May 2, 2007
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
New York Public Library acquires gay rights archive
A major archive of papers relating to the early gay-rights movement in America has been donated to the New York Public Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division. The Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs consist of letters, photographs, handbills, manuscripts, publications, and ephemera accumulated over nearly 50 years by the late activist and writer Gittings (1932–2007) and her life partner, photojournalist and author Lahusen....
Congressional chairmen request EPA briefing
Four committee chairmen in the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson requesting an update on the agency’s recent activities with regard to its libraries. With a deadline of May 4, the inquiry concerns recent reports about the continued disposal or dispersal of library materials, even after recent testimony from Johnson that a moratorium on such activities had been put into place....
Providence okays 60 pink slips, just in case
With negotiations continuing between Providence (R.I.) Public Library officials and city leaders about the municipal contribution for FY2008 to the operating budget of the private nonprofit library, the PPL board approved April 26 sending layoff notices to as many as 60 of the library’s nearly 100 staff members. The action came as the May 1 deadline approached to give workers 60 days’ notice of a possible reduction in force, as mandated by the union contract that covers more than half of PPL’s employees....
Rettig elected president, Hersberger elected treasurer
James Rettig (left), university librarian at the University of Richmond, has been elected ALA president for the 2008–2009 term by a vote of 7,033–6,908, defeating Nancy Davenport. Rettig will become president-elect in July 2007 and will assume the presidency in July 2008, following ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California. By a 6,607–6,429 vote, Rodney M. Hersberger, dean of the university library at California State University at Bakersfield, was elected to a three-year term as ALA treasurer....
Councilors elected
Forty-one members have been elected to the ALA Council for three-year terms. The terms begin at the conclusion of the 2007 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., and extend through the end of the 2010 Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. Full election results, including those for divisions and round tables, are on the ALA website....
Vitali to serve as endowment trustee
John E. Vitali, Brooklyn Public Library’s deputy director for business administration and CFO, has been elected to serve as ALA’s newest Endowment Trustee. The Executive Board made the selection during its Spring Meeting in Chicago April 13–15....
ALA joins anti-National ID campaign
ALA has joined a large and diverse group of 43 organizations to launch a campaign against the first national identification system, REAL ID. The groups are concerned about the increased threat of counterfeiting and identity theft, lack of security to protect against unauthorized access to the document’s machine-readable content, increased cost to taxpayers, diverting of state funds intended for homeland security, increased costs for obtaining a license or state issued ID card, and because the REAL ID would create a false belief that it is secure and unforgeable....
Help rebrand the library profession
Six participants in this year’s Emerging Leaders program have been charged with creating or finding options for “rebranding the library profession in the digital world.” The Project KK group has crafted a survey intended to go out to as broad a spectrum of library professionals as possible to analyze current perceptions and future trends in librarianship. Find a couple minutes to take the survey....
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@ Visit Booklist Online for other reviews and much more.... |
D.C.
on the cheap
If you’re one of those people who brings your own
shopping cart to the exhibit hall to stock up on all the freebies—or
if you just like to save a few bucks—take heed of this list of 12
free things to do in our nation’s capital. Among them: Visit the
Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens (above),
stroll by JFK’s
former house, check out the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal, and examine the original Declaration
of Independence at the National Archives....
DistrictColumbia.com; National Park Service; Georgetown
La Hoya; National Archives
U.S. Senate celebrates El día de los Niños
Several members of the U.S. Senate, including Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Robert Menendez (right, D-N.J.), were joined at the U.S. Capitol by children from the Oyster Bilingual School April 30 to honor El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day), an annual celebration of children, families, cultures, and reading promoted by ALSC. The senators both discussed advocating for literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and Menendez read to the attending children....
RUSA selects Spectrum Scholar for internship
RUSA has selected Kelvin Watson, a 2007 Spectrum Scholar attending the School of Library and Information Sciences at North Carolina Central University in Durham as the 2008 RUSA intern. Watson will work for 1.5 years with RUSA’s vice-president/president-elect, David Tyckoson, head of public services at the Henry Madden Library, California State University at Fresno....
ACRL Intentional Teacher program
The deadline to apply for ACRL’s “The Intentional Teacher: Renewal through Informed Reflection” program is May 11. Participation is limited to 40 individuals. The program will be 3.5 days of learning and reflection for academic librarians and will offer a mixture of structured and coconstructed learning segments such as peer discussions, individual reading and reflection times, and participant-led communities of practice....
Creating a staff development plan
The Continuing Library Education
and Networking Exchange Round Table is holding a half-day preconference in Washington, D.C., June 22, on how libraries can encourage staff to participate in staff development. SOLINET’s Cal Shepard is the speaker....
Beta Phi Mu Award recipient
Barbara Immroth, professor in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin, has been selected as the 2007 winner of the ALA/Beta Phi Mu Award. This annual award is given to a library school faculty member or to an individual for distinguished service to education for librarianship, and is sponsored by the Beta Phi Mu International Library Science Honorary Society....
Keith Kuhn named Sullivan Award winner
Keith Kuhn is the recipient of the 2007 Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children. This award, donated by former ALA Executive Director Peggy Sullivan, honors an individual who has shown exceptional understanding and support of public library service to children while having general management/supervisory/administrative responsibility that has included public library service to children in its scope....
Reference Service Press award
C. Brandi Borman, team leader of undergraduate recruitment and admissions, and Pamela Jane McKenzie, associate professor of information and media studies, at the University of Western Ontario, London, are the 2007 corecipients of the RUSA Reference Service Press Award for the Reference and User Services Quarterly article, “Trying to Help without Getting in Their Faces: Public Library Staff Descriptions of Providing Consumer Health Information.”...
BRASS Thompson Student Financial Travel Award
Anthony B. Lin, a master’s candidate at the School of Information of the University of Michigan, is the recipient of the RUSA Business Reference and Services Section’s Thomson Financial Student Travel Award. BRASS presents the $1,000 cash award to a candidate who has demonstrated an interest in pursuing a career as a business reference librarian and has the potential to be a leader in the profession....
Five winners of InfoTubey Award
Five libraries received a national InfoTubey Award April 18 at the Computers in Libraries conference in Washington, D.C. The award was presented to those libraries that used YouTube to market their library or its services or enhance the standing of the library in its community. The winners (and their YouTube videos) were Arlington Heights (Ill.) Memorial Library, McCracken County (Ky.) Public Library, the New Jersey State Library, Seneca College’s Markham Library, and Williams College Libraries....
Infotoday blog, Apr. 17
Los Angeles librarian wins Urban Player Award (PDF file)
In recognition of her successful leadership in the nation’s largest library building program, which modernized and expanded Los Angeles Public Library’s network of 72 libraries, City Librarian Fontayne Holmes has received the Urban Libraries Council’s 2007 SirsiDynix Urban Player Award. ULC presents the award annually to the individual who most profoundly demonstrates library and community leadership. Holmes will receive the award at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., in June....
Los Angeles Public Library
Los Angeles Times book prizes
A haunting novel about the Israeli victim of a suicide bombing, a provocative biography of Walt Disney, and a probing analysis of the 9/11 attacks were among the winners of the 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, announced April 27 at UCLA. The awards ceremony, hosted by author and PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer, honored books in nine categories. A final prize, the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, was given to author and memoirist William Kittredge....
Los Angeles Times, April 28
Edgar Award winners announced (PDF file)
Mystery Writers of America has announced the winners of the 2007 Edgar Allen Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, television, and film published or produced in 2006. The Janissary Tree by Jacob Goodwin (Farrar Straus Giroux) won for best novel, while Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson (Morrow) won for best nonfiction....
Mystery Writers of America, Apr. 26
Pritzker Military Library recognized by Webby Awards (PDF file)
The Pritzker Military Library’s 2006 event calendar was named an official honoree at the 11th Annual Webby Awards, a distinction that recognizes work exhibiting remarkable achievement in online programming. Watch video highlights (3:04) of the Chicago library’s 2006 season....
Pritzker Military Library, Apr. 11
Fire claims Georgetown library
For 140 years, residents of Georgetown have been compiling a rare trove of data on their past: oil paintings, leather-bound maps, photos, and files on nearly every property in the neighborhood—all kept in the stately, two-story Georgetown branch of the District of Columbia Public Library. In just a few hours April 30, a three-alarm fire devoured much of it. Onlookers gasped as D.C. firefighters—somewhat hampered by broken fire hydrants nearby—carried out item after historical item. Most were severely damaged. The DCPL Foundation has established a fund where tax-deductible contributions can be made for restoring the artwork, the collections, and the building....
Washington Post, May 1–2; District of Columbia Public Library Foundation, May 1
Medford library levy’s pros and cons
With less than three weeks before voters decide on Measure 15-75, Jackson County, Oregon, residents hold the fate of the 15-branch library system in their hands. For some, it is a matter of community pride and a moral responsibility to reopen the libraries, which were closed April 6 because of a lack of funding. For one vocal Talent resident, the “Taj Mahals” spread throughout the county are not a luxury taxpayers can afford, and he cites mismanagement in bringing the library system to its present state....
Medford (Oreg.) Mail Tribune, Apr. 29
The 200-year story of Columbus libraries
In 2007, the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library is celebrating 100 years of good work and public service. But the story of libraries in Columbus goes back much farther and is a somewhat convoluted one. People moving into Ohio in the years after the American Revolution brought with them much of the culture and society they had left behind. And they brought books....
ThisWeek Community Newspapers, Apr. 26
Guam library branch reopens after seven years
After having its doors shut to the public for more than seven years, the Merizo Branch Library held a reopening ceremony April 30, to the delight of lresidents of Guam’s southernmost villages of Merizo, Umatac, and Inarajan. Some 6,000 residents had been deprived of an easily accessible library since 2000....
Guam Pacific Daily News, May 1
Islamabad children’s library relinquished
The leader of Pakistan’s ruling party declared April 25 that a standoff involving radicals at the Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad had been “amicably resolved,” though the situation on the ground appeared unchanged. Men armed with Kalashnikovs guarded the passage through the compound to a public children’s library that burqa-clad female students had been occupying since February 15 to protest the city authorities’ demolition of illegally built mosques....
Karachi News, Apr. 29; Reuters, Apr. 26
The complete guide to book towns
It all started at Hay-on-Wye in Wales, and now literary festivals are putting little towns in pretty settings on the map, luring bibliophiles and browsers alike, writes Hilary Macaskill. Book towns and villages have a delightfully disproportionate number of second-hand and antiquarian bookshops, and sometimes also have other associated businesses based on writing, reading, and publishing. In Hay, it began in 1961 when Richard Booth, a 20-something anarchist and Oxford graduate with an abiding love for books, bought 800-year-old Hay Castle and declared himself King of Hay....
Independent (UK), Mar. 24; Dallas (Tex.) Morning News, Apr. 27
Stars back literary archive plans
A host of Scottish celebrities, including actor Sir Sean Connery and author Ian Rankin, have joined the National Library of Scotland’s campaign to purchase the John Murray Archive, which includes manuscripts and letters from Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The National Library plans to make the archive widely accessible through exhibitions that will travel the country, digitization of items from the collection, and a significant education and outreach program....
BBC News, Apr. 24
Principal linked to $40,000 library theft
David R. Bryan, the principal of Abrookin Vo–Tech Center in Albany, New York, has been placed on paid administrative leave amid charges he stole about $40,000 from the Rensselaerville (N.Y.) Library. Bryan, who served as the library’s unpaid president, is accused of writing several checks to himself and also depositing funds directly into his own checking account....
Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, Apr. 28
Goucher breaks ground for Athenaeum
What do a library, exercise equipment, an art gallery, and plants on the roof have in common? They’re all part of the Athenaeum, a 100,000-square-foot building scheduled to open at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, in fall 2009. The college broke ground April 27 for the structure, which will be Goucher’s first green building, with high-efficiency mechanical systems, two green roofs, and the restoration of natural habitats around it....
Towson (Md.) Jeffersonian, Apr. 26
Librarian helps student launch space experiment
Librarian Jean Lowery, who has been at Bishop Woods School in New Haven, Connecticut, for 10 years, is off to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico with one of her star pupils to help him launch his prize-winning science experiment into space. The astronaut-to-be is 4th grader Christopher Walker, who wants to see how exposure to gravity-free conditions in space will affect the performance and longevity of the batteries....
New Haven (Conn.) Independent, Apr. 27
Chicago State’s brave new library
It’s not often that a librarian is warned to stay away from the bookshelves because of high voltage and that students aren’t allowed to roam freely through the stacks. At Chicago State University, only robots are allowed to browse most books and archives. To get a particular book, students and faculty must log onto the library’s website and place an order for a title. The library’s computer system directs a robotic crane—dubbed “Rover”—to retrieve one of more than 6,300 bins. The crane then brings the bin to a workstation at the front of the warehouse, where a librarian picks up the book....
Los Angeles Times, Apr. 22
Author claims library toned down book talk
In her new book Writing in an Age of Silence, Sara Paretsky, author of the V. I. Warshawski mysteries, says she was asked in advance by the Toledo–Lucas County (Ohio) Public Library to rein in her political remarks on March 19, 2003—the night the United States invaded Iraq. Library officials vehemently deny the charge, which seems now to boil down to a difference in what each party recalls....
Toledo (Ohio) Blade, Apr. 30
History’s forbidden books
An exhibit at the Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago showcases books (including works by Copernicus and Galileo) that were once on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the Roman Catholic Church’s list of works forbidden to the faithful lest they lead readers down the road to heresy. The exhibit, titled “Science and Faith Between Observance and Censorship,” features 138 books lent by a consortium of libraries in Campania, Italy. The works are in Latin, the long-ago international language of scholarship, and are handsomely leather-bound....
Chicago Tribune, Apr. 27
Graphic novels to be moved in Wanganui
The young-adult area and the graphic novel collection of the Wanganui Public Library, New Zealand, will be moved away from the children’s area in the wake of concern that explicit books could easily get into younger hands. The issue was raised by Wanganui mother and part-time Japanese-language teacher Julie Gordon after she found several volumes of the “sexually graphic” manga series Chobits available for borrowing....
Wanganui (N.Z.) Chronicle, May 1
Honululu libraries celebrate Free Comic Book Day
Eight Oahu public libraries will host the sixth annual Free Comic Book Day on May 5. The libraries will distribute various titles, including Transformers: The Movie Prequel, The Unseen Peanuts, and Little Archie: The Legend of the L, said Hillary W. Chang, young adult librarian at the McCully-Mo’ili’ili branch of the Hawaii State Public Library System. “Libraries and comic books have such old-fashioned stereotypes, and events like this help to change that image.” Free Comic Book Day is celebrated around the world....
Honolulu (Hawaii) Advertiser, Apr. 23
Flood devastates New Hampshire library
Until last week, the children’s room at the Weare (N.H.) Public Library was a place where parents could meet and chit-chat as their kids read books, heard stories, and did arts and crafts. But recent floods destroyed the room’s carpets and walls. Now, the books are boxed up in the town offices, and librarians and townspeople are struggling to figure out the next step. “I’m overwhelmed by the enormity of what needs to be done,” Library Director Christine Hague said. “It far exceeds anything I learned about library science.”...
Concord (N.H.) Monitor, Apr. 27
Google responds to Viacom’s YouTube lawsuit
Google filed a response April 30 to Viacom’s copyright infringement lawsuit over Google’s video-sharing sharing site YouTube, arguing that the site’s activities are legal. Google said that YouTube respects the importance of copyrights and goes above and beyond what is required under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which gives web hosts protection from copyright lawsuits as long as they comply with requests to remove unauthorized material....
ABC News, May 1
Joost video program officially launches
Joost, the video-on-demand program created by the founders of Skype and Kazaa, announced its commercial launch May 1. The free downloadable software, which is based on a peer-to-peer model, includes commercial content from 32 advertising partners, such as Coca-Cola, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and Nike. Joost also announced a number of content offerings that are included in new partnerships with Turner Broadcasting System, the National Hockey League, Sports Illustrated, Hasbro, and Sony Pictures Entertainment....
C|net news.com, May 1
Search engine shoot-out
Does Google deserve all the traffic it gets, or is it living off its reputation? Are people using it because they’re not aware of other, potentially better search engines? To find out, PC World pitted Google against its big-name competitors, Yahoo and Microsoft Live Search, as well as against smaller challengers such as AlltheWeb, AltaVista, and Ask.com—plus a couple dozen of the specialty search services, including Blogdigger, Picsearch, and TubeSurf....
PC World, Apr. 25
Video sharing made easy
Just as easy photo-sharing applications like iPhoto, Flickr, and Picasa offer simple editing controls and take some of the pain out of uploading and sharing digital photos, Pure Digital’s new Flip Video camera is packaged with editing software that will upload video clips to video-sharing sites YouTube and Grouper. American Libraries owns a few of these cameras and they work pretty well....
C|net news.com, May 1; BlipTV
Will the internet collapse?
John Dvorak writes:
“When is the internet going to collapse? The answer is never. The internet is amazing for no other reason than that it hasn’t simply collapsed, never to be rebooted. Over a decade ago, many pundits were predicting an all-out catastrophic failure, and back then the load was nothing compared with what it is today. So how much more can this network take?”...
PC Magazine, May 1
Wikipedia cofounder wants open-source search engine
The folks behind the public encyclopedia Wikipedia have launched Wikia, a project to develop a search engine, crawlers, and other indexing tools through a collaborative, open-source process. Contributors will likely include graduate students as well large companies that want to include search functionality in their products but don’t want to pay royalties to a search company....
C|net news.com, Apr. 30
Ideas for a successful library conference
Amanda Etches-Johnson was at the Information Architecture Summit in Las Vegas in March, where the conference planners did a lot of things that she categorized as “good conference ideas.” Her photo-essay on conference ideas that are definitely worth stealing includes fun icebreakers (right), conference at-a-glance cards, and a mentoring table....
Blogwithoutalibrary.net, Apr. 23
Schools, children, and digital technology
Mark van ’t Hooft discusses how many schools are regulating student use of the internet outside of school, banning digital tools from schools, and blaming technology for deeper-rooted problems such as youth alienation and bullying. While he agrees that technology use does raise issues involving child safety and learning distraction, he argues that the responses of some schools have not resolved these issues but have instead created additional problems regarding First Amendment rights and means of enforcement....
Innovate: Journal of Online Education 3, no. 4 (Apr./May)
An Iraqi woman and her library
Much was made of the looting of Iraq’s National Library after the fall of Baghdad and the collapse of order in the capital. Less is known about the role of small private libraries and how they continue to provide some of the only access to scholarly material for Baghdad’s intellectuals and academics. Hameeda Al-Bassam, a disabled Shi’a woman, describes in this video her work as a librarian, as well as the difficulties she faces, not only as a woman, but also as someone bound to a wheelchair....
Alive in Baghdad, Apr. 16
Publishers celebrate World Intellectual Property Day
The Association of American Publishers celebrated World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, cosponsoring a Capitol Hill event that focused on “Encouraging Creativity.” Along with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Creative and Innovative Economy Center, and others, AAP was highlighting “the importance of encouraging creativity while protecting the intellectual property rights of the creators.” The event intended to spotlight “the cultural and economic benefits provided by the copyright industries.”...
Association of American Publishers, Apr. 26
Good at reviewing books but not each other
Steven J. Bell writes: “Although many library pundits and A-list library bloggers would be quick to deny it, it seems increasingly the case that a speech chill has descended on the library blogosphere. On the few occasions when a dissenting comment is attached to a post in the spirit of discourse, the commenter is likely to find him or herself the target of an unpleasant post in which the blogger uses his or her bully pulpit to lash out against someone who’s dared to take an opposing view. Ultimately, those who make an attempt at discourse are discouraged and the next time simply ask, ‘Why bother?’”...
Inside Higher Ed, Apr. 27
MonsterLibrarian.com reviews horror books
Part-time reference librarian Dylan Kowalewski is the monster-mind behind MonsterLibrarian.com, a website that offers public, academic, and school librarians advice and reviews on the latest horror literature for adults and teens. The site also reviews scary stories for children, includes lists of titles in horror subgenres, and provides links to a variety of authors, small press publishers, and online resources....
MonsterLibrarian.com
Putin calls for Yeltsin presidential library
Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to establish a presidential library in Russia and suggested naming it after Boris Yeltsin. “The decision has been made to establish a presidential library, which could become an informational link for the entire library network of the country,” Putin said April 26. The library will amass electronic versions of books and periodicals, with access provided from electronic terminals set up in libraries across the country....
Interfax, Apr. 26; Ros Business Consulting, Apr. 26
![Bookjacket for Armianskie skazki. [Armenian Fairy-Tales.] Leningrad: Academia, 1930. NYPL Digital Gallery image no. 1556318](../mayimages/russianjackets.jpg)
A scrapbook of Russian bookjackets
The New York Public Library offers this visual gallery of some 640 Russian bookjackets published between 1917 and 1942. Each image is tagged by subject and provides item notes and a translation of the title. The archive also contains some Azerbaijani, Polish, Serbian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian jackets....
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
In praise of slow reading
John Miedema writes: “Slow reading is about leisurely reading a book, maybe just a page or two at a time; noticing the binding, paper, and font; seeking out and encouraging local publications; borrowing books from friends and neighbors; reading aloud with your kids; sharing thoughts about what you are reading with family and friends over dinner. Slow reading is better for mental and emotional health, socialization, and our global culture.”...
John Miedema blog, Apr. 30
New MEDLINE search engine
Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have created a new online search engine, ReleMed, that provides medical professionals, researchers, and the general public with a more efficient and targeted way to search PubMed for the latest, most relevant medical literature to answer medical queries....
University of Virginia, Feb. 13
Surviving a month without the internet
Stephen Elliott writes: “I was in Gaza when the Israeli soldiers were snatched from their posts. I was in New Orleans three days after Katrina smashed the levees to bits and the city flooded. But of all of my various adventures, people have been most curious about my recent decision to go offline for a month. I bought an old word processor and left my fancy laptop with a friend. ‘How will you exist?’ my roommate asked. ‘You’ll have no idea what's going on. You won’t be able to find anything.’”...
Poets & Writers, May/June 2007
Eric Bana to play time-traveling librarian
Eric Bana (Munich, The Hulk) will play Henry De Tamble, a librarian at Chicago’s Newberry Library who is afflicted with a gene that causes him to travel through time involuntarily, in New Line Cinema’s adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s best-selling novel The Time Traveler’s Wife. He will be featured alongside costar Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers, Mean Girls) as Clare....
Entertainment Weekly, Apr. 17
Be at conference 7:30 p.m. on June 22 for the world premiere of The Hollywood Librarian, a film by writer and director Ann Seidl that focuses on the work and lives of librarians in the entertaining and appealing context of American movies. |
Each year, the Newbery and Caldecott Awards are presented to the most distinguished children’s books published the previous year. Fully indexed by title and author/illustrator, the 2007 edition includes background on the awards and photos of the new medalists and their books. New to the 2007 edition is a feature essay by author, Booklinks founder, and former children’s book editor for Booklist, Barbara Elleman, “The John Newbery Medal: The First Decade.” NEW! From ALA Editions. |
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Celebrate 50 years of the ALCTS experience June 20–21 in Washington, D.C., prior to ALA Annual Conference. The division is featuring several invited speakers and a gala dinner cruise. |
In
this issue Roger Mudd on the Love of Books Bookstore Tourism Gamers in the LibraryMattering in the School Blogosphere |
From the CentenniAL Blog
The outspoken director of the Newark (N.J.) Public Library, John Cotton Dana (1856–1929), frequently targeted ALA activities. As his obituary in the September 1929 ALA Bulletin noted, “He was like a gadfly to stodgy conservatism. He was always calling for a reassessment of old traditions and standards in library work.” A lengthy letter read to Council at the Midwinter Meeting December 29–31, 1927, and published in the January 1928 issue, expressed his opposition to a number of ALA activities, among them a library school board of examiners, adult education, library extension efforts, member surveys, and a curriculum study. He frequently spoke in favor of converting Booklist into a review journal for the public....
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Career
Leads from Bilingual Youth Librarian, Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oregon. Seeking candidates for a full-time Bilingual Youth Librarian to enhance service to our multicultural community. We are seeking candidates who are bilingual in both English and in one of the library’s four targeted languages (Chinese, Russian, Spanish, or Vietnamese).... @ More jobs... |
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Robin Lyn Fancy, a University of Hawaii at Manoa LIS student, coauthored with Lanai High School teacher Vala Jeanne Welch this colorful picture book for Tagalog and Ilocano speakers learning English. Read how My Filipino Word Book came about in the May issue of The Basement Blotter (PDF file), the newsletter of UHM’s ALA Student Chapter. |
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Public
Perception “[As a struggling actor on tour,] I was astonished to find that the libraries were free. You just filled the form in and gave your card and you got your book. I did all the libraries up and down the country. From then on I was never without a book.” —Actor Sir Sean Connery on why he is supporting a National Library of Scotland campaign to raise funds for the John Murray Archive, The Scotsman (U.K.), Apr. 24. |
| Keep your trustees current! For a limited time, PLA is offering a discounted price on group subscriptions to Public Libraries. Order a minimum of five subscriptions for your trustees and the cost is just $30 per subscription. Fill out and return this form before June 1. |
Ask the ALA Librarian
Q. Does ALA have any guidelines or sample policies for libraries wishing to offer Wi-Fi service? A. Not specifically. The ALA Council has adopted a policy on Access to Electronic Information, Services, and Networks, which was last amended in 2005. In addition, ALA has worked to ensure patron privacy in all library operations. The next step is taking those broad policy statements to a local operational level. For this, reviewing such conference discussions as the one held under the auspices of the Library Information and Technology Association at the 2005 Midwinter Meeting, published policies from individual libraries, such as might be found on state library websites, or references from a literature search will be useful. See more at the ALA Professional Tips wiki here or here. The ALA Librarian welcomes your questions. |
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Exhibits Boston Public Library: “The John Adams Library Online.” Browse and search 3,500 books, read thousands of handwritten notes, and learn about one remarkable founding father. British Library: “Sacred: Discover What We Share.” The world’s greatest collection of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim holy books. Buffalo and Erie County (N.Y.) Public Library: “The New York to Paris Race, 1908.” The race was won by the made-in-Buffalo Thomas Flyer. Chicago Public Library: “Called to the Challenge: The Legacy of Mayor Harold Washington.” Cleveland Public Library: “Mail Art.” Cornell University: “Abuzz about Beekeeping: 400 Years of Bees and Beekeeping.” Duke University: “Hugh Mangum Photographs, ca. 1890–1922.” Harvard University: “Women Working, 1800–1930” focuses on women’s role in the United States economy. Indiana University: “The Fine Art of British Bookbinding.” Library of Congress: “On the Cutting Edge: Contemporary Japanese Prints.” New York Public Library: “Making the Scene: The Midtown Y Photography Gallery, 1972–1996.” The Midtown Y Photography Gallery was the first nonprofit organization in New York City with a mission to provide a public space for the display of photographs. Oberlin College: “To Judge a Book by Its Cover: 19th-century American Pictorial Book Covers.” Ohio State University: “Ohio Cartoonists: A Bicentennial Celebration.” Rice University: “The Life and Work of Architect William Ward Watkin.” University of Cincinnati: “The Strobridge Litho Company Calendar Cards.” University of Michigan: “St. Petersburg: Window on the East, Window on the West.” University of Nevada at Las Vegas: “Gaming Art Gallery.” University of Pittsburgh: “Documenting Pitt: Historic Publications and Images of the University of Pittsburgh.” University of Tennessee: “Albert ‘Dutch’ Roth,” one of the most prolific early photographers of the Greenbrier and Mount Le Conte sections of the Great Smoky Mountains. University of Virginia, Health Sciences Library: “The Plague Book.” Explore 16th-century medicine with a look at a unique book of advice to combat the plague. Yale University, Beinecke Library: “Let It Resound: Sheet Music in the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection.” Yale University, Cushing Medical Library: “Harvey Cushing: A Journey through His Life.” @ More... |
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