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

Montana State Library plan under fire
A plan to restrict public access to physical collections at the Montana State Library in Helena as the library makes a major transition to digital access came under heavy criticism in mid-October after MSL Director Darlene Staffeldt talked openly about the proposal to news media before its scheduled announcement. MSL is now rethinking the plan after the governor’s office made it clear that the library needed to seek comment from the public and advice from other state agency heads before it went further....

Structural concerns close Salem State College library
Salem (Mass.) State College President Patricia Maguire Meservey ordered the emergency closing October 15 of the campus library until further notice due to concerns about the 38-year-old building’s structural integrity. She advised SSC library users that the state Board of Higher Education was negotiating access to physical collections at other Greater Boston colleges and universities....

Toronto union wins back Sunday hours
The Toronto (Ont.) Public Library board was informed October 11 that a grievance filed by the Toronto civic employees’ union, CUPE Local 416, opposing Sunday closings at 16 branches was decided in favor of the union. The union is now demanding the return of Sunday hours as well as full compensation for its members’ lost wages and benefits....

Tripping challenge tripped up
After a challenge and three appeals, the York County (Va.) School Board has chosen to keep Tripping Over the Lunch Lady and Other Short Stories in the library at Magruder Elementary School in Williamsburg despite claims that it is offensive to children with loved ones serving in the military and inappropriate for elementary school students. Parent Cyndi Treiber, whose husband is serving in Iraq, asked that the book be removed from the school library....

Antigay actions get patron banned, detained
A Manchester, England, man was banned from the Leigh Library after refusing service from a gay staff member and was held by police for eight-and-a-half hours after refusing to leave the library the next day....

Alire, Williams seek 2009–2010 ALA presidency
Camila Alire (left), dean emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, and J. Linda Williams, coordinator of library media services for Anne Arundel County (Md.) Public Schools, are candidates for the 2009–2010 presidency of the American Library Association. The Executive Board also approved a roster of 63 nominees for the Association’s governing Council. ALA members current as of January 31 can vote for the candidates on the spring ballot....

Rettig testifies at LC oversight hearing
On October 24, ALA President-elect Jim Rettig testified (PDF file) before the House Administration Committee at an oversight hearing on the Library of Congress and emphasized the enormous financial impact on U.S. libraries created by the “diminution of the quality and quantity of Library of Congress cataloging.” He added, “ALA strongly recommends that the Library of Congress return to its former practice of broad and meaningful consultation prior to making significant changes to cataloging policy.”...

Roy to speak at LC November 2
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, ALA President Loriene Roy will deliver a lecture at noon on Friday, November 2, at the Library of Congress. This presentation, which is free and open to the public, will be given in the Mumford Room, on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E....
Library of Congress, Oct. 19

ALA Editions teams up with Credo Reference
ALA Editions has signed an agreement with Credo Reference (formerly Xrefer), provider of customizable online reference collections, to make two popular library and information science titles available online as part of the Credo General Reference collection. The titles are the 3rd edition of Fundamental Reference Sources by James H. Sweetland, and the 7th edition of Reference Sources for Small and Medium-Sized Libraries by Jack O’Gorman....

Copyright Scholars come to Washington
In mid-October, Carrie Russell of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy conducted training for the eight new Copyright Scholars, the team of copyright specialists now serving as consultants on the Copyright Advisory Network. The purpose of CAN is to encourage librarians to discuss copyright concerns....
District Dispatch blog, Oct. 24

Getting onto a committee
Does your organization only pay for conference if you have a committee assignment? Do you want to join the ranks of those saying mysteriously, “I have a conflict”? How do you get started, anyway? There are four easy steps: Join up, bone up, listen up, and step up!...
ALA Marginalia blog, Oct. 22

Audio Tour of Philadelphia
History buffs may want to rent an AudioWalk CD and stroll along Philadelphia’s historic streets at their own pace. Along the way, hear music and fascinating stories about the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the magic of Ben Franklin.
AudioWalk and Tour of Philadelphia

Food and beverage tours
If you’re talking about food and Philadelphia, you must be talking about the cheesesteak, right? Well, the cheesesteaks are great, but there are some other Philly favorites you may not know about—chocolate, wine, beer, and snacks. You can also learn the story behind Philly food favorites, and the 113-year history of the vibrant Reading Terminal Market where they’re sold, during a 70-minute, food-writer-led walking tour....
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner to debut in Reno
The new Standards for the 21st-Century Learner will debut at the AASL 13th National Conference and Exhibition in Reno, Nevada. During the opening general session on October 25, AASL President Sara Kelly Johns will unveil the publication and distribute it to all attendees. A PDF version will also be available on the AASL website the same day. AASL intends that these standards will provide a foundation for a strong library media program in every school....

Four Spectrum scholars go to Reno
AASL is sponsoring the attendance of four Spectrum scholars—Lori Rosales Curry, Teresa Maria Mares, Alma Ramos-McDermott, and Kelvin Watson—at its 13th National Conference and Exhibition in Reno, Nevada, October 25–28....

PLA sponsors two Emerging Leaders
PLA will sponsor Amy Crump and Troy Reed as they participate in the 2008 Emerging Leaders Program, an initiative of ALA Immediate Past President Leslie Burger. This year’s Emerging Leaders Program will enable 124 librarians from across the country to participate in problem-solving workgroups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity....

ALCTS basic maps cataloging workshop
Registration for the ALCTS Basic Maps Cataloging Workshop, December 3–4 at the Field Museum in Chicago, is now open. This workshop will impart the basic knowledge and necessary skills needed to ensure the creation of accurate and high-quality bibliographic records....

Immersion ’08
ACRL’s Institute for Information Literacy will offer a third immersion track for its upcoming National Immersion Program. Previously offered as a stand-alone program, “The Intentional Teacher: Renewal through Informed Reflection,” will join the highly regarded teacher and program tracks of immersion....

Practical Project Management at Midwinter
Learn how your projects can finish on time, under budget, at the level of quality you desire, and with everyone involved still speaking. Register for the LAMA Midwinter Institute, “Mission Possible: Practical Project Management,” 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, January 11, at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia....

Library services for the poor
The SRRT Task Force on Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty and the OLOS Subcommittee on Library Services to Poor and Homeless People have developed a survey to measure ALA members’ knowledge of ALA’s policy on Library Services for the Poor. The two units hope to develop useful tools to support the needs of today’s poor and homeless people in library communities across the country. Please complete the survey by October 31....

New PLA award recognizes technology innovation
PLA is now accepting applications for the Polaris Innovation in Technology John Iliff award. PLA members can nominate their colleagues and libraries for this new award through an online application. The deadline is December 3....

Diana V. Braddom Fundraising Scholarship
The deadline for submitting applications for LAMA’s Diana V. Braddom Fundraising and Financial Development Section Scholarship is December 7. Librarians and library staff members eager to enhance their fundraising skills through formal financial development training are invited to submit an application essay. Recipients will be notified by March 15....

Carnegie Corporation of New York awards $400,000 to two libraries
Carnegie Corporation of New York President Vartan Gregorian announced October 22 that the four recipients of the 2007 Andrew Carnegie Medals of Philanthropy have each been acknowledged for their achievements with grants made in their honor to support public libraries. In honor of the Heinz, Mellon, and Tata families, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh will receive a one-time grant of $300,000. The Los Angeles Public Library will be awarded a $100,000 one-time grant in honor of philanthropist Eli Broad....
Carnegie Corporation of New York, Oct. 22

Josie Parker gets book festival award
Ann Arbor (Mich.) District Library Director Josie Barnes Parker was presented with the 2007 Kerrytown BookFest’s Book Community Award September 9 by BookFest Honorary Chair and AADL trustee Edward Surovell. This year’s festival celebrated libraries and librarians....
Ann Arbor District Library, Oct. 22

Sequoyah Regional Library receives Excalibur Award
The Sequoyah Regional Library System in Canton, Georgia, received an Excalibur Award for small organizations October 17 for its use of Apex XpressCheck self-service kiosks—an RFID system developed by the Integrated Technology Group—to discover patron needs, help find materials, and offer instructions on how to use library resources. The award is sponsored by the Technology Association of Georgia and the Business and Technology Alliance....
Integrated Technology Group, Oct. 23

Malibu branch used as fire staging area (PDF file)
The County of Los Angeles Public Library’s Malibu branch was closed to the public October 23–24 so it could serve as a staging center for firefighters seeking to control the nearby Canyon Fire. Eight branches of the San Diego County Public Library remained closed October 24. San Diego Public Library Director Anna Tatár said 11 city branches were closed, but none damaged by the fires. SDPL sent hundreds of children’s books to the evacuation center at Qualcomm Stadium. KPBS-FM in San Diego has put together a Google Map of the various fires, burnt areas, and evacuation stations....
County of Los Angeles PL; San Diego Union Tribune, Oct. 24; California State Library blog; KPBS-FM

New Australian TV comedy: The Librarians
The Librarians, a dark new comedy on Australian TV that delves behind the hard cover of a suburban library, debuts October 31. Frances O’Brien, devout Catholic and panic disorder sufferer, runs a tight ship as head librarian at the Middleton Interactive Learning Centre. Her life unravels when she is forced to employ her ex-best friend, Christine Grimwood—now facing criminal drug charges—as the children’s librarian. As pointed out by director Wayne Hope, the variety of people at a public library makes it ripe for comedy material. The Australian Library and Information Association has launched a blog to serve as a professional forum about the show. Check out the trailer (:56) and interview (4:48). The shows will be downloadable from ABC Television after they are broadcast....
National Nine News, Oct. 18; ABC TV; Australian Library and Information Association

Materials missing at Library of Congress
About 17% of the books, monographs, and bound periodicals at the Library of Congress weren’t where they were supposed to be because of flaws in the systems for shelving and retrieving materials, according to a March survey (PDF file) by the LC Office of the Inspector General that was made public at a congressional oversight hearing October 24. Library officials say they believe most of the missing materials are misplaced, not stolen or lost....
Washington Post, Oct. 24

Libraries and scanning projects
The New York Times offered a roundup of libraries involved in the Google Library Project and the Open Content Alliance scanning endeavors, causing a bit of confusion and much comment. Buried at the end of the article was the Internet Archive’s announcement that it would start scanning out-of-print but in-copyright books for digital interlibrary loan. Gary Price’s Resource Shelf has a well-organized recap of what the Times was getting at....
New York Times, Oct. 22; Open Content Alliance; Resource Shelf, Oct. 22

Sandia National Labs closing its tech library
In an effort to save money and reengineer library services for the electronic age, Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico is cutting off access to what a memo sent out October 15 called “hard-copy content”—books, maps, and printed journals—in favor of a fully electronic collection. The fate of the books is yet to be determined. As soon as the change was announced, Sandia managers began hearing from researchers who say they cannot do their work without access to the books and journals....
The Post Chronicle, Oct. 22; Albuquerque (N.Mex.) Journal, Oct. 22

Vancouver librarians are back to work
Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library staff returned to work October 22 after 71% of the members of CUPE Local 391 voted October 19 for an agreement based on mediator Brian Foley’s recommendations. Over the weekend the library board also voted to accept the settlement. Vancouver’s head librarian Paul Whitney said staff would need two days to prepare to reopen the city’s 22 libraries because of the high volume of books in need of processing and sorting....
CBC News, Oct. 22

Councilman wants San Jose libraries to block porn
A decade after San Jose rejected blocking access to sexually explicit material on library computers, city councilman Pete Constant says it’s time to reconsider that decision. And he is getting support from some key city officials, including Mayor Chuck Reed. City Library Director Jane Light says her office has received only three complaints this year of pornography at branch libraries....
San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, Oct. 21, 24

Sue the libraries! They’re offering cheap content
Andrew Brown writes: “Why hasn’t the Recording Industry Association of America sued a library yet? As a means of getting music to rip, the local library is hard to beat. It’s free, or very cheap. It will lend CDs for a fortnight, from a fairly wide range which can be browsed in a comfortable and convenient place; and if it does not have a particular CD or DVD, it will make an effort to find it. If I wanted to build a collection of published music for which I did not pay, the local public library would be more useful than the whole internet.”...
The Guardian (U.K.), Oct. 18

Massachusetts libraries move with the times
At the Boston Public Library each month, teenagers get down to the vigorous techno thumps of the popular arcade game Dance Dance Revolution. The Norwell Public Library treats visitors to a monthly free dinner and a movie. Borrowers in Andover take out portable, digital audio books so tiny that they can jog through the park or shop at the mall while listening to Dan Brown’s bestseller The Da Vinci Code....
Boston Globe, Oct. 22

Ocean County lets its domain name expire
Type www.oceancountylibrary.org into your web browser, and you no longer will be directed to the website for the Ocean County (N.J.) Library. That domain name—owned by the library system since 2000—has been purchased by someone else. The library’s administration has been trying to reclaim its familiar website domain since it discovered the problem earlier this month. Meanwhile, it’s using another and has purchased a number of other names, in case it cannot purchase its old one....
Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, Oct. 23

Map thief gives himself up
The mystery rare-map thief has been unmasked after a worldwide investigation by Spanish police that led them to Britain, Australia, North America. and Argentina. Spanish detectives flew to Buenos Aires after César Gómez Rivero admitted to stealing up to 19 valuable maps from a collection held at the Spanish National Library, some more than 500 years old. The loss led to the resignation of National Librarian Rosa Regàs in August....
The Times (U.K.), Oct. 22

How to spot an email scam
Wonder whether the message announcing that you’ve received an e-card is legit? Or whether PayPal is really trying to contact you? Here’s a visual guide to spotting malware, fraud, and other dirty tricks in your inbox....
PC World, Oct. 14

Experimental library tools
Ken Varnum at the University of Michigan has posted a short list of nine library websites (such as MIT Libraries’ Betas and Vanderbilt’s Test Pilot) that list experimental, beta, or trial web tools and services. He is asking other institutions with similar sites to add them to the directory....
RSS4Lib, Oct. 22

PC Magazine’s 100 favorite blogs
Brian Heater writes: “Perhaps surprisingly, the hardest part of the task wasn’t finding 100 blogs that our staff members liked, but rather whittling our original choices down to a mere 100. Hands down, technology was the category that required the greatest amount of pruning.” Second place turned out to be gossip blogs. A few that made the list: Ars Technica, BuzzMachine, Camcorder Info, Download Squad, Evil Mad Scientist Labs, Paleo-Future, and Post Secret....
PC Magazine, Oct. 15

The list of best Mashable lists
Mashable has put together hundreds of lists—useful lists of links, carefully chosen to make you significantly more productive; so many resources, they’re hard to sort through (unless you’ve been through library school). Marketing guru Seth Godin lists them here. They include: 30+ wiki tools and resources, 100+ tools for Flickr addicts, and the ultimate RSS toolbox....
Squidoo Tech, Oct. 19

Steal this wireless policy checklist
Use this “Quick Look” checklist to make sure you’re covering your bases when it comes to crafting a wireless policy for your library. First, look at your existing internet use policy. Do you need to add anything to it on using wireless? You may decide that it covers your situation. Do keep in mind some possible additions, however....
Louise Alcorn, MaintainIT Project blog, Oct. 22

Non-Latin characters in name authority records (PDF file)
The major authority record exchange partners (British Library, Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and OCLC, in consultation with Library and Archives Canada) have agreed to a basic outline that will allow for the addition of references with non-Latin characters to name authority records that make up the LC/NACO Authority File, following MARC 21’s “Model B” for multi-script records....
Library of Congress, Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Oct. 16

Celebrating research libraries
The Association of Research Libraries has published a book and corresponding website that profiles selected rare and special collections in major research libraries of North America. Celebrating Research includes 118 collection profiles, each from a different ARL member library. Each profile is illustrated with photographs (such as this one from the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas) and tells a story of a single collection, recounting how the resources were acquired and developed....
Association of Research Libraries, Oct. 9

Haunted libraries in the U.S. and elsewhere
George Eberhart writes: “In the fall, a journalist’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of ghosts. Newspapers and magazines that haughtily refrain from printing news of the paranormal for 11 months of the year eagerly jump on the Halloween coach in October to regale their audiences with dubious tales of the preternatural. The following list represents a fairly comprehensive list of current and former library haunts.”...
I Love Libraries, Oct. 23

New round of Gates grants to public libraries
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced $8.3 million in grants October 23 to help public libraries in 10 states provide quality access to computers and the internet. The new “Opportunity Online” hardware grants are for public libraries serving communities with high concentrations of poverty and that are at risk of having outdated technology. More than 1,000 library branches in Colorado, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming are eligible for grants in this first of three rounds....
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Oct. 23

The role of public libraries in distance education
AL columnist Meredith Farkas writes: “Our distance students have no idea that most public libraries do provide ILL services. They are floored when I tell them that. It doesn’t occur to many of them to even see what their local public library might have to offer them. Public libraries often have excellent microfilm collections with lots of great primary source historical material. We don’t mail our microfilm to students, so if they can find and access back issues of The Chicago Defender or Harper’s at their public library, that is a great thing.”...
Information Wants to be Free, Oct. 17

Students today
“A Vision of Students Today” is a short (4:44) video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today—how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University, this video has been stirring up comment and video responses a number of places....
Digital Ethnography @ KSU, Oct. 12

Information R/evolution
Another video (5:28) by KSU’s Michael Wesch explores the changes in the way we find, store, create, critique, and share information. It was created as a conversation starter, and works especially well when brainstorming with people about the near future and the skills needed in order to harness, evaluate, and create information effectively. BoingBoing calls it “a gloriously optimistic video about our collective power to make sense of the world in a way never dreamt of in the days of paper organization.”...
YouTube, Oct. 17

Yale library opening spurs campus-wide party
Only at Yale University, students said, would the opening of a library draw over 1,000 students to Cross Campus and spur a night of partying. As the minutes ticked down toward midnight October 18—when the doors of the newly-renovated Bass Library were thrown open for the first time—excitement emanated from hundreds of students. As the doors opened, they streamed down the stairs into the library chanting, “We love books!” One administrator said he was enchanted by the experience....
Yale Daily News, Oct. 19

Best practices for protecting patron privacy (PDF file)
Now that libraries have greater-than-ever potential for collecting and storing many types of personal data, often in digital form, librarians must be increasingly vigilant in guarding the public trust. Fortunately, the library literature offers many concrete actions librarians can take to protect the confidentiality of library patrons. The University of Vermont’s Trina J. Magi offers a checklist....
AALL Spectrum 12, no. 1 (Sept./Oct.)

OCLC is now ... OCLC
Andrew Pace writes: “If you’ve been on a conference call with OCLC lately, you might have experienced that awkwardness of not knowing who you’re talking to sometimes—OCLC? PICA? Former Fretwell-Downing? Well, in an effort to get out in front of the impending confusion, OCLC has rebranded itself . . . OCLC. There’s a new logo and a new tag line.”...
Hectic Pace blog, Oct. 24

Social networking and libraries
The practice of using a social network to establish and enhance relationships based on some common ground—shared interests, related skills, or a common geographic location—is as old as human societies, but social networking has flourished due to the ease of connecting on the Web. This OCLC membership report, Sharing, Privacy, and Trust in Our Networked World, explores this web of social participation and cooperation on the internet and provides insights into the values and social-networking habits of library users....
OCLC, Oct. 23

Summer Reading Research Study: Deadline extended
Dominican University GSLIS is conducting a survey on whether public library summer reading programs have an effect on student achievement. Participation in the study will help articulate the purpose of public library summer reading programs and open channels for healthy discussion of key issues between the library and education communities. The deadline has been extended to October 30....
Dominican University GSLIS

The fight continues for public access to NIH information
The U.S. Senate is still considering the FY2008 Labor–HHS-Education bill, which includes several very important library service–related funding provisions. One important provision directs the National Institutes of Health to implement a mandatory policy ensuring the free, timely access to all research articles stemming from NIH-funded research via NIH’s PubMed Central online archive. ALA, ACRL, and other library groups have strongly supported this proposal....
District Dispatch, Oct. 20

Anglo-American national libraries join forces on RDA
Four national libraries have joined forces to implement a new standard for resource description and access designed for the digital environment in which libraries now operate. The Library of Congress, the British Library, Library and Archives Canada, and the National Library of Australia have agreed on a coordinated implementation of RDA: Resource Description and Access, the successor to the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules....
Library of Congress, Oct. 22

Contemporary art books—free to a good home
The Distribution to Underserved Communities Library Program (DUC) distributes books on contemporary art and culture free of charge to rural and inner-city libraries, schools, and alternative reading centers nationwide. Offering well over 490 titles by more than 90 different publishers, the program reaches readers in all 50 states and has placed over 200,000 free books in public libraries, schools, and alternative pedagogical venues....
Art Resources Transfer

Hope: Volume 1 (PDF file)
Melissa Fay Greene tells the story of how a children’s librarian and his donkey-drawn bookmobile are saving the world, one child at a time. Yohannes Gebregeorgis, a children’s librarian from the San Francisco Public Library and cofounder of Ethiopia Reads, returned to his Ethiopian homeland five years ago and rides the circuit across a landscape of grass huts, volcanic lakes, camel drivers, and hyenas, accompanied by Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Babar, the Wizard of Oz, and other favorite kids’ books. Photos by J. Carrier....
Good Housekeeping, Oct., pp. 200–205, 286–290

Them! Google’s ambivalence toward LIS
Shawne D. Miksa writes: “From all accounts, Google has no interest in replacing libraries. They express a great appreciation of libraries. However, their awareness of library and information science beyond that of supplying people to stock and staff book storehouses is vague at best. Their notice of the field manifests itself much like the ants in the classic science-fiction film Them!, who only bother with the humans when they are presented as a possible food source.”...
ASIS&T Bulletin (Oct./Nov.), pp. 30–33

New humanities research network (subscription required)
It’s about to get a lot easier for philosophers, classicists, and literary scholars to share work in progress. The Social Science Research Network, an online clearinghouse for current research popular among social scientists, has created a Humanities Research Network along the same model. To begin with, the new network will cover three areas—philosophy, classics, and English and American literature, broken down into detailed subcategories. More disciplines will be added in the coming months....
Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 22

19th-century British newspaper site launched
The British Library, in partnership with the Joint Information Systems Committee and Gale, launched a 19th-century British Library Newspapers website October 22 as part of its £22-million digitization program. Post-secondary education communities in the UK will enjoy free online access to a cross-section of 19th-century national and regional titles, greatly enhancing research into British society, culture, and history....
British Library, Oct. 22

October is Theological Libraries Month
Theological libraries are celebrating this month with special bookmarks and posters to advance the importance and value of theological libraries and library services to targeted faculty, administrators, staff, and students. Find out how participating seminary and university libraries are using the month to showcase their services....
American Theological Library Association

Librarian’s Blues
Keith Johnson, media center director at John F. Kennedy High School in Bloomington, Minnesota, taped himself singing his own blues song (2:42), which, he says, “I first tried to sing on a live school TV news show at Bloomington Kennedy last spring as I was trying to highlight the issue of getting our books back before the school year ended.... Thanks for your efforts to eliminate this heinous scourge of overdue books.” Johnson is half of the talented Celtic Cat and Prairie Dog duo....
YouTube; Blue Skunk Blog, Oct. 19

ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, January 11–16. Some institutes, banquets, and receptions are not included with your meeting registration, and require an additional registration and/or fee.