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

Harry Potter foe loses fourth challenge
Harry Potter detractor Laura Mallory has lost yet another attempt to get the popular series removed from the Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Schools. Georgia Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor upheld May 29 a December 2006 decision by the state board of education to retain the series in the school system’s library media centers. The ruling came at the conclusion of the hearing....

Filtering bill stalls in Illinois Senate
According to Illinois lawmakers, the Internet Screening in Public Libraries Act (H.B. 1727), a bill that would require filters on all public libraries in the state, appears unlikely to make it out of committee in the Illinois Senate. The legislation passed 63–51 in the state House of Representatives May 2, which prompted many Illinois public libraries to protest by taking part in a May 14 Illinois Library Association-sponsored “day of unity” by shutting off or limiting their internet access and expressing their concerns to state senators....

Laura Bush announces $1.3 million in school library grants
In its 2007 round of grants, First Lady Laura Bush’s foundation is awarding nearly $1.3 million to 263 school libraries to expand their book collections. Mrs. Bush made the announcement May 30 at the 104-year-old P.S. 188 Island School on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, accompanied by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city schools Chancellor Joel Klein....

ALA supports OPEN Government Act
ALA has asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to support the OPEN Government Act of 2007 (S. 849), and bring this important legislation to the floor in early June. On May 31, Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.), who had previously remained anonymous, identified himself as the senator responsible for placing a hold on the bill and preventing it from being scheduled....

Ask Congress to sign up for READ posters
As part of Library Day on the Hill, Members of Congress will have the unique opportunity to make their own version of ALA’s famous READ posters. Six senators and 23 representatives have signed up for this chance, but we still need more. Have them call the ALA Washington Office at 202-628-8410, ask for Melanie or Andy, to schedule....
District Dispatch blog, June 5

ALA organizational members can get Middlesex
ALA public, middle school, high school, and community college organizational members are eligible to receive the latest Oprah’s Book Club selection, Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides. Organizational members current as of June 15 will receive from two to eight copies, depending on the size of their libraries. Picador USA, the publisher, will begin shipping after June 25....

ALA website redesign preview at Annual Conference
ALA will have two kiosks showcasing representative possibilities for a new website design during the 2007 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., June 21–27. Each kiosk will display wireframes (rough sketches) that are intended to generate feedback on information architecture, navigation approach, and basic layout. The kiosks will be located in the ALA registration area at the conference....

How to celebrate Banned Books Week
The week of September 29 through October 6 marks the 26th anniversary of Banned Books Week, ALA’s annual celebration of the freedom to read. Here are some suggestions from the Office for Intellectual Freedom to help you celebrate the week. If you can think of other ways to celebrate the week, please share them with OIF. Your ideas may inspire others....
Don Wood: Library 2.0, June 1

2008 Emerging Leaders program
Spend two workshop days with Maureen Sullivan and Connie Paul at the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference, participating in projects, networking with 119 of your peers, getting an inside look into ALA structure, and having an opportunity to serve your profession. The program will enable 120 new librarians to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership....
Emerging Leaders wiki, May 31

Wendy Prellwitz on the ALA Diversity Office
Gwendolyn (“Wendy”) Prellwitz, program officer for the ALA Office for Diversity, chats with ALA Manager for Membership Development John Chrastka about what her office is up to, its search for a new director, the various grants it is working on, the Spectrum Scholarship program, and how she ended up at ALA. Produced by American Libraries for its AL Focus series of videos....
Blip.tv

Diversity and Outreach Fair participants (updated)
OLOS has announced that two new exhibitors joined the fair since the initial announcement last week. They are the Teri Rose Memorial Library at the Leather Archives and Museum in Chicago and “Creative Responses to Aging in America,” a joint exhibit of the Cleveland (Ohio) and Alameda County (Calif.) Public Libraries....

Libraries chosen for Lewis and Clark exhibit...
The Public Programs Office, in partnership with the Newberry Library and the National Endowment for the Humanities, has selected 23 public and academic libraries to host the traveling exhibit, “Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country,” based on a display at the Newberry in 2005. The libraries selected for the tour will host the 1,000-square-foot exhibit for a six-week period between October 2007 and November 2011....

...and Benjamin Franklin traveling exhibit
The Public Programs Office, in collaboration with the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary in Philadelphia, has selected 20 public and academic libraries to host the traveling exhibition, “Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World,” based on a display at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia until April 2006. The libraries selected for the tour will host the 1,000-square-foot exhibit for a six-week period between December 2007 and June 2011....

The National Zoo
Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Zoo is the nation’s zoo. It is a 163-acre zoological park set amid Rock Creek National Park in the heart of D.C. You can visit the zoo 364 days a year to see 2,000 individual animals of 400 different species. The new Asia Trail features sloth bears, clouded leopards, a Japanese giant salamander, and giant pandas in the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat (complete with PandaCam)....
Smithsonian National Zoo

Victims of Communism Memorial
A Victims of Communism Memorial will be dedicated June 12. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, will give the keynote address while Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) will deliver remarks. The Memorial is at the intersection of Massachusetts Ave., New Jersey Ave., and G St., N.W., two blocks from Union Station and within view of the U.S. Capitol....
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

Art Museum of the Americas
Please note that the museum is currently closed through June 30 for the changing of exhibits....
Art Museum of the Americas

Armistead Maupin will keynote PLA President’s Program
Acclaimed author Armistead Maupin will present the keynote address at the PLA President’s Program at ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., June 25, 5–6:30 p.m. Due to a campaign-related scheduling conflict, Elizabeth Edwards will not be attending the program. Maupin is the author of Tales of the City and Babycakes....

LITA President’s Program to explore digital audio and Penn Tags
The LITA President’s Program, titled “Tag! Your IT!: Online Digital Audio Collections Meet PennTags,” will take place Sunday, June 24. The program is a combination of two hot topics—digital audio libraries and the social tagging system PennTags. Chuck Haddix and Michael Winkler are the featured speakers....

Passport to Teen Read Week contest
Visitors to the exhibits at ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., can win an iPod Shuffle or one of four messenger bags filled with goodies from YALSA. The first 1,000 to show their completed Teen Read Week passport (right) at the YALSA booth in the ALA Pavilion will be entered into the contest. The passports also include tips for planning a successful TRW celebration, plus details about YALSA’s upcoming WrestleMania Reading Challenge. The grand prize drawing will be held June 26....

ALCTS announces Annual Conference forums
ALCTS is offering a number of events at ALA Annual Conference in its continuing forum series of hot topics, among them bibliographic control, ALCTS 50th anniversary, RDA update, and others....

Video Round Table preconference
The Video Round Table will cohost a preconference on “User Rights at Risk in Video and Film: Issues for Librarians Interested in Copyright Law and Fair Use” on Friday, June 22, 2–6 p.m., at the Washington College of Law. The event will feature discussion of a new national initiative to encourage reliance on fair use....

New award to honor promotion of baseball and literacy
Applications are available for “Batting for literacy @ your library,” a new award in conjunction with ALA’s Step Up to the Plate @ your library program. The award will honor an individual librarian who has used baseball to enhance literacy or library service. The recipient will be awarded a trip to the 2008 Baseball Hall of Fame Game, an annual exhibition game between two major league teams at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York....

Freund to receive My Favorite Martian award
LeiLani Freund, chair of humanities and social sciences services at the University of Florida’s George A. Smathers Libraries, is the 2007 recipient of RUSA’s Machine-Assisted Reference Section (MARS) Recognition Certificate, also known as the My Favorite Martian award....

Emerald Research Grants awarded
Lisa G. O’Connor and Diane M. Owens of the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science and Y. Diana Wu of San Jose State University are recipients of the 2007 Emerald Research Grant Awards administered by the RUSA Business Reference and Services Section. O’Connor and Owens are receiving the grant to research the information-seeking behaviors of amateur financial investors, and Wu is conducting a study on information literacy and workplace expectations....

LITA/Ex Libris Student Writing Award
Timothy Dickey, currently enrolled in the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University, is the winner of the 2007 LITA/Ex Libris Student Writing Award. His paper examines the challenges and benefits of reorganizing an OPAC to take advantage of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records....

LC’s Laura Campbell recognized
Laura E. Campbell, associate librarian for strategic initiatives and chief information officer for the Library of Congress, on June 4 received the prestigious 2007 EMC Information Leadership Award from the Computerworld Honors Program. For almost two decades, Computerworld Honors has acknowledged individuals and organizations that have used information technology to benefit society. Campbell leads both LC’s National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program and its National Digital Library Program....
Library of Congress, June 6

Pickens library program yanked after witchcraft charge
A library program in Easley, South Carolina, described by some parents as promoting witchcraft, has been canceled. The Pickens County Library System’s youth Summer Reading Program was discontinued after officials received complaints objecting to its content. The 12 weekly sessions included a variety of activities, including palmistry, Tarot card reading, T-shirt tie-dyeing, and scrapbooking....
Greenville (S.C.) News, June 6

Vamos goes to court
To some in Miami, the children’s book Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba) is offensive and should be removed from school libraries, even though it contains no obscenities or profanities, nor any mention of sex or drugs. It also doesn’t contain any criticism of Fidel Castro or his communist government, which is why the Miami-Dade County School District is asking a federal appeals court June 6 for permission to remove the 49 copies from its libraries....
Miami Herald, June 5

Inside an outsourced library
Just two hours south of Jackson County, Oregon, the city of Redding, California, decided to outsource the running of its three libraries in Shasta County to Library Systems and Services (LSSI) in September 2006. Shasta County had struggled for decades to try to keep libraries open and went through financial downturns similar to what Jackson County faced leading up to the closure of all its branches. But Redding opened up a new $20-million library two months ago....
Medford (Oreg.) Mail Tribune, June 3

Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 misinterpreted
Author Ray Bradbury still has a lot to say, especially about how people do not understand his most literary work, Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953. The book is not, he says firmly, a story about government censorship. Nor was it a response to Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose investigations had already instilled fear and stifled the creativity of thousands. It is, in fact, a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature....
L.A. Weekly, May 30

Censorship will change the face of the internet
Amnesty International has warned that the internet “could change beyond all recognition” unless action is taken against the erosion of online freedoms. The warning comes ahead of a conference organized by Amnesty, where victims of repression will outline their plights....
BBC News, June 6

Bookcart contest sparks linguistic controversy
The Racine (Wis.) Public Library is putting “pimp” to work, using the word to promote a contest aimed at attracting teens to the library. Some people praised the contest, dubbed “Pimp My Cart!,” as a fresh way to reach kids and give flash to the decidedly undecorated carts that move books around the library. Others abhor the casual use of “pimp,” even if the verb form of the word now can mean to make something look sharp and new....
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 2

Photos from Greensburg
On May 5, the day after an EF-5 tornado hit his home town of Greensburg, Kansas, acclaimed landscape photographer Larry Schwarm returned to assist stricken friends and neighbors and photograph the damage. One of those images included the devastated Kiowa County Library (right). Note the card catalog in the lower right corner. The full body of Schwarm’s work will be displayed at the Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art Gallery in Kansas City in November....
Kansas City (Mo.) Star, June 2

Portrait of a copyright miser
On June 1, a San Jose federal judge awarded attorney fees to a Stanford University English professor whose suit against the estate of James Joyce was settled recently. Carol Loeb Shloss’s suit against the Joyce estate sheds light on an ironic, and maybe inevitable, trend in intellectual property: As copyright becomes harder to defend, many copyright holders are becoming less realistic about the limitations of their ownership....
Los Angeles Times, June 5

Moline’s “My Favorite Book” exhibit
The faces in Moline (Ill.) Public Library’s “My Favorite Book” project vary as much as the books they feature, perfectly capturing the variety patrons find when they walk into the library. Photojournalist Todd Mizener took 156 images of library patrons posing with their favorite books to help celebrate the library’s grand opening last fall. Now they are hanging in the library and accessible online....
Moline (Ill.) Dispatch, May 30

City-county library merger appears to be on track
The merger of Minneapolis and Hennepin County library systems remains alive, even after Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of $4.5 million in state aid, local officials said May 31. “Absolutely,” said Minneapolis Library Director Kit Hadley a day after Pawlenty rejected funding that would have been used for transitional costs. “No one connected with this merger, though, anticipated this [the veto].”...
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 31

Reed Elsevier quits organizing arms fairs
Anti–arms trade campaigners and writers at Reed Elsevier’s scientific journals today welcomed the publisher’s move to pull out from organizing defense shows. Reed said earlier it would sever its ties to arms fairs, bowing to pressure that included complaints from customers, shareholders, and academics writing for its major titles. It plans to pull out of the industry by the end of this year....
The Guardian (U.K.), June 1

Google Custom Search Engine: Some examples
Google Software Engineer R. V. Guha gives examples of sites that have customized the Google search engine to enhance results. He writes: “What can you do with Google Custom Search Engine? At the most basic level, you can restrict your searches to only the sites and documents you want to include in your results. You can also offer search refinements that make it easier for your users to find the information they’re looking for.”...
Google Librarian Newsletter, no. 8 (May)

Microsoft Surface to offer tabletop computing
After years of covert development, Microsoft says it will release a computer that uses the tabletop as its high-resolution display, recognizes objects placed on the surface, and skips the traditional keyboard and mouse in favor of fingers on the screen. In one example of how this could be used, people place a card on the table to call up a virtual stack of digital photos from a computer server and then rotate, resize, and spread them across the table using their hands. In another, diners split a tab by dragging icons of their meals to their credit cards....
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 30

What’s next? The challenge
AL columnist Andrew Pace writes: “Major consolidation of the library automation market, the emergence of viable open source software solutions and new business models for supporting them, and a somewhat rancorous and impatient customer base that fears that profit and efficiency have out-gunned innovation and service—all this makes for a dangerous cocktail. What’s a vendor to do? What’s a library to do? The challenge for libraries is realizing that perfect is the enemy of good.”...
Hectic Pace blog, June 6

LexisNexis survey on librarians and Web 2.0
Content provider LexisNexis announced the results of a nationwide survey that shows how information professionals are adding value to their organizations through technology and knowledge management. 93% of librarians say they currently use intranets for managing and distributing information, and see collaborative workspaces (57%), wireless (44%), and portals (51%) as very important for the future....
LexisNexis, June 3

Ask goes 3D
John Battelle writes: “Ask today launched Ask3D, which, according to documents sent to me by Ask, ‘synthesizes the best of our technologies across the three dimensions of search: Expression, Results, and Content.’ This is Ask, a perennial 4th-place player in an increasingly one-player market, doing what only a 4th-place player can do: throwing caution to the wind and betting on a new interface, one that abandons the ‘ten blue links’ approach that has dominated search for so long.” More analysis from Ask.com’s Gary Price....
John Battelle’s Searchblog, June 4; Resource Shelf, June 5

Endnote X1 for Windows
Publisher Thomson Scientific has upgraded its Endnote bibliographic management software for Windows. The enhancements include custom groups to view and manage subsets of references and “Cite While You Write” capability, which allows users to create bibliographies while writing in Microsoft Word....
Thomson Scientific, June 4

Manage employee vacation time
WhosOff is an online workplace leave-management service that makes organizing time off easy. WhosOff is not simply an administrator-controlled database where information is gathered. WhosOff supports full employee access; employees can submit requests for leave or even log sick days. Appointed administrators can then accept or decline requests no matter where they are; as a web-based platform, it decentralizes user access....
TechCrunch, June 3

Tagging: No longer fun nor easy
Mark Gibbs writes: “Give most people a blog or a web page and a field named ‘tags,’ and they’ll start stuffing in text with wild abandon in the hopes that their content will be easily found by people who are desperately searching for information and opinion on feline hairball cures or cycling in the Ozarks or whatever their particular hobby is. Alas, all these folks are doing is polluting the Web.”...
Network World, Feb. 5

Al Gore at SLA
Former Vice President Al Gore was the keynote speaker at the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference opening general session June 3 in Denver. Stephen Leary offers a summary: “Gore characterized the theme of his new book, The Assault on Reason, as an investigation into the role information should play in the decisions we make together as a nation. This book ‘bubbled up inside’ Gore while he was writing An Inconvenient Truth, he said. Librarians play a key role and are needed now more than ever, because of the information explosion and the growth of the internet.”...
SLA Blog, June 3

12-university corsortium joins Google Book Search
The Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium of 12 Midwestern research universities, announced a collective agreement June 6 to digitize selected collections in all its libraries, up to 10 million volumes, as part of the Google Book Search project. The collections are global in scope and include Northwestern University’s Africana collection, the University of Chicago’s South Asia holdings, the University of Minnesota’s Scandinavian and forestry collections, and the history and culture of Chicago collection from the University of Illinois at Chicago....
Committee on Institutional Cooperation, June 6

Ghent University joins Google Book Search
Google announced May 23 that its first Belgian partner has joined the Google Book Search program. The addition of the Ghent University Library collection will add at least 300,000 French- and Dutch-language titles to the search index, which already includes more than a million books....
Ghent University, May 23

Internet Safety Month: Online safety metasites
Adam Thierer writes: “The Senate recently passed a resolution (S. Res. 205) declaring June National Internet Safety Month (PDF file). There is so much good information on the internet about online child safety that parents would be wise to rely on some of the metasites that aggregate helpful tips, tools, and other information all in one place. Here are some of the best.”...
Technology Liberation Front blog, June 3

Be ready for privacy challenges
Don’t find out the hard way that you and your staff do not know how to respond when the police come knocking on your door in search of information that’s contained in your library’s customer records. You may believe that you are prepared, but unless you have thoroughly addressed this issue with your staff and have done structured training that’s been repeated over time, you may find yourself in an awkward position that could create havoc in your library....
Computers in Libraries 27, no. 6 (June)

Library workers: Facts and figures
The AFL-CIO’s Department for Professional Employees has issued an expanded and updated version of its fact sheet on library workers. This handy, annotated compilation includes employment statistics and projections, notes on diversity and pay inequity, the wage gap, institutional variance, benefits, and unionization in the library profession....
Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO

ALA: What is to be done?
Former AL columnist and veteran blogger Karen Schneider writes: “The membership roll is huge and conference attendance is bullish. By all accounts, ALA has never been healthier. Two conferences a year, a magazine every month, publications galore, and so many committees we are limited in the cities we can meet in. But the question is, what kind of ALA do we want for the next 50 years? My suggestions below are just a beginning, but are based on years of discussions with other members.”...
Free Range Librarian blog, May 29

A field guide to Generation Y
Generation Y: Its members are different in many respects, from their upbringing to their politics. But it might be their effect on the workplace that makes them truly noteworthy. They’re ambitious, they’re demanding, and they question everything, so if they don’t have a good reason to do something, don’t expect them to do it. When it comes to loyalty, the places they work for are last on their list. As baby boomers begin to retire, many organizations are realizing that they may have no choice but to accommodate these curious Gen Y creatures....
Fortune, May 15

The case for gaming in the library
Jared Newman writes: “Three years ago, Eli Neiburger was just an IT guy at the Ann Arbor District Library in Michigan. It was no secret at work that Neiburger loves videogames—he has a Triforce tattooed on his arm—so when Erin Helmrich, a librarian who focuses on teens, wanted to bring gaming into the library, she turned to him for advice.”...
The Escapist, no. 99

Culture morph
Historically, it’s been an unavoidable truth: IT people and library people have not been inclined to come to the concept of service with the same view. For IT, it’s been all about keeping the servers and systems up; for library professionals, service has meant keeping multimedia information and reference accessible. The fact is, when these two essential campus areas work together well, magic happens—and that is especially true in small, private institutions of higher education....
Campus Technology, June 1

Wanted: Speakers and storytellers who sign
Janice Rosen of the District of Columbia Public Library is compiling names for the Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action “Speakers and Storytellers Sign @ your library” directory. The directory lists deaf and hearing speakers and storytellers in the United States and other countries who are interested in making presentations in sign language at public libraries. Fill out the application form (PDF file)....
Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action, May 25

Harry and the Potters summer tour
Wizard rock band Harry and the Potters (Joe and Paul DeGeorge of Norwood, Mass.) has launched its 2007 tour, with libraries featured prominently on the venue. The duo will cover 34 states and Canada through August 19. They’ve also issued their recommended reading list of five books, which includes Lois Lowry’s The Giver....
Harry and the Potters

How to evaluate your library’s physical environment
Julia Cooper has developed a system to help you take a fresh look at your library, just in time to gear up for the summer programming season. She writes: “I call it a Sensory Perception Audit. One way to market your library is through creating a physical environment that both fosters and reflects the needs and wants of people in your community. By being aware of the environment, the impression it makes, and the simple changes you can make, you can significantly improve both your customers’ and your staff members’ experiences.”...
Marketing Library Services 21, no. 3 (May/June)

Being transparent isn’t enough
AL columnist Meredith Farkas writes: “Transparency is no substitute for actually doing something about the things patrons identify as problems. I’m going to illustrate this with two examples from the corporate world. In both examples, these organizations dealt with complaints with transparency, but only one of them did it successfully. If you’re going to be open in that way, you will also have to do something about the things that people bring up as problems.”...
Information Wants to Be Free blog, June 3

Want to help cure muscular dystrophy? Sign up here
The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, is one of 301,111 registered organizations and individuals partnering with the World Community Grid to donate idle computer time. PLCMC configures its public access computers to run the grid agent during hours the library is closed. The WCG is a nonprofit collective that has created a huge public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity, such as a muscular dystrophy cure, genome comparisons, and human proteome folding....
Library Bytes blog, May 31; World Community Grid

Cornell aids HBCU digital project
A digital collection that chronicles the founding of America’s black colleges and universities will continue to expand, thanks to a $450,000 grant to Cornell University Library from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Cornell is sharing its expertise in digital imaging, preservation, and management with librarians and archivists from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Library Alliance to lay the foundation for an HBCU digital library....
Cornell University, June 1

Geisel family gift sires new librarian slot
Audrey Geisel, philanthropist and widow of the late Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, has continued her long-running support of the University of California at San Diego Libraries with a $1-million donation—the largest the system has received in its history. The gift will inaugurate the Audrey Geisel University Librarianship chair, a position for which Geisel handpicked UCSD’s current chief librarian, Brian E. C. Schottlaender....
UCSD Guardian, May 21

Hemmingway the BookWorm
Hemmingway (right) brings the mayor to the library to show that it can offer much more than the internet can. This video (1:58) by the Towson (Md.) Public Library is one of five finalists in the Thomson Gale “I Love My Library!” video contest. You can cast your vote for the one that you think best conveys a love for the library and its resources at the Librareo website. The deadline is June 11....
YouTube, May 23