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

Iowa, Wisconsin libraries bear the brunt of the flood
As the overflow from the upper Midwest tributaries made its way to the Mississippi River and southward to Missouri, it has become clear that the historic floodwaters have hit libraries in Iowa and Wisconsin the hardest. But “the story of Missouri flooding is not over, as some counties received about seven inches of rain June 24,” leading to the Missouri River being back on the rise, Missouri State Librarian Margaret Conroy e-mailed American Libraries....

EPA reacts to leaked report on Chemical Library’s future
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials have refuted a report that the agency would not be reopening its specialized Chemical Library at its Washington, D.C., headquarters. EPA’s Headquarters Library and the adjacent Office of Prevention, Pollution, and Toxic Substances Library were among a number of libraries that the agency closed in 2006. Rick Martin, deputy director of EPA’s Office of Information Analysis and Access, told American Libraries that the document (PDF file) posted recently by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility was an early draft of the library planning template that was quickly superseded....

Parents protest Planned Parenthood link on library site
A group of parents in Batavia, Illinois, have asked Batavia Public Library to remove from its young adult website a link to Teenwire, a sex education website created by Planned Parenthood and targeted at adolescents. About 50 residents, some of them members of the group Concerned Families for Batavia, attended a hearing to speak out against the link before the library board’s June 17 meeting convened....

Wes Studi to MC President’s Program
Actor Wes Studi (Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, and Geronimo) will serve as the master of ceremonies for the ALA President’s Program that will feature a discussion of efforts to support Native and English language literacy for indigenous children. Studi is the national spokesperson for the Indigenous Language Institute in Santa Fe. The program will be held 3:30–5:30 p.m., June 29, at the Anaheim Convention Center....

Win prizes playing games at Annual Conference
In Anaheim, your knowledge of California will be put to the test in California Dreaming, a conference-wide scavenger hunt. As you explore the conference, you will encounter cryptic quotes and brain-teasing puzzles taken from books, movies, and music about California. With so many information professionals on the case, the competition will be stiff! If you want to sign up to play, you can join one of six teams....

The unofficial guide to Annual Conference
Mary Ghikas, ALA senior associate executive director, used to put together an informal snapshot of numbers and events for each conference as an insider’s guide for staff. But word leaked out about its usefulness, and the document would get forwarded around to Council and other groups, so now it’s become the unofficial guide. It’s posted here (PDF file) for everyone, staff and members, as one of the most helpful documents you can take with you to conference....
ALA Marginalia, June 24

Batting for literacy @ his library
Al Smitley (right), winner of the “Batting for literacy @ your library” award, was presented with a commemorative bat June 16 by Anna Wells, director of museum education at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. As the winner, Smitley received a trip for two to the Baseball Hall of Fame for the 2008 Hall of Fame Game at Doubleday Park. He also received a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum and archives where he was allowed to hold Babe Ruth’s bat and jersey....
Campaign for America’s Libraries, June 24

Attend a Membership meeting at Annual Conference
Membership meetings are one important way that you can affect what ALA does. At the meeting, you can vote on resolutions to send to Council. In Anaheim, Membership meetings will be held on Saturday, 3:30–5 p.m., and on Monday, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m....

Diversity and Outreach Fair participants
The Office for Literacy and Outreach Services Advisory Committee has announced the names of libraries and library organizations selected to participate in the 2008 Diversity and Outreach Fair at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California. The fair will take place 3–5 p.m., Saturday, June 28....

Social entrepreneurship on ALA Island
The ALA Public Programs Office offered a preview of the PBS Frontline/World Social Entrepreneurs Series, followed by an introduction to its library outreach program, on June 20 on the ALA Island main stage in Second Life. Lori Bell (Lorelei Junot in Second Life), director of innovation at Alliance Library System, moderated the discussion and Mary Davis Fournier (Schnoodle Snoodle), program director in the Public Programs Office, answered questions on applying for the grant and planning social entrepreneurship programs for libraries....

Judith Gibbons on ALA public awareness
ALA Public Awareness Committee Chair Judith Gibbons discusses the importance of ALA’s various public awareness vehicles, especially the Campaign for America’s Libraries, in this Public Information Office video (4:50). She touches on recent campaigns involving such celebrities as Julie Andrews and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, noting that Andrews brought in her own production crew to create television and radio PSAs for the 50th anniversary of National Library Week....

Conference tips from ALSC
Angela Reynolds writes: “I won’t be going to Anaheim, but I am thinking of you conference goers! For those of you who are veteran attendees, this will seem old hat. But for the first or second timers, here’s a few tips that always help me have a better conference, in no particular order of preference.”...
ALSC Blog, June 20

Gale Cengage Learning shuttle buses
Free shuttle buses, cosponsored by Gale Cengage Learning and ALA, will go between the Anaheim Convention Center and all ALA hotels Friday through Tuesday at Annual Conference. Check the Saturday edition of Cognotes (the ALA daily conference newspaper) for route and time information, or Bin #1 in the Registration area for a flyer. Signs with route information will also be available in hotel lobbies. Accessible buses are available. Don’t forget to stop by the Gale booth (#1400) and the ALA Membership Pavilion (#1840) and say thanks for the lift....

Google Maps conference guide
Cindi Trainor, coordinator of library technology and data services at Eastern Kentucky University, has created a Google Maps mashup showing restaurants, hotels, and other useful locations around Anaheim. The green pins show restaurants with Yelp reviews, the knife and fork are other restaurants, the martini glasses are bars with Yelp reviews, the red beds are hotels, and the cups are coffee houses....

Anaheim visitor shuttles
The Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) Service is a shuttle system that provides access to dining, shopping, and attractions. It stops at the Disney parks, the Anaheim Convention Center, and several hotels in the ALA hotel block and other locations in the area. Passes are available for $3 for a day, or a five-day pass is available for $12. There are kiosks on the streets and at some sites where you can buy passes, because they discourage taking money on the trolleys....

GLBT Orange County
The Annual Conference wiki has a list of GLBT-owned and -friendly restaurants, bars, and bookstores around Orange County, found using gaywired.com, Orange County and Long Beach Gay Blade, and Damron Men’s Travel Guide 2008. If you want to get married while you’re there, it has info on the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office....

Record a podcast in the Exhibit Hall
All attendees are welcome to use the LIBcast booth in the ALA Membership Pavilion, #1840 in the exhibits, from Saturday to Tuesday to record and upload short podcasts to either a personal blog or website or the ALA Member Blog. Broadcast yourself with a “live from the exhibits” report or send an audio post to your readers talking about your experience at conference, what you have learned, or any topic you choose....

Friendly skies may be a thing of the past
Jon Hilkevitch writes: “The message from airlines wasn’t reassuring at a June 24 forum in Chicago sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation for consumers to air their gripes. Essentially, they said, if you think it’s bad now, you ain’t seen nothing yet. They warned of shrinking service and higher fees for everything from preassigned seats to bottled water. Activists at the forum who are lobbying Congress to pass an airline passenger bill of rights scolded the carriers for blaming all their recent failures on high fuel prices.”...
Chicago Tribune, June 24

New logo for LLAMA
As of September 1, LAMA will become the Library Leadership and Management Association and will start using its new logo, modified from its current one. The new name, adopted by the division’s membership in the spring with a 90% approval rating, emphasizes the association’s role in developing present and future library leaders.

Kids @ your library update
ALSC has updated its Kids! @ your library public awareness campaign to include The Library Dragon readers’ theater script; line art adapted from children’s illustrator Michael P. White’s Kids! Campaign artwork (sample at right); a bibliography of books about kids and libraries; a list of songs for kids about reading and libraries; a Dr. Seuss–themed hidden treasure puzzle; and a Dr. Seuss mad lib game....

ALSC events in Anaheim
ALSC has a full schedule of programs, events, and giveaways during ALA Annual Conference, June 27–July 1, in Anaheim, California. New ALSC members should plan on attending “ALSC 101: Making Connections,” scheduled to take place 4–6 p.m., June 27....

Two more ways to connect with YALSA
YALSA just launched two more ways for you to connect with the division and its members. YALSA’s new fan site on Facebook gives you the chance to become a fan and connect with YALSA and teen librarians. The division’s new FriendFeed space is a one-stop shop for finding out whenever there’s an update on YALSA’s twitter account, blog, additions to YouTube, and Flickr that are YALSA related....
YALSA blog, June 23

New ARL/ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communication
ACRL and the Association of Research Libraries have announced a new regional Institute on Scholarly Communication, hosted by the Orbis Cascade Alliance, December 1–3, in Portland, Oregon.This immersive learning experience prepares participants to be local experts within their libraries. Participants, who are encouraged to attend in teams, will become fluent in scholarly communication issues and trends and begin developing outreach plans for their campuses....

ACRL’s Practical Pedagogy
ACRL has released Practical Pedagogy for Library Instructors: 17 Innovative Strategies to Improve Student Learning, edited by Douglas Cook and Ryan L. Sittler. The book gathers 17 practical case studies using unique instructional methodologies framed by sound pedagogical theory. This casebook is an excellent tool for librarians who have had little formal training in education. Cases included cover a broad spectrum of educational theories, from behavioral to cognitive to constructivist....

AASL preconference proposals wanted
AASL is seeking proposals for preconferences at the AASL 2009 National Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The theme of next year’s conference, which will be held November 5–8, is “Rev up learning @ your library.” The deadline is September 15....

The future of the Federal Depository Library Program
Join an open forum hosted by the ALA Committee on Legislation’s Government Information Subcommittee and the GODORT Legislation Committee to discuss the future of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) on June 28, 1:30–3:30 p.m., at the Hilton Anaheim, California Pavilion C. The meeting will include a brief overview of the current status of the FDLP program by Government Printing Office representatives Rick Davis and Cindy Etkin....
District Dispatch, June 18

ALSC to honor Newbery and Caldecott winners
ALSC will honor the winners of the Newbery and Caldecott medals for outstanding writing and illustration in children’s literature 6–11 p.m., June 29, at the gala Newbery-Caldecott Banquet to be attended by nearly 1,100 librarians, reviewers, publishers, and fans of children’s literature. Author Laura Amy Schlitz and illustrator Brian Selznick will receive their medals and deliver their acceptance speeches during the banquet....

Coretta Scott King Book Donation grant winners
Three organizations will receive 2008 Coretta Scott King Review Book Donation Grants: Children Up, associated with United Youth Action for Progress in Gulu, Uganda (right); North Star Elementary School’s PEAK Learning Center in Thornton, Colorado; and the Paul Cuffee School in Providence, Rhode Island. The grant was established to find a home for the books that ALA receives for the Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards each year....

First Gordon M. Conable Conference Scholarship awarded
The Freedom to Read Foundation has named Jason McGill, a student at the University of Rhode Island’s LIS program, the first recipient of the Gordon M. Conable Scholarship. The scholarship provides for the registration, transportation, and accommodations for a library school student or new professional to attend ALA Annual Conference....
OIF Blog, June 20

LFF names winning Fit for Life libraries
Libraries for the Future has selected 17 library systems to launch Fit for Life programming to address physical and brain health across the lifespan. In all, the 17 library systems will receive a total of $292,000 in grants from MetLife Foundation, to be administered by Libraries for the Future. The grants provide tools and training to develop community awareness and boost healthy habits in urban areas....
Libraries for the Future, June 18

FLICC awards for federal librarianship
LC’s Federal Library and Information Center Committee has announced the winners of its national awards for federal librarianship. The Combined Arms Research Library (right) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, won the 2007 Federal Library of the Year award in the large category, while the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center Library in Landstuhl, Germany, won in the small category....
Library of Congress, June 23

IFLA International Marketing Award
Ros Dorsman (right) of Central West Libraries, Orange, New South Wales, Australia, won first place in the 6th International Marketing Award sponsored by the IFLA Section on Management and Marketing in collaboration with Emerald. The library developed an online classroom partnership: online homework help for school students. The slogan for the winning campaign was “Have you done your homework?”...
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, June 15

2008 Pritzker Military Library Achievement Award
Allan R. Millett, author of Their War for Korea and Semper Fidelis, has been selected to receive the 2008 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. The $100,000 honorarium, citation, and medallion, sponsored by the Chicago-based Tawani Foundation, will be presented at the Pritzker Library’s annual Liberty Gala on October 4 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago....
Pritzker Military Library, June 23

Cedar Rapids PL looks for new quarters
Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Public Library plans to lease space for staff and equipment as cleanup from flooding of the Cedar River continues at the main branch downtown. Staff are still not allowed into the building, Interim Director Tamara Glise said. Everything in the library’s main branch was contaminated when floodwater reached to the third or fourth level of the shelves on the ground floor. Probably the entire adult collection of books was lost. Glise does not know whether the children’s collection upstairs can be salvaged. Library Journal has an interview with CRPL External Relations Coordinator Marie DeVries....
Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette, June 20, 23; Library Journal, June 20

Czechs, Slovaks want to help Cedar Rapids
Gail Naughton, director of the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said she’s been told that the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic will help the museum and the community with their flood recovery efforts. “The countries themselves are looking at making direct gifts from the government,” she said. “They are also organizing a way for people who live in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to give to a fund.”...
Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette, June 21

House passes bill on federal wiretapping powers
The House on June 20 overwhelmingly approved (293–129) a bill overhauling the rules on the government’s wiretapping powers and conferring what amounts to legal immunity to the telephone companies that took part in President Bush’s program of eavesdropping without warrants after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R. 6403) now goes to the Senate, which is expected to pass it this week. ALA President Loriene Roy expressed disappointment at the House vote....
New York Times, June 21

Saddam Hussein papers at Hoover Institution
The Iraq Memory Foundation, a Washington, D.C., group that collected about 7 million documents from Hussein’s Baath Party headquarters after U.S. and British troops invaded Iraq in 2003, has entrusted the Hoover Institution at Stanford University with the safekeeping of those papers. But there is some dispute about where the papers belong. In a June 21 open letter, Saad Eskander, director of the Iraq National Library and Archives, has claimed the records are the property of Iraq and should be sent to the national archives there....
Palo Alto (Calif.) Online, June 18; Stanford University, June 18; Library Juice, June 21

Minneapolis merger costing more than expected
Costs of the merger of Minneapolis and Hennepin County libraries are running $3.5 million more than expected for Hennepin County. That news on June 24 prompted some county board members to cast blame and doubt on county and city staffers who made the deal. The unexpected costs range from higher benefit costs than expected for former Minneapolis library workers to a money-losing parking ramp under the downtown library....
Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 25

Reardon named Free Library director
Siobhan A. Reardon, executive director of the Westchester Library System in New York, has been named the new president and director of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Reardon replaces Elliot L. Shelkrot, who retired in December after 20 years with the library. Reardon said one of the biggest challenges for the library is raising the remaining money needed for the $175 million expansion of the Central Library....
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 25

Montana man pleads guilty to rare book thefts
James Lyman Brubaker, 74, of Great Falls, Montana, pleaded guilty in federal court June 23 to charges that he stole rare library books with the intent of reselling them. During a search of Brubaker’s residence, police discovered approximately 1,000 books, of which 832 were suspected of being stolen from libraries and universities. More than 100 libraries are represented. Hundreds of maps, lithographs, and serial plates were found in envelopes ready for sale on eBay. Possibly tens of thousands of maps, lithographs, and plates were found in plastic containers....
Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, June 24

S.C. library a popular place for kids
Talia and Laterrikha Fleming enjoy reading. In fact, they like it so much they spent part of Tuesday afternoon outside the Union County (S.C.) Carnegie Library urging people to check out books and read them. Talia, 10, and Laterrikha, 8, were at the library when they decided to make signs urging passing motorists to “Beep if you like to read.”...
Union (S.C.) Daily Times, June 19

EFF attacks RIAA file-sharing campaign
The Electronic Frontier Foundation weighed in this week on the Jammie Thomas file-swapping case, where the judge has asked for public comment on whether just making a file available for download on a P2P network should count as copyright infringement. Not only does the Copyright Act not grant a “making available” right, the EFF said, but trade groups also shouldn’t be allowed to claim that an actual distribution took place based solely on downloads from their own investigators....
Ars Technica, June 22

Alberta buys Sam Steele collection
One of Canada’s most famous Mounties, Sir Sam Steele (1849–1919), is finally coming home, or at least his journals, letters, sword, and uniform are. A remarkably rich, previously unseen trove of materials, this is “the Holy Grail of archival collections,” according to Robert Desmarais of the University of Alberta, which bought the collection from Steele’s family in England. Steele was the prototype Mountie, having been the third man to enlist in the North-West Mounted Police....
Toronto Globe and Mail, June 19

Jenny Jones grant helps out Robeson libraries
For some time, Children’s Librarian Shelly Lane has wanted to make the Robeson County (N.C.) Public Library children’s areas more comfortable and accessible. So Lane sought the help of former television talk show host Jenny Jones. She had heard about Jones’s charitable program, Jenny’s Heroes, and decided to apply for a $25,000 grant. On June 19, Lane got the call she had been waiting for....
Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, June 20

Frugal Columbus librarian left a rich legacy
Before her death at age 57, Carol Sue Snowden lived in a condo on the east side of Columbus, Ohio, and drove a used Chevrolet. She worked for 30 years in the Whitehall branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library and was the picture of frugalness. But when Snowden died of ovarian cancer in January, she willed $530,000 to the Whitehall branch and $70,000 each to the libraries of seven Columbus-area schools—for a combined gift exceeding $1 million. In addition, she left $10,000 to a colleague to pursue a master’s degree in library science....
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, June 14

Welcome to the Petabyte Age
Chris Anderson writes: “Sensors everywhere. Infinite storage. Clouds of processors. Our ability to capture, warehouse, and understand massive amounts of data is changing science, medicine, business, and technology. As our collection of facts and figures grows, so will the opportunity to find answers to fundamental questions. Because in the era of big data, more isn’t just more. More is different.”...
Wired, June 23

How Facebook works
Alan Zeichick writes: “Facebook is a wonderful example of the network effect, in which the value of a network to a user is exponentially proportional to the number of other users that network has. Facebook’s power derives from what Jeff Rothschild, its vice president of technology, calls the ‘social graph’—the sum of the wildly various connections between the site’s users and their friends; between people and events; between events and photos; between photos and people; and between a huge number of discrete objects linked by metadata describing them and their connections.”...
Technology Review, July/Aug.

Using Optical Music Recognition
Andrew H. Bullen writes: “As an (admittedly amateur) local historian, it has been frustrating to be presented with spectacular examples of sheet music that give shape and depth to history yet be totally inept at playing the tunes on a piano or other musical instrument. Happily, as it turns out, through a combination of Optical Music Recognition (OMR) and music composing software, I can scan the music, ‘read’ it to detect the notes, time signature, etc., and tweak its playback to get just the right sound I want.”...
Code4Lib Journal, no. 3 (June 23)

District of Columbia PL to feature DRM-free audiobooks
The District of Columbia Public Library is the first library to offer OverDrive’s audiobook titles in DRM-free MP3 format. The collection, which went live June 25, will also be demonstrated at ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. To enable the DRM-free format, OverDrive is working with participating audio publishers and library partners to reinforce the copyrights and permissions associated with download lending of the MP3 audiobooks....
OverDrive, June 25

15 turning points in tech history
Neil McAllister writes: “Imagine how different the computing world would be if IBM had used proprietary chips in the original PC, rather than off-the-shelf components. The PC clone market would never have happened, and IBM, rather than Microsoft, might have emerged as the leading company of the computer revolution. Or if Steve Jobs had never taken his fateful tour of Xerox PARC? Had he not seen PARC’s GUI in action he might never have created the Macintosh. And then where would Windows be today?”...
InfoWorld, June 10

ICANN to vote on new internet domain names
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is getting ready to vote to open up the internet naming convention to allow more options. On June 26 at its meeting in Paris, the nonprofit organization charged with overseeing the internet’s naming scheme will vote on a proposal to allow companies to purchase new generic top-level domains ending in almost anything they want. So instead of just .com or .org, eBay could become .ebay or Intel could be .intel....
C|Net News Blog, June 24

From the hall of forgotten technology: McBee cards
Kevin Kelly writes: “Edge-notched cards were invented in 1896. These are index cards with holes on their edges, which can be selectively slotted to indicate traits or categories, or in our language today, to act as a field. Before the advent of computers, they were one of the few ways you could sort large databases for more than one term at once. In the U.S., these cards were sold as McBee Keysort Cards and were often used in libraries to keep track of books in interlibrary loan programs.”...
The Technium, June 17

The future of association publishing
Lisa Junker writes: “For someone like me who works in association periodicals publishing, there have been some ominous rumbles to listen to for a while. Newspapers are contracting and even shutting down; I just read recently that U.S. News and World Report is dropping down from a weekly to a biweekly after taking a huge hit in ad pages. So I’m wondering how many association publications are asking questions like these: If our publication was available only online, would our members read it?”...
Acronym, June 19

ATLA and EBSCO to digitize rare theological sources (PDF file)
The American Theological Library Association is partnering with EBSCO to create digital archive collections of historical monographs and serials. The monograph collections will contain more than 29,000 volumes covering religion and theology, primarily between 1850 and 1923. The serials collection will offer more than 1,200 serials from the early 19th century to the early 20th century. EBSCO will enable libraries to purchase ownership of each collection rather than provide leased access....
EBSCO, June 25

Global e-book survey (PDF file)
Ebrary has released the results of an international survey on e-book use. Designed by more than 150 academic librarians, the survey explores how some 6,500 students throughout the world, representing 400 individual institutions, use or perceive using e-books. Anyone interested in receiving a digital copy may register at the survey site. Printed copies will be available at the ebrary booth (#1792) at ALA Annual Conference....
ebrary, June 24

Article-level records added to WorldCat
Database producers H.W. Wilson and MLA have agreed to make article-level records available in WorldCat, increasing visibility and access to authoritative content licensed by libraries on the Web. The article-level metadata will be added to the more than 50 million articles indexed from NLM MEDLINE, the Department of Education’s ERIC database, the British Library Inside serials, the GPO Monthly Catalog, and the OCLC ArticleFirst database....
OCLC, June 18

Rethinking research libraries in the 21st century
How should we be rethinking the research library in a swiftly changing information landscape? In February, the Council on Library and Information Resources convened 25 leading librarians, publishers, faculty members, and information technology specialists to consider this question. Participants discussed the challenges and opportunities that libraries are likely to face in the next five to 10 years, and how changes in scholarly communication will affect the future library....
CLIR Issues, no. 63 (May/June)

LibraryThing offers member home pages
Tim Spalding has revamped LibraryThing, the social networking site for book lovers, to give every member a home page that serves as a center to visit the rest of the site. It offers pieces or “windows” into the site—your library, your connections, your recommendations, talk, hot books, hot reviews, early reviewers, and so forth. And it’s editable....
LibraryThing blog, June 21

100 useful niche search engines
Laura Milligan writes: “Though Google is often touted as the number-one search engine online, college students sometimes need more specific tools to help them uncover quality information on the Web that they can use for class projects, research papers, and even job and apartment searches. This list features a huge variety of search engines that can be useful to students, including tools that find photos, sound effects, summer internships, health and medical information, reference guides, and a lot more.”...
College@Home, June 19

IFLA/FAIFE 2007 World Report available
Volume 7 of the IFLA/FAIFE World Report Series, Access to Libraries and Information: Towards a Fairer World, provides an international perspective on several issues regarding freedom of expression and freedom of access to information. Available by sections or in full as a PDF download, the report will also be offered later this summer as a print-on-demand book through the ALA Store....
IFLA Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression, May 17

CALA releases self-assessment survey results
The Chinese American Librarians Association has released the results of a nearly year-long study focused on improving the member-supported organization. Results show that the desire for professional development ranks as the top reason for joining. The survey is the first one conducted in CALA’s more-than-30-year history....

48 social news websites
Maki, a philosophy student in Toronto, writes: “I spent some time going through hundreds of social news sites and came up with a list of sites that I think are worth exploring. Each site on this list is evaluated according to various criteria, including the number of votes for each story and the frequency/date of submissions, all of which are indicators of activity.”...
Dosh Dosh

Neil Gaiman on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a nonprofit organization created in 1986 to protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers covering legal expenses. Recently it released a series of PSAs featuring graphic-novel artists and creators explaining why they are supporters. Included are Sandman creator Neil Gaiman (above), Jeff Smith (Bone), Frank Miller (Sin City), and SNL comedian Bill Hader....
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, June 19

Steppin’ in It at Kalamazoo
Over the next few months, the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Public Library is featuring local musicians in a series of summer concerts. The series kicked off June 17 at the Central Library with a Lansing-based country swing and blues band called Steppin’ in It. Watch three videos that present highlights from the show....
Kalamazoo (Mich.) Public Library, June 18; YouTube

If you’re not gaming, you’re losing
Erik Boekesteijn and Jaap van de Geer, from the DOK Library Concept Center in Delft, Netherlands, travel to Chicago to explore gaming in libraries in this entertaining video (40:07). It includes interviews with famous bibliobloggers Jenny Levine (right), Michael Stephens, and Leah White, and visits to Kankakee (Ill.) Public Library and Schaumburg Township District (Ill.) Library to give some insight into the potential benefits of gaming for library communities....
Vimeo, June 20

ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, June 26–July 2.

Are you blogging the conference? Make sure you download (at the bottom of the page) this button and put it on your site.

Due to a family emergency, author James Frey will be unable to attend Annual Conference. His Auditorium Speaker Session on Sunday afternoon has been cancelled. HarperCollins and ALA regret any inconvenience this may cause.