Contents
U.S. & World News
ALA News
AL Focus
Booklist Online
Division News
Round Table News
Awards
Seen Online
Tech Talk
Actions & Answers
Calendar

Indigenous knowledge matters at IFLA Conference in South Africa
The 73rd World Library and Information Congress of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) convened August 19 in Durban, South Africa, with a new emphasis on indigenous knowledge and oral history in relation to “Libraries for the Future,” the conference theme. The five-day conference offered some 3,100 delegates from 116 nations an opportunity to witness firsthand the transformations that have occurred in South African libraries and in the nation itself since the end of Apartheid in 1994....

CILIP calls on government to intervene in UK library decline
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Britain’s professional library association, has asked UK Culture Secretary James Purnell to use his legal authority to stop local councils from further degrading public library service. In an August 8 letter, CILIP Chief Executive Bob McKee wrote that a number of council authorities were planning drastic staff reductions and even turning over libraries to inexperienced community groups in an effort to save money....

Cambridge contacts U.S. libraries over Alms for Jihad
Cambridge University Press has requested some American libraries that own the 2006 book Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World by J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins to either remove it from their shelves or add an errata sheet. In an August 15 letter to libraries, Intellectual Property Director Kevin Taylor said that CUP intends to “take every reasonable measure to ensure that readers who may consult this book in the future are made aware of its erroneous statements and to ensure that this defamation is not perpetuated.”...

Bedford trustees ousted over opposing outsourcing proponent
In the latest development over a controversial proposal to privatize the Bedford (Tex.) Public Library, the city council voted out three members of the library board August 14 after Councilman Charles Orean charged them with “character assassination.” Orean serves as liaison between the council and the library board, and board members had accused him of a conflict of interest because he has been pushing for the outsourcing while serving as liaison....

Saugus inches back to full-time hours
The Saugus (Mass.) Public Library must expand its hours to 50.4 per week by September 3 or it will have to repay a $1.1-million grant to the state. Although the library closed indefinitely May 24 after voters rejected a tax-override proposal in April, the town set aside $277,000 at its June 25 meeting for the library to reopen for 15 hours with eight part-time staff. Trustees later expanded the hours to 18.5—still a long way from its objective coming due in less than three weeks....

Waukesha County nixes fair funding again
The absence of four supervisors at an August 14 Waukesha County (Wis.) Board of Supervisors meeting has cost the 16-member federated county library system an additional $345,000 in long-sought additional revenue. The second time in four years that the funding-formula modification has been defeated by elected officials, the proposal would have shifted 13 cents per $1 of property taxes for library capital expenses from Waukesha County towns containing libraries to people living in communities without a library....

Prime Time Family Reading Time grants
Created by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities in 1991, Prime Time Family Reading Time is an award-winning reading, discussion, and storytelling series based on illustrated children’s books. Statewide organizations—including state libraries, state humanities councils, centers for the book, library associations, and library systems—are invited to apply for grant funding and materials to participate. The deadline for applications is November 1....

Freedom to Read Foundation Nominating Committee
Robert P. Doyle will chair the Freedom to Read Foundation’s Nominating Committee for its April 2008 election, which will fill five positions on the 2008–2009 FTRF board of trustees. Also on the committee are Therese Bigelow and Candace Morgan....

Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium video series
AL Focus offers an overview (7:07) of the ALA TechSource symposium, held in Chicago July 22–24, in addition to four full-length keynote addresses by Scott Nicholson, Liz Lawley, Gregory Trefry, and Henry Jenkins, in this series of five videos. Also in the overview: observations on Second Life, the importance of lemon candy, and why Donkey Kong marked a key moment in video game history. (For MP3 audio files of other GLLS sessions, see the ALA TechSource site.)...

A greener AASL National Conference
The AASL 13th National Conference and Exhibition in Reno, Nevada, October 25–28, is going green. All handouts and supporting materials will be available electronically to registered attendees prior to and during the conference. In addition to eliminating large volumes of paper, this will also save on dozens of boxes that would be needed to transport the handouts from the printing location to the convention center....

ALCTS fall/winter workshops
Continuing education workshops in ALCTS’s lineup include “Basic Subject Cataloging Using LCSH,” “Electronic Serials Cataloging,” “Integrating Resources Cataloging,” “Fundamentals of Library of Congress Classification,” “Fundamentals of Acquisitions” and “Metadata and Digital Library Development.” The courses will be held in October, November, or January in either Chicago or Philadelphia....

ALCTS Non-English Access Steering Committee
ALCTS has formed a Non-English Access Steering Committee that will be responsible for providing guidance and direction to the many groups identified for implementing recommendations in the report (PDF file) of the Task Force on Non-English Access. The group is chaired by Magda el-Sherbini of Ohio State University....

Using past lives to launch your library career
Holly Wilson writes: “This year’s New Members Round Table annual conference program brought a panel of librarians together to discuss their diverse work backgrounds. Each panelist discussed their previous jobs and gave advice on how to transfer the skill set from a seemingly different scenario to obtain employment in the library field. Here is a snapshot of the advice given by each panelist.”...
NMRT Footnotes, Aug.

2007 Access to Learning Award
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries initiative presented its 2007 Access to Learning Award of $1 million on August 20 to the Northern Territory Library, a regional public library system based in Darwin, Australia. The award, given at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions conference in Durban, South Africa, honors NTL’s innovative approach to bringing computer and internet technology to remote indigenous communities. NTL’s groundbreaking Our Story database allows local people to preserve and share their cultural heritage by archiving digital recordings and photographs on library computers. Microsoft will donate $224,000 in software and technology training curriculum to upgrade NTL’s 300 computers....
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Aug. 20

IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellows
OCLC President Jay Jordan named the IFLA/OCLC Fellows for 2008 during the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ World Library and Information Congress in Durban, South Africa, August 20. The program will support five library and information professionals from Morocco, India, Nepal, Uganda, and South Africa with advanced continuing education and exposure to a broad range of issues in information technologies....
OCLC, Aug. 20

Digital Media and Learning Competition
The HASTAC Initiative and the MacArthur Foundation are mobilizing the field of digital media and learning through a $2-million open-call competition, supporting all generations of educators, learning entrepreneurs, and communicators. Innovation Awards of $250,000 and $100,000 will go to pioneers who are exploring new digital models of learning that build upon and enhance the informal, networked, and collaborative styles today, especially among youth. Knowledge-Networking Awards, $30,000–$75,000 each, will go to creative and dedicated communicators. Apply by October 15....
Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC)

New Zealander wins Scottish book award
Kirsty Gunn has been named the inaugural winner of the Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year for her novella The Boy and the Sea (Faber and Faber, 2006). Gunn, a native New Zealander who teaches creative writing at Dundee University, was awarded the £25,000 prize at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on August 18. One thousand free copies of Gunn’s book are being given away to travelers leaving Edinburgh Airport during the course of the festival....
The Bookseller, Aug. 20

When did used books become contraband?
Thanks to a controversial “approved vendor system,” some state prisons are slowing the flow of books behind bars. Karla Starr writes: “Earlier this year, Carla McLean, a librarian and volunteer for the organization Books to Prisoners (the group’s function is self-evident), struck up a correspondence with a Buddhist pen pal at the Airway Heights Corrections Center west of Spokane. He was getting books sent to him from both BTP and the Zen Mountain Monastery. Then one day, the packages stopped arriving.”...
Seattle Weekly, Aug. 15

Federal court records, online and free
The domination of two legal research services over the publication of federal and state court decisions is being challenged by an internet gadfly who has embarked on an ambitious project to make more than 10 million pages of case law available free online. The project is the latest effort of Carl Malamud, an activist who founded public.resource.org in March, with the broad intent of building “public works” accessible via the network, and with the specific plan to force the federal government to make information more publicly accessible....
New York Times, Aug. 20

University of Arizona Poetry Center gets new home
The new Helen S. Schaefer building will soon be the permanent home of the University of Arizona Poetry Center, which began moving in August 15. It will take some time to relocate the more than 60,000 items in the collection, one of the largest in the country, Executive Director Gail Browne said. The center has been in temporary buildings since it was founded in 1960 by Ruth Stephan. It is the first time the center will have space for all the works it owns, including books, journals, photographs, videos, and recordings. A Housewarming Festival will officially open the facility on October 14....
Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen, Aug. 16

Quilts stolen from Quincy library
The artwork had been hung and more than 100 invitations had been mailed. But there was one glitch in the August 9 grand reception for the quilt exhibit at the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, Massachusetts: Eight of the approximately 20 quilts by local quilters had been stolen from the library over the past few days. Information on the missing quilts is posted here....
Quincy (Mass.) Patriot Ledger, Aug. 10

No restriction on Fallen Angels in Idaho
A committee that reviews school library books that some parents think are inappropriate will recommend that the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, school board place no restrictions on two titles. The committee, made up of parents, teachers, administrators, a librarian, and a student, recommended August 20 that no restrictions be placed on Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Three other titles that drew complaints by parent Mary Jo Finney, who has children in middle school and high school, are still under review....
Associated Press, Aug. 17

Legal issues holding up Bush Library decision
Southern Methodist University President R. Gerald Turner said legal issues are delaying a final announcement between SMU and the Bush Library Selection Committee. Turner believes it “still looks good” that SMU will get the library complex, but at no point said that it is a done deal. Meanwhile, the Dallas Morning News reports that SMU started lobbying the White House for the library in early 2001....
SMU Daily Campus, Aug. 17; Dallas Morning News, Aug. 17

Are you ready for virtual worlds?
Google, Second Life creator Linden Lab, IBM, and a bevy of additional companies are moving toward the day when you can stroll around a 3D Web using a virtual replica of yourself that you’ve created. They are working to establish technical standards, open to all programmers, that would allow the entire internet to become a galaxy of connected virtual worlds. As you walk by a sale at a virtual jeans store, web cameras in the real store let you see how crowded it actually is, in case a popular item is selling out. Your avatar, set to your body’s measurements, tries on the jeans and spins around to show them to your pals....
Business Week, Aug. 13

Five new ways to share files
Michael W. Muchmore writes: “If you’ve ever had an email inbox clogged with attachments from friends or coworkers, you’ve probably experienced an inbox slowdown or run up against its storage limit. Maybe you’ve tried to send or receive a humungous file through email, but the system wouldn’t even allow your oversized attachment to be delivered. Web services that let you avoid these problems have arrived on the scene, and some of them don’t require any tech savvy and won’t cost you anything.”...
ExtremeTech, Aug. 2

Late-summer roundup
Andrew Pace writes: “I think we made it through the entire summer season without the loss, merger, or acquisition of a single ILS entity! Some attrition at ILS giant SirsiDynix continues, but the firm did appoint a new COO: Matthew Hawkins will be responsible for the company’s Client Care, Implementation, and Consulting & Education organizations. The Berkeley Electronic Press announced that it would be purchasing Digital Commons, a turnkey Institutional Repository solution, from ProQuest.”...
Hectic Pace blog, Aug. 21

Primo now public at Vanderbilt
Primo, described by Ex Libris as its next- generation “discovery and delivery tool” for academic libraries, has been unveiled at the Vanderbilt University Libraries in Nashville. Ex Libris has been working with Vanderbilt for over a year as a development partner toward the creation of this new product, which includes features such as faceted search, relevancy ranking of results, content enrichment services, grouping of related items through FRBR, and much more....
Library Technology Guides blog, Aug. 20

A keyboard for night owls
The Saitek Eclipse II keyboard gives you a choice of backlighting colors—purple, red, and blue—adjustable via a dimmer mechanism. The laser-etched key characters and keypad illuminate, making it useful in any lighting environment. The key clicks are quiet (also suitable for night-time use) and the base has large rubber feet to keep it securely planted to your desk. Also available through Amazon.com....
Saitek

Embed Google Maps with HTML
Google Maps users can now add a map to their website or blog just by copying and pasting a snippet of HTML. This new functionality enables Google Maps users to share and disseminate geographic information in the same way that YouTube users share videos. Bloggers and webmasters no longer need an API key or knowledge of Java Script to put a Google Map on their website or blog....
Google, Aug. 21

Top 10 PDF tricks
Gina Trapani writes: “The PDF file format is one of the best ways to publish, save, and exchange well-formatted documents that will look exactly the same regardless of the device or computer you open them on. Here are our top 10 list of techniques for converting, exchanging, sharing, managing, and editing PDF documents.”...
Lifehacker blog, Aug. 15

A fast way for 100 people to view your screen
Glance Networks said August 13 its desktop-sharing service can now support up to 100 guests watching the same computer screen, up from its previous limit of 15 viewers. Going from 15 to 100 viewers per session greatly expands the types of things groups can do with the service—including webinars, virtual conferencing, and training sessions....
Network World, Aug. 13

Computer history, in a barn
C|Net presents a 4-minute video visit to the 10-year-old DigiBarn Computer Museum—located on a pig farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains of northern California—that houses vintage computing equipment going all the way back to 1887. Curator Bruce Damer seeks to capture personal stories and track technological evolution through a large collection of antique computer systems, manuals, videos, interviews, and other fossil relics of the “Cambrian explosion” of personal computing that ignited in 1975....
C|Net news.com, Aug. 20

Web Archiving Toolset performance tested at British Library
Jackson Pope and Philip Beresford report on the British Library’s testing of the International Internet Preservation Consortium Toolset—comprising the Web Curator Tool, NutchWax, and the Open Source Wayback Machine—for its evolving web archiving operations, in anticipation of legal depository legislation being introduced within the next few years....
Ariadne, no. 52 (July)

The anthropology of the undergraduate (subscription required)
Several years ago, anthropologist Nancy Fried Foster was hired by the University of Rochester library to study undergraduates, to help shed light on how they do their research and write papers, and how they spend their days. The results of the study, which ACRL will publish in September in a book titled Studying Students, helped guide a library renovation, influenced a website redesign, led to changes in the way the library markets itself to students, and, in some cases, completely changed the image of undergraduates in the eyes of Rochester librarians....
Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 17

New Orleans Index recovery report (PDF file)
The New Orleans Index, a special report on key recovery indicators, says that although less than half of the public and private schools in New Orleans have reopened, some parish libraries are doing slightly better: “Two out of 12 libraries remain closed in St. Tammany. There are no libraries open in St. Bernard. Two out of three libraries are still closed in Plaquemines Parish. Five out of 16 libraries remain closed in Jefferson Parish. And four out of 13 libraries are still shuttered in Orleans Parish. Of the nine libraries in operation in Orleans Parish, two are operating out of FEMA trailers. Overall, of the 46 libraries that existed in those five parishes prior to Katrina, 70% are now reopened.”...
New Orleans Index, special edition (Aug. 2007), pp. 13–16

Be prepared for disaster
The ALA Washington Office recently updated its Disaster Preparedness and Recovery page and, in light of the hurricane season and recent events in the western states, it’s vitally important to make sure your library and your community are both prepared should disaster strike. The National Heritage Health Index discovered that 70% of libraries did not have a disaster plan....
District Dispatch blog, Aug. 21

Ogden Museum library fundraiser
Extensive restoration work is underway on the Patrick F. Taylor Library in New Orleans to preserve the treasure designed by the great American 19th-century architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, as an integral part of the historically significant complex of buildings that the Ogden Museum of Southern art calls home. This long-term preservation project has been characterized by attention to detail, which included bringing stones from the original quarry in Massachusetts and milling floors from aged timber found in an old warehouse. However, there is still much work to be done....
Ogden Museum of Southern Art

Walking the Line: The Rally
Graphic designer James Gemmill has put together a short film for CUPE 391, which represents the striking Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library workers, about the August 10 rally held at City Hall by the three main civic unions of the City of Vancouver, after negotiations had broken down the previous day. There are two other films in his “Civic Strike” series: The Read In and The Blacked Out Week....
James Gemmill

EBSCO shows its green side
Database aggregator EBSCO Publishing has installed a photovoltaic array on the roof of its historic mill building on Union Street in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The system is among the largest installations on the North Shore of Boston and provides year-round electricity harvested from the sun. The solar-panel project is one of many green initiatives (PDF file) that EBSCO has instituted to decrease the company’s impact on the environment....
EBSCO Publishing, Aug. 21

The Alliance Second Life Library: One year later (PDF file)
A report on the first year of operation of the Alliance Second Life Library 2.0 Project—also known as the Alliance Information Archipelago—is available online. Compiled by Tom Peters of TAP Information Services with the assistance of Lori Bell and Beth Gallaway, the report spans activities from April 11, 2006, to April 18, 2007....
Alliance Library System, East Peoria, Ill.

What’s the difference between a librarian and a media specialist?
The Media Specialist Special Interest Group of the International Society for Technology in Education has a discussion on this question. Is it semantics, or training, or marketing? And what about the term “teacher-librarian”?...
International Society for Technology in Education SIGMS

Behind the scenes at Hatcher
Ever wonder what transpires in the mysterious corridors of Technical Services? In this Flickr sequence of 46 photos, staffers at the University of Michigan’s Hatcher Graduate Library show what happens to books before they are placed on the shelf. The idea came from Susan Wortman, Donna Hayward, Shevon Desai, and Karen Reiman-Sendi, librarians at Hatcher....
Flickr, Aug. 9

Affiliating with Amazon
McMaster University Library in Hamilton, Ontario, has added a new feature to its online catalog that allows users, if they find a book they really like, to order it directly from Amazon.com. A “Buy it from Amazon” button appears in the item details pop-up window of any library book that is also available through the online bookseller. As members of the Amazon associates program, the library benefits by earning a small referral fee from Amazon on each sale, paid through gift certificates....
McMaster University Library

Britannica’s Global Reference Center
Academic and school libraries that serve diverse ethnic populations can now offer a wider encyclopedic perspective with Britannica’s new Global Reference Center. The site combines Britannica encyclopedias in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and French. Several editorial teams, working in the countries of origin, spearheaded the creation of these encyclopedias....
Encyclopædia Britannica, July 25

Get topographical maps online
The U.S. Geological Survey has launched a new USGS Map Locator and Downloader, a web tool designed to deliver topographic maps easier, faster, and less expensively. Using open source software and the Google Maps programming interface, the Map Locator and Downloader allows customers to find the topographic maps they need, by searching ZIP code, address, or navigating on an interactive map....
U.S. Geological Survey, Aug. 14

NASA photos to go online
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Internet Archive said August 21 that they plan to scan and archive more than 12 million NASA photographs and 100,000 hours of film and video footage for free access online, under an exclusive five-year agreement. The two organizations didn’t specify when the new site will officially launch, but the project will presumably be well underway and public before NASA’s 50th anniversary next year....
C|Net news blog, Aug. 21

Top 100 classic websites
The Library of Congress website was one of 100 named by PC Magazine as the best the internet has to offer in 2007. Cited for “basically having any content you’d ever want to find,” LC joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Amazon, Google, Technorati, eBay, Facebook, C|Net, and other familiar URLs as “best-of-breed in their respective categories.”...
PC Magazine, Aug. 13

Find people with Pipl
Gina Trapani writes: “Find your ex, former coworker, or long-lost high school pals at Pipl, a people search engine that returned an impressive number of results for my own name, including my personal homepage, press mentions, SEC documents, MySpace page, Amazon wishlist, and profile—stuff I didn’t realize or forgot was online. Pipl says its indexing bots interact with databases in the deep web to get more info than Google.”...
Lifehacker blog, Aug. 15

The reading habits of Americans
One in four adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press–Ipsos poll released August 21. Of those who did read, women and seniors were the most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices. Excluding those who hadn’t read any, the usual number of books read was seven....
Associated Press, Aug. 21

UK youth lack basic literacy skills
British secondary-school graduates might be tech-savvy, but they are increasingly entering the workplace without basic numerical and literacy skills, employers have warned. The Confederation of British Industry and Pertemps Employment Trends Survey found 92% of employers are happy with the IT skills of students taking qualification exams administered to students aged 14 to 16. But 52% were dissatisfied with the basic literacy of those who have completed secondary school, and half said the same about numerical skills....
C|Net News.com, Aug. 21

Hollywood blamed for scientific illiteracy
Two University of Central Florida professors argue that the disregard for the laws of physics evident in Hollywood films is contributing to students’ poor understanding of science. The paper, “Hollywood Blockbusters: Unlimited Fun But Limited Science Literacy” (PDF file), by Costas J. Efthimiou and R. A. Llewellyn, makes no effort to establish a causal link between viewing impossible physics and believing the world works the same way. Rather, it assumes exposure leads to ignorance....
Information Week, Aug. 15

The This Into That gallery of bookshelves
Jim Rosenau, an artist and former publishing executive, creates artistically humorous bookshelves and bookcases from discarded books and maintains an online gallery of his works. He got the idea of “turning books into lumber” from reading two essays by Nicholson Baker, and actually sells a few from time to time....
This Into That

ALIA celebrates 70 years
The Australian Library and Information Association officially marked its 70th anniversary August 20. The inaugural gathering of the Australian Institute of Librarians took place outside the Albert Hall in Canberra, August 20, 1937 (right). ALIA Executive Director Sue Hutley said, “The proof of our success is visible in the statistics—more than nine out of 10 Australians believe libraries are important—even if they don’t use them.”...
Australian Library and Information Association, Aug. 15

Russian State Library joins the European Library
Viktor V. Fedorov, director-general of the Russian State Library in Moscow, signed a letter of agreement August 6 with the Conference of European National Librarians to join as a full participant in the European Library. Access to RSL holdings through the European Library portal will start in 2008 with the “Electronic Library of Dissertations” collection....
TELL Fleur blog, Aug. 17

Housing for the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia will open October 1. Forms will be available in the October issue of American Libraries.

The 96-minute Hollywood Librarian documentary film will be shown during Banned Books Week, September 29–October 6, 2007, at 45 screening locations in the United States and Canada. For a full list of locations, see the map. The deadline to send in an agreement to screen the film is now August 24 at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is offering a Banned Books Week deep discount through October 6 on T-shirts, buttons, and stickers that incorporate its “freadom” logo. The T-shirts are newly designed and available in two fresh colors—charcoal and forest green—as well as the traditional blue and black.

ALSC members are invited to participate in the Boys and Girls Clubs Day for Kids celebration on September 15. BGC Day for Kids is set aside each year to celebrate America’s children through the gift of meaningful time with a positive adult.

Coming up soon! The 2007 National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush, will be held on Saturday, September 29, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 7th and 14th streets. Free and open to the public, the festival will feature some 70 well-known authors.