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U.S. & World News
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Round Table News
Awards
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Michigan librarians speak out to save State Library
In reaction to Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s July announcement that the Department of History, Archives, and Libraries would be disbanded—bringing along with it serious budget cuts and the likelihood the Library of Michigan’s collections would be scattered to as many as seven locations—librarians at the local and national levels have joined together in protest. An August 5 rally in Lansing, organized by the Michigan Genealogical Council, began with a four-block walk from the state capitol to the library, after which the 450 participants encircled the facility. The Michigan Library Association opposes Granholm’s measure because it fails to recognize the cost savings and effective delivery of statewide services the library provides, and ALA President Camila Alire has expressed concern....
American Libraries Online, Aug. 12

Pennsylvania governor vetoes library funding in stopgap budget
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (right) vetoed more than half of a stopgap state budget bill August 5, approving only funds for what he termed “critical public health and safety services.” Among the funds Rendell eliminated, which amounted to $12.9 billion from a $27.3-billion budget, was $37 million for public libraries. However, on August 11 the governor urged members of the General Assembly to include support for Pennsylvania libraries in the final state budget, saying a budget proposal by Senate Republicans would slash library funding to an 11-year low....
American Libraries Online, Aug. 7; Gant Daily, Aug. 12

CPLA certifies new graduate, adds seven candidates
The Certified Public Library Administrator program has granted certification to one candidate, making a total of 13 who are now official CPLA administrators. In addition, the Certification Review Committee approved seven new candidates in its spring review, bringing the number to 128. CPLA is a voluntary post-MLS certification program for public librarians. The next deadline for submitting course provider or candidate reviews is September 13....

Final reminders on BTOP applications
The deadline for the first-round Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant applications is August 14 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. As you complete your applications, here are a few tips and reminders. Also, be sure to refer to the ALA Know Your Stimulus page for Washington Office BTOP resources including webinars, instructional guidance, key links, and a list of frequently asked questions....
District Dispatch, Aug. 10

Network neutrality: It’s all about access
Carrie Lowe writes: “At ALA Annual Conference in Chicago July 12, I served on a panel presentation on the topic of network neutrality. On that day, there was no network neutrality legislation in Congress (like there is today, thanks to Reps. Markey and Eshoo). There was no flashy evening news piece on the topic, no rock stars on the Hill advocating for a free and open internet. Yet 500 librarians showed up on a spectacular summer morning to hear Cliff Lynch, Greg Jackson, and me talk on the topic. Like other issues that we’ve dealt with, network neutrality is fundamentally about having access to ideas.”...
Save the Internet, Aug. 10

Council passes resolution on helping libraries
ALA Council passed a resolution at Annual Conference in Chicago calling on ALA to immediately address “the severe national erosion of budgetary support to all libraries.” In the resolution, passed July 15, Council recommended the ALA develop and institute “a critical crisis management approach” to remedy budget losses. This approach would involve an action plan to alert legislators, stakeholders, and constituents through every channel available, including the media....

Last call to Step Up
All entries for the Step Up to the Plate @ your library program are due September 1, giving baseball fans of all ages their final opportunity for a chance to win the grand prize, a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. To help meet the mailing deadline, libraries are encouraged to send collected entries in bulk....

Call for international papers
The International Relations Round Table’s International Papers Committee invites proposals for papers to be presented at the International Papers Program during ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., June 26, 2010. The International Papers Program theme will be “Libraries as Gateways to Local History Throughout the World.” Proposals must be submitted by December 4....

The ALA guide to sequels is back
ALA Editions has released a fourth edition of Sequels: An Annotated Guide to Novels in Series by Janet G. Husband and Jonathan F. Husband. An ALA bestseller since its original release in 1982, this volume returns with greatly expanded series listings. Mysteries continue to be a mainstay, with fantasy, science fiction, and romance listings, plus non–genre fiction selections from authors such as Edward Abbey and Lawrence Durrell. This classic reference includes hundreds of annotated series, title and subject indexes, and suggestions for reading order....

Register now for LITA National Forum
The early bird registration deadline is approaching for the 2009 LITA National Forum, “Open and Mobile,” October 1–4 at the Hilton City Center Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. Prior to August 15, the registration rates are $50 lower. Keynote sessions anchor the event and include speakers Joan Lippincott, David Weinberger, and Liz Lawley (right)....

Apply for the Morris Seminar at Midwinter
Applications are now being accepted for ALSC’s Bill Morris Seminar: Book Evaluation Training, which will take place January 15 during the 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston. The seminar will bring new ALSC members and members with limited evaluation experience together with those who have served on ALSC’s media evaluation committees in an environment to train and mentor them in the group process and in children’s media evaluation techniques. The deadline for applications is September 8....
ALSC Blog, Aug. 4

New International Leads editor
James Willard Agee Jr. has been appointed editor-in-chief of the International Relations Round Table’s publication, International Leads. Agee is director of the Bermuda College Library in Paget Parish, Bermuda. Prior to that, he held positions at the University of Northern Colorado and Emporia (Kans.) State University. International Leads disseminates information about international librarianship and the activities of the IRRT....

Presidential Citations for International Innovation
ALA President Jim Rettig presented ALA Presidential Citations for International Innovation to three librarians July 13 at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Representatives from the Lubuto Library Project in Lusaka, Zambia; the Hester J. Hodgdon Libraries for All program in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua; and the Tongji University Library in Shanghai, China, were honored for significant contributions to the people they serve....

A new round of Great Stories CLUB grants
The ALA Public Programs Office and YALSA have selected the theme and book titles for the next round of Great Stories CLUB grants. Electronic applications for the reading and discussion series will be accepted September 1 through November 2. YALSA’s Outreach to Young Adults with Special Needs Committee selected “New Horizons” as the theme. Great Stories CLUB is a book club program designed to reach underserved, troubled teen populations through books relevant to their lives....

ALSC Light the Way grant is relit
ALSC, in partnership with Candlewick Press, is once again offering the “Light the Way: Outreach to the Underserved” grant in 2010. This $3,000 grant, presented in honor of Newbery Medalist and Geisel Honoree Kate DiCamillo, was first given in 2008 as a one-time award. The ALSC Library Service to Special Population Children and Their Caregivers Committee will select the winner. Applications (PDF file) are due by November 1....

2009 Hugo Award winners
Familiar names dominated the 2009 Hugo Awards for the world’s finest sci-fi and fantasy, with Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book winning Best Novel and earning him a new statue to go along with his 2002 Hugo for American Gods. Nancy Kress won a Best Novella for her tale The Erdmann Nexus. Some cool newcomers also picked up Hugos, which wrapped August 10 in Montreal at the 67th World Science Fiction Convention....
Underwire, Aug. 10

Workers dry out Louisville library; funds needed
The work to clear out 50,000 water-damaged books from the flooded main branch of the Louisville (Ky.) Free Public Library continues this week. Director Craig Buthod says library employees are working to keep track of each book that has to be thrown out. The damage is up to at least $5 million. Some public areas are expected to reopen by Labor Day, but full recovery isn’t expected until December. Donations of money for new computers and equipment are being accepted by the LFPL Library Foundation and the Library Society of the World....
WFPL-FM, Louisville, Aug. 5, 10; Library Journal, Aug. 6; Louisville Courier-Journal, Aug. 8; See Also, Aug. 7

Clunker car protest
Sue Kuhlman (right) feels so strongly about the possible changes in Michigan’s library system that she painted “Keep our state’s library open, Gov. Granholm” across her car. She plans to trade the car in through the Cash for Clunkers program, but for now it sits in the parking lot of the Algonac-Clay branch of the St. Clair County Library System, where Kuhlman works as assistant librarian, touting the message scrawled in green spray paint. “There are some things that need to be fought for, and this is one of them,” Kuhlman said....
Port Huron (Mich.) Times Herald, Aug. 9

Omaha shutters a branch
The Omaha (Nebr.) Public Library took a big budget hit August 10. The Florence branch will close for the remainder of 2009, while nearly all of the other branches will close during the mornings as a result of budget cuts announced August 7 by Mayor Jim Suttle. In addition, 48 library workers altogether were notified that they will lose their jobs. Director Rivkah Sass said the closure will not solve the city’s long-term financial problems....
Omaha (Nebr.) World-Herald, Aug. 11; KMTV, Omaha, Aug. 12; KETV, Omaha, Aug. 11

Fort Worth plan would close two branches
Closing two branches of the Fort Worth (Tex.) Library is one of the tough choices facing city council members as they work to close a $59-million budget gap. Slated for closing are the Wedgwood and Meadowbrook branches, which would save the city $813,000. The council is expected to finalize the budget on September 15....
Fort Worth (Tex.) Star-Telegram, Aug. 11

Gwinnett will close one branch to staff another
Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Library will close its Dacula branch later this year to find staffing for the new $7.4-million Hamilton Mill branch set to open this winter. At a specially called August 11 meeting, trustees voted to take the step in the face of budget cuts mandated by the County Commission. Already this week, Gwinnett residents have seen the library system take the unusual step of closing Sundays and Mondays and reducing hours the rest of the week....
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Aug. 11

San Diego library lecture draws protest
An Islamic advocacy group is protesting the San Diego (Calif.) Public Library’s August 15 hosting of a presentation on Islam, saying the event is tied to an extremist group. Michael Hayutin (right), local director of Act! for America, will “give a slide presentation and lecture on radical Islam and describe the threat some Americans feel that it represents,” said a news release from the library. The San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter August 10 to Library Director Deborah Barrow asking that the library drop its sponsorship of the talk or invite a local Muslim leader to offer a “mainstream perspective” at the event....
San Diego (Calif.) Union Tribune, Aug. 11

Broward sprinkler test gets out of control
The Broward County (Fla.) Main Library in Fort Lauderdale reopened August 10 after workers finished cleaning up from an internal flood caused by a sprinkler test that went awry. A large quantity of water began gushing from the seventh floor and cascaded through the atrium to the ground floor early on August 7. Library Director Bob Cannon said there appeared to be no damage to the sixth-floor rare book collection except for two old comic books in a flooded display case....
Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel, Aug. 10

Software workers upgrade school library
Some 65 employees of Fishbowl, a software company in Orem, Utah, went back to school for a day on August 7. As a result of their visit, when students and teachers return August 19 to Springville’s Cherry Creek Elementary School, they will find a refurbished library with books that have been repaired and on new shelves. But what they won’t see may make the biggest difference—a new computer database to manage the school’s other library, the one for the levels reading program that helps small groups of students working at the same reading level....
Salt Lake City Deseret News, Aug. 7

Certified lunar librarianship
The new exhibit at the Plymouth (Mass.) Public Library is so out of this world that Youth Services Librarian Margaret McGrath needed a special certification from NASA to handle it. For two weeks in August she will carry a special NASA briefcase with her nearly everywhere she goes. The briefcase, kept locked overnight at police headquarters, contains six samples of moon rocks and six fragments of meteorites for the library’s “Plymouth Rocks the Moon” exhibit....
Plymouth (Mass.) Old Colony Memorial, Aug. 8

YA librarian does not survive game show
After spending seven weeks appearing on TV across the United States, Dan Barbour was eliminated from ABC’s I Survived a Japanese Game Show during the July 29 episode. A young adult librarian at the Shrewsbury (Mass.) Public Library since 2007, Barbour said part of the appeal of being on the show was traveling to a foreign country. The show follows 12 Americans who leave the U.S. for Japan and participate in various games played on a typical Japanese game show for a grand prize of $250,000....
Shrewsbury (Mass.) Chronicle, Aug. 5

Plan to merge cultural office with libraries ruffles feathers
A proposal in the pending Dallas city budget to combine the Office of Cultural Affairs with the city library system has so dismayed arts supporters that it has overshadowed their concerns about a 30% spending cut. “Arts and culture should be regarded as an economic development issue, something that will attract money and people to the city,” said Veletta Forsythe Lill, director of the Dallas Arts District. “To change that is to regard it as simply the delivery of a service, like the library.”...
Dallas Morning News, Aug. 9

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School IT chiefs mull Windows 7
Software giant Microsoft is hoping to erase the bad memories of its upgrade to Vista with its release of Windows 7 this October. The program has drawn several favorable initial reviews, but upgrading won’t be without its challenges for schools still using Windows XP, some early testers report. Switching from XP to Windows 7 will require a custom install because there are no supported upgrade paths. What this means for XP users is that everything on their hard disks must be wiped out to install Windows 7....
eSchool News, Aug. 11

How to buy a mini-projector
Portable projectors keep getting smaller and lighter. Whereas a 12-pound projector once qualified as portable, now it’s considered acceptable only for carrying from room to room. The smallest, lightest projectors today are small enough so you can bring one along without a second thought, stuffing it into a briefcase or even a pocket. However, some compromises go along with the small size—notably low brightness levels. If you’re thinking about getting a small projector, considering these questions first will help you pick the right one....
PC Magazine, Aug. 10

Google’s Caffeine: A jolt to search rankings?
Tom Krazit writes: “One of the largest behind-the-scenes updates to Google’s search technology in three years is under way, as the company reworks its computing muscle. On August 10, Google quietly began soliciting feedback for Caffeine, a new system for web searches being tested completely separately from the live search results. Users might notice that things have gotten a little faster. Also, the changes to Google’s indexing methods will likely have an impact on the way websites are presented on the extremely important first page of search results, hence the need for testing and feedback.” PC World offers a Caffeine FAQ....
Webware, Aug. 11; Google Webmaster Central Blog, Aug. 10; PC World, Aug. 11

14 Facebook ills and how to cure them
Sean Captain writes: “Facebook’s various bugs, glitches, and buried features are intimidating and off-putting to newbies and continuing irritants even to obsessive fans. We polled both types and trolled the web for top complaints. Then we sat down with Facebook to see if they had a fix—or at least an explanation—for each gripe. Read on for our list of common Facebook pains and the best pain relievers.”...
Switched, July 30

Online-request software for special collections
A handful of special collections departments, including those at the University of Chicago and University of Texas at Austin, have started using Aeon, an online request and management system developed by Atlas Systems of Virginia Beach. The software eliminates many of the paper forms and records used to register users and keep track of requests. Patrons, both on and off campus, can create an account, request items directly from online catalogs and finding aids, and monitor their borrowing history....
The Wired Campus, Aug. 10

10 ways to archive your tweets
Sarah Perez writes: “Did you know that your tweets have an expiration date on them? While they never really disappear from your own Twitter stream, they become unsearchable in only a matter of days. What that means is something tweeted prior to a week and a half ago can never be retrieved via search.twitter.com. That’s bad for users and it’s definitely bad for data mining. Unless Twitter corrects this issue on its own, we have to find another solution for archiving tweets ourselves. Here are 10 ways to do so.”...
ReadWriteWeb, Aug. 11

Time to clean your digital closet
Chris O’Brien writes: “There is a widespread, and mistaken, belief that because information is being stored in digital form on a device or in the cloud, it will endure. In fact, the opposite is true. For a host of reasons, our digital data is even more vulnerable than paper. The problem is getting worse. Technology is enabling us to fall further behind every year when it comes to our personal digital archives. There are some strategies for storing your digital archives, but you will need to start thinking like a librarian and become an active curator of your files.”...
San José (Calif.) Mercury News, July 30

Textbooks are becoming history
Textbooks have not gone the way of the scroll yet, but many educators say that it will not be long before they are replaced by digital versions—or supplanted altogether by lessons assembled from the wealth of free courseware, educational games, videos, and projects on the web. “Kids are wired differently these days,” said Sheryl R. Abshire, chief technology officer for the Calcasieu Parish school system in Lake Charles, Louisiana....
New York Times, Aug. 8

Best children’s book-to-film adaptations
Betsy Bird writes: “As any children’s librarian will attest, once the cinematic version of a children’s book comes out, suddenly copies of the original text begin to disappear from library shelves. But listing terrible children’s book-to-film adaptations is like shooting fish in a big, slippery, slimy barrel. So here is my own personal list of adaptations to full-length feature films (sorry, Grinch) that I think worked particularly well. Some videos will spruce it up a bit too, don’t you think?”...
A Fuse #8 Production, Aug. 8

Jewish group backs scholarly Mein Kampf edition
Jewish leaders in Germany have backed a renewed push by historians to publish Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf for the first time in Germany since 1945. This scholarly edition would be accompanied by a critical introduction and footnotes challenging Hitler’s assertions under a proposal by Munich historians. Stephan Kramer, general secretary of the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland, gave his support to the project, saying it would “prevent neo-Nazi profiteering.” The state of Bavaria has a 70-year exclusive copyright on the book, which it has used to maintain an effective ban, but that expires in 2015....
The Telegraph (U.K.), Aug. 6

Cambridge offers classic books in PoD editions
On July 20, Cambridge University Press launched the Cambridge Library Collection, a new project to reissue scholarly books from its extensive backlist. The collection started out with 475 titles, to celebrate the 475 years since the press was granted permission to print “all manner of books” by Henry VIII. By the end of this year, this number will grow to more than 1,000. The books are produced using state-of-the-art scanning and print-on-demand technology....
Cambridge University Press, July 20

Chicago’s new YOUmedia space for teens
Wendy Stephens writes: “One of the best things I brought home from ALA Annual Conference was a new way of imagining where we connect teens with books. I attended the open house of YOUmedia, ‘a digital library space for teens’ in Chicago Public Library’s Harold Washington Library Center on July 11. It was the teens enjoying the space who transformed the event into a laboratory experiment in serving teens, who are partly digital.”...
AASL Blog, Aug. 10

Teens don’t tweet—or do they?
Danah Boyd writes: “On August 5, Mashable reported Nielsen’s latest Twitter numbers with the headline Stats Confirm It: Teens Don’t Tweet. This gained traction on Twitter with teens responding by saying ‘I’m a teen’ or the equivalent of ‘you’re all idiots...what am I, mashed potatoes?’ I want to unpack some of what played out because I’m astonished by the misinterpretations in every which direction. As Fred Stutzman has pointed out, there are reasons to question Nielsen’s methodology and, thus, their findings.”...
Apophenia, Aug. 6; Mashable, Aug. 5; Unit Structures, Aug. 5

Florida State explores digital content for school libraries
A research study at Florida State University, “Digital Libraries to School Libraries (DL2SL): A Strategy for Lasting K–12 Open Content Implementation,” will explore how school libraries can successfully integrate digital library “open content” in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics into their collections and services. The project is headed by Marcia Mardis (above), an assistant professor at Florida State’s SLIS. Open content refers to digital materials that can be downloaded, edited, and combined....
Florida State University, July 30; Vimeo, Aug. 5

WorldCat local usability results
Lorcan Dempsey writes: “I posted a while ago about the potential benefits of sharing usability results between libraries, and there was some interest in WorldCat usability testing at the time. In that context, some readers may be interested in a report (PDF file) that OCLC prepared for distribution at ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. There is a lot of interesting material in its readable 8 pages, but I was especially interested to see the section on FRBR.”...
Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog, Aug. 7

IFLA video webchats
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions will hold its annual World Library and Information Congress in Milan, Italy, August 23–29. The U.S. Embassy in Rome and Co.Nx are hosting a series of video webchats in conjunction with the conference August 23–25. To participate, go to the webchat site and enter as a guest....
America.gov, Webchats & Webcasts

Public access technology survey
Responses to this survey will help the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation understand how libraries currently maintain their public access computers. This knowledge will also assist MaintainIT Project (recently renamed TechSoup for Libraries) and WebJunction, two library-focused technical support organizations funded by the foundation, in developing useful tools and resources for public libraries. The deadline is August 25....
TechSoup for Libraries, Aug. 7

Comic books and libraries: Together at last
Charlie Thomason writes: “The stereotype that comic books don’t belong in libraries is nearly dead. Thanks to library directors across the country, many comics and graphics novels are now considered valuable, credible literature and a great way to encourage kids and teens to read more. Additionally, the top comic book publishers—DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, and Image—are seeing libraries occupy a substantial part of their market.”...
@ your library, Aug. 11

Online adventure story to launch at National Book Festival
National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jon Scieszka is the first in a chain of authors who are writing a serial adventure story for publication on a new Library of Congress website. Cosponsored by the Center for the Book and the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, “The Exquisite Corpse Adventure” will bring young and old together with rollicking family entertainment. The updated website and the initial installment of the story will premiere at the National Book Festival on September 26....
Library of Congress, Aug. 7

The Oak Park Transgender Resource Collection
Oak Park (Ill.) Public Library undertook an extensive collection evaluation project in 2005, which included looking at diversity in the collection. This effort ultimately led to the creation of the first focused transgender resource collection in a public library in the United States. The library applied for and received an LSTA grant that allowed them to select, purchase, classify, and process $3,000 worth of circulating nonfiction books, audiobooks, and DVDs on transgender issues....
Metropolitan Library System E-nnounce 2, no. 9

College sustainability report card
Check out how your college or university ranks according to this green report card. The Sustainable Endowments Institute created this sustainability report card to rank hundreds of schools in the U.S. according to 43 indicators including energy, policies, staff, purchases, food/dining, building, students, and transportation. Search for your school, compare schools, search by category, or check out the list of top schools....
Sustainable Endowments Institute

UCSB gets more funding for its Victor discography
The University of California, Santa Barbara, library has been awarded a second National Endowment for the Humanities grant to further develop an online encyclopedia of all the recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company (which later became RCA Victor) from 1900 to 1950. The discography of Victor records is making the history of recorded sound in the United States broadly accessible to scholars and the public for the first time....
University of California, Santa Barbara, Aug. 6

Library cuts hours (satire)
Jeremy Aldrich writes: “Due to recent budget cuts, the Massanutten Regional Library in Harrisonburg, Virginia, will only be open for five frenzied minutes each week from now on. Citing a reduction in funding from donors and local governments, library director Susan Stimley said the board had to choose between being open for five minutes each week, or for one hour every twelve weeks. Since books are only checked out for two weeks at a time the choice was obvious, she says.” (The library actually did have to reduce its hours, but not so drastically.)...
Crocktown, Aug. 5; WHSV-TV, Harrisonburg, Va., July 1

New Google service lets privacy critics opt out, relocate (satire)
Concerned about your privacy while using Google? The internet giant says that it understands. Google is now offering users an opportunity to opt out and live in privacy in a remote mountain village where they are guaranteed an environment free from Google products and natural light from the sun. Within minutes, a Google van can come to your house and pick you up....
The Onion News Network, Aug. 11

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