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Cost estimate of San Diego downtown library project jumps 24%
In another blow to San Diego’s plans to build a nine-story downtown library, a new cost estimate released November 30 raises the price tag for the project by 24%—from $150 million to $185 million—due to rising costs of steel, concrete, oil, and other materials....

NYPL’s art sale falls short of estimates
but yields $15.6 million
A portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart owned by the New York Public Library was sold by Sotheby’s auction house to an anonymous bidder for $8.14 million November 30....

Florida library director fired after critical audit
Following an audit that was critical of her management and leadership, the director of the Lee County (Fla.) Library System was fired November 28....

Arizona schools chief seeks banning
of Perks of Being a Wallflower
The objection of an Apache Junction, Arizona, grandmother of a 6th-grader to an explicit passage about date rape in Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower has prompted the state superintendent of public instruction to ask schools statewide to “review the books purchased for library use to assure the contents are appropriate for your population.”...

Fire closes Northeastern Illinois
University Library
Northeastern Illinois University’s Ronald Williams Library in Chicago was closed after an electrical fire in a nearby mechanical room sent smoke into the facility late November 28....

Burst pipe forces weeklong
Texas library closure
An early-morning November 20 rupture in a fire-suppression system pipe at Rowlett (Tex.) Public Library destroyed thousands of children’s books and caused an undetermined amount of water damage....

Geography Club banned
in Washington school system
Following a parent’s complaint, the superintendent of the University Place (Wash.) School District has ordered the removal of the gay teen novel Geography Club from the junior and senior high school library collections....

Library worker suspended
for putting squirrel before job
A staffer at the LaPorte County (Ind.) Public Library’s Coolspring branch received a one-week suspension for spending too much time attempting to rescue a squirrel trapped in the library’s ceiling....

Oregon library worker foils would-be thieves
Two teens who tried November 25 to rob the Bay City branch of the Tillamook County (Oreg.) Libraries were physically intimidated by staff member Rita Disbrow and fled the scene without taking anything....

The 25th Charleston Conference: Books and serials face an uncertain but exciting future
The Charleston Conference celebrated a quarter-century November 2–5 as the only major American library conference not sponsored by a professional or trade association....

Katina Strauch shows off the Katina bobble-head presented to her in honor of her 25 years as conference organizer.

Library issues to play important role
in White House Conference on Aging
Library issues will be on the agenda for discussion at the White House Conference on Aging to be held in Washington, D.C., December 11–14. Over 1,200 delegates will vote on the top 50 resolutions that will have an impact on federal aging policies, programs and services for the next decade.....

ALA offers members travel affinity program for personal travel
ALA now offers discounted travel tours as an added benefit of membership. This benefit is available through Collette Vacations, which offers escorted tours, cruise programs and learning vacations to all seven continents....

YALSA creates list of Chronicles of Narnia
read-a-likes
YALSA has developed a list of recommended reading for teens and tweens to coincide with the release of the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe....

ACRL to offer preconferences on assessment, outreach, and federated searching
ACRL is offering three workshops in conjunction with the 2006 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans on Friday, June 23, 2006. Registration opens December 1, 2005....

AASL offers Pre-Midwinter Institute
on library media best practices
AASL will offer a Pre-Midwinter Institute, “Library Media Best Practices Workshop and Tour,” on January 20, 2006, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in San Antonio....

Manuscripts sought for LITA/Endeavor
student writing award
Sponsored by Thomson Gale, this award is given annually to recognize a librarian or library that demonstrates exemplary entrepreneurship by providing an innovative product(s) or service designed to meet the needs of the library world through the skillful and practical application of information technology....

LITA/Library Hi Tech award
nominations sought
Nominations are invited for the 2006 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award given each year to an individual or institution for outstanding achievement in communication for continuing education in library and information technology....

Oldest lending library’s artifacts
fall victim to fire, bad luck
The Redwood Library and Athenaeum, a private library and research center founded in Newport, R.I., in 1747, is salvaging thousands of water-logged colonial books and maps damaged in a fire near a building where the artifacts were being stored....
Boston Globe, Dec. 6

Survey: Museum artifacts in U.S. in danger
Millions of rare artifacts in museums and libraries across the United States are slowly disintegrating because of improper storage, according to a survey said to be the largest-ever look at the condition of such collections....
Washington Post, Dec. 6

Bush lawyers back church’s bid
to meet at Contra Costa County library
The Bush administration has entered a local court case in support of a church that is challenging Contra Costa County’s refusal to allow religious services in a community room of the Antioch public library....
San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 3

While White Sox won big, University of Illinois library lost piece of history
As the White Sox made history this fall, University of Illinois librarians discovered that someone may have made off with copies of a rare sports newspaper chronicling the team's darkest chapter....
Chicago Tribune, Dec. 6

Mobile library for displaced children
in Aceh, Indonesia
In an effort to enhance education for children affected by last year’s tsunami, World Vision recently donated a mobile library in Aceh, Indonesia....
Reuters, Dec. 6

Protect the Toxic Release Inventory
OMB Watch is seeking help from the library community to protect the Toxic Release Inventory from the major assault that EPA recently launched. EPA recently proposed major reductions in the amount of information on toxic pollution that it will collect and make available to the public under the program....
ALA Washington Office

Q&A regarding the proposed
ALA dues increase
ALA members understand that our work is critical to our society and future, and that we cannot just accept “business as usual.” The association must either move forward or it will fall behind....
ALA Executive Office

OCLC releases international
library research report
OCLC has found that information consumers view libraries as places to borrow print books, but they are unaware of the rich electronic content they can access through libraries. The findings are part of a new report titled Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources....
OCLC, Dec. 6