Contents
U.S. & World News
ALA News
Booklist Online
D.C. Update
Division News
Round Table News
Awards
Seen Online
Tech Talk
Actions & Answers
Poll
Calendar

Senate timber funds extension could save Jackson County libraries
The Jackson County, Oregon, library system, which was scheduled to shut down April 6, could be rescued by emergency funding approved by the U.S. Senate 75–22 on March 28. The proposed five-year, $5-billion program would assist the over 700 counties in 39 states that received funds from the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Self Determination Act, passed in 2000 but not renewed in 2006....

Former “John Doe” testifies before Congress
George Christian, executive director of the Library Connection and former plaintiff in John Doe v. Gonzales, testified April 11 before a Senate subcommittee on the harmful effects of receiving a National Security Letter, a component of the USA Patriot Act, from the FBI. Christian asked Congress “to take special note of the uses and abuses of NSLs, in libraries and bookstores and other places where higher First Amendment standards should be considered.”...

Librarian admits National Archives thefts
Denning McTague, 40, pleaded guilty April 4 to one federal count of stealing government property in the theft of some 165 documents related to the Civil War from the National Archives branch in Philadelphia and offering them for sale on Ebay. McTague, a former local history librarian at Nyack (N.Y.) Library, has since aided in the recovery of all but three of the stolen items, which may be taken into consideration when he is sentenced July 12 to as long as 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000....

Colorado library reverses open-meeting policy
Reversing their previous policy, city officials plan to delete the requirement that all meetings at the Longmont (Colo.) Public Library be open to the public. The change follows a February 13 meeting at the library of the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition, which had asked nonmembers to RSVP since space was limited....

Ohio budget revamps library funding mechanism
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s 2008–09 budget proposal eliminates the freeze in public library funding that has been in effect since 2001. Although the Library and Local Government Support Fund remains frozen through 2007, Strickland has called for a modest increase in the fund, from its current $458-million level to an estimated $462 million in 2008 and $464.9 million in 2009....

Harry Potter publisher lays down the law for libraries
Harry Potter publisher Scholastic has imposed strict rules on libraries that receive the final book in the series before its July 21 release date. The contract requires libraries to limit the number of staffers who handle the copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before its official release and to provide names and contact information for each branch manager....

Library cat gets $1.25-million book deal
Dewey Readmore Books, the live-in mascot of the Spencer (Iowa) Public Library who died at age 19 on November 29, 2006, has caught one last treasure for SPL Director Vicki Myron: Grand Central Publishing signed a $1.25-million book deal April 2 for Dewey’s life story. Myron will coauthor the biography, tentatively titled Dewey, a Small Town, a Library, and the World’s Most Beloved Cat, with Bret Witter, who was involved in publishing the Chicken Soup for the Soul series....

Communities come together for National Library Week
Communities across the country and all types of libraries will come together next week to celebrate the many contributions of our nation’s libraries and library workers during National Library Week, April 15–21. This year’s theme is “Come together @ your library,” and libraries are looking more like social hotspots. Unlike bookstores and cybercafés, libraries offer free access to wireless internet access, laptops for in-library use, 24/7 online reference help, e-books, blogs, wikis, and downloadable mp3s....

New season of Step Up to the Plate @ your library
Just as baseball season is officially gearing up all across the country, so is the second season of the Step Up to the Plate @ your library program, developed by ALA and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Kids and young adults from 9 to 18 are invited to go to their library, pick out a baseball book, and describe how their favorite characters inspired them. Entries can be submitted in both English and Spanish from now until September 1....

ALA annual report online
ALA has posted its online annual report for 2005–2006, covering the year’s conferences, partnerships, programs, issues, and highlights. The online edition follows ALA’s fiscal year from September 1, 2005, to August 31, 2006. The web-based format allows expanded coverage of ALA and provides extensive information about the year’s conferences and workshops, programs and partners, and awards and honors, including winners of the Youth Media Awards....

Fort Huachuca library closure sparks concern
ALA President Leslie Burger sent a letter (PDF file) March 26 to Acting Secretary of the Army Preston Geren expressing concern about the recent closure of the Fort Huachuca Library, located on an Army installation in Arizona. The closure is part of a pilot program that could result in additional Army base library closings throughout the country....

Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Stick around after Annual Conference for the 41st Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, on the National Mall, June 27–July 1 and July 4–8. The Festival typically includes daily and evening programs of music, song, dance, celebratory performance, crafts and cooking demonstrations, storytelling, illustrations of workers’ culture, and narrative sessions for discussing cultural issues. A Mekong River program will bring feature 200 artists, performers, craftspeople, cooks, and ritual specialists from the Mekong region for Vietnamese folk opera, a Lao holiday feast, and a Cambodian wedding procession....
Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Stand-up is thriving in D.C.
The D.C. Improv is great, but it’s far from the only comedy spot in town. The Reef, Café Japone, the Riot Act Comedy Club, Soho Tea & Coffee, and the Topaz Bar offer local and national comics as well as open-mike sessions. “There’s a lot of local talent, there really is,” says John Xereas, who opened the doors to the Riot Act Comedy Club in early March....
Washington Post, Mar. 30

D.C. parks and gardens
The Washington area boasts many areas with trees, flowers, and wildlife where conference-goers can escape to find either solitude or adventure. The Tudor Place Historic House and Garden (right) was built by Martha Washington’s granddaughter and includes some of the trees and boxwoods planted by Martha Custis Peter herself. Fort Dupont Park is a heavily wooded, 400-acre site that protects an important subwatershed of the Anacostia River. Rock Creek Park is a unique city park that meanders through the Northwest section of this bustling city....
Cultural Tourism DC

Joseph Branin appointed C&RL editor
ACRL has appointed Joseph Branin, director of libraries at Ohio State University, as editor of College & Research Libraries. Branin will serve a renewable three-year term beginning July 1, 2008. Branin succeeds William Potter, director of libraries at the University of Georgia....

Nominations open for Teens’ Top Ten vote
Nominations are available for YALSA’s national Teens’ Top Ten vote to take place during Teen Read Week, October 14–20. Teens across the country are encouraged to read the 25 nominated titles to prepare themselves for the vote....

Excellence in Young Adult Library Service: Round five
YALSA is now accepting applications for the fifth round of its Excellence in Library Service to Young Adults Project. The award task force will select up to 25 exemplary teen programs or services in all types of libraries to include in a fifth edition of Excellence in Library Service to Young Adults. The top five programs will receive cash awards of $1,000 each. The deadline for applications is June 1....

LAMA bus tour to explore off-site storage
If you are an academic librarian or architect and are planning options for collection storage facilities, check out LAMA’s preconference, “Off-Site but Not Out of Reach: The Shared High Density Storage Solution,” Friday, June 22. This daylong bus tour will explore the Washington Research Library Consortium high-density shelving facility, shared by eight research institutions....

LITA preconference registration open
LITA will hold a full-day preconference, “Simplifying Complex Projects Using Dotproject for Project Management” on Friday, June 22, in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with ALA Annual Conference. Registration is now open for this training session on dotProject, a powerful Open Source project management tool....

PLA talk table proposals
PLA is accepting talk table proposals for its 12th National Conference, to be held March 25–29, 2008, in Minneapolis. Proposals may be submitted on the online form through July 1. Talk table facilitators are expected to briefly showcase model programs or report on projects or studies (5–10 minutes) and stimulate discussion....

RUSA supports the Cultural Communities Fund
RUSA has donated $10,000 to support the ALA Cultural Communities Fund. The gift is in recognition of 60+ years of the RUSA Notable Books Council, a committee responsible for the Notable Books List....

MAGERT preconference on rare map resources
The Map and Geography Round Table is organizing a preconference, “Rare, Antiquarian, or Just Plain Old: Cataloging Pre-20th Century Cartographic Resources,” at ALA Annual Conference in Washington, June 21–22. This two-day workshop, hosted by the Library of Congress, will offer instruction and hands-on activities with sheet maps, atlas plates, facsimiles, and atlases, ranging from manuscript to printed items....

IFRT to celebrate the Library Bill of Rights
The Intellectual Freedom Round Table will sponsor a preconference on ALA’s Library Bill of Rights, Thursday, June 21, 1–4 p.m., in Washington, D.C. A panel of speakers who have faced challenges will talk about what the document means to them....
Don Wood: Library 2.0 blog, Apr. 6

Mary Dempsey receives 2007 Ken Haycock Award
Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey has received the 2007 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, and/or writing—consists of $1,000 and a citation of achievement....

BRASS Thomson Financial Student Travel Award
Sylvia James, principal of the Sylvia James Consultancy in the United Kingdom, is the recipient of RUSA’s 2007 Business Reference and Services Section Thomson Financial Student Travel Award. BRASS presents the award to a candidate who has demonstrated an interest in pursuing a career as a business reference librarian....

ACRL announces Leab Exhibition Award winners
ACRL has named seven winners of the 2007 Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Awards. The awards recognize outstanding exhibition catalogues issued by American or Canadian institutions in conjunction with library exhibitions as well as electronic exhibition catalogues of outstanding merit issued within the digital/web environment....

Interview with Futas award–winner Jenna Freedman
Barbara Fister interviews Jenna Freedman, winner of the 2007 Elizabeth Futas Catalyst for Change Award, aka the “troublemaker” award. Freedman talks about zine collection development at Barnard College, Radical Reference, and librarian activism....
ACRLog, Apr. 9

Hanover librarian wins state award
Priscilla Greco McFerren, director of the Guthrie Memorial Library in Hanover, Pennsylvania, for nearly 33 years, has been honored with the Pennsylvania Library Association’s Distinguished Service Award....
Hanover (Pa.) Evening Sun, Apr. 11

Voices for America’s Libraries Awards
In recognition of their exemplary work championing community access to libraries, literature, and information, the Americans for Libraries Council honored Peter Gomes, Susan Jacoby, Sibyl Jacobson, and Fred Kent with the first annual America’s Libraries Awards at a March 30 reception at New York’s Grolier Club. The recipients were selected for their leadership in four key sectors: education, journalism, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector....
Americans for Libraries Council, Apr. 5

StoryCorps wins Peabody Award
The StoryCorps Project, a national initiative encouraging Americans to record one another’s stories in sound, won a rare Institutional Award during the 66th annual Peabody Awards, administered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The StoryCorps recordings, more than 9,000 interviews to date, are being archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress....
Library of Congress, Apr. 9

Michigan court to weigh nonresidents’ right to a library card
The Michigan Supreme Court this week will consider a case that could have major implications for the state’s 388 public libraries. It pits a resident in Bloomfield Hills—one of the country’s wealthiest cities but one without a library—against the nearby Bloomfield Township Public Library, which refuses to sell him a nonresident library card. Both sides say library users throughout Michigan could be hurt depending on which way the high court rules....
Lansing (Mich.) State Journal, Apr. 10

University of Kentucky Libraries open “The Hub”
The University of Kentucky’s mandate to become a Top 20 university calls for a “synergy of talent, creativity, and innovation” to take place across the campus. The UK Libraries new Information Commons, known as “The Hub,” answers this call by providing a space where UK students can realize this synergy by developing and focusing their academic skills with the aid of the latest technology in a collaborative research environment....
University of Kentucky News, Mar. 26

CBS producer fired over library story plagiarism
Katie Couric did a one-minute commentary April 4 on the joys of getting her first library card, but the thoughts were less than original. The piece was substantially lifted from a Wall Street Journal column by Jeffrey Zaslow. CBS News apologized for the plagiarized passages April 10 and said the commentary had been written by a network producer who has since been fired. The Raw Story offers a side-by-side comparison of the two pieces....
Washington Post, Apr. 11; Raw Story, Apr. 11

A book full of inspiring libraries
Editors Karen Christensen and David Levinson conceived a contest. They wanted to create a coffee-table book with photographs and descriptions of America’s most beloved libraries and invited essays nominating favorites. Out of more than 300 nominations, all deserving, just 80 could be included in Heart of the Community: The Libraries We Love (Berkshire). The editors looked for a wide geographic range (Camden, Maine, to Anchorage, Alaska; New Orleans to Regina, Saskatchewan). They tried to balance urban with rural, and took architecture and history into consideration as well....
Concord (N.H.) Monitor, Apr. 8

Will closed Oregon libraries spur a bookstore boom?
Judy Stoddart, who owns H Q Books in Medford, Oregon, along with her husband Bob, said some library patrons began plotting their new literary course long before the Jackson County libraries actually shut their doors April 6. Many scoped out used bookstores, looking for those that best suited their wants. But Stoddart said there won’t be enough large-print books on the secondary market to go around for seniors who depended on the library for them....
Medford (Oreg.) Mail Tribune, Apr. 11

Michigan libraries fight budget cuts by getting political
As Michigan public libraries face a 50% cut in state funding, they are trying to galvanize patrons to lobby those who control the state’s purse strings. Kent District Library, the largest circulating public library system in the state with 18 branches, has printed up bookmarks with contact information of legislators. At Grand Rapids Public Library, sample letters and phone scripts are available to make it easier to send messages to elected officials. Herrick District Library in Holland has set out fliers and signs for patrons to take....
Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press, Apr. 9

OSU comics library turns 30
The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library under the direction of curator Lucy Shelton Caswell has, since 1977, amassed 2.5 million comic-strip clippings, about 250,000 original cartoons, and 51,000 serial titles, including comic books. Its book titles number 34,000. The archive spans the genre, including early newspaper editorials and Japanese manga, as well as comic strips from Pogo to Calvin and Hobbes....
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Apr. 2

NSW librarians awarded huge pay raise
Decades of gender bias were acknowledged March 28 with a huge pay increase awarded to librarians, archivists, and library technicians in New South Wales, Australia. The full bench of the Industrial Relations Commission has found that because the professions have been dominated by women, the work has been significantly undervalued. Wages will be boosted on average by around 16%....
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Mar. 28

Two librarian romances make the NYT paperback list
Two romance novels with librarian characters made the New York Times list for paperback fiction the week of April 8. Morning Comes Softly by Debbie Macomber (Avon) is a reprint of a romance involving a librarian from Louisiana and a Montana rancher. In True Believer by Nicholas Sparks (Warner), a hip young New Yorker finds love with a beautiful librarian who lives in a North Carolina town....
New York Times, Apr. 8

Web color palette generator
By entering the URL of an image, you will get a color palette that matches it. This tool is useful for coming up with a website color palette that matches the key image on your website....
DeGraeve.com

Technology competencies and training for libraries
The March/April issue of Library Technology Reports, written by Sarah Houghton-Jan, tackles technology competencies for librarians in the Information Age. The report describes how to use descriptions of technology competencies so they will enhance your staff members’ knowledge, the purpose and background of describing competencies, the process of creating descriptions, and the various types and structures of lists of competencies....
Library Technology Reports, Mar./Apr.

Google backs handwriting-recognition research
Google is sponsoring an artificial-intelligence research group’s work to develop advanced technologies for character recognition. The open-source project, called OCRopus, has several goals, including developing a high-level, easy-to-use handwriting recognition system that can convert handwritten documents to computer text, assisting in the creation of electronic libraries, analyzing historical documents, and helping vision-impaired people access information. The project is headquartered at the Image Understanding and Pattern Recognition research group in Kaiserslautern, Germany....
C|Net news, Apr. 11

Cream of the blog
Andrew Pace writes: “At a recent conference, I was having a conversation with one of the luminaries of library and information science education. We were debating a discussion from the library blogosphere. When I asked what his students thought, he replied somewhat glibly, ‘Students don’t read library blogs.’ Ouch. You mean, they’re not hanging on our every word? What about our poignant insights? I felt like a tree that falls in the forest only to be heard by the other trees.”...
Hectic Pace blog, Apr. 11

Google Calendar tips and tricks
Gina Trapani writes: “Web-based calendars have been around for ages, but one year ago Google Calendar came onto the scene and changed the game. You can be a scheduling black belt with Google Calendar. Step into my office to learn a few lesser-obvious but super-useful GCal techniques.”...
Lifehacker blog, Apr. 11

37 lucky libraries will host Harry Potter bus tour
Harry Potter publisher Scholastic announced April 11 the libraries that will host the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Knight Bus tour. The Knight Bus, based on the triple-decker bus described in the Harry Potter books, will launch June 1 from New York City and travel to 37 libraries across the country over a seven-week period. The tour will end back in Scholastic headquarters at noon July 21 to kick off the release of the seventh and final book in the series....
Scholastic, Apr. 11

24 weeks to a finished book
Jenni Fry writes: “Most new ALA Editions authors can guess what is entailed in the first part of the book publishing process: write, write, revise, revise, feedback from editor, revise, revise, final draft of manuscript ready for production. But what exactly does ‘production’ mean? Workflow differs from one publishing house to the next, but here’s the ideal flow here at Editions.”...
ALA Editions blog, Apr. 4

Earliest printed books in selected languages, 800–1500 A.D.
George Eberhart writes: “Printing was first developed in ancient China using a block of wood on which characters were carved in reverse relief. This woodblock was then inked to produce multiple copies on sheets of paper or parchment. No source that I know of identifies the earliest known printed books in various languages. This list contains a number of educated guesses as well as omissions, so if any readers know of earlier imprints or languages that I’ve missed, please leave a comment.”...
Britannica Blog, Mar. 30

LC and Alexandria to build World Digital Library
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Ismail Serageldin signed an agreement April 10 at the Library of Congress outlining four areas in which the two institutions will cooperate in building a World Digital Library. Both institutions will contribute content and work together on the design and implementation of the database, search engine, and interface for the project....
Library of Congress, Apr. 10

Spike Lee film free to school and academic libraries
“Teaching The Levees” is a curriculum that uses Spike Lee’s documentary about New Orleans and Hurrican Katrina, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, as a text to encourage democratic dialogue about race and class in America. The curriculum package was developed at Teachers College, Columbia University. Through the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, free copies will be made available to teachers, schools, libraries, and community groups. The package includes copies of the DVD and the curriculum book....
Teachers College, Columbia University

Google Book Search libraries and their digital copies
Jill E. Grogg and Beth Ashmore take a close look at how the participating Google Book Search Library Project libraries are using their copies of the digitized books—commonly referred to as the library digital copy, the copy that Google gave to them in return for their participation in the Book Search project....
Searcher 15, no. 4 (April)

Copyright renewal database
Stanford University has put online a database that searches the copyright renewal records received by the U.S. Copyright Office between 1950 and 1993 for books published in the United States between 1923 and 1963. The period from 1923 to 1963 is of special interest for U.S. copyrights, as works published after January 1, 1964, had their copyrights automatically renewed by the 1976 Copyright Act, and works published before 1923 have generally fallen into the public domain....
Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources

Resources for National Poetry Month
The Library of Congress offers online poetry resources for teachers, students, and librarians who wish to note April as National Poetry Month. Included are webcasts and recorded poetry, reference resources, and 180 poems for American high schools recommended by former Poet Laureate Billy Collins....
Library of Congress

U.S./U.K. poets laureate to give joint readings
U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall and British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion will participate in a historic series of joint poetry readings in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and London, sharing the stage for the first time and reacquainting the poetries of America and the United Kingdom. The readings, which will take place in Chicago on May 7; Washington, D.C., on May 10; and London on June 6 are sponsored jointly by the Library of Congress, the Poetry Foundation and the London-based Poetry Society....
Library of Congress, Apr. 11

Librarian: One of seven great careers
Columnist Marty Nemko includes “librarian” in one of seven career choices that “for many college-educated people, provide an ideal combination of money, status, sense of fulfillment, and good quality of life, and have good job market prospects for the foreseeable future.” He notes: “Today’s librarian is a high-tech information sleuth, a master of mining cool databases (well beyond Google) to unearth the desired nuggets.”...
Kiplinger’s, Apr. 6

Myths and misconceptions about roving reference
Joan Giannone busts eight myths about roving reference—librarians who circulate through the reference area to offer assistance to users at workstations or in the reference collection. Among the misconceptions are “our patrons will hate it” and “it hampers our ability to get our work done.”...
Mentor Group Training, Mar. 21

Literacy in everyday life
The National Center for Education Statistics has released Literacy in Everyday Life, the most recent publication of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (PDF file). This report provides extensive information on the literacy of American adults age 16 and older and changes in their performance since 1992. It also examines the relationship between literacy and several demographic variables including education, occupation, and income....
National Center for Education Statistics, Apr. 4

A dose of sunlight
Michael McGrorty writes about his filing a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor against the County of Los Angeles Public Library for allegedly not considering his job applications “because of his military duty and status as a veteran.” He adds: “I wouldn’t have filed the case if there were any alternative. It was not even so much that the County appeared ready to pass over me for hiring, but that they didn’t even respond to phone communications and email notes. What this system seems to need is a dose of sunlight.”...
Library Dust blog, Apr. 7

ARL Preservation Statistics 2004–05
The Association of Research Libraries has published its latest compilation of data on the levels of preservation efforts in ARL member libraries throughout North America. Highlights from ARL Preservation Statistics 2004–05, compiled by Mark Young and Martha Kyrillidou, suggest that preservation expenditures are in a steady state. In 2003–04, 109 ARL libraries reported expenditures of nearly $98 million; in 2004–05, 107 ARL libraries reported spending $2 million more than that for a total of almost $100 million....
Association of Research Libraries, Apr. 6

Japanese pillow poses as a book
Need to take a cat nap during a lull in the library’s workday? With this Japanese pillow book, you can pretend to have been working so hard you fell asleep during a cataloging session. The pillow shows a page (in English) headed, “How Delightful Everything Is: Section 4.” The cost is ¥12,000, or about $100....
Bytrico.com

CONSER standard record
The LC Policy Committee of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging has endorsed the recommendations of the final reports submitted by the Access Level Record for Serials Working Group and the Working Group on Authentication Codes and Encoding Levels for Serials and Integrating Resources. Implementation of the CONSER standard record will begin as soon as feasible after the CONSER Operations Meetings May 3–4....
Library of Congress, Apr. 6