday, May 10. The conference will be held in Baltimore, March 29–April 1, 2007....

ACRL endorses Federal Research
Public Access Act
ACRL has endorsed the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006, introduced into the U.S. Senate by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.). This legislation would require that federally funded research appearing in peer-reviewed journals be made openly accessible in digital repositories within six months of publication....

181 libraries selected to host Great Stories CLUB book discussion
The ALA Public Programs Office and YALSA have selected 181 libraries to host the Great Stories CLUB (Connecting Libraries, Underserved teens, and Books), a book discussion program targeting troubled teens. In October 2005, ALA received an Oprah’s Angel Network Book Club Award of $50,000 to provide funding for this program....

RUSA President’s Program will be “What You'll Read Next: The Buzz of Books”
RUSA will offer the inside scoop on how literary sensations are created at its President’s Program, “What You’ll Read Next: The Buzz of Books,” on June 26, 1:30–3:30 p.m., during ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans....

ASCLA President’s Program tackles “Retirement Exodus” of librarians
ASCLA will tackle the issues surrounding the impending retirement of a generation of librarians at its President’s Program, keynoted by William Rothwell (right), titled “Retirement Exodus: Are You and Your Library Organization Ready?” on June 25, 8 a.m. to noon, during ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans....

Lackie receives 2006 Haycock award
Robert Lackie, instruction and reference librarian at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, is the 2006 recipient of the Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship. The award, given annually to honor an individual for contributing significantly to the public recognition and appreciation of librarianship through professional performance, teaching, or writing, consists of $1,000 and a citation of achievement....

Prudence Adler is 2006 Patterson Copyright Award Winner
Prudence S. Adler, associate executive director of federal relations and information policy for the Association of Research Libraries, is the 2006 recipient of the L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award: In Support of Users’ Rights. For more than 27 years, she has worked the gamut of information policy issues important to libraries and higher education including intellectual property, telecommunications, and access to government information....

First Lady gives library grants to Gulf Coast schools
For Laura Bush’s 11th trip to the devastated Gulf Coast, she came bearing a hefty gift: $500,000 worth of grants for schools to restock their libraries. Ten grants from the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries will go to seven schools in Louisiana and three schools in Mississippi that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The libraries have been rebuilt and are ready to receive books....
ABC News, May 3

11-year-old raises $70,000 for Gulf Coast’s damaged libraries
There are no strings attached to the $70,000 11-year-old Kelsie Buckley of Morton is presenting to Coast libraries starting May 2 at 2:30 p.m. during the Gulfport City Council meeting. She is scheduled to present $50,000 to representatives of five libraries destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina in Harrison and Jackson counties....
Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald, May 2

UNM Library closed by fire
A fire in the basement of the University of New Mexico’s main library spared its more valuable collections, according to UNM officials. The fire that broke out the night of April 30 in Zimmerman Library’s first-level basement burned a research collection of bound periodicals, but did not hit the rare manuscripts stored in a different area of the basement, said Camila Alire, dean of university libraries....
Santa Fe New Mexican, May 3

Brandeis pulls Palestinian artwork from library exhibit
Brandeis University officials have removed artwork that depicts Palestinian children bloodied and injured from an exhibit in the school’s library. University officials said the paintings were too one-sided. The paintings were removed April 29, four days into a two-week exhibit....
Boston Globe, May 3

English-only measure fails in Colorado
Three measures aimed at the immigration debate died in committee along party lines April 25 amid sometimes-surly testimony. Immigration hard-liner Rep. David Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) proposed putting an issue on the ballot in November that would have allowed voters to require the state to conduct official business in English. Schultheis originally wanted to bar libraries from purchasing materials in any language but English....
Denver Post, Apr. 26

24/7 reference in Oregon
For two hours, as other reference librarians throughout Oregon talk with patrons face-to-face, Jennifer May’s job is to staff the state’s increasingly popular internet reference chat line, known as L-net. After her shift ends, the cycle will continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week, making library resources available around the clock to any Oregonian who wants a librarian’s help answering any legitimate question....
Portland Oregonian, Apr. 28

LC to cease creating series authority records
The Library of Congress will cease to provide controlled series access in the bibliographic records that its catalogers produce. Originally to be effective May 1, the decision has been delayed until June 1. The Library will work with affected stakeholder organizations—OCLC, RLG, the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, and the larger library community—to mitigate as much as possible the impact of this change....
Library of Congress, Apr. 20

Network neutrality under challenge
Valdosta State University LIS Professor Wallace Koehler defines network neutrality as the concept that broadband carriers will neither interfere with nor inhibit the free flow of information over the internet. However, the House COPE bill proposes to cede control of the internet to the telecoms and cable companies....
Information Today, May 1

Podcasting legal guide: Rules for the revolution
The main legal issues that are unique to podcasters are related to copyright, publicity rights, and trademark issues. Written by Colette Vogele and Mia Garlick for Creative Commons, this guide summarizes the legal concerns of creating and distributing a podcast....
Creative Commons, Apr. 27

Background on e-rate, universal service, and network neutrality (PDF file)
The current legislative battle is over the soul of the internet and who will control it and benefit from the build-out of advanced broadband services. Many new bills have been introduced in piecemeal fashion in the House and the Senate, and the reform process could take several congressional sessions....
ALA Office for Government Relations

NYPL’s Science, Industry, and Business Library marks 10-year anniversary
New York Public Library’s SIBL on May 2 celebrated a decade of serving small business owners, researchers, and inventors with a day of free programs, classes, and demonstrations that showcased its year-round programming....
New York Public Library

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh supports local economy
In 2005, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh partnered with Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Economic Development to explore the many ways that the library impacts the economic vitality of the region. The report (PDF file) examines both the library’s value to the economy in terms of return on investment as well as its contributions to people and their communities....
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

University of Maryland scientist helps create virtual science library for Iraq
University of Maryland scientist D. J. Patil and a small group of colleagues have built a new, scientific library for strife-torn Iraq that is making some 17,422 journal titles available to Iraqi scientists and engineers who are decades behind in non-military science and technology. Though many Iraqi libraries are hopelessly out of date or have been looted, the new library is safe from such problems because it is virtual, with digital documents accessed via the Web....
AScribe newswire, May 1

The First Lady’s recommended reading
Laura Bush offers a sampling of excellent books for adults, families, intermediate and independent readers, and young children. Among the selections are Katherine Anne Porter’s Ship of Fools, Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Pat Mora’s Tomás and the Library Lady....
The White House

New high in internet usage
The latest Pew Internet and American Life survey (PDF file), fielded from February 15 to April 6, shows that fully 73% of respondents (about 147 million adults) are internet users, up from 66% (about 133 million adults) in January 2005. The share of online Americans who say the internet has greatly improved their ability to do their job has grown to 35%, up from 24% in March 2001....
Pew Internet & American Life, Apr. 26

Annual Conference
in New Orleans,
June 22–28. Don’t forget the Library Support Staff Conference within a Conference, June 24–25.

Use the ALA Legislative Action Center to contact your representatives and ask them to support libraries by protecting network neutrality.

ALSC will officially launch its Kids! @ your library public awareness campaign in New Orleans with a special program on Sunday, June 25, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Continuing Library Education Network and Exchange Round Table seeks volunteers and presenters for “Good CLENE Fun: Using Interactive Games to Energize Meetings and Training,” Saturday, June 24, 1:30–3:30 p.m. Contact Jasmine Posey, 203-622-7941.