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

Libraries win second round against National Security Letters
“I’m grateful that I am able now to talk about what happened to me, so that other libraries can learn how they can fight back from these overreaching demands,” Internet Archive founder and digital librarian Brewster Kahle stated May 7, two days after records were unsealed documenting his six-month legal battle to force the FBI to withdraw a National Security Letter because it sought details of several patrons’ archive use without a court order. ALA President Loriene Roy in a May 7 statement reaffirmed the Association’s commitment to urge “Congress to pass legislation for meaningful Congressional oversight of these risky law enforcement tools.”...

Congressman takes aim at Second Life
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) announced May 5 that he was gearing up to reintroduce the Deleting Online Predators Act, legislation that would require libraries and schools that rely on e-rate funding to prohibit minors from using chat rooms and social-networking sites without parental permission. He indicated that the new bill would create an adults only (.ado) domain for such sites as MySpace and Facebook, and he singled out Second Life as an environment where youngsters were particularly vulnerable. Second Life’s Linden Labs promptly responded to Kirk’s allegations....

Library noise has neighbors complaining
Stillwater (Minn.) Public Library’s new outdoor terrace, a popular venue for weddings and other events since it was added as part of an expansion and renovation in 2006, is drawing concern from neighbors over the potential for noise late at night. About a dozen residents attended the city council meeting May 6 to protest the council’s prior granting of a blanket variance to the noise ordinance for the library events this summer, extending the noise curfew for them from 10 to 11:30 p.m....

Maine town relents
The town of Woolwich, Maine, whose officials had considered eliminating more than $43,000 in fiscal support for the Patten Free Library in Bath because of the September 2007 firing of popular children’s librarian Nyree Thomas, has opted to continue its participation with the Patten Library after all. Townspeople approved the Patten contribution 114–59 at the May 7 town meeting....

Ron Reagan to be Opening General Session speaker
Journalist and activist Ron Reagan will be the Opening General Session speaker at ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, June 28. Reagan, the son of former President Ronald Reagan, is a frequent guest on Larry King Live on CNN and Air America Radio. He serves on the board of the Creative Coalition, a nonpartisan political organization founded in 1989 to mobilize entertainers and artists for First Amendment rights and such causes as arts advocacy and public education....

Virtual Library Legislative Day in Second Life
Archimedes Hollak (Jonathan West of AASL) models the free National Library Legislative Day 2008 T-shirt by the kiosk on ALA Island in Second Life (right). There is still time to have your avatar pick up a T-shirt on May 14. Take a snapshot and upload it to an online photo-sharing website, such as Flickr, and add the tag “VLLD08” or “VLLD2008” for Virtual Library Legislative Day 2008. You also have time to join Friends of Libraries USA’s Virtual March....

Triathlete to compete for Spectrum Scholarship program
Miriam Tuliao, coordinator of adult and reference services for the New York Public Library, announced that she will participate in the New Jersey State Triathlon to raise awareness and funds for the Spectrum Scholarship program. The race consists of a 1.5K swim, a 23-mile bike ride, and a 10K run. The event will take place July 27. Tuliao is a United States Masters swimmer who has participated in several long-distance open-water events, including the Big Shoulders 5K Swim in Chicago in September 2007....

PR Forum to focus on diversity
This year’s PR Forum at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim will focus on “Diversity @ your library: Broadening Your Audience and Engaging Communities.” Led by Eric Friedenwald-Fishman and Maria Elena Campisteguy of Metropolitan Group, the program will discuss designing communication to meet specific needs and values, message development and testing, and the importance of cultural context....

24 authors on the LIVE! @ your library Reading Stage
The Public Programs Office will present 24 critically acclaimed authors on the LIVE! @ your library Reading Stage, June 26–July 2 in the exhibits hall at the upcoming ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California. Attendees can take a break from their busy conference schedules and listen to some of their favorite authors and poets read from and autograph their recent works....

Chu to present 2008 Coleman Outreach lecture
Clara M. Chu, associate professor in the Department of Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, will present the 2008 Dr. Jean E. Coleman Outreach Lecture for the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services at ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. This year’s lecture is entitled “Dislocations of Multicultural Librarianship: A Critical Examination for a Liberatory Practice.”...

The arts in Anaheim (PDF file)
If you feel the need for a gallery, a play, a recital, or an architectural experience during Annual Conference, consult the ACRL Arts Section’s excellent ArtsGuide Anaheim, a 20-page compilation of all things aesthetic in Orange County. Some of the most interesting venues are within a couple of miles of the convention center and conference hotels, but the editors have also skimmed the surface of the vast art world of Los Angeles....

Don’t wait until the last minute
Travelers will see more price hikes for summer as the airlines struggle with staggering jet fuel costs, say airline analysts. Last May, a ticket purchased seven days in advance between Denver, Colorado, and Raleigh, North Carolina, was $258. This May that same ticket sells for about $460, according to FareCompare. Planes are increasingly full as airlines gradually trim capacity, giving airlines no incentive to discount summer travel....
CNN, May 13

Picky traveler? TripKick rates individual hotel rooms
Jason Kincaid writes: “It’s been a long day. You’ve finally gotten to your hotel room, and the only thing you can think of is the 12-hour snoozefest you’re about to enjoy. Just as you’re about to nod off, you hear it: the slow, metallic squeal of the ice machine next door that will test your sanity for the rest of the night. TripKick, a new travel review site that launched May 13, goes the extra mile, offering reviews on every individual room.” The Hilton Anaheim and Marriott Anaheim (above) are two of the hotels reviewed....
TechCrunch, May 13

Convention Center set to expand
Plans are in the works for the sixth expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center, which would add meeting and exhibit space to the 1.6-million square foot center. The expansion is to include 200,000 square feet of space for exhibits and meetings, a three-star or higher hotel, and 1,500 parking spaces. The city is reviewing plans from three developers....
Orange County (Calif.) Register, May 9

Susan J. Beck is RUSA president-elect for 2009–2010
Susan J. Beck, head of public services at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, is the new RUSA president-elect. An active member of RUSA, Beck served as chair of the Reference Services Section and on several divisional committees. She will begin her term as president-elect in July 2008 and will assume the presidency in 2009–2010....

Linda W. Braun is YALSA president-elect
YALSA members chose Linda W. Braun, educational technology consultant with LEO: Librarians & Educators Online, as the division’s next vice-president/ president-elect. Braun will begin her term as president-elect in July 2008, becoming president for one term in July 2009. She has previously chaired YALSA’s Website Advisory committee, and is the division’s blog manager....

YALSA summer courses
YALSA has opened registration for three online courses this summer: “Reaching Teens with Gaming” (Beth Gallaway); “Making the Match: The Right Book with the Right Teen at the Right Time” (Teri Lesesne); and “Tech Tools for Teen Leadership” (Linda W. Braun). All courses last six weeks and meet July 7–August 18....

2008 Spectrum Doctoral Fellows
ALA and the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences have announced the second and final group of Spectrum Doctoral Fellowship recipients: Eric Chuk (UCLA), Mónica Colón-Aquirre (University of Tennessee), Nicole Cook and Stefani Gomez (Rutgers), Asher Isaac Jackson (Syracuse), and Brenda Mitchell-Powell (Simmons)....

NSLMPY Award winners
Luella Elementary School in Locust Grove, Georgia, and Simsbury (Conn.) High School (right) are the winners of AASL’s 2008 National School Library Media Program of the Year Awards. The NSLMPY Awards honor school library media programs practicing their commitment to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information, as well as exemplifying implementation of Information Power....

Jesse H. Shera Award winners
The Library Research Round Table has chosen the winners of the Jesse H. Shera Award for Distinguished Published Research (Eric M. Meyers, Karen E. Fisher, and Elizabeth Marcoux) and the Jesse H. Shera Award for the Support of Dissertation Research (Sharon McQueen)....

School Librarian’s Workshop Scholarship awarded
Charisse Nicole Byers, a library science student at the University of Southern Mississippi and a kindergarten teacher with the Atlanta public schools, has been awarded the AASL 2008 School Librarian’s Workshop Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a full-time student preparing to become a school library media specialist....

Office for Diversity honors Clara M. Chu
The ALA Office for Diversity has designated Clara M. Chu for its Achievement in Library Diversity Research award. Chu, an associate professor at the Department of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, has published, presented, and consulted internationally in English and Spanish on multicultural library and information issues. She is a leading voice on the subject and actively recruits people of culturally diverse backgrounds into the information profession....

2008 Youth Media Awards presentation
The Public Information Office has made the 2008 ALA Youth Media Awards presentation webcast (39:59) available for viewing online. You can now relive the moment of sitting on the edge of your seat at the Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia waiting to hear which books for youth were selected as the most distinguished....
Google Video, May 8

YALSA to honor literary award winners in Anaheim
YALSA will celebrate the winners of its literary awards with special events and programs at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, June 27–July 2. Tickets are available for both the Margaret A. Edwards Award Luncheon on Saturday, June 28, and the Michael L. Printz Award Dessert Reception on Monday, June 30. YALSA will also highlight winners of its annual Alex and Odyssey Awards....

Children’s Choice Book Award winners
The Children’s Book Council announced the winners of the first annual Children’s Choice Book Awards May 13 at a gala in New York City hosted by Jon Scieszka. Some 55,000 children across the country voted for their favorite books, authors, and illustrators at libraries, bookstores, and online. Book of the Year for 5th–6th graders was Joshua Gee’s Encyclopedia Horrifica (Scholastic)....
Children’s Book Council, May 13

Florida libraries face deep cuts
The four-year-old library in Clearwater, Florida, could close on weekends and most evenings if deep cuts to the system’s budget are approved. And it’s not the only one pondering cutbacks. In January, Florida voters amended the state constitution to lower property taxes for some residents. In addition, the economy took a nosedive and property values fell, meaning governments would collect less. Cities and counties all over the state are cutting their budgets, and in order to preserve what they consider essential services such as police and fire, many are slashing funding for recreation, parks, and libraries....
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, May 11

Fitchburg Youth Library saved from closure
Fitchburg (Mass.) Public Library Director Ann Wirtanen said Mayor Lisa Wong has restored about $88,000 to the library’s budget to pay for its Youth Library, which will be open on the same limited schedule (only three days a week) as the rest of the library beginning in July. Visitors to the May 8 board meeting were outraged on hearing about a sudden 72% budget cut imposed by the city. The library will still have to reduce staff by 17 full-time and part-time employees....
Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel and Enterprise, May 9, 13

Another school district cuts media technicians
In the wake of nearly $8 million in cuts to the Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Watsonville, California, 16 elementary library media technicians will lose their positions, likely resulting in every elementary school closing its library next year. The positions are included in a package of layoffs that include nurses, custodians, and other school employees. Nearly 50 students, teachers, and parents staged a protest May 9 in the city plaza....
Watsonville (Calif.) Register-Pajaronian, May 10

University of Chicago to add new showpiece library
A glass-domed, mostly underground library, to be built just west of the University of Chicago’s Joseph Regenstein Library, will have space for 3.5 million volumes, allowing the university to keep its entire collection on campus even as other top academic libraries are building off-site facilities to store books. Designed by Chicago architect Helmut Jahn, the new structure will sport an above-ground, naturally lit reading room surrounded by a glass dome with an energy-efficient coating....
Chicago Tribune, May 12

Legendary law librarian passes away
Roy Mersky was a giant in his field who made the University of Texas law library one of the best in the nation, friends and colleagues said. Along the way, he taught worldwide, wrote prolifically, and compiled a résumé more than 40 pages long. Mersky, 82, died May 6 at an Austin hospice. He built an extensive collection of legal research and rare books at the UT library, and established a system so that each law school faculty member had a librarian to help with research....
Austin (Tex.) American-Statesman, May 8

Detroit plans to HYPE teen users
The original 1923 children’s reading room of the Detroit Public Library has been transformed into a high-tech haven for teens. The new HYPE Center—the name stands for Helping Young People Excel—offers 3,884 square feet of game consoles, big-screen TVs, performance spaces, quiet study areas, CDs, DVDs, free Wi-Fi, and lots of books. It will open to the public May 15....
WWJ-AM, Detroit, May 5

Man who caused Richmond lockdown released on bond
A 19-year-old dishwasher named Seth A. Newman has told police he was the person in costume with a pellet gun who prompted a four-hour lockdown May 6 at the University of Richmond. A campus library employee said Newman told her he was a police officer and had heard people were having sex inside the building. He left the library after failing to produce identification....
Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, May 8–9

Former director pleads guilty to child abuse
Howard Curtis, director of the Haverhill (Mass.) Public Library fom 1981 to 1996, pleaded guilty May 7 in Salem Superior Court to two counts of sexual abuse of a child under 15. The plea came as the result of a complaint by a New Hampshire man who said that Curtis forced him into sexual acts when he was a child in Haverhill in the 1980s....
Salem (Mass.) News, May 8

Microsoft brings the universe into focus
Microsoft Research launched a free application May 12 that lets you navigate deep into the universe and view galaxies, nebulae, planets, and other celestial objects through the lenses of the world’s best observatories. WorldWide Telescope draws on more than 12 terabytes of imagery from several orbiting and land-based telescopes. The desktop application downloads the images on demand and stitches them together to form an interactive, browsable universe supplemented with information from top astronomical databases and guided tours that put it all into context....
Seattle Times, May 13

Top 10 things you forgot your Mac can do
Gina Trapani writes: “Macs may be more expensive, and Mac users more elitist (ahem), but blind Apple loyalty aside, there are a number of neat features bundled into your Mac that make it super useful and fun. Today we’re highlighting 10 lesser-known Mac tricks that come baked into Leopard. From pure eye candy to outright productivity-boosters, read on to get reminded of some of the more obscure things you can do with your Mac, fresh out of the box.”...
Lifehacker, May 14

IM-speak
Let’s be honest (LBH)—easy (EZ) is better. Get your message across quickly. This AIM acronym dictionary has the most common abbreviations that you (U) might come across while IMing with your friends. Good luck (GL) and have a nice day (HAND)....
AOL Instant Messenger

Big Broadband connectivity in the U.S.
John Windhausen Jr. writes: “The United States is facing a growing crisis in broadband connectivity. Very few of the nation’s businesses and homes have the type of high-speed broadband connection that they need to participate fully in the international economy and society. Current U.S. broadband networks are under stress because of the increasing demand for greater content, especially video. In contrast, the countries of eastern Asia and northern Europe have more widely deployed broadband networks, generally provide faster internet access, and offer service at much lower prices than the United States.”...
EDUCAUSE Review 43, no. 3 (May/June): 62–78

Lawsuit threatens launch of speedy WiMax network
Last week, Sprint and Clearwire said they were combining their wireless broadband businesses to operate a next-generation network using WiMax technology, which blankets large metropolitan areas with coverage, allowing internet access from mobile phones and other gadgets at speeds similar to what is available for residential broadband service. Chicago was slated to be the first city to have it. But on May 12, a local wireless-service provider and three subsidiaries filed suit to block the deal....
Chicago Tribune, May 7, 13

To catch a thief
Steve Twomey describes how a Civil War buff’s chance discovery led to a sting, a raid, and a victory against traffickers in stolen historical documents: “In the fall of 2006, a history devotee named Dean Thomas was surprised by something he saw on eBay, the online auction house. Someone was offering 144-year-old letters sent by munitions companies to Philadelphia’s Frankford Arsenal, a major supplier of the Union Army during the Civil War. How had he missed these?”...
Smithsonian, April

Green roofs
Beth Filar Williams writes: “When planning a new library building or upgrading an existing one, could you add a green rooftop? A green roof is a multilayer roofing system, an extension of the existing roof with waterproofing, a root-repellent membrane system, a drainage system, and a multitude of plants that grow on top of a building. Many credits toward LEED Certification can be earned by building green rooftops, which have been established in Europe for centuries due to both private and public benefits.”...
Going Green @ your library, May 8

A guidebook to virtual worlds
Ellyssa Kroski writes: “The Association of Virtual Worlds has published The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds. This free downloadable book provides a guide, with links, to over 250 virtual worlds along with a glossary. Included are virtual environments for every age group ranging from Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow, Creebies, and Frenzoo, to Neopets (one of my faves), Planet Cazmo, and Scions of Fate.”...
iLibrarian, May 13

How Second Life affects real life
Kristina Dell writes: “Research conducted at Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab suggests that the qualities you acquire online—whether it’s confidence or insecurity—can spill over and change your conduct in the real world, often without your awareness. Lab Director Jeremy Bailenson has found that even 90 seconds spent chatting it up with avatars is enough to elicit behavioral changes offline—at least in the short-term. But researchers are still trying to figure out the psychological mechanisms at work, and which way the effect flows.”...
Time, May 12

Wikipedia added to Google Maps
In what is proving to be another busy day for Google, Wikipedia articles have been added to Google Maps. The new Wikipedia tags can be turned on through a “More” button that has been added to the top right-hand corner of the map. When the Wikipedia tick box is selected, small “W” tags appear on the map where Wikipedia articles are available. Clicking on the “W” tag will open an information window containing the Wikipedia article. Chicago’s Harold Washington Library is included (above). Is your library in the mashup? (Google Maps has also added real estate listings.)...
Google Maps Mania, May 13; Today @ PC World, May 14

Open-access humanities titles (subscription required)
Jennifer Howard writes: “Scholars in the sciences have been light-years ahead of their peers in the humanities in exploring the possibilities of open-access publishing. But a new venture with prominent academic backers, the Open Humanities Press, wants to help humanists close the gap. The nonprofit operation—described by those involved as ‘an international open-access publishing collective’—made its official debut May 12 with a roster of seven already-established journals in critical and cultural studies and related fields.”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, May 7

LC announces 2007 National Recording Registry
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington named 25 additions May 14 to LC’s National Recording Registry as part of its efforts to preserve the nation’s aural history. The selections include a wide variety of spoken and musical recordings, among them the first trans-Atlantic radio broadcast in 1925, Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, the Sounds of Earth disc that traveled with Voyager through space, and and the first recording of “Call it Stormy Monday, but Tuesday is Just As Bad” (T-Bone Walker, 1947)....
Library of Congress, May 14

Old maids, policemen, and social rejects
Maura Seale, arts and humanities librarian at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, has written an article on how mass-media depictions of librarians color user perceptions. Mass media portrayals fall into five categories: the old maid librarian, the policeman librarian, the librarian as parody, the inept librarian, and the hero/ine librarian. She concludes that “due to the lack of substantive representations of librarians that highlight their professionalism, public perceptions draw more heavily on stereotypical representations of librarians’ personalities.”...
Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship 9, no. 1 (Spring)

What to do with weeded books (PDF file)
Space limitations, collection development, and customer service dictate that periodic weeding or discarding of books must occur. However, one library or school’s unwanted book might be appreciated by another organization or individual. Environmental awareness also mandates that books be reused rather than trashed. Here is a list of options to consider and test to see what fits your needs best....
Friends of Colorado Libraries

Using Firefox on public computers
Brian Herzog writes: “My library is in the process of re-doing all of its public computers. One major change we’re making is to switch to Firefox for our web browser. The reason we’re switching is a simple one—Firefox is just cooler. It lets us have more control over how the browser functions, and lets us offer more tools integrated right into the browser. Better for us, better for patrons.”...
Swiss Army Librarian, May 8

How little do users read online?
In a February article in ACM Transactions on the Web, Harald Weinreich, et al., instrumented 25 users’ browsers and recorded extended information about everything they did as they went about their normal web activities. Jakob Nielsen calculated from this study that on an average visit users will read about 20% of the text on a page (which averaged 593 words in the study), and they tend to get to 50% of the text only if there are 111 words or less....
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, May 6

The world’s most athletic booklist
Get into the Summer Reading Olympics spirit by checking out these youth books suggested by Reading Is Fundamental. Each book centers around one of the official sports of the 2008 Summer Olympics, which will take place in Beijing this August. Books are grouped by age level....
Reading Is Fundamental

Joint Steering Committee outcomes from April meeting
The Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA has released its summary of major actions taken in the development of the new cataloging content standard, Resource Description and Access, at the group’s April 13–22 meeting in Chicago....
Joint Steering Committee, May 8

Archive madness
Two University of Denver LIS students, Adrienne Breznau (right) and Antonia Dauster, put this video (4:47) together for a Visual Media class on perceptions in libraries. It’s a silent film, so perhaps they will be taking an Audiovisual Media class next semester. Filmed at Denver’s Westminster Law Library, where Amanda Samland (who plays both the angry librarian and the helpful archivist) works as a government documents assistant....
YouTube, Mar. 5

What teens are listening to
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh interviewed their teen patrons to find out what music they like, when and how they listen to it, how they learn about music, and what music means to them. This video (7:13) shows interviews with six of them, and their interests cover a wide range of styles....
YouTube, May 13

ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, June 26–July 2. Take advantage of special Conference pricing with Advance Registration which ends this Friday, May 16.