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

Pakistan: People, places, libraries
Organized by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the Pakistan Library Association, the “21st-Century Vision for Libraries” conference October 13–14 brought librarians from all over Pakistan to talk with specialists from the embassy and from consulates in Lahore and Karachi and from the United States and India, followed by discussions at several libraries, including the historic Frere Library in Karachi and Quaid-e-Azam Library in Lahore. This photo essay shows some highlights....
AL Focus, Oct. 19; Public Information Office, Oct. 19

Libraries, now more than ever
American Libraries Editor Leonard Kniffel (right) gave the keynote address October 13 at the “21st-Century Vision for Libraries” conference in Islamabad, Pakistan. Kniffel writes: “One of the things that became clear as we progressed through the two-day conference was that Pakistan libraries, unlike libraries in the United States, have not for the most part adapted to the information age, which is alienating potential users, particularly the young.”...
American Libraries feature; AL: Inside Scoop, Oct. 12

Violence in Karachi, but consulate library will reopen
In the midst of new outbreaks of violence in Pakistan, the United States Consulate in Karachi has announced plans to reopen its Information Resource Center, which has been closed for four years. Schools and universities in Karachi shut down October 20 and library programs were cancelled after a group of armed men opened fire in the city’s Kabari Market, killing 15 people and wounding some 20 more. The situation in Pakistan is tense and by afternoon the consulate in Lahore was closed and the staff sent home as a safety precaution....
American Libraries news, Oct. 20

When a good deed meets bad press
Beverly Goldberg writes: “A promptly handled reconsideration request at the Waukee (Iowa) Public Library morphed into a public-relations nightmare for Director Maryann Mori last week when area residents misinterpreted a Des Moines Register story about the relocation of The Notebook Girls from the YA section to adult nonfiction as restricting adolescents’ ability to borrow the title. However, nothing could be further from the truth, Mori said.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, Oct. 19

Gaming 2.0
Sandy Farmer writes: “The most exciting things have happened at the Houston Public Library’s Central Library since it reopened in May 2008: Families are playing together and enjoying each other’s company. Teen boys who now think the library is the best place to be ride buses an hour and a half each way to visit. Parents say they now believe their teens when they say, ‘Mom, I’m going to the library today.’”...
American Libraries feature

Next Steps: The Stanford information juggernaut
Brian Mathews writes: “The libraries at Stanford University have been a juggernaut of innovation over the last 20 years. Their location in Palo Alto, the birthplace of Google, has undoubtedly impacted the libraries’ philosophy and philanthropy. A key distinction of this paradigm-shifting organization is that it blends traditional library functions with campus-wide academic computing, as well as the University Press.”...
American Libraries column, Nov.

Showing movies in the library
Q. There’s a community group that wants to show a movie to its members in one of the meeting rooms at the library. Is this legal? A. As we mention on ALA Library Fact Sheet 7: Video and Copyright: “Libraries which allow groups to use or rent their public meeting rooms should, as part of their agreement, require the group to warrant that it will secure all necessary performance licenses and indemnify the library for any failure on their part to do so.”...
AL: Ask the ALA Librarian, Oct. 20

Give weeded books a second life
Laura Bruzas writes: “Send them to Better World Books, a for-profit social enterprise that collects used books and sells them online to raise money for literacy initiatives worldwide. Or put them on your library’s free cart or bookcase.” And here are eight other things you can do....
AL: Green Your Library, Oct. 17

Earn green for green library projects
Laura Bruzas writes: “Some large-scale green projects might require a referendum, but there are many small-scale, lower-cost ways to help your library go green, such as contests. One eco-friendly contest that comes to mind immediately is the Great American Can Roundup where your library can win up to $5,000—plus whatever you might earn from a scrap metal recycler for the cans themselves—if it has a not-for-profit arm.”...
AL: Green Your Library, Oct. 15

40 ways to go greener
Laura Bruzas writes: “This morning, I found a nifty 40 Ways to Go Greener at Home (Besides Just Recycling) list that I’d like to share with you. At first glance, you may think this list may not offer much insight for librarians. But, if you take a closer look and keep an open mind, you may find more than a few applicable tips, including program planning ideas, small-scale projects that you can duplicate on a larger scale, and links to a few short but very informative videos.”...
AL: Green Your Library, Oct. 12; Simple Mom, Apr. 21

Norman Horrocks, 1927–2010
Norman Horrocks, professor emeritus at the Dalhousie University School of Information Management and a longtime ALA member leader, died peacefully during the night of October 14. A favorite among many ALA members and a member of ALA’s governing Council for 21 years, Horrocks received the Association’s highest honor—Honorary Member—in 2004 and was a well-known expert on ALA’s constitution and by-laws. Share your memories on ALA Connect’s memorial page or on the memorial wiki. Condolences to the family can be posted on the funeral home page....
AL: Inside Scoop, Oct. 15

Some good news out there too
ALA President Roberta A. Stevens writes: “One of the best aspects of being ALA president is the opportunity to be a part of state chapter conferences. I’d like to focus on my experience at the Kentucky Library Association / Kentucky School Media Association joint conference in Louisville, September 15–18. What really impressed me was the enthusiasm and positive attitude of the KLA/KSMA members. They are definitely using the lessons of ALA’s Advocacy University with great success and have incorporated quite a few magical touches of their own.”...
ALA President’s Message, Oct. 20

Two authors slated for Midwinter 2011 Sunrise Speaker Series
Start off Saturday and Sunday of the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego with two bestselling authors at the Sunrise Speaker Series, January 8–9. Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist, creator of the Fox television series Bones, and author of Virals. Andre Dubus III is the author of Townie, The Garden of Last Days, and House of Sand and Fog....
Conference Services, Oct. 14

2010–2011 LIS financial assistance directory
Need additional financial assistance? The Financial Assistance for Library and Information Studies directory (PDF file) is an annual directory of awards from state library agencies, national and state library associations, local libraries, academic institutions, and foundations that give some form of financial assistance for undergraduate and/or graduate education programs in library and information studies. For ALA scholarships, visit the ALA website....
Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Oct. 18

Apply for scholarships through ALA
Scholarship money is available for future librarians. ALA has more than $300,000 for students who are studying library science or school librarianship at the master’s degree level. Scholarships typically range from $1,500 to $7,000 per student per year. The application and instructions are available online. The application deadline is March 8....
Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Oct. 18

Wi-Fi access in U.S. public libraries
To better meet growing patron demand for online information and services, public libraries continue to expand free public access to the internet via wireless connections. A vast majority of libraries (70%) reported increased use of their wireless networks in 2009–2010. Nationwide, 82% of public libraries now offer this service, and some states (and the District of Columbia) report universal Wi-Fi access in their public libraries. Click on a state on the map to get the details....
Office for Research and Statistics

Log on now to participate in internet-use study
The November 5 deadline is swiftly approaching for public libraries to participate in the 2010–2011 Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study online survey. The survey provides an important opportunity for libraries to share information on computer and internet resources and infrastructure, as well as funding, technology training, and other uses of public libraries, such as providing public access technology centers in their communities. Log on here to take the survey....
Office for Research and Statistics, Oct. 19

Massachusetts teen wins Step Up to the Plate grand prize
Thirteen-year-old Josh Smith’s dream of visiting to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, is about to the come true, thanks to a trip to the Haverhill (Mass.) Public Library. As avid library users and baseball fans, the Smith family discovered the Step Up to the Plate @ your library program while visiting their library this summer. Smith and his family will travel to Cooperstown October 30 for the Hall of Fame’s World Series Gala....
Campaign for America’s Libraries, Oct. 19

Funding-opportunities webinar for rural libraries
The Washington Office will host a webinar October 29 at 2 p.m. Eastern time to assist rural libraries with pursuing funding opportunities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Presenters will discuss the three USDA programs that have funds available for rural libraries: the Distance Learning and Telemedicine program, the Communities Facility program, and the Community Connect program....
District Dispatch, Oct. 20

Vendor chosen for ALA website migration to Drupal
ALA has contracted with OJC Technologies of Urbana, Illinois, to manage the migration of its website to the open source Drupal platform. ALA units are preparing for the migration by reviewing existing content, removing or archiving materials no longer needed, repairing links, and adding missing accessibility features....
ITTS, Oct. 19

ALA accreditation: Not a rubber stamp
Laura Dare writes: “Many members know that ALA accredits master’s programs in library and information studies. In fact, accreditation was ranked second in a 2009 survey (PDF file) of what members value most about ALA. Among those not directly involved in LIS education, however, the perception may be that ALA accreditation is a one-time, rubber-stamp process—sort of like renewing your driver’s license. In reality, ALA accreditation is an ongoing process designed to foster continuous improvement of LIS programs.”...
Prism 18, no. 2 (Fall 2010)

GreenMyParents helps out with Haitian library
GreenMyParents, a social media youth movement to seed the green economy and save the planet, has joined forces with ALA in its effort to rebuild the Petit Goave Public Library in Haiti, which was destroyed by the earthquake in January. The estimated cost to rebuild the Petit Goave library is $350,000. GreenMyParents helps families collaborate at home on building a new, greener America....
International Relations Office, Oct. 19

ALA Editions on Kindle
Rob Christopher writes: “Did you know that many ALA titles are now available in Kindle editions? Over the past six months we’ve been hard at work converting and uploading many of our recent and most popular books so that you can read ALA Editions wherever you happen to be, whether it’s on the train during your commute or while you’re deep in the stacks. We’re adding more every month, but here’s our current inventory.”...
ALA Editions blog, Oct. 18

Dinner and a play
Keli Dailey writes: “That heart-wrenching theatrical soliloquy will go down smoother if you’ve had a pre-theater meal. And while this town lacks a theater district proper—our collection of downtown stages comes close—there’s a cluster of restaurants near each theater house that will get you fed and to your show on time.” This list shows restaurants near the following theaters: the Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, the Balboa and other downtown theatres, Cygnet, Moxie, and North Coast Repertory Theatre....
San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 19

Picture the Museum of Photographic Arts
San Diego’s Museum of Photographic Arts mounts exhibitions representing the history of the medium, contemporary works, photojournalism, and varied photographic proceses. Among the exhibits during ALA Midwinter will be “Reflections: Exploring Cultural Identity,” MoPA’s fifth annual youth exhibition that will showcase the work of some 40 San Diego County students, including Leiann Bui who contributed “Role Models” (right). Located at 1649 El Prado, MoPA is open from 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Tuesday–Sunday....
Museum of Photographic Arts

Digital resources in school libraries
According to an AASL survey, 61% of school library staff respondents provide professional development for teachers in the use of digital content. Of those providing training, 71% spend between one and six hours or more a week training teachers on digital resources. This data was gleaned from a set of supplemental questions on digital content and resources in the 2010 School Libraries Count! survey....
AASL, Oct. 19

Teen Read Week 2010
Thanks in part to events like Teen Read Week, October 17–23, teen books now enjoy unprecedented critical success and popularity. In addition, library use has skyrocketed in the past two years, with many teens and their families taking advantage of free access to a wide variety of quality reading materials at their libraries. This year, Coretta Scott King Award–winner Nikki Grimes (above), author of A Girl Named Mister, is lending her influential voice in a video (1:51) created just for YALSA. Find out more about Teen Read Week in this podcast (7:34) interview with YALSA Communications Specialist Stephanie Kuenn....
YALSA, Oct. 18; Visibility @ your library, Oct. 19

Catching Fire shoots to the top of Teens’ Top Ten
Teen readers across the country chose Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins as their favorite book in the annual Teens’ Top Ten vote, sponsored by YALSA. Teens cast more than 8,000 votes online between August 23 and September 17, with the official list announcement during Teen Read Week, October 17–24. World Wrestling Entertainment Diva Eve (above) announced the 2010 winners in a webcast (1:56)....
YALSA, Oct. 18

WrestleMania Reading Challenge launches
World Wrestling Entertainment’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge, sponsored by YALSA, launches this week as part of Teen Read Week. More than 60,000 students in 1,700 school and public libraries in the United States and Canada are expected to participate in the hopes of winning an all-expenses-paid trip to WrestleMania XXVII in Atlanta on April 3, along with $2,000 and books for their local sponsoring libraries. Watch the Reading Challenge video (2:02)....
YALSA, Oct. 18

PLA time management tips
PLA has just released Time Flies…But Where? Time Management Tips and Tools, a downloadable training program for public library staff. The training will help participants evaluate the balance between their work life and personal life and understand their time management choices and challenges. Authored by Sandra Nelson, the program culminates in a personal plan outlining steps and tools for better time management for each participant....
PLA, Oct. 19

ACRL examines the expert library
ACRL has published The Expert Library: Staffing, Sustaining, and Advancing the Academic Library in the 21st Century, edited by Scott Walter and Karen Williams. This thought-provoking book provides fresh thinking and insights into recruiting and retaining academic library professionals to ensure the continued relevance and success of academic libraries. In 13 engaging essays, it draws on the experience of academic librarians looking back over a decade of research and innovation....
ACRL, Oct. 14

AASL Fall Forum advanced pricing ends October 21
The deadline for advanced registration and housing pricing for the AASL 2010 Fall Forum ends October 21. “In Focus: The Essentials of 21st-Century Learning” will be held November 5–6 in Portland, Oregon. Attendees of the institute can receive graduate credit through Portland State University....
AASL, Oct. 19

LLAMA webinars for new library directors and deans
In November and December, LLAMA will present a series of four interactive webinars designed to meet the needs of new library leaders at the dean, director, department head or branch manager level. Each of the 60–90 minute programs will feature library consultant Pat Wagner of Pattern Research. Register online....
LLAMA, Oct. 19

LITA offers web course on mashups and APIs
LITA has a new web course, “Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs,” presented by Karen Coombs of the OCLC Developer Network and Jason Clark of Montana State University Libraries. The course will be held mornings November 15–19, with live synchronous lectures each day. Register online....
LITA, Oct. 15

RUSA Midwinter Genealogy Institute
Librarians seeking genealogy reference skills or those hoping to aid their personal family history research can now register for “Genealogy Happens! At the Genealogy Reference Desk,” a 2011 ALA Midwinter Institute offered by the RUSA History Section. The event will be held January 7 at the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch of the San Diego Library, 5148 Market Street, San Diego. Advance registration ends November 29....
RUSA, Oct. 14

RUSA is looking for course and webinar ideas
RUSA invites interested instructors and presenters to submit proposals for online professional development courses and webinars to be offered starting in early 2011. Topics of particular interest include skills for assisting patrons with job searches, collection development, and introductory reference and user services skills. Proposals should be emailed as Word or PDF attachments....
RUSA, Oct. 19

Estela and Raúl Mora Award (PDF file)
Three libraries have received the 2010 Estela and Raúl Mora Award for exemplary efforts in promoting El día de los niños / El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day). The winners are: Yolo County (Calif.) Library’s Arthur F. Turner Community Library; Pima County (Ariz.) Public Library; and Santa Barbara (Calif.) Public Library System. The award is given by Reforma....
Reforma, Oct. 15

Gary Frost honored by Guild of Book Workers
Gary Frost, conservator at the University of Iowa Libraries, has been given the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2010 by the Guild of Book Workers. The Guild, founded in 1906, is focused on service to the hand-bookbinding community. Frost was cited for his contributions to conservation education and bookbinding studies, including his his thought-provoking website....
University of Iowa Libraries: Preservation Beat, Oct. 13

Linda Smith earns ASIS&T Award of Merit
Linda C. Smith, associate dean of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science, has been honored with the American Society of Information Science and Technology’s 2010 Award of Merit. The award cited Smith’s research on artificial intelligence and information retrieval, as well as her development of the iSchool’s online-learning option, LEEP....
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign GSLIS, Oct. 8

2010 Library Assessment Career Achievement Awards
The Association of Research Libraries has announced the recipients of its 2010 Library Assessment Career Achievement Award. The awardees are three librarians who were instrumental in the definition and use of standardized and consistent statistical data—Gordon Fretwell, Roswitha Poll, and Kendon Stubbs. The three 2010 recipients helped make it possible for libraries to contribute and use high-quality comparable data for effective library management....
Association of Research Libraries, Oct. 13

Johnson County Library named Depository of the Year (PDF file)
The U.S. Government Printing Office has named Johnson County Library in Overland Park, Kansas, the 2010 Federal Depository Library of the Year. GPO selected the library for its excellent customer service and ongoing commitment to open government. The library has implemented many initiatives, such as GovFest and the GovDocs Kids Group, in order to better provide the public with access to federal government information....
U.S. Government Printing Office, Oct. 18

Library honored for its archives
The La Crosse (Wis.) Public Library received the 2010 Governor’s Award for Archival Achievement on October 17. The award recognizes both the library’s extensive archives and the ways it makes the materials accessible, said Wisconsin State Archivist Peter Gottlieb. Much of the library’s information is available online as well, including more than 100 maps. The archives turn 30 years old this year....
La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune, Oct. 16

J. K. Rowling wins Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award
Saying she was “humbled and deeply honored,” Harry Potter series author J. K. Rowling accepted the inaugural Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award October 19 at a ceremony in Odense, Denmark, the birthplace of the fairy tale writer. The award of 500,000 kroner ($93,590 U.S.), which is given by the Hans Christian Andersen Literary Committee to authors who write in Andersen’s spirit, is distinct from the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, sometimes dubbed the “Nobel Prize for children’s literature.” Denmark TV2 has a newscast (7:17) of the presentation....
The Guardian (U.K.), Oct. 20; TV2, Odense, Denmark, Oct. 19

2010 Anthony Awards
Canadian author Louise Penny won the 2010 Anthony Award for Best Novel for The Brutal Telling. The Anthony Awards are presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention and are among the most prestigious awards in the world of mystery writers. Other awards announced at Bouchercon October 14–17 were the Barry Awards, the Macavity Awards, the Crimespree awards, and the Derringer Awards....
Bouchercon by the Bay; Deadly Pleasures News; Mystery Readers International; Central Crime Zone, Oct. 19; Short Mystery Fiction Society, May 1

Literature in Translation Award from English PEN
English PEN has launched a new prize for translated literature, and named the late Anna Politkovskaya as the inaugural winner for her nonfiction work Putin’s Russia. In October 2006, two years after its publication in the United Kingdom, Politkovskaya was shot dead in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment block. The £1,000 prize ($1,570 U.S.) will be divided equally between her estate and the book’s translator, Arch Tait....
The Bookseller, Oct. 19

Premio Planeta prize
Eduardo Mendoza (right) has won the Premio Planeta prize for a novel set in Madrid in 1936 on the eve of the country’s devastating civil war. Spain’s most lucrative literary prize was announced October 15 at a ceremony in Barcelona and carries a €601,000 ($846,750 U.S.) cash award. Mendoza’s novel Riña de gatos (Cat Fight) centers on a British art expert who visits Spain in the increasingly chaotic days before the war and discovers a canvas that appears to be a previously unknown Velazquez painting of incalculable value....
Associated Press, Oct. 16

Chicago to give field house protestors a school library
Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman has proposed a deal to build a library at Whittier Dual Language Elementary School and keep its field house from being bulldozed. The deal seeks to end a weeks-long protest that pitted parents against CPS and drew national attention to the small school in the Pilsen neighborhood. The city had planned to raze the school’s field house, but parents wanted to see the building converted to a library....
Huffington Post, Oct. 19; Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 19; WLS-TV, Chicago, Oct. 18

Libraries and Hispanic students
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says the United States must improve the educational outcome for all students—particularly Hispanic students who face a harder challenge graduating from high school. To address this inequity, President Obama signed an executive order October 19 targeting four new areas to help Hispanic-American students, from establishing federal working groups to strengthening private and public partnerships where libraries will specifically play a role....
School Library Journal, Oct. 19; U.S. Department of Education, Oct. 19

Camarillo votes to leave Ventura County and hire LSSI
The Camarillo (Calif.) city council unanimously voted late October 13 to withdraw from the Ventura County Library system and hire the Maryland-based Library Systems and Services Inc. to run the city library, despite protests from union members concerned about privatization and lost jobs. SEIU members were concerned that public employees would lose their jobs or some of their pay and benefits if hired by the company. LSSI claims it can operate the library for about $1.9 million a year, compared to the nearly $3 million the city now contributes as a branch of the county system....
Ventura County (Calif.) Star, Oct. 14

Jackson library cuts stem from LSSI error
County commissioners revisited cutting the Jackson–Madison County (Tenn.) Library budget by almost 20% October 14 in preparation for a meeting centering on $121,080 owed to the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System for 17 retired library workers and 12 inactive workers. The county is responsible for paying half that total. The situation developed in 2006 after Madison County hired management firm Library Systems and Services Inc., which did not figure retirement costs into the budget....
Jackson (Tenn.) Sun, Oct. 18

Des Plaines will try to keep library open all year
City officials in Des Plaines, Illinois, said October 18 that they would work with the municipal library to keep it from closing for most of December for lack of operating funds due to an anticipated delay in receiving property taxes. Though no promises were made about the library’s $1.5-million loan request to get it through 2010, city aldermen said constituents have been calling to ask that they not let the library go dark. Several days earlier, Des Plaines Mayor Marty Moylan had suggested that the library focus on making “basic reading material available” and stop making CDs and DVDs available for free....
Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, Oct. 18; Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 15

Dad gets book pulled from Texas school
At the end of September, Jason Bedell spent a weekend pouring over a 215-page book his 8-year-old son brought home from Pfluger Elementary School in Buda, Texas. Among other things, The What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Boys by Lynda Madaras describes how to have sex and includes dozens of detailed hand-drawn body diagrams. Nancy Turner, director of library services at Hays CISD, agreed the book was inappropriate for elementary school. The district has since pulled all of the books by the author off the shelves in all 21 school libraries....
KXAN-TV, Austin, Tex., Oct. 14

High school keeps Kaffir Boy
Despite containing a passage that graphically details sexual assault, a book about apartheid will not be banned from San Luis Obispo (Calif.) High School, a review committee unanimously decided October 18. The book, Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane, has been taught at the school for more than a decade. In fact, librarian Vicki Carroll added, a copy of the book has been in the library for a long time with little notice. Controversy arose when anonymous letters complaining about the book were sent last spring to Zinn, school administrators, and the school board....
San Luis Obispo (Calif.) Tribune, Oct. 19

Pennsylvania passes resolution to study school libraries
Debra Lau Whelan writes: “Pennsylvania has for the first time passed a resolution focused solely on school libraries. The House of Representatives unanimously voted on October 4 in favor of asking the State Board of Education and the Pennsylvania Department of Education to conduct an in-depth study on the status of media centers across 500 Pennsylvania K–12 districts. The reason? To uncover how many schools have lost their libraries or librarians, and the number of schools and students that have been negatively impacted by it.”...
School Library Journal, Oct. 14

Burned Georgetown branch reopens
The fire that destroyed the Georgetown branch of the District of Columbia Public Library on April 30, 2007, burned through most of the books in its circulating collection. They could be replaced. The unique Georgetown artifacts in the library’s Peabody Collection on the third floor could not. Thankfully, all those items survived, though some will require repairs, and the collection now has the clock from the Peabody room from the day of the fire, its hands stopped at 12:38 p.m. And so, with the ribbon-cutting at a new $18-million structure on October 18, the Georgetown Neighborhood Library once again becomes whole....
Washington Post, Oct. 17; WTTG-TV, Washington, Oct. 18

Flooded Georgetown library closes
After meeting with contractors, officials said repairs to the water-damaged Georgetown (Del.) Public Library will force it to close for about eight weeks. In late September, less than two months after the $6.2-million building’s August 9 grand opening, a defective pipe fitting damaged books, carpet, furniture, and drywall on the first floor. Paul Enterline, president of the library’s board of commissioners, said officials are still investigating whether the leak was caused by defective equipment or installation....
Bethany Beach Delaware Wave, Oct. 19

Providence sues its library over repairs
The city of Providence, Rhode Island, filed a lawsuit October 14 against the Providence Public Library, escalating a battle over the fate of the city’s library branches, which are now run by the nonprofit Providence Community Library. The city is leasing seven of the nine branch buildings from PPL (for $1 annually) and claims the lease requires the library to make repairs “at its sole cost and expense.” The suit lists more than a dozen problems at the branches, including leaky roofs, poor drainage, electric problems, and faulty ventilation. Calling Mayor David N. Cicilline a “petulant child,” PPL on October 18 said the lawsuit was “baseless” and “harassing.”....
WPRI-TV, Providence, Oct. 15; Providence Journal, Oct. 19

Fullerton school district librarian is last one standing
Yvette Cabrera writes: “When I found out that earlier this year the Fullerton Joint Union High School District made the drastic decision to retain the district’s six lesser-paid and lesser-qualified high school library technicians to run its libraries, instead of its higher-paid, higher qualified teacher librarians, I knew this wouldn’t bode well for the kids. When school started in late August, the district’s six high schools were down to exactly one teacher librarian. That would be Marie Slim (right). When school began she was inundated with requests to work on projects from 76 teachers. By late September, reality set in.”...
Orange County (Calif.) Register, Oct. 18

Montana man pleads guilty to intimidating librarian
Michael Spreadbury, a former candidate for mayor of Hamilton, Montana, pleaded guilty October 15 to one count of felony intimidation involving his harassment of Bitterroot Public Library Public Services Librarian Nansu Roddy. Spreadbury was originally charged with misdemeanor trespassing in June 2009 after returning to the library after he had been barred from it. He had been insisting the library keep as reference material letters he’d written accusing county officials of corruption. A threatening exchange with Roddy in the parking lot in November prompted the felony intimidation charge....
Hamilton (Mont.) Ravalli Republic, Oct. 17

Texas releases surveillance footage of library gunman
The University of Texas police department has released surveillance tapes (1:37) showing Colton Tooley, the student who took his life on September 28, running through the Perry-Castañeda Library. Tooley wore a black suit and a ski mask while carrying an AK-47 rifle and waved at the security guard as he ran past theft sensors (above). Tooley came to the university and fired several rounds near the University Catholic Center before entering the library. After reaching the sixth floor, he took his own life. No one else was hurt....
The Daily Texan, Oct. 14; YouTube, Oct. 13

Artist protests county’s censorship of her library exhibit
Complaints about three words have started a censorship debate in the Chatham Community Library, a new joint-use county–community college facility in Pittsboro, North Carolina. County officials say they received complaints about the content and sharp edges of some of artist Siglinda Scarpa’s ceramic tiles in an installation that contain tiles featuring the words “sex,“ “damned,” and “communists.” Scarpa said the county officials put black tape over two tiles that contained the words....
Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, Oct. 16

Little Librarian kit a Toy of the Year finalist
A Madison, Wisconsin, mother and daughter’s toy project will be featured in Disney’s FamilyFun magazine in November after being named a finalist in the magazine’s Toy of the Year contest. Little Librarian, created by Kristine and Amanda Miller, is a kit that helps children to create a library out of their own books. The kits include library cards, book cards, pockets that go inside the books like in pre-computer days, a reading journal, bookmarks, and even overdue slips....
Madison Wisconsin State Journal, Oct. 15

Buffalo branches won’t close, but...
The Buffalo and Erie County (N.Y.) Public Library faces a projected shortfall of $6.75 million in 2011. That includes a $4-million cut in the system’s county funding. Library officials have chosen not to close any branches, but other difficult cuts will be necessary, according to Library Director Bridget Quinn Carey. One option might be cutting up to 130 FTE positions, which may mean layoffs for nearly 200 employees....
Buffalo (N.Y.) News, Oct. 17

Reprieved Jersey City branches worry about the future
News that the West Bergen, Marion, and Lafayette (right) branches of the Jersey City (N.J.) Free Public Library will remain open until June 30 was warmly received by library employees and library users. But staffers remain nervous about the prospects beyond that date. The three branches had been slated to close December 31 due to budget cuts. Then on October 14, council members David Donnelly and Viola Richardson and Library Director Priscilla Gardner struck a deal with administration officials to give the branches a six-month extension....
Jersey Journal, Oct. 15

Database of Nazi-looted art goes public
A register of some 20,000 art works looted by the Nazis in World War II from Jewish families went online October 18 in the hopes of reuniting the items with their rightful owners. Begun in 2005, the database is a joint initiative of the Claims Conference and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and was drawn up using the archives of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg—the German agency that cataloged the art stolen from 1940 to 1944. Listed are the works and a description, mostly in German but sometimes in French, and in many cases the names of the owners that they were taken from....
Discovery News, Oct. 18

A sneak peek at the renovated Morgan Library
Monami K. Thakur writes: “When one talks about American culture and heritage, one cannot help mentioning New York City’s Morgan Library and Museum. On October 30, the institution will reopen to the public after an extensive restoration program involving its landmark McKim building. The majestic library that houses endless books in its triple tiers of bookcases is now equipped with a new state-of-the-art lighting system, newly designed display cases with some of the Morgan’s most prized collections, and restoration of a late-19th-century Persian rug.”...
International Business Times, Oct. 19; Morgan Library and Museum

Libraries and digital access
British Library Chief Executive Lynne Brindley writes: “To continue to play their part in enriching the cultural life of the nation, libraries and archives are going to have to work fast and take the digital lead. In September, the British Library launched its 2020 Vision (PDF file)—a 10-year strategy to ensure we remain a leading hub in the global information network. By 2020, we estimate that 75% of all titles worldwide will be published either digitally or in both print and digital. Our users will expect seamless access to all that information.” The library has just opened an in-house and online exhibition, Growing Knowledge: The Evolution of Research, that showcases 21st-century research tools....
The Telegraph (U.K.), Oct. 15

Library of Wales inundated with 1958 hitchhiker info
The National Library of Wales has been inundated with information after appealing for facts about a man from Llanbedr, Wales, who left home in 1958 to hitchhike across the world. Until now, little was publicly known of what became of Islwyn Roberts, who returned from his trip and died in 1993, aged 79. Details about Roberts are being used for the “Small World: Travel in Wales and Beyond” exhibition. Curator Carys Mai Lloyd said, “We even received information from a handful of people in Patagonia who remember him.”...
BBC News, Oct. 14

Indonesian court revokes book-ban law
A ruling by the Indonesian Constitutional Court has stripped the attorney general’s office of its authority to ban books it deems controversial. The institution has banned 22 books since 2006, including 13 history textbooks for use in junior and senior high schools. The judges said the decision to remove books from circulation should rest with the courts, not the executive branch. The office has banned hundreds of books since a law was enacted in 1963 allowing the confiscation of printed materials whose content could disrupt public order....
Jakarta Post (Indonesia), Oct. 14

New Zealand unions fight bill demoting National Library and Archives
The Public Service Association in New Zealand has testified to the Education and Science Select Committee that downgrading the roles of Chief Archivist and National Librarian to third-tier division managers in a newly merged Department of Internal Affairs will effectively disable their authority. “How can either agency safeguard the nation’s heritage when both agencies are slotted into an IT group and their sector leadership roles are stifled?” asked PSA National Secretary Richard Wagstaff at a hearing on the State Sector Management Bill....
Voxy, Oct. 20

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Facebook fear and loathing
Michael Arrington writes: “All anyone is talking about today is the series of articles that the Wall Street Journal has written about a privacy breach at Facebook. Sometimes identifying information about you—your name and maybe your friends’ names—is theoretically being passed on from Facebook to apps and then to advertising networks. Along the way it’s stored by various companies that are in the business of gathering data about people to resell to others, chiefly Rapleaf. Is this a real problem? No.” In any case, such data gathering for advertising is going on all over the web, not just Facebook....
TechCrunch, Oct. 18; Inside Facebook, Oct. 18

How to clean malware from your computer
Seth Rosenblatt writes: “There’s little out there that can cause a rage seizure like a malware infection. Yet as annoying and dangerous to your privacy as they are, malware infections can be removed from your computer. We’ve written up an FAQ to help guide you to safety, and this How To video (3:40) will show you some concrete steps—first for making sure that you actually have been infected, and then for how to eradicate the infection.”...
CNET: Download Blog, Oct. 19

U.S. studies Australian internet security program
The government is reviewing an Australian program that will allow internet service providers to alert customers if their computers are taken over by hackers and could limit online access if people don’t fix the problem. Experts and U.S. officials are interested in portions of the plan, set to go into effect in Australia in December. But any move toward internet regulation or monitoring by the U.S. government or industry could trigger fierce opposition from the public....
Washington Post, Oct. 16

Information architecture 101
Cameron Chapman writes: “Information architecture is a commonly overlooked area of website design. Too often, as designers, we just let the CMS we’re using dictate how content for a site is organized. And that works fine as long as the site fits perfectly into the narrow content formats most CMSs are designed around. This guide covers the fundamentals of IA design patterns, best practices, design techniques, and case examples.”...
Six Revisions, Oct. 18

My top five cloud apps
Lori Reed writes: “When a 1 GB hard drive was not enough space for all my files, I upgraded to a 500 GB portable hard drive. The problem is—if I lose that hard drive, I am in trouble. I don’t have enough space on my work computers to back up all my data, so that hard drive is literally my life. Recently, I’ve relied more and more on the cloud—that esoteric place where multiple copies of data and applications live somewhere out there in cyberspace. With that in mind, I’d like to share my five favorite applications for living in the cloud.”...
Lori Reed, Oct. 13

Retouch your Facebook profile photo
Sarah Kessler writes: “Spruce up your online appearance. Even if you don’t have a magazine photo team to touch up your photo, it’s easy to make a couple of quick enhancements with basic Photoshop knowledge. (Don’t go too crazy—your friends should be able to pick you out of a lineup.) Whether you want to remove wrinkles, apply makeup, soften skin, whiten teeth, or add a tattoo—these eight tutorials will teach you how to retouch your photos like a pro.”...
Mashable, Oct. 17

Bit.ly now generates QR codes
URL-shortening service bit.ly announced October 12 that users can now automatically generate QR codes that, when scanned with a mobile QR code reader, automatically direct users to shortened links. To create a QR code, visit bit.ly, write or paste in a URL address, click “shorten,” and add .qr to the end of the generated bit.ly link. Then copy the modified bit.ly link into a new browser window to view the QR code....
Mashable, Oct. 13

ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, California, January 7–11, 2011. Start off Saturday and Sunday of the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego with two bestselling authors at the Sunrise Speaker Series, January 8–9. Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist, and creator of the Fox television series Bones, and author of Virals. Andre Dubus III is the author of Townie, The Garden of Last Days, and House of Sand and Fog.

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Link rot and footnote flight (subscription required)
Jennifer Howard writes: “Plenty of web content is the information equivalent of a bag of potato chips, created to be consumed and forgotten. Not for scholars, though. Authors and journal editors link to web-based resources in citations meant to last, but the phenomenon of link rot—when links stop working—can undermine the usefulness of those references. For Michael J. Bugeja, link rot is a major concern. He and his colleague Daniela V. Dimitrova have a new book out, Vanishing Act: The Erosion of Online Footnotes and Implications for Scholarship in the Digital Age, which expands on research first described in the Chronicle in 2004.”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 10

Which works enter the public domain in 2011?
Jonathan Gray writes: “Every year on January 1, hundreds of works enter the public domain around the world. So how do we know which works will come of age in 2011? First, we can get a rough idea from the data and calculators that are live on our Public Domain Works project. To make sure we haven’t missed anyone, we can cross-reference this with bigger lists of notable people (not just creators) who died in 1940, such as the one on Wikipedia. Also, we can use structured data sources (such as DBpedia faceted search) for more sophisticated searches.”...
Open Knowledge Foundation Blog, Oct. 18

Blogs morph into online mags
Farhad Manjoo writes: “Soon, Gawker will no longer be a blog. The same goes for other sites in the Gawker network—Gizmodo, Jezebel, and Lifehacker. Soon, when these sites publish their scoops, they won’t be doing so in a reverse-chronological, scrollable index of posts; they are changing into something more akin to conventional web magazines. Look at Lifehacker’s future here. These changes in presentation are collapsing all distinctions between ‘blog posts’ and ‘articles.’”...
Slate, Oct. 15

CIA sues author, claiming security breach
The CIA has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against a former deep-cover agent who published a book critical of the agency without allowing CIA censors to remove large portions of the manuscript before publication. Ishmael Jones, pen name for the 20-year CIA veteran and Arabic speaker who said he sought to expose corruption in the agency, faces a civil lawsuit (PDF file) over his 2008 book, The Human Factor: Inside the CIA’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture, a detailed account of his work as a “nonofficial cover” operative in the Middle East and Europe....
Washington Times, Oct. 18

Popular highlights: The e-readers’ collective
Virginia Heffernan writes: “Readers coming to e-books freshly purchased from Amazon might be taken aback to find them already marked up. These are the so-called ‘popular highlights’ that now show up in Kindle e-books. Marked by a dotted underscore that indicates that other Kindle users have found the passages significant, popular highlights constitute crowd-sourced literary criticism. Readers, on the spot and yet collaboratively, make meaning of what they’re reading. The effect is odd—even for those of us who see literature as something readers determine incrementally and collectively.”...
New York Times, Oct. 15

Halloween picture books
Betsy Bird writes: “This year, for the first time, I started to notice that when it comes to holidays, authors and illustrators put a lot more effort into their Halloween fare than pretty much any other holiday you can name. To a large extent this is due to the visuals. It’s a lot more fun to draw a ghostie or goblin than it is to draw a sweet bunny delivering eggs. So this year I started paying attention. All right then: Which illustrators were tapped by their publishers to make books with exceptional visuals this year?”...
School Library Journal: A Fuse #8 Production, Oct. 15

The A to Z of the shortest book titles
C by Tom McCarthy, one of the novels shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, is not the first novel to be assigned a single letter from the alphabet as its title. In fact, there are numerous examples that stretch from A by Andy Warhol to Z by Vassilis Vassilikos, although not every letter of the alphabet appears to have been singled out for the literary treatment—does anyone want R? But single-letter titles are not particularly friendly to internet search engines that thrive on more detailed data. Here is a list of the shortest book titles AbeBooks could find....
AbeBooks, Oct. 13

A primer on marbling
L. D. Mitchell writes: “One of the book arts most commonly encountered by book collectors, especially on volumes which pre-date publishers’ cloth bindings (as well as on many modern fine press titles), is marbling. Marbling is believed to have been invented in China over 2,000 years ago, and is known to have been used on paper (in Japan) as early as the 12th century A.D. It has been used for bookbindings and endpapers for hundreds of years. In books, though, marbling usually is seen to best effect when it is used to create endpapers.”...
The Private Library, Oct. 13

Dead Sea Scrolls to be digitized
As part of its 20th-anniversary celebration, the Israel Antiquities Authority is launching the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library to document the entire collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The IAA will image the entire collection of 900 manuscripts comprising some 30,000 scroll fragments and make the images freely available and accessible on the internet. The scrolls will be photographed with the help of Google’s research and development center in Israel using an advanced photographic technique that utilizes 11 different light waves that can reveal letters and inscriptions invisible to the naked eye. This is the first time that the collection will be photographed in its entirety since the 1950s....
Israeli Antiquities Authority, Oct. 19; Haaretz (Tel Aviv), Oct. 19

IMLS holds ceremony for new board members
The Institute of Museum and Library Services held the Oath of Office Ceremony October 18 for the new members of the National Museum and Library Services Board. The ceremony was officiated by Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. New board members include Carla Hayden, Winston Tabb, Robert Wedgeworth, Mary Minow, John Coppola, and Lawrence J. Pijeaux Jr....
District Dispatch, Oct. 18

Digitally inclusive communities
The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced October 19 that it is awarding a $150,000 cooperative agreement to the University of Washington, in partnership with the International City/County Management Association, to develop a framework for digitally inclusive communities. The agreement is part of the agency’s effort to address the recommendations of the National Broadband Plan released in March 2010, which presented a vision of pervasive and affordable broadband for every American....
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Oct. 19

Library Inc.
Daniel Goldstein writes: “Libraries have become perhaps the most commercialized academic area within universities, with troubling implications for the future of higher education. Libraries have always dealt with the business world, buying books, journals, and other products. In the past, however, libraries separated the commercial process of acquiring materials from the academic objective of putting those materials to use. But that division has now faded as an unintended side effect of information technology.”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 17

Help A Librarian
Stephanie Rocío Miles writes: “Earlier today I got a Facebook friend request from Heather Durkin Negley and discovered a great project she set up. Help A Librarian is an online tool that helps librarians share information and help each other. The project, which was founded earlier this year, began as a Facebook group, and eventually moved to a separate site on the web. The site basically offers subscribers the ability to post questions and receive help from librarians across the world.”...
Bilingual Librarian, Oct. 11

Cataloging and metadata blogs
Christine Schwartz writes: “This is a list of 31 cataloging and metadata blogs that have been currently active in 2010. The frequency of content varies depending on the author’s approach to blogging. This list also represents focused blogs whose content is cataloging, metadata, and related issues, rather than those that cover a variety of topics or are diary-like personal accounts.”...
Cataloging Futures, Oct. 18

For Halloween cataloging: Dracula elucidates FRBR
Melvyn Yabut uses Bram Stoker’s Dracula to demonstrate (2:48) the relationship among Group 1 entities in FRBR terms. FRBR stands for Functional Requirement for Bibliographic Records, a cataloging model that takes into account interrelationships among different entities. Group 1 entities are Work, Expression, Manifestation, and Item, representing the products of intellectual or artistic endeavor....
YouTube, Sept. 11, 2009

Academic brain drain from Second Life
Officials at one discussion session at the Educause conference in Anaheim, California, spent an hour on October 13 debating whether or not they should relocate their campuses—taking all the buildings, quads, and people and carefully moving them elsewhere. The focus of the session was virtual worlds, and the academics were discussing whether to take their virtual campuses out of Second Life in protest, after the company that runs the online environment announced the end of a generous education discount as of January 1....
Chronicle of Higher Education: Wired Campus, Oct. 14; Second Life: Land and Sea, Oct. 4

Why Google Books won’t have any competitors
Christopher Mims writes: “The Department of Justice has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with a revised settlement (still under review by U.S. Judge Denny Chin) between Google and publishers, a settlement it says will never allow for a competitor to Google Books. Why is this so important? Not only will Google Books eventually offer a searchable index of every book ever printed, it will also offer many of those books for sale, splitting the revenue with publishers. In the September 2010 Stanford Technology Law Review, legal and economic scholar Eric M. Fraser extracts the bottom line from the 140-page settlement.”...
Technology Review: Mims’s Bits, Oct. 18; Stanford Technology Law Review, no. 4 (Sept.)

Coexist shines on the face of the New York Public Library
To inspire greater understanding about what it means to be Jewish, Christian, or Muslim today and to celebrate the opening of the new Three Faiths exhibition at the New York Public Library, the Coexist Foundation has sponsored world-renowned projection artist Ross Ashton to illuminate the façade of NYPL with images from the exhibition. It’s the first time an illumination of this scale has come to Fifth Avenue. The exhibition, running through February 27, will display together for the first time 200 of the library’s most inspiring sacred texts....
Coexist Foundation, Oct. 19

10 ways Twitter will make you a better employee
Bobbi L. Newman writes: “In my case this means my day, the 9-to-5 one, not the one on the side where I write this blog. Here are 10 ways Twitter has made me a better employee, improved my job skills, and benefited my library. Thanks to Twitter, I can connect with experts it might take years to connect with otherwise. And patrons ask me questions on Twitter all the time. Yes, for real. Patrons go to the easiest, most convenient method for them.”...
Librarian by Day, Oct. 15

Three out of four tweets ignored
Bob Brown writes: “If a tweet is posted on the web and nobody sees it, is it worth the bother? That’s essentially the question social media analytics company Sysomos posed in a survey of 1.2 billion posts made over the past two months and found that 71% of the posts from the Twitter microblogging site elicited neither a retweet nor reply. Just 6% of tweets got retweeted and 23% were apparently intriguing enough to warrant a reply. More than 90% of retweets take place within an hour, so the shelf life of a Tweet appears to be pretty short.”...
PC World, Oct. 17

“You may see an increase in patrons”
Brian Herzog writes: “I’m sure everyone has heard that the IRS is not going to mail 2010 tax forms to peoples’ homes next year. This will be especially painful for people without internet access or limited computer skills. It also means that libraries will see even more demand for tax forms next year. To warn us, the IRS sent out the following email through their Tax Forms Outlet Program. I think the sentence, ‘you may see an increase in patrons,’ is a bit of an understatement.”...
Swiss Army Librarian, Oct. 14; CNN, Sept. 28

A history of OCLC’s tax-exempt status
Peter E. Murray writes: “One of the baffling elements I’ve found in discussions of the history of OCLC is that of its tax-exempt status under Ohio law. The latest example of this comes from documents filed in the SkyRiver / Innovative Interfaces lawsuit that make disparaging remarks about how OCLC got its state tax–advantaged status. I was curious about this a while back and so did some research on the topic. So, to set the record straight, here is at least one version—hopefully written from a neutral perspective—of what happened nearly three decades ago.”...
Disruptive Library Technology Jester, Oct. 5

Finding comparative and international law
Shameema Rahman writes: “The Law Library of Congress Multinational Collections Database is now the Global Legal Information Catalog. GLIC is a research tool that interfaces with the LC catalog. A benefit of GLIC is that you no longer need to open a book to find the list of jurisdictions included. Do you want to know about publications that cover Canadian law? Just click on Canada. Interested in a different jurisdiction? You can then select the jurisdiction of interest. You can also browse by all subjects available.”...
In Custodia Legis, Oct. 19

National Archives site features primary sources
The National Archives has created a new website to help educators teach with primary-source documents. DocsTeach not only lets teachers explore thousands of documents in a variety of media from the National Archives holdings, but it also includes online tools to help teachers combine these materials and create engaging history activities that students can access over the internet. The seven tools featured on the site are designed to teach critical-thinking skills as they relate to history activities, such as weighing evidence, interpreting data, and focusing on details....
eSchool News, Oct. 18

ARL promotes federal depository principles
The Association of Research Libraries board of directors unanimously voted on October 14 to endorse a set of principles regarding the Federal Depository Library Program. In the ARL Statement of Principles on the Federal Depository Library Program (PDF file), the board asserts that the management of these document collections should include efforts to support or participate in initiatives to create a comprehensive digital collection in the public domain....
Association of Research Libraries, Oct. 18

Alumnus gives Purdue $2 million for library
Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, is renovating a library that will become the first major campus facility to be named for an African-American alumnus. Roland G. Parrish (right) has given the university $2 million to support the renovation of its Management and Economics Library. When complete in early 2012, the facility will stand as a state-of-the-art library, laboratory, and learning commons. Parrish is CEO of a chain of McDonald’s franchises in northern Texas....
Purdue University, Oct. 14

Four very different futures imagined for academic libraries
Jennifer Howard writes: “It’s difficult to position your institution for long-term survival if you have no idea what kind of future you’ll have to operate in. So the Association of Research Libraries prepared four scenarios that describe what the research environment might look like in 2030. The four story lines do not try to lay out what libraries themselves will need to do to be relevant 20 years from now. Instead they seek to describe the broader research environment in which libraries’ future users might be operating.”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 19; Association of Research Libraries, Oct. 19

Not in the mood to celebrate Open Access Week
Steven Bell writes: “It’s Open Access Week, a time to ‘present the individual and collective benefits of free online access to research.’ It’s a time to celebrate the many accomplishments and progress made on the scholarly communications front. So excuse me if I’m not in the mood to celebrate. I’m feeling frustrated. What else can you feel when the system is broken, you know that system must change, but there is little incentive for those perpetuating the system to change it for the better.”...
ACRLog, Oct. 18; SPARC, Oct. 18

Year of the Solar System
Stephanie Shipp writes: “NASA’s Planetary Science Division has launched the Year of the Solar System. Spanning a Martian year—23 months—the Year of the Solar System celebrates the amazing discoveries of numerous NASA missions as they explore our planetary neighbors and probe the outer edges of our solar system. Each month from October 2010 to August 2012 will highlight different aspects of our solar system, weaving together activities, resources, and ideas that you can use to engage audiences.”...
Programming Librarian, Oct. 19

Deleted does not mean gone forever
Michelle Boule writes: “Most of us know that things, once put online, have a way of remaining online, no matter how hard we try to delete them or forget them. In May 2009, Jacqui Cheng of Ars Technica started an experiment to see how quickly an embarrassing photo (above) was deleted from social networking sites. 16 months later, the photo is still accessible and viewable despite having been deleted almost two years ago. As librarians, we have some educating to do.”...
ALA TechSource Blog, Oct. 18; Ars Technica, July 3, 2009, Oct. 11

Start up a text-messaging reference service
Chad Boeninger writes: “Many libraries now offer text-a-librarian services to extend reference service to patrons on their mobile phones. If your library has pondered the idea of implementing a text-messaging reference service, but couldn’t quite figure out a way to pay for it, I hope you find this useful. Our library has been running a text-messaging reference service since September 1, and it didn’t cost us a dime. Here’s how we’re doing it, and how you can too.”...
Library Voice, Oct. 14

Harry Potter trailer, literal version
Toby Turner (Tobuscus), video blogger and actor, produces many literal versions of music and other videos. Here he applies his literal skills to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie trailer (2:33), which has a library scene. Part 1 of the movie premieres November 19....
YouTube, July 27

Librarians as seen by the media
Chris Smith, creator of the Asian school-library website Shambles, assembled this video (3:33) for an October 14 presentation in Monterrey, Mexico, at the Tri-Association Annual Educators’ Conference of the Association of American Schools of Central America, Colombia, Caribbean, and Mexico. Do you recognize these movies, TV programs, and publications? This video could be a catalyst on discussions about librarian stereotyping....
YouTube, Oct. 13

The Illinois Library Association: Loud and proud
Attendees at the closing session of the 2010 Illinois Library Association annual conference in Chicago on September 30 were pleasantly surprised by a flash mob event (3:48) featuring Tracy Ducksworth (right), director of the Grande Prairie Public Library in Hazel Crest, Illinois, who is also a professional gospel singer recording under the name of Tracy Worth. Singing “Let’s Get Loud” and accompanied on the stage by the M.A.D.D. Rhythms dancers, Ducksworth got the crowd dancing and clapping (with the help of some ILA members in the know who were scattered throughout the audience)....
YouTube, Oct. 15

The Pink Lace Diamond Mystery
Local teens, library staff, and community members made “Detection” (2:18), a parody of the movie Inception, to help promote Murder Mystery Night at Burlingame (Calif.) Public Library on October 30. Can you solve the mystery of the Pink Lace Diamond murder? The library is the scene of the crime, but who is the thief, and who is the killer? As Teen Librarian Amy Pelman says, “The video is seriously awesome.”...
Vimeo, Oct. 13

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