Contents
American Libraries Online
ALA News
Booklist Online
Division News
Round Table News
Awards
Seen Online
Tech Talk
Publishing
Actions & Answers
New This Week
Calendar

Save the library, urge Los Angeles Public Library workers
The union that represents Los Angeles Public Library workers has mounted a campaign to stave off an anticipated reduction in LAPL’s workforce over five years. As of early March, the FY2010 plan to help narrow a municipal deficit of $212 million hinged on the early retirement of 145 library employees and the elimination of 110 unfilled full-time positions from LAPL’s staff of 1,100. Roy Stone, president of the Librarians Guild local of the AFSCME, explained the situation March 3 in a radio interview on KPFK’s Uprising show (MP3 file). Advocacy efforts also include the establishment of a Save the Library website and a Facebook page to grow a grassroots pushback against the administration....
American Libraries news, Mar. 3

Congress extends Patriot Act provisions
The U.S. House of Representatives sent President Obama a bill extending three often-contested provisions of the Patriot Act on the evening of February 26, two days before the sections were due to expire. Approved by a vote of 315–97 the night after the Senate passed the bill by voice vote, H.R. 3961 extends until February 28, 2011, the surveillance sections, which have prompted repeated statements of concern from library organizations and civil-liberties groups. The president is expected to sign the legislation....
American Libraries news, Feb. 26

LJ, SLJ sold to private equity firm
“Reed Business Information has taken another step in the divestment of its U.S.-based magazines,” Folio magazine reported March 1, saying that the publisher has sold Library Journal and School Library Journal to Plain City, Ohio–based Media Source, an acquisitions platform of Riverside Company, a global private equity firm. Library Journal Editor-in-Chief Francine Fialkoff blogged about the sale on the magazine’s website, saying she was “pleased, and relieved, at the turn of events that has aligned us with a library company.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, Mar. 2; Folio, Mar. 1; Library Journal, Mar. 2

IMAX offers kids seats to Hubble 3D film
Avid library patrons will be able to journey through distant galaxies and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult tasks in the history of NASA, thanks to a new partnership between IMAX and ALA. Through April 30, ALA’s public awareness website, atyourlibrary.org, will host “Explore the Universe @ your library,” a contest held in partnership with IMAX’s Hubble 3D movie. Hubble 3D opens in IMAX and IMAX 3D theaters across the country March 19....
American Libraries news, Mar. 3

Will’s World: My favorite medium
Will Manley writes: “The guy driving the airport shuttle van couldn’t get over it. I had arrived at the Philadelphia airport and was to be driven to a speaking engagement at a library conference in New Jersey. I had called the driver from home before I left to give him the details of my flight arrival. Nonchalantly, he said, ‘Just call me on your cell phone when you get in.’ When I told him that I didn’t have a cell phone, I thought the line had gone dead.”...
American Libraries column, Apr.

Styrofoam, paper, ceramic, stainless steel, or corn?
Laura Bruzas writes: “Does your library offer coffee and tea to its patrons and staff? If so, you may want to consider serving them in something other than a polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) cup—if you are not already doing so. Why? In addition to the potential health-related risks, there are environmental concerns.”...
AL: Green Your Library, Mar. 2

“Ask the ALA Librarian” is now an AL blog
American Libraries is partnering on a new blog with the ALA Library to deliver sought-after information based on the current crop of frequently asked questions. ALA Library staff will blog daily on “Ask the ALA Librarian,” offering another way to stay on top of library-related issues that are on people’s minds. “We’ve had great response to the weekly ‘Ask the ALA Librarian’ feature in AL Direct,” said ALA Librarian Karen Muller....
American Libraries news, Mar. 3

ALA, other groups call on FCC to adopt net neutrality
Eleven library and higher education-related institutions and organizations sent a letter (PDF file) March 1 to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski in support of preserving an open internet. The groups asserted that internet service providers have strong incentives to degrade certain internet services, and new technologies increasingly allow them to control internet traffic without end-user knowledge. They urged the adoption of net neutrality principles including nondiscrimination and transparency....
District Dispatch, Mar. 1

ALA hosts broadband discussion on Capitol Hill
ALA hosted an event in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill to unveil the Federal Communications Commission and the Social Science Research Council study findings of the SSRC report Broadband Adoption in Low-Income Communities (PDF file). The FCC commissioned the study to help inform their understanding of barriers to broadband adoption and to shape the National Broadband Plan due to Congress on March 17 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act....
District Dispatch, Mar. 2

Broadband filing deadlines extended
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service will grant a limited extension of time to file infrastructure applications in the second funding round. Specifically, applicants for Broadband Technology Opportunities Program Comprehensive Community Infrastructure projects will have until March 26 to file their applications with NTIA. Applicants for Broadband Initiatives Program infrastructure projects will have until March 29 to file with RUS....
District Dispatch, Mar. 2

Library career recruitment: A survey
To help improve ALA’s efforts to recruit a diverse pool of individuals to the profession of librarianship, you are invited to participate in a web-based survey that focuses on the usefulness of existing recruitment materials. The survey is being conducted by the ALA 2010 Emerging Leaders Project Team S on behalf of the ALA Recruitment Assembly. The survey should take approximately 5–10 minutes to complete. The deadline is March 12....
Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Feb. 25

Proposals for ALA Research Series
The Office for Research and Statistics is inviting book and article proposals for the peer-reviewed ALA Research Series. The series expands the knowledge base of library research by publishing quantitative or qualitative research and analysis that addresses topics important to libraries. Research must be completed and have been conducted in the past three years. All submissions must be received electronically by close of business April 30....
Office for Research and Statistics, Mar. 3

Apply for “Picturing America” program grants
The Public Programs Office has announced five new reading and discussion themes based on the popular Let’s Talk About It model and inspired by the National Endowment for the Humanities Picturing America collection. The Let’s Talk About It: Picturing America series has been developed to support public libraries in their efforts to conduct high-quality humanities programs that highlight the Picturing America collection. All public libraries who received the collection are eligible to apply for 30 programming grants of $2,000 by March 31....
Public Programs Office, Feb. 25

Connect with National Library Week
The Campaign for America’s Libraries wants to know how communities thrive @ your library. Share your story on the National Library Week community in ALA Connect. Celebrating the “Communities Thrive @ your library” theme, its mission is to create a community where librarians of all types can communicate their ideas and develop new ways to celebrate and promote National Library Week. The National Library Week community is open to all....
Campaign for America’s Libraries, Mar. 2

The first library bill of rights
Q. When did ALA first adopt the Library Bill of Rights? A. The first Library Bill of Rights was approved by the ALA Council at its meeting on June 19, 1939, during the Annual Conference in San Francisco. It was modeled on a similar statement written by Forrest Spaulding, librarian at the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Library. A news item in the ALA Bulletin (precursor to American Libraries) in the December 1939 issue stated, “Forrest Spaulding of Des Moines has been appointed by the Executive Board as chairman of a special committee on censorship, following the recent banning by a number of libraries of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.”...
AL: Ask the ALA Librarian, Mar. 1

RDA in Cataloger’s Desktop
Cataloger’s Desktop subscribers will soon be able to access the RDA Toolkit, due in June 2010. Cataloger’s Desktop is the Library of Congress’s integrated, online documentation system for cataloging and metadata resources. RDA Toolkit is a browser-based, online collection of cataloging-related documents and resources, including RDA (Resource Description and Access). Used together, Cataloger’s Desktop and RDA represent the current state of the art in cataloging and metadata documentation....
ALA Digital Reference, Mar. 3

Volunteer for JCLC 2012 committees
The 2nd National Joint Conference of Librarians of Color will be held September 19–23, 2012, in Kansas City, Missouri. The theme is “Gathering at the Waters: Celebrating Stories, Embracing Communities.” The JCLC 2012 Steering Committee seeks volunteers to contribute to one of the most dynamic conference-planning experiences available—service on one of the JCLC 2012 planning committees. Committees are expected to start working at or before the ALA 2010 Annual Conference in Washington D.C....
Office for Diversity

Association of Jewish Libraries affiliates with ALA
The Association of Jewish Libraries has become an affiliate of ALA, effective in January. Affiliates enjoy representation at ALA conferences and in ALA print and online publications. AJL, established in 1966, promotes Jewish literacy through enhancement of libraries and library resources and through leadership for the profession and practitioners of Judaica librarianship....
People of the Book, Feb. 24

Teen Tech Week publicity tools
School and public libraries can promote Teen Tech Week, March 7–13, with online resources offered by YALSA: logos, a sample press release, letter to the editor, as well as customizable PSA scripts, and downloadable audio PSAs featuring Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants. The 2010 Teen Tech Week theme is “Learn Create Share @ your library”...
YALSA, Feb. 23

25th anniversary of School Library Month
In April, AASL will observe the 25th Anniversary of School Library Month, celebrated in conjunction with National Library Week, April 12–18. Every April, school librarians are encouraged to create activities to help their school and local community celebrate the essential role that strong school library programs play in a student's educational career. The 2010 theme is “Communities Thrive @ your library.”...
AASL, Mar. 2

Tickets available for 2010 ALSC Arbuthnot Lecture
Tickets to attend the 2010 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, featuring Kathleen T. Horning, director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, are now available. The lecture is administered by ALSC and will be hosted this year by the Riverside County Library System, in collaboration with the University of California, Riverside. The lecture, “Can Children’s Books Save the World?” is scheduled for May 13 at the UCR Extension Center....
ALSC, Mar. 2

Apply for the 2010 ACRL Immersion Program
ACRL invites academic librarians to apply for its Immersion ’10 program. The Immersion Program Intentional Teacher and Assessment Tracks will be offered simultaneously November 10–14, in Nashville, Tennessee. Applications for both tracks are being accepted through May 7. This program will approach assessment from a learning-centered perspective....
ACRL, Mar. 2

How picturebooks work
ALSC will present its 2010 Annual Conference Preconference, “Drawn to Delight: How Picturebooks Work (and Play) Today,” June 25 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The preconference will provide a one-of-a-kind look into the world of picturebooks, as art directors, museum educators, and award-winning illustrators (including Jerry Pinkney, author and illustrator of The Lion and the Mouse, above) take attendees through the creative and collaborative journey of picture book development. Advance registration ends May 15....
ALSC, Mar. 2

RUSA preconference on the future of reference
Reference and user services professionals won’t want to miss the upcoming workshop, “Reference Evolution: Envisioning the Future, Remembering the Past,” hosted by RUSA prior to the ALA 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. The event is an opportunity to participate in a lively discussion of the current state of the profession, to see beyond the hype, and identify where things are actually headed. Advance registration ends May 14....
RUSA, Mar. 2

Learning Round Table adopts new logo
The ALA Learning Round Table unveiled a new logo on its blog February 25. The new logo contains a vibrant palette of colors including purple, blue, orange and green. The abstract design has many different meanings and the public is encouraged to comment on the ALA Learning site and describe what the design represents to them....
Learning Round Table, Feb. 25

Kathleen McCook to present 2010 Coleman Lecture
Kathleen de la Peña McCook, distinguished university professor at the University of South Florida SLIS in Tampa, will present the 2010 Dr. Jean E. Coleman Outreach Lecture for the ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services at the 2010 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 28. This year’s lecture, “Librarians and Human Rights,” will present a historical and cultural analysis of the librarian’s role in human rights, as defined by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights....
Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, Mar. 2

Olivia Madison selected for Margaret Mann Citation
Iowa State University Library Dean Olivia Madison has received the 2010 Margaret Mann Citation presented by the ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section. The citation, recognizing outstanding professional achievement in cataloging or classification, includes a $2,000 scholarship donated in the recipient’s honor by OCLC to the library school of the winner’s choice. Madison selected the University of Missouri graduate MLS program....
ALCTS, Mar. 2

Cloonan wins 2010 Banks/Harris Preservation Award
Michèle V. Cloonan, dean and professor of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College, is the recipient of the 2010 Paul Banks and Carolyn Harris Preservation Award. The award recognizes the contribution of a professional preservation specialist who has been active in the field of preservation or conservation for library or archival materials....
ALCTS, Mar. 2

2010 ALCTS Ulrich’s Serials Librarianship Award
ALCTS has named Steven C. Shadle, serials access librarian at the University of Washington Libraries, the 2010 recipient of the Ulrich’s Serials Librarianship Award. Shadle has become “the voice of e-serials” cataloging based on his expert knowledge of e-serials and cataloging, his ready answers to serials questions on discussion lists, and the multitude of catalogers and trainers he has trained and mentored....
ALCTS, Feb. 25

2010 ALCTS Coutts Award
The ALCTS Collection Management and Development Section has declared Galadriel Chilton, electronic resources librarian, and William Doering, systems, catalog, and digital initiatives librarian at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, winners of the Coutts Award for Innovation in Electronic Resources Management. The pair developed ERMes, an open source electronic resource management system that allows for effective management of electronic resources....
ALCTS, Mar. 2

2010 ACRL Instruction Section Innovation Award
University of Alberta Augustana Campus Head Librarian Nancy Goebel and Web Applications Specialist Dylan Anderson have been selected to receive the 2010 ACRL Instruction Section’s Innovation Award for developing WASSAIL, an information literacy assessment project. Sponsored by Lexis-Nexis, the annual award recognizes a project that demonstrates creative, innovative, or unique approaches to information literacy instruction or programming....
ACRL, Mar. 2

2010 ACRL ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award
Sigrid Kelsey and Angela K. VandenBroek, both of Louisiana State University, have been named recipients of the ACRL College Libraries Section ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award. This award honors an ALA member who has demonstrated a capacity for innovation in their work with undergraduates, instructors, or the library community. The award cites their development of a Subject Guide Toolbox....
ACRL, Mar. 2

Promote YALSA’s Youth Media Award winners
In January, YALSA and ALA announced the winners of the 2010 Youth Media Awards. As you begin highlighting the award winners at your library, be sure to take advantage of promotional tools from YALSA: downloadable bookmarks (PDF file) that list the winners and the honor books, and customizable press releases....
YALSA Blog, Feb. 25

YALSA’s Morris/Nonfiction Book Trailer contest
YALSA has declared Emily Fitch of Fort Wayne, Indiana, the winner of the 2010 Morris/Nonfiction Book Trailer contest. Fitch created a book trailer (2:16) based on The Everafter, a 2010 William C. Morris finalist. She won a $100 gift card to Powell’s Bookstore, as well as $100 in books and materials from YALSA. Her librarian, Mari Hardacre, won $200 in materials from YALSA for sponsoring Emily....
YALSA, Mar. 2; YouTube, Jan. 12

Bogle-Pratt travel grant winner
Susan Matveyeva is the 2010 recipient of the ALA International Relations Committee’s Bogle-Pratt International Library Travel Fund grant. The Bogle Memorial Fund and the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science will provide a $1,000 cash award for Matveyeva to attend her first international conference in Madrid, Spain. Matveyeva is cataloging and institutional repository librarian at Wichita State University....
International Relations Office, Mar. 2

Travel scholarships for the Emerging Leaders Institute
The Office for Diversity is offering an opportunity for library school students and recent graduates to attend the upcoming Spectrum Leadership Institute, June 23–25, in Washington, D.C. Twenty travel scholarships for the institute are available through the “REACH 21: Preparing the Next Generation of Librarians for Leadership” project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Preference will be given to those applications received by April 15....
Office for Diversity, Feb. 26

Nominate a school librarian–teacher team
The Technology Innovation Award, administered by the Media Specialists SIG of the International Society for Technology in Education, is presented to a school librarian and collaborating teacher who have conducted an exemplary technology program extending beyond the library to meet the needs of classroom students and teachers. The purpose of this award is to identify, promote, and sustain excellence in collaborative and innovative technology-based projects driven by the school library media center. The deadline is March 31....
International Society for Technology in Education

2010 OCLC/ALISE research grants
OCLC Research and the Association for Library and Information Science Education have awarded 2010 Library and Information Science Research Grants to Louise Spiteri of Dalhousie University and Laurel Tarulli of Halifax Public Libraries; Hsin-liang Chen and Barbara Albee of Indiana University; and Besiki Stvilia and Corinne Jörgensen of Florida State University. The grants support research that advances librarianship and information science....
OCLC, Feb. 25

2010 Golden Kite Awards
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators has announced the winners and honorees of the 2010 Golden Kite Awards (for books published in the 2009 calendar year.) The Golden Kite Award is the only award presented to children’s book authors and artists by their peers. The categories are fiction, nonfiction, picture book text, and picture book illustration. Sea of the Dead by Julia Durango won in the fiction category....
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Mar. 1

American History Book Prize
Brown University History Professor Gordon S. Wood has won the American History Book Prize for Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815, an account of how America’s leaders created the country’s democratic institutions. The award, presented by the New-York Historical Society, comes with a $50,000 prize, an engraved medal and the title of American Historian Laureate....
New York Times, Feb. 28

National Library, museums damaged in Chilean earthquake
The National Library of Chile in Santiago has closed to the public after suffering damage in the February 27 earthquake. A crack in the dome, cracks in the walls that run from the first to the fourth floors, and cracks in the ceilings in several sections are being assessed by structural engineers. Other damaged buildings include the National Archives, the Recoleta Dominica (housing offices of the Library, Archives, and Museums headquarters), the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Historical Museum, and the Museum of Education Gabriela Mistral....
El Mercurio (Santiago), Feb. 28, Mar. 2

UCSD library noose incident ignites protests
A University of California, San Diego. student has admitted hanging a rope tied into a noose February 25 on a bookshelf on the seventh floor of the Geisel Library. The discovery triggered protests at a school plagued by racially charged incidents and resulted in an occupation of Chancellor Marye Anne Fox’s office for six hours. The anonymous female student issued an apology March 1, claiming it was left accidentally and was not intended as a racial insult. Students have reclaimed the spot where the noose was found by posting a positive and uplifting statement and strewing the tables and floor with roses of different colors (above). The library cancelled its annual March 2 Dr. Seuss birthday celebration at the request of his widow Audrey Geisel. Another incident occurred March 1 when a crudely fashioned, KKK-style hood made out of a pillowcase was found covering the head of the Theodore Geisel statue adjacent to the library....
Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27; UC Regent Live(blog), Mar. 1; KGTV, San Diego, Feb. 28; UC San Diego Libraries; San Diego Union-Tribune, Mar. 3

Supreme Court reinstates settlement with writers
The Supreme Court on March 2 resurrected a possible settlement in a 2001 class-action lawsuit, New York Times Company v. Tasini, brought by freelance writers who said that newspapers and magazines had committed copyright infringement by making their contributions available on electronic databases. The settlement was delayed in November 2007 when a divided three-judge appeals court panel refused to approve it on grounds that it had not been advanced by any party. The Supreme Court unanimously reversed that decision....
New York Times, Mar. 2

Community college librarian charged with mail threats
The director of library services at the Community College of Aurora, Colorado, for years had sent death threats and insults to politicians, diplomats, and former acquaintances, school and federal officials said. Jay DeVaughn, was charged in federal court March 1 with one count of sending a threatening letter to a couple he knew in 2008. DeVaughn could also face charges of sending white powder and threatening letters to the offices of U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet and U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette and Mike Coffman, according to federal prosecutors....
Denver Post, Mar. 2

Naked library thief at Ypsilanti library
A local man is accused of getting naked and stealing children’s books from the Michigan Avenue branch of the Ypsilanti (Mich.) District Library. Police said 52-year-old Terrence Miles emerged from the children’s section in the nude on February 25 and thrust his hips toward a library worker before putting his clothes back on and stealing a handful of children’s books. In addition to criminal charges, library officials said they are in the process of revoking Miles’s library privileges....
WDIV-TV, Detroit, Mar. 2

Luis Soriano’s Biblioburro: CNN’s hero of the week
To the unaccustomed eye, a man toting 120 books while riding a stubborn donkey would seem nothing short of a circus spectacle. But for hundreds of children in the rural villages of Colombia, Luis Soriano, 38, is far from a clown. Soriano is a primary school teacher who spends his free time operating a “biblioburro,” a mobile library on donkeys that offers reading education for hundreds of children living in what he describes as “abandoned regions” in the Colombian state of Magdalena....
CNN, Feb. 26

UMich library retires its card catalog
The University of Michigan Library’s card catalogs will be removed from their home in the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library on March 8. The card catalog has been in disuse for more than 20 years, ever since the university established the MIRLYN electronic catalog in 1988. Dean of Libraries Paul Courant said the space is needed for study tables and additional seating....
AnnArbor.com, Feb. 28

Rock around the archives
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s library and archives will open to the public late in 2010 at the new Center for Creative Arts on Cuyahoga Community College’s Metropolitan Campus, two miles away from the Cleveland museum. Through a capital campaign, the nonprofit hall raised $12 million for its stake in CCC’s $35-million building. The college footed the remainder of the bill with state funds. “We want this to be the world’s preeminent research center for rock ’n’ roll,” said Andy Leach, director of the library and archives....
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 28

Law firm librarian makes a legal fashion statement
Law Librarian Kathy Kelly is seeking a patent for her unique recycling method: She makes purses and laptop computer cases from the covers of outdated law books and other volumes. The firm where she works, Knox, McLaughlin, Gornall, and Sennett in Erie, Pennsylvania, disposes of hundreds of books each year. Each of her products, called BookBags, takes around eight hours to assemble....
Pittsburgh (Pa.) Tribune-Review, Feb. 28

Collecting aerospace history
The National Science Foundation has awarded the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, a two-year grant of $367,000 to archive the history of the aerospace industry in Southern California. University of Southern California historian Peter Westwick, director of the project, said most of the region’s rich history was lost after the corporate consolidation of aerospace firms in the 1990s. The library will collect documents, photos, and oral histories of key players in the industry....
Whittier (Calif.) Daily News, Feb. 28; Huntington Library, Feb. 2

Book dealer denies stealing Durham First Folio
A British book dealer has denied stealing a Shakespeare First Folio taken from Durham University in 1998. Raymond Scott claims that he found the 1623 book—one of only 228 copies known—while visiting his fiancée Heidy Rios, a 21-year-old dancer at the Tropicana Club in Havana. He appeared at Newcastle Crown Court February 26 to deny three charges of theft, handling stolen goods, and removing criminal property....
The Times (U.K.), Feb. 27; BBC News, Feb. 26

British libraries protest government Wi-Fi plans
Libraries and universities in the U.K. are protesting plans to make them police users of wireless networks. The government’s Digital Economy Bill includes plans to make them responsible for what is done over free Wi-Fi. The plans imply that libraries, universities, and cafés offering free wireless will be responsible if people use it to pirate movies and music....
BBC News, Mar. 1

Manchester sends its books to the salt mines
One million books from the Central Library (right) in Manchester, England, including rare volumes dating back to the 15th century, will be put into temporary storage in the Cheshire salt mines. Experts say the mine’s caverns—the size of 700 soccer fields—provide the perfect environment for preserving the books, which will remain underground for three years while the library goes through a major renovation....
Manchester (U.K.) Evening News, Jan. 29

Restored Tamil library in Sri Lanka signals hope
The most potent symbol of the Sri Lankan Civil War, and the uneasy peace since fighting ended in May 2009, is Jaffna’s public library, which was torched in 1981 by an anti-Tamil mob. Nearly 100,000 books and manuscripts, including irreplaceable palm-leaf Tamil texts, went up in smoke. The library reopened in 2003, but restoring its spirit presents a far greater challenge, said Chief Librarian S. Thanabaalasinham....
Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 24

Go back to the Top

Planning for a mobile website
Cindi Trainor writes: “How do you create a mobile website for your library? There are many resources available for those who want to dig in and get it done. Creating a mobile version of our website is a goal for this year in my library, so I’ve been focusing professional-development efforts on this lately. Here is a summary of an ACRL preconference on the topic held before the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston.”...
ALA TechSource Blog, Mar. 2

What is the Windows registry and should I clean it?
The How-to Geek writes: “There’s nothing more mysterious on a Windows PC than the registry, and today we’ll explain exactly what it is, how it works, and whether you should bother cleaning it. We’ll also go about debunking a few widespread registry myths along the way. The Windows registry is a hierarchical database that stores settings for virtually everything on a Windows PC.”...
Lifehacker, Mar. 1

Google Analytics for Facebook pages
One of the limitations of Facebook fan pages is that you can only run limited Javascript on them; Google Analytics needs Javascript code included to correctly track visitors. London web development company Webdigi has successfully managed to get all functions of Google Analytics working on its Facebook page (including visitor statistics, traffic sources, visitor country, and keyword searches). The workaround is to include Google Analytics as an image instead of setting the standard Javascript....
PHP, Web, and IT Stuff, Feb. 22

QR Codes for libraries
Aaron Tay writes: “QR Codes are basically two-dimensional barcodes that can be used to store URLs or text. They can be used to quickly pull data from the physical world into mobile phones that are equipped with free QR Code readers (like BeeTagg). Simply scan the QR Code with the phone camera, and the reader will pull the information. Here is some information that pulls together all the ideas I have seen on the use of QR Codes in libraries.”...
Musings about Librarianship, Feb. 27

10 takeaways from the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference
Sue Polanka writes: “On February 22–24, I attended the O’Reilly Tools of Change Conference for the first time. More than 1,250 attendees gathered in New York City to discuss and network about issues and trends in publishing, in particular, digital publishing. While much of the information presented was for the publishing industry, I did manage to find several great ideas and concepts that relate to libraries. I’d like to share these with you.”...
No Shelf Required, Feb. 26

The e-book network effect
Joe Wikert writes: “A presentation by Bob Pritchett at the Tools of Change conference is causing me to stop looking at individual e-books and start thinking much bigger. I downloaded the Logos iPhone app during Bob’s talk so that I could have a better feel for what he was describing. It comes with a number of books built in, including a few Bibles. This is the network effect: You start reading the Bible in the Logos app but before you know it you’ve hopped to several other resources, clicking from one link to the next, learning more and more along the way.”...
TeleRead: Bring the E-books Home, Mar. 1

Oregon State library sees demand for Kindles soar
For students looking to temper sober textbook readings with a literary escape into the world of vampires and zombies, Oregon State University is loaning out Amazon Kindle electronic readers stocked with the latest in popular books. In November, the university began lending Kindle e-readers to students and faculty willing to part from traditional page flipping and embrace a technology being tested on campuses nationwide....
eCampus News, Mar. 1

The mathematics of e-book pricing
Just how much does it actually cost to produce a printed book versus a digital one? Publishers differ on how they account for various costs, but a composite, and necessarily simplified, picture might look like this, according to interviews with executives at several major houses....
New York Times, Mar. 1

The Dr. Seuss books that scared me
Abby Johnson writes: “March 2 was Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Now, I loved Dr. Seuss as much as the next kid. But today, I want to talk about two of his books that scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. (I mean, c’mon, everyone is talking about the Seuss books they liked.) The first book really needs no explanation, I think: Bartholomew and the Oobleck. [shudders].”...
Abby (the) Librarian, Mar. 2

The 75 books you should own for DC Comics’ 75th anniversary
Graeme McMillan writes: “2010 is the 75th anniversary of DC Comics, which launched in February 1935 with the first issue of New Fun. Since then, it’s gone on to publish some of the greatest comics ever. Here are 75 you really should have read by now.” One example: Kyle Baker’s second graphic novel Why I Hate Saturn (2004), a comic for adults that doesn’t feel self-conscious about that fact. It’s also another rare thing: A genuinely hilarious comedy comic....
io9, Feb. 28

Beautiful bookbindings
P. K. writes: “The Memory of the Netherlands website has digitized a representative sampling of 1,000 bookbindings from the holdings of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (the Royal National Library of the Netherlands). The collection includes luxurious hand-made binding examples from the past 800 years.” The binding shown on the right is Felix Schloemp’s Das Unheimliche Buch (München, Germany: George Müller, 1914), with morocco leather binding by Karl Ebert....
BibliOdyssey, Feb. 27; Geheugen van Nederland

Haverford College to return stolen Descartes letter
A Dutch researcher has identified a document in Haverford (Pa.) College Special Collections as a long-lost letter written in 1641 by mathematician Réné Descartes, one of many stolen from the Institut de France in Paris by book thief Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja (1803–1869). This particular letter sheds light on certain key elements of Descartes’s philosophy and shows that in its original form his Meditations on Metaphysics was organized differently. Haverford, which is returning the letter to the Institut, acquired the letter from an alumnus more than 100 years ago....
Haverford College, Feb. 25

How Americans get news
The overwhelming majority of Americans (92%) use multiple platforms to get their daily news, according to a new survey conducted jointly by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project and the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The internet and mobile technologies are at the center of the story: 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones; and 37% of internet users have created, commented on, or disseminated news on social media sites. So how does this affect libraries? Sarah Houghton-Jan has some thoughts....
Pew Research Center, Mar. 1; Librarian in Black, Mar. 1

The dangers of grey literature
Dorothea Salo writes: “The importance and acceptance of certain genres of grey literature varies considerably by discipline. For example, quite a few social-science disciplines have a flourishing working-papers culture. From my admittedly anecdotal experience, one factor that seems to create a grey-literature–friendly culture is a desire for influence beyond the academy: influence on practitioners, policymakers, nonprofits, or the public generally. Climate science strikes me as grey-literature–unfriendly for cogent reasons.”...
The Book of Trogool, Mar. 1

Call for juried proposals
The fifth Library Research Seminar, October 6–9, in College Park, Maryland, will bring together a diverse community of scholars from academia and practitioners from libraries and archives who are interested in research that informs policy-making, decision-making, and best practices. The LRS-V Program Committee invites proposals for various types of contributions on topics related to libraries and archives. Submit a proposal by March 15....
Library Research Seminar V

The art of the electronic message display
Wil Hutton writes: “So, you want to put up some video display screens in your library to announce coming events and advertise services. Or perhaps you’ve been tasked with making this happen. Two questions arise: How do you create an attractive, effective display system without the expense of a turnkey, proprietary electronic signage solution? And how do you manage the system once installed? Here are some recommendations.”...
ACRLog, Mar. 2

From high school to green public library
Eric Wills writes: “Joseph Montalbano still remembers the day nearly five years ago when he first visited the old Huerfano County High School (right) in Walsenburg, a once-thriving coal mining town in southern Colorado. Residents had hatched an ambitious plan to save it. The town’s Spanish Peaks Library District needed more space: The cramped 1950s house that had served as the local branch was no longer adequate. Why not transform the old school into the new library?”...
Preservation, Mar./Apr.

New libraries revitalize cities
Jonathan Lerner writes: “A new library is being planned for the center of Aarhus (right), Denmark’s main port city. It is referred to not as a library but an ‘urban mediaspace.’ The building will include flexible conference and project rooms, multimedia learning labs, performance venues, studios for artists and business startups, a shop, a café, a tram station, and government-service offices where patrons can, for example, apply for social security. Its design competition envisioned ‘a layered structure that can be navigated like a home page.’”...
Miller-McCune magazine, Mar./Apr.

12 major trends in library building design
Thomas Sens writes: “Today’s college students have heightened expectations and demands for academic libraries based on new approaches to learning. Though the internet can provide 24/7 access to information, it can also isolate learners. In contrast, the new academic library model provides a forum for students to collaborate, enjoy fellowship, engage in healthy debate, create and challenge ideas, and experience learning and discovery in a multitude of meaningful ways. The following 12 trends define how the library has evolved to maintain its essential position within the academic landscape.”...
Building Design and Construction, Dec. 1

Family Tree Magazine’s 40 best genealogy blogs
Maureen A. Taylor writes: “What started as a trickle of genealogy bloggers a few years ago is now a flood. Which is why, when we wanted to do an article about the best family history blogs, we needed your help. Last fall, we had a round of nominations, then voting, and we ended up with eight categories and 40 genealogy blogs our editors and readers highly recommend for your family history edification.”...
Family Tree Magazine, Mar. 1

Old-school librarian embroidery patterns
Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching in Austin, Texas, created this sheet of iron-on “Sexy Librarians” patterns for embroidery or other crafting. Just stitch, trace, burn, or paint along the lines after transferring to fabric, wood, or cardstock. It was featured on Boing Boing February 26 as one of the products available through its Boing Boing Bazaar....
Sublime Stitching

Dealing with comments on your website
Michael Porter and David Lee King write: “In the last 10 years or so, there’s been a bit of a revolution on the web. This time we are talking about the sometimes loved, occasionally dreaded comment box. Thankfully, Web 2.0 services—especially the comment box—have made commenting on websites both easy and public. But what happens when comments get out of hand?”...
Public Libraries: Internet Spotlight

StoryTubes contest extended
Because of extensive snow-day closures on the East Coast, StoryTubes has extended its deadline for its contest from February 28 to March 7. StoryTubes is the public-library-sponsored, two-minute-or-shorter, my-favorite-book online contest. Kids across the United States and in Nova Scotia are invited to participate. Partner libraries provide the staff time and expertise to administer the contest....
StoryTubes, Feb. 26

What would you do if you weren’t a librarian?
Emily J. asks: “Given the changes in the economy and the re-organization or downsizing of many public library systems these days, public librarian jobs are few and far between. So, if you could no longer work as a librarian, what work would you do? How are our skills applicable/marketable in other industries?”...
Unshelved Answers, Feb. 23

The Future of Museums and Libraries wiki
The Institute of Museum and Library Services invites you to help invent the future of museums and libraries through participation in UpNext: The Future of Museums and Libraries Wiki. The wiki is a platform where individuals both inside and outside of museums, libraries, and related fields can discuss, dissect, expand, and inform the issues outlined in the Future of Museums and Libraries: A Discussion Guide (PDF file). IMLS will use the knowledge to help shape the agency’s strategic plan, research directions, and grants....
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Feb. 24

The Future Is Now conference
Everyone is invited to participate in “The Future Is Now: Libraries and Museums in Virtual Worlds,” an online conference to be held March 5–6, in OPAL, the webconferencing collaborative service, on ALA Island in Second Life, and in other three-dimensional virtual worlds. Attendees can pick up a free T-shirt (right) for their avatars. The event was initially named the “Virtual Worlds and Libraries Online Conference.” You need not be proficient in virtual worlds to participate in this conference....
The Future Is Now Facebook page

Registration is open for IFLA 2010
The IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2010 will take place in the Swedish Exhibition and Congress Centre in Gothenburg, Sweden. Early registration fees (in euros or Swedish krona) apply until May 7. Registrations may be completed online or by sending in a downloadable form....
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

New Rolex library will run like clockwork
Nancy Mattoon writes: “Viewed from above it looks like a flat, wavy rectangle full of randomly placed holes—and it’s Swiss. A cheesy description perhaps, but one that fits a glorious modernist library, the Rolex Learning Center for the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, that opened on February 22 in the city of Lausanne. The Japanese architectural firm known as SANAA has created a single-story, slice-like structure so sublimely constructed it seems to float above the ground.”...
Book Patrol, Mar. 1

Chinese rare books to be digitized
The University of Washington’s East Asia Library and the National Central Library of Taiwan are collaborating on a project, slated to begin this summer, to digitize Chinese rare books held by the University of Washington Libraries. The EAL rare book collection includes approximately 600 titles. The Taiwan library will contribute $91,000 U.S., two or three staff members, and the digitizing equipment. Once digitized, the collection will be part of the National Central Library’s bibliographic database....
University of Washington Libraries, Mar. 1

The Quiet Zone
In response to student requests for a quiet place to study on campus, the staff at Aurora (Ill.) University’s Phillips Library created a Quiet Zone on the second floor. For help in promoting the new space, they turned to a student group called The Actors and Playwrites Society, which wrote and produced this spoof (8:05) of The Twilight Zone....
YouTube, Feb. 24

Protecting your stuff in the library
The Arizona State University Libraries series of Library Minute PSAs featuring Assistant Librarian in Collections and Scholarly Communication Anali Perry (right) recently released a video on thefts (1:01). “Unfortunately there are unscrupulous people out there who take things who don’t belong to them, even in libraries. Please keep an eye on your belongings at all times.”...
Arizona State University, Mar. 2

The Dr. Seuss Rap: Wubble down
In honor of Dr. Seuss’s 106th birthday, the Los Angeles–based media production group Half Day Today created this rap video (3:22) based on the rhyme scheme of Dr. Seuss’s books, featuring hot ladies, flashy environment-friendly cars, and literacy. Warning: Due to its mature theme and language, this video may not be safe for all work situations. (But it is humorous and zany.)...
YouTube, Feb. 28

Go back to the Top

ALA Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., June 24–29.

Check out the Annual Conference preliminary program. It’s a page-turner!

Get your registration (PDF file) in as soon as possible for your Book Cart Drill Team so you don’t miss out on the fun. The deadline is May 14.