October 25, 2006
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Emory acquires Salman Rushdie papers
Emory University in Atlanta has acquired the papers of author Salman Rushdie. To be housed at Emory’s Woodruff Library, the collection contains Rushdie’s correspondence, notes, photographs, and manuscripts, including those for two early unpublished novels. It also includes Rushdie’s private journals detailing the 10 years he spent in hiding after being sentenced to death by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini in 1989 following his publication of The Satanic Verses....
Filter-savvy students barred from most of web
As of October 20, students of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District headquartered in Palmer, Alaska, are no longer able to retrieve websites on classroom or media-center computers unless the site ends in a .gov or .edu domain name, the site is a database whose content is licensed by the district, or the district has approved an educator’s request that the site be unblocked....
Thousands blog for British Library
The One Day in History project, a single-day nationwide blog organized by Britain’s History Matters Campaign, as of October 20 has logged entries from 41,250 residents, including students at all 29,000 schools in the country. The entries of October 17—chosen by the campaign as an “ordinary day much like any other of no particular national significance”—will be organized into a social history archive to be accessible to researchers and historians at the Web Archive in Modern British Collections of London’s British Library....
Colorado mother objects to eroticism article
A Colorado mother of three has filed a complaint with the Rangeview Library objecting to an article in the Spanish-language magazine Muy Interesante. Claudia Speak found pictures inside “of pornographic nature which included two couples engaging in sex, total frontal nudity of males and females, gay men in a sexual pose, a cartoon depicting oral sex, three nude women on stage in sexual pose . . . and more,” she wrote in a letter to the Brighton Standard Blade. The article explores sexuality between men and women, as well as humans and other species....
Arkansas trustees reconsider Basic Instinct
A concerned patron of the Rogers (Ark.) Public Library has asked the board to remove the director’s cut of the 1992 box-office hit Basic Instinct from the collection. At an October 17 meeting, Nieves Egelkraut likened the movie about a police detective’s sexual involvement with a murder suspect to pornography, the Benton County Daily Record reported October 18. She also expressed fear that teenagers would borrow it, although RPL Director Judy Casey explained that library policy enables parents to bar their minor children from checking out movies....
Freedom to Read Foundation announces nominating committee
The nominating committee for the FTRF April 2007 election is: Francis Buckley, Arlington, Virginia (chair); Anne Heanue, Alexandria, Virginia; and Candace Morgan, Portland, Oregon. Six positions on the 2007–2008 FTRF board of trustees will be filled in the election to be held April 2–May 1, 2007. The persons elected in the 2007 election will serve a two-year term on the board, beginning at the close of the 2007 conference....
More than 1,100 attend first Joint Conference of Librarians of Color
Over 1,100 library staff, authors, and educators packed the Dallas Adams Mark Hotel from October 11–15 to discuss diversity issues that impact America’s libraries and their users during the first JCLC. The conference, themed “Gathering at the Waters: Embracing our Spirits, Telling our Stories,” covered such topics as minority recruitment, early and adult literacy, collection development, and delivery of service to communities of color....
Darfur Genocide resolution adopted
The ALA Council has adopted a resolution (.doc file) urging the profession-at-large and ALA units to highlight information about genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan. The ALA urges the profession to highlight and explain the Darfur genocide through collections, programs, displays, resource guides, and other suitable library resources....
ALA receives $2.6 million Gates Foundation grant
ALA today announced it will develop and oversee a multi-year study assessing the extent of internet access, as well as the impact of funding changes on connectivity and sustainability of computer services in public libraries, as part of a $2.6-million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation....
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Midwinter Advocacy Institute registration opens
The Advocacy Institute will take place on Friday, January 19, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This three-part program consists of message development and coalition-building techniques; a lunchtime panel discussion on nurturing advocates through school, young adult, and academic levels; and afternoon breakout sessions on topics including increasing library funding, maintaining budgets, and crisis communications....
Boldly go where no librarian has gone before
It’s almost Halloween and soon miniature monsters will be lining up at your door demanding candy. This may inspire some of you earthlings to plan a visit to Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Check out the exhibit on “The Changing Face of Mars,” and ogle the rare collection of spacedocks, spacesuits, and weapons—from Jedi lightsabers to Klingon daggers....
Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
Daniel H. Pink to kick off AASL national conference
Daniel H. Pink, a best-selling author, technology writer, and business consultant, will keynote the AASL’s 13th National Conference and Exhibition, “The Future Begins @ your library,” October 25–29 in Reno, Nevada. Pink will open the conference and address thousands of school library media specialists, support staff, library vendors, authors, and exhibitors during the opening general session on October 25....
AASL’s sold-out forum addressed student assessment
“Assessing Student Learning in the School Library Media Center” was the theme of the sold-out AASL Fall Forum held in Warwick, Rhode Island, October 13–15. Over 500 participants from around the country explored the role of school library media specialists in assessment of student learning during the focused one-and-a-half day institute....
Report on future of higher education now available
ACRL, as a member of the Council of Higher Education Management Associations, recently participated in a survey conducted by CHEMA and the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research. Through this survey, titled The Future of Higher Education: A View from CHEMA (PDF file), CHEMA wanted to identify the forces for change and to understand their potential implications for higher education over the next 10 years....
LAMA launches first digital download
LAMA’s first digital download monograph, “Growing Leaders from Within: A Practical Guide for Recognizing and Developing Leadership Skills in the Library,” is now available. The publication compiles presentations from Human Resource Section programs addressing the crisis of leadership succession anticipated with the onset of baby boomer retirements....
Children’s librarians recommend books for the holidays
ALSC has created a list of new books recommended for holiday gift-giving, as well as reading about the holidays themselves. The guide features titles suitable for readers from preschool age through 8th grade and includes picture books, novels, fiction, and nonfiction. Children’s librarians and educators on the ALSC Quicklists Consulting Committee compiled the lists....
ALSC adds to Kids! @ your library campaign tool kit
The ALSC Kids! @ your library campaign website has added to its extensive online tool kit. The latest materials include camera-ready, customizable items libraries can use to hold bookmark contests and scavenger hunts, downloadable games, puzzles, a list of Top Ten Things for Kids to Do @ your library that can be downloaded and distributed throughout the community, and more....
Bill Harley performs free family concert
ALSC launches the Kids! @ your library campaign to the public and media November 12 at Boston Public Library to help the library kick off Children’s Book Week. Singer and storyteller Bill Harley will perform a family concert at 2 p.m. in the Rabb Lecture Hall. After the concert, Harley will sell and sign copies of his new book, The Amazing Flight of Darius Frobisher, holiday favorite Dear Santa, and his award-winning CDs....
Public Printer announces library of the year (PDF file)
The U.S. Government Printing Office has selected Benton Harbor (Mich.) Public Library as the 2006 Federal Depository Library of the Year. Public Printer Bruce James presented the award to library officials October 22 at the annual Federal Depository Libraries fall conference. Benton Harbor is an economically challenged area and used limited funds to ensure federal government resources are used to their full potential....
Government Printing Office, Oct. 23
Deadline approaches for student Legislative Day contest
October 29 is the final day for students to enter the National Library Legislative Day 2007 Student Contest. The student who submits the winning theme idea and logo for the annual event will win free airfare and lodging for the 33rd Annual National Library Legislative Day, which will be held in the nation’s capital May 1–2....
Librarian champion of black history dies
For four decades librarian Mayme Clayton prowled garage sales, flea markets, attics, used bookstores, even dumps, rescuing thousands of rare and unusual books, movies, sound recordings, and more, much of it dating to the slavery era. With limited funds but boundless determination, she amassed what experts today regard as a valuable and eclectic collection of black Americana. A bit of an eccentric, Clayton piled her treasures in the garage behind her humble California home....
Los Angeles Times, Oct. 21
E-rate filing window opens November 14
Schools and libraries hoping to receive funding next year under the $2.25 billion-a-year e-rate will have from November 14 to February 7 to submit their applications. The Federal Communications Commission announced the dates of the filing window October 19, the same day it released its annual Eligible Services List, the official roster of technologies and services that qualify for e-rate discounts....
E-school News, Oct. 25
6-year-old chosen as library’s volunteer of the year
About 15 minutes before pajama storytime, 6-year-old Benjamin Holmes couldn’t seem to focus on anything but his preparation duties as a volunteer with the Bethel Park (Pa.) Public Library. Ben stood out because of his age and the fact that he was so worried that starting first grade and attending a full day of classes would cut into his volunteer time at the library....
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Oct. 19
Student numbers result in extended hours at Chicago main library
Under an expansion plan tied to Mayor Daley’s 2007 budget, the Harold Washington Library Center branch of the Chicago Public Library will open four evenings a week to accommodate the Loop’s growing student population, at a cost of $188,000 for eight more hours a week. Also, after nearly three years of planning, Chicago is preparing to debut “Find it Chicago,” an $11-million integrated library system described as being similar to Amazon.com....
Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 16
Increasingly, libraries are the place to learn English
The Milford (Mass.) Town Library is one of many libraries around Boston’s western suburbs and the country that have taken on a new mission—teaching immigrants English. The growth in ESL offerings at libraries in response to a growing demand over the past 15 to 20 years—and a concurrent decline in traditional adult literacy programs—is a nationwide trend....
Boston Globe, Oct. 19
Cincinnati Law Library presented with 60,000 books
Sixty thousand volumes delivered by three semi-tractor trailer trucks recently changed the face of the University of Cincinnati Robert S. Marx Law Library thanks to the generosity of former Indian Hill resident Alfred K. Nippert Jr. Virginia Thomas, director of the UC Law Library, observed, “Mr. Nippert’s gift is roughly half the size of the entire Law Library when he was a student here.”...
Cincinnati Community Press and Recorder, Oct. 19
University of Minnesota acquires poet Robert Bly’s archives
The University of Minnesota has acquired the archives of internationally known poet and social critic Robert Bly. The university said October 19 it paid him $775,000, using a combination of school funds and contributions from about 70 private donors. One of them was Garrison Keillor, author and host of public radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” The archives will be housed in the Elmer L. Andersen Library, and will be open for all to see, and will be put online....
WCCO Minneapolis–St. Paul, Oct. 20
New school library has everything—except books
Students at Oak Hills Elementary School in Valencia, California, are able to enjoy all the state-of-the-art classrooms and educational facilities that one would expect from a newly constructed school. But when students visit the school’s library with their class each week, it’s clear that there is one crucial element missing. There aren’t enough books. In fact, there is such a shortage that the majority of the library’s shelves and racks remain empty, forcing students to cycle through the limited selection....
The Signal, Oct. 20
New Jersey staff upset over Whore
Whore, written by Tanika Lynch, is a book that falls under the Trenton Public Library’s classification of “urban literature” and tells the story of a young mother of two who works the streets of Detroit as a prostitute. Library staff are accusing Nathan Linowitz, the institution’s accountant, of censoring their selection of Whore, alleging that copies of the book were not purchased because he objected to the title....
Trenton (N.J.) Times, Oct. 19
MacArthur invests $50 million in digital learning
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced October 19 plans to donate $50 million to study the impact of digital media on student learning. Officials said the five-year project will fund research and innovations designed to explore the impact of digital media on youth culture and to investigate how a myriad of new-media technologies can be used to help students learn....
E-School News, Oct. 20
College libraries prioritizing technology over books (subscription required)
As journals digitize and projects undertaken by Google Inc. and others promise to put more material online, big research libraries are moving old printed volumes into off-site storage facilities, rapidly increasing their electronic offerings, and retraining their employees to help students keep up with all the changes. Ten years ago, Yale University spent $300,000 to access 10 electronic databases, according to Ann Okerson, associate university librarian. In its most recent fiscal year, Yale spent $5 million on 900 separate databases....
Wall Street Journal, Oct. 21
Microsoft signs with book digitization partners
Kirtas Technologies, a maker of high-speed scanners and digitization software, signed a deal Tuesday with Microsoft to scan works for its Windows Live Book Search project. The Cornell University Library in Ithaca, New York, also signed October 17 with Microsoft as a partner, agreeing to let its collection be scanned. The project, when complete, will make public domain works, as well as copyrighted material from publishers who opt-in, freely available through Microsoft’s online web application....
C|net News, Oct. 18
Whole lot of scanning going on
Andrew Pace writes: “I have to admit that ‘mass digitization’ is one of those phrases that makes me laugh a little. It’s one I like to hear people attempt after a couple of drinks in the conference hotel bar. It’s what George Carlin would call ‘euphemistic language’ that softens what is going on—a whole lot of scanning.”...
Hectic Pace blog, Oct. 20
Internet threatens traditional publishing model
Publishers could be the internet piracy boom’s next victims after the music industry, but the Web might also be their salvation, the head of the International Publishers Association says. Ana Maria Cabanellas, speaking at the world’s biggest book fair in Frankfurt, Germany, said the industry felt it was under attack from the internet search engine Google and its drive to post the world’s books online....
Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, Oct. 19
WebJunction receives Gates Foundation grant
WebJunction, an online community for library staff to share ideas, solve problems, and do online coursework, has been awarded a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant to enhance website usability and help it keep pace with a growing audience and range of content. The $2-million grant will fund critical development for one year, which will include a redesign to improve organization and navigation, and the development of improved search functions....
OCLC, Oct. 20
Charles Darwin archive launched
A combined effort of the University of Cambridge, U.K., the Charles Darwin Trust, and other groups, the Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online currently contains over 50,000 searchable text pages and 40,000 images, which is about half of the material expected to be made available by 2009. Searching is by simple keyword, though you can also browse lists of available publications and manuscripts....
ResearchBuzz, Oct. 19
Tennessee library presents Andrew Jackson exhibit
During the past year, Tennessee businessman and collector William C. Cook donated his impressive collection of rare President Andrew Jackson books and imprints to the University of Tennessee libraries and the Center for Jacksonian America. To celebrate this significant donation, the library’s special collections department is presenting an exhibit of materials from the Cook Collection through Spring 2007....
University of Tennessee, Oct. 19
AUTOCAT needs a new home
AUTOCAT, a discussion list used by many catalogers, announced October 20 that the University of Buffalo will no longer serve as host. October 27 is the deadline for offers from new potential owners. Included among the necessary technical requirements: “The hardware should be powerful enough to handle the volume of messages without getting bogged down. AUTOCAT averages around 25 posts per day with a distribution of 4,600 subscribers, so we’re looking at a daily traffic of about 115,000 messages.”...
David Bigwood, Catalogablog, Oct. 23
Blogging the COPA trial
Rufus Griscom, founder and CEO of the popular erotica website Nerve, is spending two weeks blogging the ACLU vs. Gonzales trial, aka the Child Online Protection Act case. Nerve, Salon.com, and other plaintiffs backed by the American Civil Liberties Union are suing over the 1998 act that could restrict constiutionally protected material from being published online—exposing website owners to fines or even jail time. The Justice Department argues that it is easier to stop online pornography at the source than to keep children from viewing it. Warning: This blog contains “Gratuitous COPA-violating free nudity.”...
Rufus Griscom, Nerve blog, Oct. 24
A bookworm of unusual size
A black ball python slithered away from its cage in Cohasset, Massachusetts and officials fear it may be lurking in the town’s Paul Pratt Memorial Library. The police chief went on Cohasset’s cable station this week to calm nerves. The python, he promised, won’t put you in a chokehold. Three-foot-long Fifti, which means “snake” in Greek, pushed open her pen at Our World Museum just as plans were being made to move her out. Some think the python made its way to the library located in the same building....
Boston Herald, Oct. 20
West Kentucky University student group attempts serials rescue
The WKU Student Government Association proposed a resolution October 17 encouraging the university to increase inflationary funding to library serials and periodicals. Previously, the University Senate passed a resolution opposing a serials cut. “It’s encouraging when faculty and students speak with one voice,” Faculty Regent Robert Dietle said...
Bowling Green (Ky.) College Heights Herald, Oct. 19
Lansing Celebrity Read posters feature local leaders
The Lansing (Ill.) Public Library recently created a series of Read posters featuring local community figures, including library trustees, the police chief, the fire chief, and Mayor Dan Podgorski. The images were then posted to an online Flickr account, where they received hundreds of hits and drew the attention of local media....
Kelli Staley, 'Brary Web Diva blog, Oct. 14
Copyright law roundtable scheduled in Chicago (PDF file)
The Section 108 Study Group is offering librarians a chance to influence copyright law directly affecting libraries. Chicago will host a January 31, 2007, public roundtable focused on exceptions in the Copyright Act applicable to libraries and archives, particularly those pertaining to the making and distribution of copies of copyrighted works following a patron’s request, including concerns over digital technology and interlibrary loan. Librarians can also submit comments online....
Library of Congress, Section 108 Study Group
Be
loyal, kind, and don’t steal movies
(PDF file)
The
Motion Picture Association of America announced October 20 a new education
program in conjunction with the Los Angeles Area Boy Scouts of America.
The curriculum (PDF
file) is part of an ongoing effort to educate kids about copyright
protection, and offers a chance for scouts to earn the Respect Copyrights
patch....
Motion Picture Association of America, Oct. 20
Book festivals continue to thrive
Less than half of the adult American population now read books that can be defined as literary, the Census Bureau reported after a 2002 survey. Yet the number of book fairs appears to be growing, so perhaps not everyone is eager to replace hard covers with hard drives after all. “There are now 35 statewide celebrations, and that has gone up tremendously in recent years,” said John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress....
New York Times, Oct. 20
Finding a place to read
Terry Caesar writes: “We read everywhere—in every room in the house, under trees in our yards, in our offices, over in the library. Waiting for the dentist, we read. Taking a train or a plane, we have a magazine or a book in hand. . . . Lately, however, it’s seemed to me that the place of reading has become harder to establish. The ubiquitous video screens—in our dentist’s offices and our airplanes as well as our homes—represent the problem. Why read when you can look?”...
Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 19
We’re Google. So sue us
As Google has grown into the world’s most popular search engine and, arguably, the most powerful internet company, it has become entangled in scores of lawsuits touching on a wide range of legal questions, including copyright violation, trademark infringement, and its method of ranking websites. As it rushes to create innovative new services, Google sometimes operates in a way that almost seems to invite legal scrutiny....
New York Times, Oct. 23
Is Google evil?
From the start, Google’s informal motto has been “Don’t Be Evil,” and the company earned cred early on by going toe-to-toe with Microsoft over desktop software and other issues. But make no mistake. Faced with doing the right thing or doing what is in its best interests, Google has almost always chosen expediency....
Mother Jones, Oct. 10
Librarians among the new tattooed workforce
Colleen Harris doesn’t fit the stereotype of the buttoned-up librarian. Her arms are covered with a pirate queen motif and black scrolling designs, which extend down the side of her body to her ankle. The 27-year-old—who has multiple master’s degrees and a job at a University of Kentucky library—feels no pressure to cover up....
Associated Press, Oct. 18
Looking for a search engine with attitude? Meet Ms. Dewey
Let’s face it: Google is the world’s go-to search engine. But if you’re looking for something with a little more attitude, Ms. Dewey can give you your daily dose of abuse. She’s essentially an avatar that governs the search engine of the same name, commenting on every search you make....
Gizmodo, Oct. 17
Prairie Home Companion parody not so funny
Sarah Houghton-Jan writes about her ruffled feathers after hearing an October 14 skit titled “Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian” (4:08) on NPR’s Prairie Home Companion: “In the skit, a very snooty and regressive librarian was portrayed as she told a young male patron to stop listening to an audio book on his iPod and read a ‘real book.’ She then went toe-to-toe with a board member who came in saying that they were getting an automated catalog, e-books, and a media center. . . . I couldn’t find anything funny about it. Implicit to the story is that fighting for the freedom to read is somehow at odds with introducing technology to the library.”...
Sarah Houghton-Jan, Librarian in Black blog, Oct. 15
Teen Read Week gets its own music video
“You don’t have to be a freak/You don’t have to dress
up chic/Grab a book and take a peek/During Teen Read Week," goes
one of the verses of this short but punchy song by The anAACRonisms (1:03).
The band is one of several library-based musical groups created by Brian
Smith....
YouTube
“Library Smut” catches admiring eyes
Jaime Morrison writes: “Yesterday I came across a truly gorgeous book of photographs by Candida Höfer titled Libraries, a title which pretty much says it all, because that is just exactly what it is, one rich, sumptuous photo of a library interior after another. . . . See below for 14 examples which I particularly liked, but keep in mind these 500px-wide versions can’t really compete with the big, glossy, real thing.”...
Jaime Morrison, The Nonist blog, Aug. 23
January 19–24, 2007, Seattle, Washington. Read about the President’s Program on the ALA website.
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The Teaching for Learning Community, launched at the 2006 AASL Fall Forum, “Assessing Student Learning in the School Library Media Center,” builds on the topics discussed there. Join the Learning Community.
As the November elections approach, remember that ALA provides information on important federal issues, as well as how to contact your local legislator.
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The Office for Intellectual Freedom is sponsoring the November 3–5 Columbus Training Institute at the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library to provide training to attorneys who work with libraries. Registration ends October 27.
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