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American Libraries Online
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Post-election musings
American Libraries Senior Editor Beverly Goldberg writes: “Maybe ‘musings’ isn’t the right word. Perhaps ‘head-scratching’ would be more apropos, since the spectrum of victories and defeats for Libraryland defy a big-picture understanding (for me at least) the morning after the 2010 Midterm Elections. So, without editorializing, here are the nuggets of information we have as of noon Central time about the outcome of library-related issues that were up for a vote on November 2.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, Nov. 3

Chicano librarianship
Elizabeth Martinez writes: “August 29 marked the 40th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium in East Los Angeles, and it brought back many memories. I was part of a library contingent marching in 1970 in protest of the disproportionate number of Mexican Americans dying in the Vietnam War; some 30,000 other Chicanos were marching too. After the police tear-gassed the peaceful youth and families listening to music and speakers in Laguna Park (now Salazar Park), we fled to the nearest library, the Stephenson branch (now the El Camino Real branch of the County of Los Angeles Public Library).”...
American Libraries feature

Former AL Senior Editor Edith McCormick dies at 76
Edith McCormick, an editor for American Libraries from 1968 when it was still known as the ALA Bulletin until her retirement in 1999, died of natural causes in Chicago October 31 after battling failing health for several years. McCormick was a stalwart member of the ALA staff for 34 years, beginning as an assistant for the Knapp School Library Project and then serving under five different AL chief editors and enduring through a period in 1974 when the rest of the editorial staff resigned during a dispute over editorial independence....
AL: Inside Scoop, Nov. 1

Internet Librarian: Sunrise, sunset
Joseph Janes writes: “The good people of Sunrise, on the east coast of Florida, want you to know that they do exist, still, and have not been wiped off the map by a hurricane, or supervillain, or Godzilla. This is despite the fact that on three—three—separate occasions, Google has failed to return any results for a search for Sunrise: The town didn’t appear on maps, and no Sunrise businesses, addresses, or phone numbers came up. Nothing. We all know that most things break down or mess up. Things, yes . . . but not Google.”...
American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.

Dispatches from the Field: Bridging IF and technology
An excerpt from the Nov./Dec. Library Technology Reports: “A dual focus on intellectual freedom issues and technology issues is surprisingly rare in the professional literature today. Too often, intellectual freedom is given only short shrift in critical commentary on libraries’ choices and uses of technology. Similarly, in-depth consideration of specific technologies tends to fall by the wayside when library authors focus on vital issues around our core value of intellectual freedom. Some of librarianship’s best and brightest writers focus on either technology or intellectual freedom issues. Yet why do we see so little inquiry that bridges the divide between the two?”...
American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.

Tube-free toilet paper
Laura Bruzas writes: “An innovation in toilet paper has the potential to eliminate millions of pounds of garbage that would otherwise be sent to landfills. Alyson Gomez, a spokeswoman for Kimberly-Clark, said cardboard toilet-paper tubes account for 160 million pounds of waste in the U.S. every year. The company introduced a new line of tube-free Scott toilet paper in the Northeast as part of its Naturals line.”...
AL: Green Your Library, Nov. 2

One more way to print green
Beth Filar-Williams writes: “Print less, save paper, cut back. You’ve heard it before. But with the US continuing to generate about 77 million tons of paper and paperboard a year and a recycling rate of only about 71% (PDF file), we still have a way to go on this front. A new resource, Print What You Like, gives you the option of printing only the information you need or want from a web page versus the entire page.”...
AL: Green Your Library, Nov. 3; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Nov. 2009

Libraries in Pakistan
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, American Libraries Editor Leonard Kniffel attended and keynoted the 21st Century Vision for Libraries conference October 13–14 in Islamabad, Pakistan, and visited libraries and librarians in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. In this video (3:01), he interviews Shazia Ali, head of the information resource center at the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, about the conference and the state of library science in Pakistan....
AL Focus, Oct. 28

Keith Fiels signs on for five more years
During the ALA Executive Board’s fall meeting October 22–24 at ALA Headquarters in Chicago, Keith Michael Fiels signed on for five more years as ALA executive director, through FY 2015. Fiels said that he hoped five more years at the helm would help give the Association the stability it needs to come through these tough financial times a stronger and more vital organization....
AL: Inside Scoop, Oct. 29

The games are on the way
If you are one of the 1,500 libraries (count them on the updated map) in the United States that requested a free copy of Wits and Wagers Family when registering for National Gaming Day, it is now on its way to you. Start watching the mail and let your colleagues know so that you can have the game ready on November 13. In this video (7:18), Scott Nicholson (right) explains how the game works and how you can use the extra materials on National Gaming Day. The New Hanover County (N.C.) Public Library is ready (1:01)....
National Gaming Day @ your library, Nov. 2–3; YouTube, Oct. 7

Hall of Famer steps up to the plate for libraries
Hall of Fame relief pitcher Richard “Goose” Gossage (right) was on hand to catch the ceremonial first pitch at the World Series Gala in Cooperstown, New York, on October 30. The pitcher was 13-year-old Josh Smith, the grand prize winner of this year’s Step Up to the Plate @ your library contest. Smith, who had always dreamed of going to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, not only got to throw a pitch to a Hall of Famer, but landed the trip after 2010 Hall of Fame inductee Andre “The Hawk” Dawson drew his name in the program’s national grand prize drawing....
Public Information Office, Nov. 2

ALA opens new Facebook page
ALA is moving from the ALA Member Group to a new American Library Association Page between November 1 and the close of Midwinter 2011 on January 11. Feel free to like and share the new page....
ALA Facebook Page

It’s final: No joint ALA-Reed conferences
Noting that “many are aware that we have been talking with Reed Exhibitions/BookExpo America about the possibility of co-locating the ALA Annual Conference and BookExpo,” ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels announced October 29 that “current arrangements work best at this time.” Instead, conference management firm Hall-Erickson is taking on a greater role in managing ALA conferences....
AL: Inside Scoop, Oct. 29

Four new CPLA graduates
The Certified Public Library Administrator Program review committee has granted certification to four CPLA candidates, making a total of 36 who are now officially Certified Public Library Administrators. The newest graduates are from Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Oregon. In addition, the committee approved three new candidates in its fall review. The program now has 127 candidates representing public libraries of all sizes across the nation.  The next quarterly deadline to apply for this program is November 5....
ALA-APA, Nov. 3

ALA-APA seeks volunteers for committees
Applications and nominations are welcomed for appointments to 2011–2012 ALA–Allied Professional Association committees on: Certification Program, Certified Public Library Administrator, Certification Review, Library Support Staff Certification Review, Promotion and Fundraising, Publishing, and Salaries and Status of Library Workers. The deadline is November 19 to submit an electronic committee volunteer form and appointees will be notified after the 2011 ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego....
ALA-APA, Oct. 29

Support staff certification: The webinar
Are you wondering about the benefits and the requirements of the Library Support Staff Certification Program? The ALA–Allied Professional Association is offering an hour-long webinar, 3–4 p.m. Eastern time, November 9, to introduce you to this new program and help you understand its value to support staff, their employers, and library users. This is also your opportunity to ask questions. Register for this informative webinar....
ALA-APA, Nov. 2

One advocacy action per month can change the world
Frankly, it’s sometimes all we can do to manage the work of our library while providing the quality service we must give to our community. So the idea of adding advocacy activities to your long “to do” list might seem a little overwhelming. In this interactive online session, the ALA Washington Office will look at one simple action you can take each month to get elected officials to not only understand library issues, but to actually do something about them. Sign up for this free webinar, 2–3 p.m. Eastern time, November 9....
District Dispatch, Oct. 29

The American Dream in northern Colorado
In October, John Amundsen of the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services visited High Plains Library District in Greeley, Colorado, to discuss plans (5:04) to hold U.S. citizenship classes with the library’s American Dream Starts @ your library coordinator, Cindy Welsh (right). Specifically, they talked about the challenges, successes, and big-picture goals of providing badly-needed citizenship resources to Greeley’s growing immigrant population....
American Dream blog, Nov. 3

ALA World War I bookmark
Larry Nix writes: “One of the benefits of maintaining a blog that features librariana is that people sometimes contact me to find a home for artifacts that they have retained over the years. Such is the case with this ALA Library War Service bookmark, basically a plea for books or money to assist ALA in its war work, along with a list on the back of all the activities undertaken.” And check out ALA’s War Library Bulletin from May 1919....
Library History Buff Blog, Oct. 29–30

A school librarian’s survival manual
Facing a severe economic downturn and budget cuts, school librarians run the risk of becoming an endangered species. ALA Editions has published Being Indispensable: A School Librarian’s Guide to Becoming an Invaluable Leader, by Ruth Toor and Hilda K. Weisburg, which takes a proactive approach to survival as a school librarian. In clear, simple, and practical language, this book empowers school librarians to understand what other school stakeholders need and want; demonstrate their importance; and plan strategically in their professional and private lives....
ALA Editions, Oct. 28

Have a child with you?
Check out the New Children’s Museum, 200 West Island Avenue, a dynamic, playful, public space and community center that opened in 2008 for children, teens, and families to experience exciting art exhibitions, hands-on studio projects, performances, birthday parties, in-depth classes, camps, and educational programs. Across the street is a beautiful park, extending the museum visit outdoors with space for running, climbing, family picnics, and a view of the trains and trolley going by....
New Children’s Museum

Tips from a flight attendant
Taylor Kenny writes: “Long gone are the days of simple air travel. Now it’s a challenge just to get to your destination as planned. When things go wrong, it can be a complete nightmare. Here are some tips: Fly smart. If your flight has been delayed multiple times, chances are that it will be canceled. Make sure you book a hotel room before everyone else figures out they aren’t going anywhere. If weather caused the problem, the airline is under no obligation to compensate you in any way. Airlines frequently try to hide the real cause of delays, so press for answers.”...
Lifehacker, Oct. 29

New edition of Academic Library Trends and Statistics
The three-volume 2009 Academic Library Trends and Statistics is now available—the latest in a series of annual ACRL publications describing the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of academic libraries in all Carnegie classifications. The 2009 survey includes data from 1,533 academic libraries in six major categories: collections; expenditures; electronic resources; personnel and public services; PhDs granted, faculty, and student enrollment; and faculty rank, status, and tenure for librarians....
ACRL, Nov. 1

Julie Todaro to reveal the mysteries of mentoring
Do you have what it takes to be an effective mentor? Julie Todaro (right) will help you answer these questions and many more during “The Mysteries of Mentoring: The Perfect Mentor and Perfect Mentee.” This one-day institute will be presented by LLAMA on January 7 in conjunction with the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego....
LLAMA, Nov. 2

Free webinar on job hunting for new librarians
Applying and interviewing for a professional library position can be fraught with anxiety and frustrations. But the right information and strategies can put you a step ahead. In the free November 18 webinar from LLAMA’s Human Resources Section, “Job Hunting for the Recent or Future MLS Graduate,” Brian Keith, assistant dean of human and financial resources at the University of Florida’s Smathers Library, reveals what libraries are seeking and how libraries conduct searches and make hiring decisions. Registration is open....
LLAMA, Oct. 28

YALSA to unveil its own mixed drink
Linda W. Braun writes: “Did you know that YALSA has an official drink? As of the 2011 ALA Midwinter Meeting, the division definitely does. It’s the YALSAtini and ingredients include Stoli Orange and white cranberry juice. However, the full list of ingredients won’t be unveiled until the Silent Auction when you’ll be able to taste YALSAtinis as well as bid on a YALSAtini Kit, which includes a shot glass, martini glasses, a gift certificate for the alcohol required, snacks to go along with the drink, and the secret YALSAtini recipe.”...
YALSA Blog, Nov. 3

Create the ultimate teen-friendly library
Today’s teens are tech-savvy, smart, curious, and more diverse than previous generations. So how do you build a library experience that appeals to teens and turns them into regular library users? And how do we, as teen services librarians, get the entire library to help us do that? The answers can be found at YALSA’s pre-Midwinter workshop, “Teens and the Whole Library Experience,” on January 7, prior to the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego....
YALSA, Nov. 2

Support teen needs with technology
By integrating technology with standard teen services, librarians can better serve and support teens’ learning needs. Find out how in “Connect, Create, Collaborate: Support Teen Needs with Technology,” a new YALSA online course offered this winter. The self-paced course takes place from February 7 to March 21. Registration closes February 1. For more information, visit the YALSA website....
YALSA, Nov. 2

Books for Babies kits go to 4,000+ newborns
In partnership with Nordstrom, ALTAFF is awarding 16 selected Friends groups, libraries, and other nonprofits grants of $500 each to match $1,075 the recipients raised toward the purchase of Books for Babies kits. The grants enable a total of 3,575 English-language kits and 625 Spanish-language kits to be distributed to parents of newborns in the grant recipients’ communities....
ALTAFF, Nov. 2

AASL and LITA select four Emerging Leaders
Alicia Blowers of Alexandria, Virginia, and Sara Kelley-Mudie (right) of Litchfield, Connecticut, have been selected by AASL as 2011 Emerging Leaders. Blowers and Kelley-Mudie will have their expenses defrayed to attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego and the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, where they will participate in project planning workgroups, network with peers, and gain an inside look into ALA structure. LITA has selected two Emerging Leaders as well: Bohyun Kim (left) of Miami, Florida, and Andreas Orphanides of Raleigh, North Carolina....
AASL, LITA, Nov. 2

Staff development on a budget
Bobbi Newman writes: “Here in Georgia, public librarians are required to renew our licenses each year, and this requires us to submit a number of continuing education credits. In this post, I thought I’d share some of the free, no-travel-required ways we get our continuing education credits.”...
ALA Learning Round Table, Nov. 2

How to broaden the scope of your potential employers
Janel White writes: “The New Members Round Table’s President’s Program at the 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., in June featured a panel discussion about innovative career choices. NMRT President Courtney Young’s presidential theme was ‘challenges and opportunities.’ New librarians and library school students are feeling challenged by the current economic situation as they plan for positions in public and academic libraries.”...
ALA Student Membership Blog, Oct. 27

Find out about careers in federal libraries
Add the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table to your ALA membership and network with federal librarians. The job market in federal libraries is competitive—knowing where to find job announcements and how to apply is essential. Here’s how to learn more....
ALA Student Membership Blog, Oct. 27

Stonewall Award joins Youth Media announcements
The Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award will join the ALA Youth Media Award announcements January 10 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. Administered by the Stonewall Book Awards Committee of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table, the Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award, now in its second year, is given annually to English-language works for children and teens of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered experience....
Public Information Office, Nov. 1

Deadline next week for travel grants to the ACRL conference
The deadline for ACRL 2011 scholarship applications is fast approaching. The division is offering more than 80 scholarships exceeding $40,000 in value to support participation in the ACRL National Conference in Philadelphia, March 30–April 2, for librarians, students, Spectrum Scholars, and support staff. There are five scholarship categories, and all applications must be received by November 9....
ACRL Insider, Nov. 3

Apply for children’s services awards, grants
ALSC is accepting nominations and applications for more than $84,000 in awards and grants that recognize outstanding library service to children through creative programming ideas and dedication to librarianship. Applications for all awards and grants are now online and due December 1, except for the Frederic G. Melcher Scholarship and the Bound to Stay Bound Books Scholarship, which are due March 1....
ALSC, Nov. 2

Nominations sought for international librarianship award
ALA is accepting nominations for the 2011 John Ames Humphry / OCLC / Forest Press Award for International Librarianship. The award, given to a librarian or person who has made significant contributions to international librarianship, consists of a prize of $1,000. The deadline for nominations is January 1....
International Relations Office, Nov. 3

Attend an international conference
ALA is accepting applications for the 2011 Bogle Pratt International Library Travel Fund, sponsored by the Bogle Memorial Fund and the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science. An award of $1,000 will be given to an ALA personal member to attend his or her first international conference. The application deadline is January 1....
International Relations Office, Nov. 3

Can a photographer win a Caldecott?
Betsy Bird writes: “It’s a simple enough question: Can a picture book illustrated entirely with photographs ever win a Caldecott Medal? In the history of the Caldecott, a long and distinguished history spanning some 72 years, there has never been a Caldecott Award or Honor book comprised solely of photographs. Let us take a gander at ye olde Caldecott criteria here, just to see if there is some stipulation in there that specifically precludes photographs.”...
School Library Journal: A Fuse #8 Production, Nov. 2

2010 Whiting Writers’ Awards
The Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation named 10 recipients of the 2010 Whiting Writers’ Awards. The awards, which are now set at $50,000 each, totaling $500,000, have been given annually since 1985 to writers of exceptional talent and promise in early career. The 2010 recipients were announced at a ceremony at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City on October 27. Michael Dahlie, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, and Lydia Peelle won awards in the fiction category....
Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, Oct. 27

Business Book of the Year
Raghuram Rajan, one of the few economists to see the financial crisis coming, has won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year. Raghuram Rajan collected the £30,000 ($48,155 U.S.) prize for Fault Lines (Princeton University) in New York. The book identifies the flaws that helped cripple the world financial system, prescribes potential remedies, but also warns that unless policymakers push through painful reforms, the world could be plunged into renewed turmoil....
Financial Times, Oct. 28

2010 World Fantasy Awards
The prestigious World Fantasy Awards for fantastic fiction were announced October 31 at World Fantasy Con in Ohio. The winner for best novel was The City & The City by China Miéville (Macmillan UK / Del Rey), and for best anthology was American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny: From Poe to the Pulps/From the 1940s to Now, ed. by Peter Straub (Library of America)....
io9, Nov. 1

Best Canadian books of 2010
In Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theatre on November 2, the Writers’ Trust of Canada announced winners of six literary prizes and presented $147,000 (Can.) to authors at the 10th annual Writers’ Trust Awards, one of the richest literary prizegiving events in Canada. Novelist Emma Donoghue was awarded the $25,000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for Room (Little, Brown), while journalist James FitzGerald won the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize for What Disturbs Our Blood: A Son’s Quest to Redeem the Past (Random House)....
Writers’ Trust of Canada, Nov. 2

Booktrust Teenage Prize
A debut novel has won the Booktrust Teenage Prize, beating established names in children’s fiction. Unhooking the Moon (Quercus) by Gregory Hughes is an extraordinary story of two orphaned siblings—the precocious, fascinating, and infuriating 10-year-old Rat and her older brother Bob—who take a road trip from Canada to New York to look for their uncle on the strength of knowing his name and that he is a “drug dealer.” Canadian author Hughes said he wrote the book in Iceland over a period of eight months....
The Guardian (U.K.), Nov. 1

2010 Meggendorfer Prize
Artist Marion Bataille has won the 2010 Meggendorfer Prize for her pop-up book, ABC3D (Roaring Brook/Porter, 2008). The prize, awarded biennially by the Movable Book Society to an outstanding pop-up book, was announced at the organization’s conference in September. Bataille is the first European paper engineer to receive the award....
Publishers Weekly, Oct. 28

New Horizons Book Award
The first winner of the New Horizons Book Award is The Great Hamster Massacre (Simon & Schuster) by Katie Davies. The award, administered by Dorset’s School Library Service, is for a novel for 9–13-year-olds published in the last two years by a debut author. Davies will receive a sculpture containing a 119-million-year-old fossil from Dorset’s Jurassic Coast as her prize....
Dorset for You, Oct. 21

Unruly Delray Beach senior group to meet at church
A senior group that has been homeless since October 26—after the Delray Beach (Fla.) Public Library canceled its discussions—has found a new home at the Church of the Palms. Louise Cammarata, a member of the group, said it was unfairly booted from the library, where it had met for the past 10 years. But as many as 150 seniors had begun to attend, taxing the meeting room space as well as the patience of the library staff when the weekly political discussions grew heated. Library Director Alan Kornblau said, “Unlike any of the 300 other programs, the current events group has a long history of unacceptable behavior.” Watch the video (2:08)....
Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 31; Palm Beach Post, Oct. 30; UPI, Oct. 27; WPTV-TV (West Palm Beach), Oct. 27

OSU law student stole, sold library books
A second-year law student at Ohio State University in Columbus is believed to have stolen books from the school. Campus police say he took more than 200, one at a time, from the university law library and sold them online for more than $10,000. Police, who have been tracking the thefts since the beginning of August, say they will seek an indictment soon....
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Oct. 30

Warbler becomes a library star for one week
For birders, the great prothonotary warbler show has ended. It played outside the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue for seven days after Matthew Rymkiewicz, the manager of development information at the library and a bird watcher, went out at lunchtime on October 21. Along the wall past Patience, the lion at the south edge of the steps leading to the main entrance, he saw a brilliant blue-and-gold bird....
New York Times: City Room, Oct. 31

After sit-in, no site yet for Whittier school library
“They’re finally talking to us,” Aracelli Gonzalez said October 27 of officials from the Chicago Public Schools as she and other disgruntled mothers of Whittier Elementary School students ended a month-long sit-in October 27 over the slated demolition of a Chicago field house that the moms had envisioned as housing a library for the school next door. Two days later, they began negotiating with board officials about the library’s location: inside the school or in the field house that the moms have saved from the wrecking ball....
Chicago Tribune, Oct. 29

Santa Cruz to restore school librarians’ hours
Full-time librarians will be restored in Santa Cruz, California, elementary and middle schools, thanks to a recent vote by school board members. The district restored $132,494 for salaries of certificated librarians after the October state budget did not contain the anticipated cuts to the class-size reduction program for K–3 students. Librarian hours had been cut to 70% of full-time at the district’s four elementary schools and 80% at the two middle schools....
Santa Cruz (Calif.) Sentinel, Nov. 1

San Diego librarian’s pension caught up in antitax campaign
Liam Dillon writes: “If you live in San Diego, there’s a good chance you’ve seen this giant roving billboard (right) from the anti-Proposition D campaign. The claim is startling. The annual pension for a four-star general: $149,000. The pension for a San Diego city librarian: $227,000. The billboard is riddled with problems. It distorts the career of former San Diego City Librarian Anna Tatár, the comparison between the two pensions isn’t exactly apples-to-apples, and leaves out important details about the retirement income for both.” Proposition D failed on November 2....
Voice of San Diego, Oct. 29; San Diego (Calif.) Union-Tribune, Nov. 3

Teacher lacks First Amendment right on curriculum
An Ohio teacher has no right to make assignments about book-banning or to select particular books for her students, a federal appeals court panel ruled October 21. The legal dispute (PDF file) began in 2001 when Shirley Evans-Marshall gave her students at Tippecanoe High School in Tipp City, Ohio, a copy of ALA’s “100 Most Frequently Challenged Books” and asked them to pick a book on the list and explain why it was challenged. Controversy flared after parents objected to the gay-positive material in Heather Has Two Mommies and the explicit language and sexual themes in Siddhartha....
First Amendment Watch, Oct. 25

Residents rally for Spokane’s East Side branch
More than 100 people attended a Spokane (Wash.) Public Library board meeting October 27 to back the retention of the East Side branch (right), which officials have proposed closing because of its low gate count to narrow a $500,000 deficit. Sheridan Elementary School library media teacher Susan Burnes said that her students find East Side to be “a safe place that they can come to” in the low-income, high-crime area. Director Pat Partovi said the alternative was cutting yet more hours systemwide, which was unsustainable. A decision is due by year-end....
Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review, Oct. 28

Keith Richards on Life and libraries
“Dartford Public Library is nothing like this,” said Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards (right), who compared the library of his old hometown in England to the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building where he was October 29 to talk about his new memoir, Life. “I still owe fines from 50 years ago,” he joked. Interviewed by Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis, Richards touched on topics surrounding his personal life and career from his book....
Spinner (AOL), Nov. 1; Tom Watson, Oct. 30

Vancouver branch shut down after flooding
Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library’s busy Kensington branch (right) will be shut down through December to repair flood damage caused by a backed-up storm drain. The library confirmed November 1 that restoration of the relatively new branch—which opened in 2008 in King Edward Village—will be more extensive than first estimated. The library was damaged during the major rain storm October 25 that overwhelmed some city streets and sewers. The collection was not damaged in the flood....
Vancouver (B.C.) Sun, Nov. 2

Arts librarian solves the mystery of the unknown painter
Since Abby Aldrich Rockefeller acquired it in 1935, an 18th-century watercolor has stymied scholars, historians, and art enthusiasts who hoped to identify its artist. Now, thanks to the efforts of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Decorative Arts Librarian Susan P. Shames, the painter has been identified as John Rose. Shames used primary documents and existing scholarship to revisit The Old Plantation (above), which depicts slaves playing music and dancing....
Williamsburg Yorktown (Va.) Daily, Nov. 2

Gift makes beautiful music for New Jersey library
Fort Lee (N.J.) Public Library held a dedication concert October 24 to celebrate the addition of a brand-new Kawai grand piano. The piano was a gift from the estate of Mary Elizabeth Meehan, a longtime resident who left more than $200,000 to the library when she died in 2000; it replaces a Steinway that was also a gift to the library—in this case from lifelong Fort Lee resident Arthur Imperatore in the 1970s. The new wing of the upper level is now the “Mary Meehan Room.”...
Fort Lee (N.J.) Suburbanite, Oct. 28

North Beach branch is not a landmark
Clapping and cheering sounded at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee November 1, following the unanimous vote against designating the North Beach branch (above) a landmark. The existing building is the “least representative and most lacking of architectural characteristics” of the seven libraries designed by the firm Appleton & Wolfard between 1951 and 1969, said Supervisor David Chiu. The San Francisco Public Library has proposed a new structure to replace the existing building that many have called dark and dingy and others call historic....
San Francisco Chronicle: City Insider, Nov. 1

Teen gets 3 years for sexual assault inside a library
A teen who tied up, molested, and threatened to kill a library worker inside the Ottawa (Ont.) Public Library’s Metcalfe branch during its closing minutes on December 29, 2009, has been sentenced to 21 months in prison and 15 months of parole, the maximum sentence allowed by Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act. The teen, who was 16 when the assault occurred, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, robbery, intimidation, and breach of probation. The woman remains too traumatized to return to the small village where the library is located....
Ottawa (Ont.) Citizen, Oct. 27

School librarian charged with sexual assault of student
A 48-year-old school librarian in Calgary, Alberta, has been charged with sexual assault for allegedly having a six-month affair with a 15-year-old student. Agnes Kooy has been removed from her post, but the school board will not clarify whether she has been suspended or dismissed. Jailed in August, Kooy was released on condition that she not contact the boy. The teen refuses to cooperate with authorities....
CFCN-TV, Calgary, Alberta, Oct. 28

Guam forced to shutter four out of six branches
The Guam Public Library System announced October 29 (PDF file) that an undisclosed amount of inadequate funding for FY2011 was forcing the closure until further notice of branches in Agat, Barrigada, Merizo, and Yona as of November 1. The Main Library (right) remains open six days and the Dededo branch five days a week....
Guam Pacific Daily News, Oct. 30

Two Scottsdale branches haunted, group declares
The Arabian and Civic Center branches of the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Public Libraries are haunted, according to Sonoran Paranormal Investigations, which undertook an electronic spook survey in September and October. Electronic voice phenomena were recorded in both locations. Oher haunted libraries in the news this week were the Yarmouth Port (Mass.) Library, Crown Point (Ind.) Community Library’s old Carnegie building, and the University of Tennessee’s Hoskins Law Library. The Lilac Room in Marquette, Michigan’s Landmark Inn is said to be haunted by the ghost of a librarian. For others, see George Eberhart’s Haunted Libraries....
Phoenix Arizona Republic, Oct. 28; Barnstable (Mass.) Register, Oct. 28; Merrillville (Ind.) Post-Tribune, Oct. 31; University of Tennessee Daily Beacon, Oct. 29; WLUC-DT2, Republic, Mich., Oct. 31; I Love Libraries

British Shakespeare Folio fence becomes prison librarian
A flamboyant British book dealer who was jailed for handling a stolen Shakespeare First Folio has clinched a new job in a prison library. Raymond Scott was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court in August to prison for eight years after a jury found him guilty of handling stolen goods and taking the book out of the country. A prison source said Scott applied for a job in the library and got it, and he “loves finding books for the other prisoners to read because he thinks he is a bit of an authority on literature.”...
Newcastle (U.K.) Journal, Nov. 1

Sri Lanka’s historic Jaffna library vandalized
The historic Jaffna Public Library in Sri Lanka has been closed to tourists a week after a large group of tourists from the ethnic majority Sinhalese community arrived in buses from the south and asked permission to enter the facility on October 23. Guards tried to turn them away but the visitors ran amok. The library has emotional significance for the island’s Tamil minority, as it serves the city regarded as their cultural capital. Its burning by mobs in 1981 helped trigger the Tamil Tiger insurgency....
BBC News, Nov. 1

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iPad vs. the world: Ultimate tablet battle
Wendy Sheehan Donnell writes: “Finally, the tablet market is getting exciting. Since Apple’s tablet was introduced, it’s been pretty much all iPad, all the time, but now we have some viable alternatives. The most fierce competition comes from Android-based devices that can do everything an Android smartphone can, but on a bigger screen, such as the Galaxy Tab from Samsung, which will be available on all four major cellular carriers. This 7-incher impresses with solid, well-designed hardware, an excellent browser, and support for Flash, something that the iPad notoriously lacks. The only thing it’s missing is tablet-specific applications.”...
PC Magazine, Oct. 29

Two new mobile apps from Gale
Gale has made available two additional AccessMyLibrary (AML) mobile apps—an Android app for public libraries and an iOS app (iPhone, iTouch, and iPad) for academic libraries. AML apps allow students and patrons instant access to information from over 20,000 magazines and journals and thousands of encyclopedias covering many topics. Android AML apps from Gale are already available for school and academic libraries, as well as an iOS app for school libraries....
Gale Cengage Learning, Oct. 28

10 Facebook pages every techie should follow
Brian Ward writes: “Technology websites are an excellent place for those in the field to stay current, for those looking to buy an electronic device, to get reviews and do research, and to keep us informed about all the latest gadgets. There are many excellent technology websites and Facebook can be a great place to keep up with them. We have rounded up 10 excellent technology-related websites, blogs, bloggers, and publications on Facebook.”...
All Facebook, Oct. 29

Blekko: The newest search engine
John Dvorak writes: “Blekko.com, a new search engine that uses human input to help it sort out the world, is getting a lot of press. Yes, Google is the greatest search engine as of now, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be beaten by some new algorithm or a better idea. In fact, Blekko adds so much weird dimensionality that out of all the recently hyped search engine ideas, such as Cuil, I find it the most interesting. I do not say this often.” ResearchBuzz has another favorable review....
PC Magazine, Nov. 1; ResearchBuzz, Nov. 2

Best video creation tools for the classroom
Richard Byrne writes: “Every day, YouTube draws millions of viewers for one reason: People love watching videos. For students, it can be a good learning experience, and creating videos? Even better. There was a time, not too long ago, when making a video required expensive video equipment and software. That’s no longer true. Now, without spending a dime on cameras or software, your students could craft the next great documentary or YouTube sensation.”...
School Library Journal, Nov. 1

Spam drops after Russian crackdown
You may not have noticed, but since late last month, the world supply of Viagra ads and other email spam has dropped by an estimated one-fifth. With 200 billion spam messages in circulation each day, there is still plenty to go around. But police officials in Russia, a major spam exporter, say they are trying to do their part to stem the flow and have cracked down on a suspected spam kingpin, Igor A. Gusev of SpamIt.com....
New York Times, Oct. 26

ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, California, January 7–11, 2011. The ALA JobLIST Placement Center will be open Saturday and Sunday. There will be an orientation on Saturday, January 8, at 8:30 a.m. in the Placement Center. Job seekers should register and search for jobs on the JobLIST website. Registration will give registered employers access to your résumé information and will allow for direct communication between job seekers and employers.

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Daniel Radcliffe Talks Harry Potter and His Other Favorite Books Houdini: Art and Magic Cathy Cassidy Crowned: The Popular Young Adult Author was Named Queen of Teen 2010 Boston Area Library Creates Youth Art Gallery Resources for Animal Adoption The Fantastic World of Jim Henson (slideshow) Gold: Exhibit Reveals Art and Science Behind this Dazzling Icon of Wealth Donna Seaman Interviews Writer Junot Díaz

Gay librarian’s debut novel explores high-school trauma
James Klise, librarian at the Northtown Academy in Chicago’s North Park neighborhood, has written a fictional comedic thriller that captures what it’s like to be a gay teen in high school. Love Drugged arrives at a time when the LGBT community is dealing with issues on several fronts. Klise said it wasn’t until he began working at the high school in 2002 that memories of his own youthful struggles with identity resurfaced....
Chicago Tribune, Nov. 1

Libraries say “No DRM”; Springer agrees
“We’re not concerned about piracy,” said George Scotti, Springer Verlag’s director of channel marketing, when asked about the Springer e-book program, which allows institutional customers to lend Springer e-books without DRM protection. 70% of Springer’s business comes from big academic and research libraries, Scotti said, and they are adamant that they don’t want DRM or other such restrictions on the e-books they buy from Springer....
Publishers Weekly, Oct. 29

Inside the Google Books algorithm
Alexis Madrigal writes: “How does Google Books work? What makes it tick? It turns out that it’s actually a great place for the company’s engineers to learn how to function in a linkless, physical world. The system they’ve come up with has become increasingly sophisticated, as highlighted by their latest tweak, Rich Results, which began rolling out November 1. The feature selectively presents you with one extra-large result when it detects that you’re probably searching for an individual title and not a specific mote of information or general topic.”...
Atlantic, Nov. 1

Textbooks even the Texas School Board could love
Nancy Mattoon writes: “The controversy about what should and shouldn’t be included in American textbooks has been front-page news recently. Virginia students were being taught history from Our Virginia: Past and Present by Joy Masoff, a book that erroneously claimed: ‘Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson.’ But the problem with this book goes beyond one factual error.”...
Booktryst, Nov. 1

Brilliant sci-fi books that got away
From The War of the Worlds to Nineteen Eighty-Four, some science fiction goes down in history. But what about the brilliant books that got away? New Scientist asked scientists and writers to nominate their lost sci-fi classics. Astronomer Seth Shostak chose The Listeners by James E. Gunn, published in 1972, because it is credited with inspiring the real-life hunt for extraterrestrial life, and perhaps even Carl Sagan’s more famous book Contact....
New Scientist, Oct. 25

Capers: Criminal and otherwise
L. D. Mitchell writes: “Some genres see so many books published that the only way to tackle the genre is to focus on one of the many subgenres. A case in point is the mystery. One of the most collectible of the mystery’s many subgenres is the caper, which centers on the planning and eventual execution of a single daring crime. One of this subgenre’s most prolific authors is Donald E. Westlake, the three-time Edgar Award winner who penned some 90+ titles.”...
The Private Library, Oct. 28

Placements and salaries survey, 2010
Stephanie L. Maatta writes: “‘Jobs? What jobs?’ asked many of the 2009 LIS graduating class, following another year of stagnating salaries and rising unemployment. There was strong participation in the annual survey, with 1,996 respondents representing 38.7% of the approximately 5,160 LIS graduates. Interestingly, the LIS programs reported a 7% decrease in the total number of graduates between 2008 and 2009. Participants relayed many tales of triumph and travail, illustrating another struggling job market with a few glimmers of hope and achievement.”...
Library Journal, Oct. 15

Library work experience
Rachel Bicicchi writes: “If you’re currently in library school, you’ve probably already discovered one of the profession’s dirty little secrets. That promise that there would be plenty of jobs available soon? Yeah, it’s all a myth. I’m going to focus on what you can do to improve your chances of landing a job by sharing some of the things that made me successful. And I’ll start with the single most important item—library work experience.”...
The Noisy Librarian, Oct. 31

Dealing with a job you hate during a recession
Amy Armstrong writes: “It’s hard to find much to be happy about when you think about the news for job seekers now. In theory, it seems like the rotten economy would turn that annoying job you took to pay the bills right out of college into the best thing ever if you’re still ‘lucky’ enough to have it.  The unfortunate reality is that most workers are trudging through the day doing the same work they were doing before, in addition to the work of colleagues who had their positions cut.”...
New York Public Library blog, Sept. 28

The librarian, waiting: A ghost story
Leigh Anne Vrabel writes: “I’m not sure how the rest of the country celebrated Halloween, but the spookiest thing I had going on, though, was a trip down memory lane as I copied Word files from floppy disks to USB. If you really want to scare yourself, hunt up a piece of writing from about eight years ago and take a good, hard look at how your brain was working back then. Especially if the document you’ve unearthed is . . . your library school application essay. Aieeeeeee!”...
Library Alchemy, Nov. 2

Networking is a two-way street
Meridith Levinson writes: “Are you reluctant to make networking a bigger part of your job search because you’re scared that no one will want to meet with you? Think giving, not taking. Viewing networking as an imposition demonstrates several common misconceptions—that only one person benefits from the exchange; that job seekers have nothing to give to the people with whom they’re networking; and that the people being contacted don’t want to meet or see the job seeker.”...
CIO, Oct. 26

OCLC survey of special collections and archives
Taking Our Pulse, a new report (PDF file) by OCLC Research, provides the detailed findings from a 2009 survey of 275 institutions across the U.S. and Canada to determine norms across the community. This survey updated and expanded a similar survey administered by the Association of Research Libraries in 1998, the outcomes of which catalyzed the special collections community. Jackie Dooley offers a summary and some insights....
OCLC Research, Oct. 27; HangingTogether, Nov. 1

Indiana library students create library advocacy page in Wikipedia
The increased need for library advocacy served as the perfect backdrop for students in Andrea Copeland’s public library management class at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis as they created two Wikipedia entries on public library advocacy and the history of public library advocacy as a class project. Utilizing 21st-century technology and sharpening media literacy skills were the tasks for students in Copeland’s class....
Indiana University Bloomington SLIS, Oct. 28

Getting the most from your museum/library partnership
Terrilyn Chun writes: “Benefits of a partnership include resource sharing, outreach to new audiences, access to expertise in a different discipline, and the potential for increasing goodwill and support between the organizations and the broader community. However beneficial though, partnerships should not be undertaken lightly, as they require sufficient time and attention to cultivate and manage. And when considering partners, the best partners are ones that have similar missions, values, and goals.”...
Programming Librarian, Nov.

How to get people to support your good ideas
Steven Bell writes: “There’s a lot being written about good ideas these days. If you follow what’s been written here about design thinking, creativity, and innovation, chances are you are already improving at coming up with and capturing good ideas. But that isn’t enough. How do you get others—mostly your work colleagues—to buy into your good idea? That’s where most of our ideas tend to run into the proverbial brick wall.”...
Designing Better Libraries, Nov. 2

Optimized-for-mobile views on WorldCat
Alice Sneary writes: “We’ve had a WorldCat mobile pilot going since January 2009. Recently, however, we’ve evolved the mobile site to now run on a mobile web browser. That’s right. No app to download, no prompting to update the latest app each time you go to the app store—it just ‘works’ when you use the browser of your phone. And the experience is similar to the browser on your big screen.”...
WorldCat Blog, Nov. 3

Author events made easy
Chapple Langemack writes: “Ah, author events at the library. Is there anything more fun? Author events can also be perplexing, frustrating, and sometimes hair-raising, but mostly when I think of author events I’m primed for a good time—both for myself and my patrons. If you’re ready to give author events a whirl, here are a few things to think about.”...
Programming Librarian

The great librarian hobbies survey
Stephen Abram writes: “We had great participation in the librarian hobbies survey, with more than 1,500 responses. It turns out that librarians do align quite nicely with the hobbies of our users. What can that mean? It could mean that you have enormous talent right on staff to do programs and make resource selections for your users.”...
Stephen’s Lighthouse, Oct. 31

26 ways to enhance your tweets
Debbie Hemley writes: “Almost anyone these days can throw together 140 characters and call it a tweet. But to use Twitter for maximum business impact there are many tried and true content sources ready to be used. In this post I’ll introduce practical ways to use good content for your tweets, everything from A to Z (from Answers to Zippy Writing Style).”...
Social Media Examiner, Oct. 27

Is it better to retweet the new way? Pros and cons
Heather Mansfield writes: “Whether it is better and more productive to Retweet old-school style or with just one-click using Twitter’s Retweet function is a question I have been asking myself for months now, and the truth is, I just don’t know the answer yet. Both methods have their pros and cons, and without asking my followers, it’s hard to say with conviction which is the better Retweet method.”...
Nonprofit Tech 2.0, Oct. 31

OCLC lawsuit moves to Ohio
Karen Coyle writes: “The judge in San Francisco’s Ninth Circuit court has agreed to OCLC’s request to transfer the proceedings in the SkyRiver/OCLC suit to the Southern District Court of Ohio. In an impressively thoughtful 10-page document, the judge weighs the various arguments by the parties relating to the request to transfer. In the end, the decision was based on two things.”...
Coyle’s InFormation, Oct. 29

Kansas City makes history with history
Public screenings at the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library in September and October of all four televised debates between 1960 presidential candidates Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy brought a record-breaking 1,055 program attendees to KCPL over five weeks. The screenings comprised the core of the Great Debates Revisited series, which also included special book group discussion sessions examining the race on its 50th anniversary....
Kansas City Public Library, Nov. 2

LC streamlines finding aids for special collections
Thanks to a completely redesigned search system, 1,100 finding aids will now smoothly lead remote and onsite researchers to more than 32 million archival items in the Manuscript, Music, American Folklife, Prints and Photographs, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound, and other Library of Congress research centers. Each finding aid progressively describes the parts of an individual collection, summarizes the overall scope of the material, conveys details about the individuals and organizations involved, and notes the conditions under which the collection may be accessed or copied....
Library of Congress, Oct. 28

Hand clapping as a cognitive tool
Would you encourage children to engage in an activity if you knew that it could reduce the risk of dyslexia and dyscalculia; improve cognitive abilities, social integration, handwriting, and spelling; and make both you and them feel more focused and less tense? Idit Sulkin, a researcher at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, conducted a study of hand-clapping songs, revealing a direct link between those activities and the development of important skills in children and young adults, including university students....
Israel21c, Aug. 10; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Apr. 28

Creative play at the library
Abby Johnson writes: “Of course our Children’s Department has books. We also have early literacy computers, internet computers, CDs, and DVDs. But one of my favorite things that we have in my department is a wooden box filled with foam blocks. What I love about them is that they inspire kids to be creative. Almost every day, I walk past castles, cities, towers, and other wonderful creations.”...
ALSC Blog, Oct. 28

Library changes lives in Ukraine
Meaghan O’Connor writes: “When schoolteacher Tetyana Nishkur (right) was laid off in 2005 after 33 years of service, she had difficulty finding a new job. With the help of the local public library, she learned to write a business plan and started a business renting kayaks and leading tours. Today her Water Labyrinth Tour Company is thriving, and the internet access provided by the library has become an essential part of her life.” Watch (4:19) how Oksana Zolotukhina (left) of the Kherson Oblast Universal Scientific Library changed the lives of Nishkur and her family....
IREX Global Libraries, Sept. 15

Zombies walk for libraries in New York City
More than 50 zombies converged October 31 at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn to moan about new cuts to library budgets in New York City. “More libraries, more brains!” they grumbled, shambling across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall in support of maintaining library funding at its current level for the remainder of the fiscal year. The local zombie community has been under threat of a severe brain shortage following recent cuts to library services, and they fear starvation if new cuts are allowed to go through....
Urban Librarians Unite, Nov. 1; Brooklyn Heights Blog, Oct. 27, 31

Aussie Zombies @ the library
A brainstorm by members of the South Australian Library and Information Network has spawned the “Zombies in the Library” calendar for 2011. “In 12 beautifully rendered scenes,” declares SALIN member Benjamin Wheal, “the calendar covers such topics as the role of the Zombie in reference, the frustrations faced when the undead hog the photocopier, and for catalogers, poses the eternal question: 299.675 or 398.21?”...
South Australian Library and Information Network

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