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

Windows Vista debuts; library techies wary
“One look at Windows Vista shows the difference,” claims a Microsoft fact sheet, “with a breakthrough design, easy-to-use search and organization tools, and a safer online experience.” A January 30 media event in London featured Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and British Library Chief Executive Lynne Brindley showcasing Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks on the library’s digital book application Turning the Pages 2.0 (above), developed to run on Vista. But beyond the hype, what does the release of the long-awaited Vista operating system mean for libraries and librarians?...

Minneapolis library may join county system
The cash-strapped Minneapolis Public Library could merge with Hennepin County Public Library into a single, $75.6-million system, if the recommendations of two committees on the libraries’ futures are followed. The Committee on the Future of Libraries in Hennepin County, created by the HCPL board and consisting of county and city officials, rejected such options as having the systems share control of the city’s main library....

Budget cuts threaten British Library services
Facing a potential 7% cut in its $100-million annual budget, British Library officials said in late January they could be forced to charge fees to use the reading rooms for the first time in the library’s history. In a briefing paper to Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, the administration is also proposing to slash opening hours by as much as a third, halt all public exhibitions and educational programs, reduce spending on all books and journals, and impose limits on its national newspaper collection....

Jackson County residents rally against library closings
Some 300 supporters of the Jackson County (Oreg.) Library demonstrated in downtown Medford January 31 as county commissioners held a public hearing at the courthouse on the fate of the headquarters library and its 14 branches. The entire library system is scheduled to close its doors April 6 because of a fiscal crisis triggered by federal legislators’ failure in November to renew a subsidy to communities whose revenue relies on the logging industry....

Borough council moves to evict library management
The nonprofit association that runs the Brielle (N.J.) Public Library received an eviction notice from the borough’s council January 23, giving the group and its employees until February 28 to turn over the municipally owned library building. Brielle Borough Administrator Thomas Nolan said the action was in response to the library association’s refusal to return what officials maintain are borough tax dollars in the form of nearly $90,000 in surplus funds held in an association savings account....

Massachusetts network revokes residents’ borrowing rights
Four members of the Old Colony Library Network, a consortium of 28 Boston-area libraries, have cut off borrowing privileges for residents of Randolph because the town’s Turner Free Library failed to meet state standards. The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners revoked the library’s certification January 4 and pulled $30,000 in associated state aid....

West Virginia judges void library funding scheme
The Martinsburg–Berkeley County (W.Va.) Public Library is bracing for the loss of one-third of its $1.56-million funding in FY2008 if state lawmakers fail to legislate a fix for the voiding of an almost-50-year-old statute by the West Virginia Supreme Court. “There’s not one aspect of library service that we are providing now that won’t be negatively impacted,” Library Director Pamela Coyle said....

Burger testifies at Senate hearing
ALA President Leslie Burger spoke of the importance of Environmental Protection Agency libraries and librarians February 6 at an oversight hearing of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. She also addressed the EPA’s lack of openness with regard to digitizing its materials. Her full testimony is available on the ALA website. In her opening statement, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said the EPA library closings hurt “Americans’ right to know about important information regarding the health and environmental hazards of pollution in their communities.”...

Library funding increase in President’s 2008 budget
ALA applauds the funding increases for libraries proposed in President Bush’s FY2008 budget and thanks the administration for its consistent support of increased library funding. The President’s budget requests $226.2 million for the Library Services and Technology Act, an increase of $15.6 million over FY2006....

Deadline extended for public library survey
ALA has extended the response deadline for the new Public Library Funding and Technology Access study to March 1. The multiyear survey seeks information from public libraries regarding their internet connectivity, public computing, technology training, and other public library roles as public access technology centers in their communities....

Represent your group in Congress at Annual Conference
On Tuesday, June 26, the ALA Washington Office has secured the Gold Room of the Rayburn House Office Building for the sole purpose of letting Members of Congress know all about 21st-century libraries. As part of its Day on the Hill event, the Washington Office wants displays from every discipline to show legislators just what libraries mean to America, from public libraries and school libraries to research libraries and special libraries. The deadline for submitting display ideas is April 12....
District Dispatch blog, Feb. 1

Need a roommate?
Use the ALA Annual Conference roommate wiki to search for potential room-sharing arrangements....

Baykan to keynote PLA Spring Symposium
Mary Baykan, director of the Washington County (Md.) Free Library and Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year for 2007, will present the keynote address at the Opening General Session of the PLA Spring Symposium. The session, scheduled for March 1 at the Fairmont San Jose (Calif.), is open to all attendees....

Public Libraries seeks a columnist
PLA’s Public Libraries is looking for a columnist for its “Bringing in the Money” column. Current columnist Stephanie Gerding is resigning with the March/April issue. The column presents information on fundraising strategies and alternative funding sources for public libraries....
PLA Blog, Feb. 1

New Orleans benefits from Great Book Giveaway
The New Orleans Public Library is the winner of YALSA’s 11th annual Great Book Giveaway and will receive literally a ton of young adult and adult books, CDs, and audiocassettes. The estimated value of the collection is approximately $30,000....

ACRL to offer two preconferences
Registration is now open for two ACRL preconferences, on electronic resources librarianship and learning objectives, to be held June 22 in conjunction with the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C....

Present a professional development program
ACRL invites proposal submissions for half-day or full-day professional development programs to be held prior to the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting or the 2008 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. Submissions will be accepted through April 2....

State blue books project
The Government Documents Round Table’s State and Local Documents Task Force has placed links to available state blue books and other state government information on the new GODORT wiki. Contributions are welcome....

Jim Neal wins 2007 Hugh C. Atkinson award
James G. Neal, vice president for information services and university librarian at Columbia University, has been named the 2007 winner of the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award, which recognizes an academic librarian who has made significant contributions in the area of library automation or management, and notable improvements in library services or research....

Betsy Wilson is Academic/Research Librarian of the Year
Lizabeth (Betsy) A. Wilson, dean of university libraries at the University of Washington, is the 2007 ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year. The award, sponsored by YBP Library Services, recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a significant national or international contribution to academic/research librarianship and library development....

Dartmouth Medal winner
The second edition of Encyclopaedia Judaica, with Fred Skolnik as the editor-in-chief and published by Thomson Gale, is the recipient of the 2007 Dartmouth Medal. The medal, donated by Dartmouth College and presented by RUSA, is given for creating current reference works of outstanding quality and significance....

Sophie Brody Medal winner
Daniel Mendelsohn, author of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million (HarperCollins, 2006), is the recipient of this year’s Sophie Brody Medal. The award, sponsored by RUSA and funded by Arthur Brody and the Brodart Foundation, is given to encourage, recognize, and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature. The committee is also awarding three honorable mentions to authors Dara Horn, Sandy Tolan, and Markus Zusak....

PLA award winners represent excellence in public libraries
PLA has announced the winners of eight awards, honoring the best in public library service and innovation. PLA’s newest honor, the Gordon M. Conable Award, was established to recognize commitment to intellectual freedom in a public library setting. Its first recipient is Ken Verdoia, former trustee of the Salt Lake County (Utah) Library Services board of directors....

Public Libraries feature article winners
First prize of $500 goes to Meagan Albright for “The Public Library’s Responsibility to LGBT Communities: Recognizing, Representing, and Serving,” and second prize of $300 goes to Mary Cosper LeBoeuf for “Ill Winds: Hurricanes and Public Libraries Along the Gulf Coast.”...

Outstanding reference sources
RUSA has announced its 2007 list of Outstanding Reference Sources for small and medium-sized libraries. The titles were selected by the division’s Reference Sources Committee to represent high-quality reference works that are suitable for small to medium-sized libraries. The annotated list will appear in the May 2007 issue of American Libraries....

Louis Shores-Greenwood Publishing Group Award
Katina Strauch, founder of Against the Grain and the Charleston Advisor, is the 2007 winner of the Louis Shores-Greenwood Publishing Group Award, given to recognize excellence in the reviewing of books and other library materials....

Notable children’s books
ALSC has selected its 2007 list of Notable Children’s Books. The list of titles includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and picture books of special interest, quality, creativity, and value to children of all ages (through age 14)....

2007 Amelia Bloomer list of feminist books for young readers
The Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table has selected the 2007 list of Amelia Bloomer titles for young people. The list includes biographies of women who shattered the limitations placed on women regarding science, politics, sports, activism, civil and women’s rights; fantasies featuring girls taking charge of their situations despite obstacles; and contemporary and historical fiction focusing on the fight for equality and rights that many take for granted....

King Review Book Donation Grant
Art Aids Art of Altadena, California, and Out and Up of Macon, Georgia, are the recipients of the 2007 Coretta Scott King Review Book Donation Grant. The Donation Grant was established to find a home for the books that ALA receives each year to be considered for the Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards, and to provide exposure to winning authors, illustrators, and books....

2007 Gryphon Award for Children’s Literature
The True Story of Stellina, written and illustrated by Matteo Pericoli, has won the 2007 Gryphon Award for Children’s Literature. The award, which includes a $1,000 prize, is given annually by the Center for Children’s Books at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a unit of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science....
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Feb. 5

GOP revives data-retention bill
All internet service providers would need to track their customers’ online activities to aid police in future investigations under legislation (PDF file) introduced in the House February 6 as part of a Republican “law and order agenda.” Employees of any internet provider who fail to store that information face fines and prison terms of up to one year. Another requirement requires owners of sexually explicit websites to post warning labels on their pages or face imprisonment....
C|Net news, Feb. 6

Truman Library could be a model for Bush
The debate over President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb rages on at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Independence, Missouri. Meanwhile, Southern Methodist University in Dallas is roiling as President Bush gets close to announcing that he’ll locate his presidential library there. Columnist Barbara Shelly writes that “Bush’s controversial record argues in favor of a library in a university setting. Scholars and others should be able to examine his decisions and their effect on America and the world.” Meanwhile, Slate’s David Greenberg asks: “Should SMU accept Bush’s presidential library?”...
Kansas City (Mo.) Star, Jan. 26; Slate, Jan. 31

Broadening the Bush Library debate
Weeks after 9/11, President Bush signed an executive order giving presidents and former presidents much more control over their records—and extended that right to a family member when a former president dies. The Bush order goes beyond the control asserted by any president since Nixon. Now scholars are hoping to use the Southern Methodist University debate to start a new campaign against the executive order—and they are asking SMU to turn down the library as long as the executive order stays in place....
Inside Higher Education, Feb. 6; Dallas Morning News, Feb. 5

Courts turn to Wikipedia, but selectively
A simple search of published court decisions shows that Wikipedia is frequently cited by judges around the country, involving both serious issues and the bizarre—such as a 2005 tax case before the Tennessee Court of Appeals concerning the definition of “beverage” that involved hundreds of thousands of dollars, and, just this week, a case in Federal District Court in Florida that involved the term “booty music” as played during a wet T-shirt contest....
New York Times, Jan. 29

Large donation for a Clever Library
Thomas Jefferson said, “I cannot live without books.” And residents of Clever, Missouri, may not have to live without books in a nearby library for much longer. That’s because two Springfield citizens, Virgil and Mildred Sims, left a portion of their estate—totaling $180,000—to the city for the sole purpose of creating a library....
Christian County (Mo.) Headliner, Jan. 31

Jane Austen to be the next teenage sensation
Step aside Britney Spears. Movie moguls, television producers, and publishers believe this year’s teen hit will be the 19th-century “lit girl” Jane Austen. The life and works of the author, who died a spinster at the age of 41 in 1817, form the basis of no fewer than six forthcoming films and television series, along with plans for new editions of her works, tailored to the teenage market....
The Telegraph, Feb. 4

Teen group provides voice for library
Teens are excited to have a voice in what they would like to read, watch, and play at the Lester Public Library in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. They do this through their Teen Advisory Board, which consists of area teens in 6th- to 12th-grade who meet once a month. The 41-member group has requested Nintendo GameCubes video games, arranged monthly late-night library sessions, and orchestrated “Survivor Night.”...
Manitowoc (Wis.) Herald Times Reporter, Feb. 4

Library refused to ID injured woman
A woman who carried no identification except her public library card was plucked from icy river waters February 1, and now police in Lancaster, Ohio, are considering referring a complaint of obstruction of official business over Fairfield County District Library Circulation Manager Laura Gibson’s refusal to release information without a subpoena. Orman Hall, president of the library’s board of trustees, suggested that she mistakenly erred on the side of conservatism in preserving the confidentiality of a library patron....
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Feb. 3

The bizarre history behind Montreal’s last-ranked libraries
In late January, Montreal’s private Fraser-Hickson Institute Free Library went up for sale. The library plans to move to rented quarters or find a buyer who will allow it to remain in part of the building. Its closing will deprive the Notre-Dame-de-Grace district’s 65,000 residents of their only sizeable library. The plight of the Fraser-Hickson is unique to Montreal—and never would have come about if Montrealers had heeded a 19th-century stage ventriloquist’s call to action....
Montreal (Quebec) Gazette, Feb. 4

Library stabbing shocks officials
Police said Edmundo Pacheco, 45, was using a Hillsboro (Oreg.) Public Library computer just before 7 p.m. when a man approached him and then stabbed him in the upper back. Witnesses said the attack was totally unprovoked. The attacker said “that’s what you get for staring at me,” then fled, according to witnesses....
Hillsboro (Oreg.) Argus, Feb. 2

Baghdad day to day: A librarian’s journal
Saad Eskander, the director of Iraq’s National Library and Archive in Baghdad, finally had some time to catch up on his diary after a couple of very busy weeks. As he wrote in his latest entry, he was having trouble repairing the internet system; the Restoration Laboratory “was hit by 5 bullets”; and “another librarian, who works at the Periodical Department, received a death threat.”...
New York Times, Feb. 7

State library’s rare books room improved
At a cost of more than $7 million, the Pennsylvania State Library in Harrisburg has secured a place for priceless books and papers. Its renovated Rare Books Room not only controls temperature and moisture, it also controls the spectrum of light and the cleanliness of the rooms. Even the woodwork (black cherry) was selected because it doesn’t produce any residual gases that might harm the books. Watch the video....
WHTM-TV, Harrisburg, Pa., Jan. 30

The little library bookstore that could
Serendipity, the used bookstore on the second floor of the Humboldt County (Calif.) Library’s main branch, has just three aisles of books in a room it would take about 30 seconds to walk through, yet you could spend an hour or more browsing the shelves and probably find something you just have to have. But the most amazing thing is the milestone it reached on January 6: Seven years and two months after it opened, Serendipity’s total sales reached $200,000. That’s an average of more than $28,700 per year....
Eureka (Calif.) Times-Standard, Feb. 4

Libraries full of mysteries and surprises
Good public libraries collect books on many subjects, but things found inside library books are even stranger. All librarians have weird stories about objects readers choose for bookmarks. A librarian website that polled its members about odd bookmarkers produced everything from hair extenders, Abductees Anonymous cards (for those captured by UFOs), slices of raw bacon, toenail clippings, packets of heroin, an expired license for growing research hemp, 46 four-leaf clovers, slices of cheese, and all sorts of interesting photos....
Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, Feb. 5

Ten Windows Vista myths
The official consumer launch of Windows Vista has brought with it a great deal of confusion, misinformation, and some fairly naive assertions. Windows expert Deb Shinder debunks some of the misconceptions she’s been hearing, from exaggerated cost and hardware requirements to feature limitations and compatibility issues....
TechRepublic, Feb. 5

Top Tech Trends: The good parts
Chris Strauber offers a summary of the LITA Top Tech Trends discussion at ALA Midwinter, in the fabulous Spanish Ballroom of the Fairmont Olympic in Seattle....
LITA Blog, Jan. 31

Many Eyes visualization project
Visualization is traditionally viewed as an efficient way of transferring a large amount of information from a database into an individual’s head. IBM’s Visual Communications Lab believes that visualizations become even more powerful when multiple people access them for collaborative sensemaking. The VCL Many Eyes site is set up to allow the entire internet to upload data, visualize it, and talk about discoveries with others. Read the FAQ, visit a gallery, or create a visualization....
IBM Visual Communications Lab

Princeton joins Google Book Search
Princeton University Library and Google have agreed on a six-year contract to make the full text of about one million books from the library available online through Google Book Search. The partnership, under development for about 18 months, is led by University Librarian Karin Trainer, Deputy University Librarian Marvin Bielawski, and University Provost Christopher Eisgruber. Google has agreed to scan only books from the Princeton collection that are no longer under copyright....
Daily Princetonian, Feb. 6

Evolution of a search engine
Philipp Lenssen looks at the future of Google searches: “Right now, to answer your queries, Google quotes from the Web and orders the quotes in a list. In the future, Google may combine these quotes into a free-style text for a more direct answer. When the Google AI advances beyond that, it may analyze the texts available to it to come up with conclusions of its own. Let’s sketch this potential evolution using an everyday search query.”...
Google Blogoscoped, Feb. 2

What everyone is so hyper(text) about
Michael Wesch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, has strung together animations, text, and screenshots in a video (4:31) that tells the story of “Web 2.0: The Machine Is Us/ing Us”—and why it matters and how it’s changing the world....
You Tube

Web presentation tools
Robin Good offers a mini-guide to web presentation tools and technologies that provide the means to deliver any PowerPoint-based or similar type of visual presentation to an online audience, no matter where participants are connecting from....
Kolabora, Jan. 25

Online photo editing
Since all computers come with basic software that rotates, resizes, and crops photos, there must be a compelling reason to use an online service. Most of these online services also offer editing tools that go beyond the basics and start to creep into Photoshop territory. Michael Arrington reviews a few of the better ones....
TechCrunch blog, Feb. 4