Contents
American Libraries Online
ALA News
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New Orleans Update
Division News
Awards
Seen Online
Tech Talk
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Calendar

Born here, died here
Kevin Grace writes: “More than 500,000 birth and death records have been digitized by the University of Cincinnati Libraries. Ranging from 1865 to 1912 and representing the city’s earliest official birth and death records, these cards hold the key to understanding an urban community’s demographics through its citizens, its neighborhoods, its health issues, and its occupations. By digitizing and creating metadata for the cards, the UC Libraries have provided access to primary source documents that are important not only for academic endeavors, but for public research as well.”...
American Libraries feature

Technology in Practice: Too much information?
Meredith Farkas writes: “I have friends who use the mobile location-based networking site Foursquare to broadcast exactly where they are at during the day using the GPS on their phone. In my Twitter feed, I see posts stating that one friend is at a conference, another is out to lunch, and another is at the grocery store. With all due respect, not only can I not envision who would want to know that I’m at the grocery store, but I don’t think I’d want the world to know where I am at all times. The universe of what I am comfortable sharing doesn’t extend that far.”...
American Libraries column, May/June

Will’s World: My professional heroes
Will Manley writes: “Ten years ago, when Library Journal unveiled a new set of annual awards for librarians called ‘Movers and Shakers,’ I was delighted. Clearly there’s been a lot of movin’ and shakin’ going on. So why not celebrate those who push us out of our professional comfort zones? That does not mean that I think the M&Sers are the most important people in the profession. That honor would go to the ‘plodders and toilers,’ or if you prefer, the worker bees.”...
American Libraries column, May/June

Trumbull’s solar solution
Greg Landgraf writes: “Trumbull (Conn.) Library recently received a valuable green gift: 18 solar panels capable of generating 4 kW of power. United Illuminating offered them to the town. ‘City Hall decided the library would be a good site’ to install them, said Library Director Sue Horton, because the library is centrally located, open to all, and has a roof that is flat and meets the physical needs for installation. Since activation, the solar panels have produced 899 kWh, enough to power 2,700 light bulbs for a day.”...
AL: Green Your Library, Apr. 26

A typical loss rate?
“Area Libraries Increasing Security to Combat Rising Thefts” is the headline for an April 23 article in the Dayton Daily News. But the question that comes to the ALA Library is “What is a typical loss rate?” There is no “typical” rate of loss for several reasons. Inventories, unless done in conjunction with another operation, such as catalog conversion or adding electronic security tags, are expensive and not undertaken frequently....
AL: Ask the ALA Librarian, Apr. 26

New website captures library stories
PLA and the Office for Library Advocacy have launched LibrariUS, an initiative sponsored by the Public Insight Network at American Public Media. Its aim is to inspire news content and, more importantly, generate a fresh and meaningful conversation about libraries and communities in the 21st century. It will also give participants future opportunities to share their knowledge and experience on other topics with journalists. The LibrariUS program collects details from people using the library. A simple widget (above) installed on your library’s website will link patrons to the LibrariUS site....
PLA, Apr. 26

Sharpen your fundraising skills
ALA President Roberta Stevens has launched a new Web resource designed to simplify the fundraising process for libraries. The Frontline Fundraising Toolkit covers the basics of developing a fundraising plan, annual funds, memorials and tributes, online giving and planned giving. The toolkit can be used by anyone, regardless of the library’s type or size, to supplement local or institutional budgets....
Development Office, Apr. 26

Save on advocacy preconferences at Annual
Reserve your spot today for both the “Nuts and Bolts for Trustees, Friends, and Foundations” and “Boomers, Staff, and Students: Engaging the Many Voices of Advocacy, an Advocacy Institute Workshop” during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans and save $25 off the combined registration (for the first 50 registrants). Both programs will take place June 24....
Office for Library Advocacy, Apr. 26

Choose Privacy Week
Invite library users of all ages and backgrounds into a conversation about privacy rights in a digital age May 1–7, Choose Privacy Week, now in its second year. The national public-awareness campaign coordinated by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom gives libraries the resources their users need to think critically and make informed choices about their privacy. Librarians have a long history of protecting the freedom to read, learn, and receive ideas anonymously. This makes libraries ideal places for people to think and talk about privacy....
Public Information Office, Apr. 26

ALA Civics Class: The ALA mission
Jenny Levine writes: “To kick off ALA Civics Class, I talked to Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels about our mission. ALA does so much that sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what’s at the heart of the organization and why we do what we do. ALA has to align its services to its mission (2:36), just as libraries do. I also asked Keith what the ALA mission means in action and how he evaluates whether an initiative aligns with it (3:07).”...
ALA Marginalia, Apr. 27; AL Focus

Improve the ALA conference experience
The Young Professionals Task Force needs your help making ALA conferences better. In order to do this, they would like to know the best experiences you’ve had at conferences—ALA or otherwise—that have made conferences rewarding and useful. Your feedback will be used to improve the quality of ALA conferences. Take this short survey....
ALA Membership Blog, Apr. 25

Expanding “Libraries Build Communities”
Emerging Leaders Project F is determining how to transform and expand ALA’s annual volunteer service day, “Libraries Build Communities,” in which members volunteer to assist libraries and local groups in host cities for the Annual Conference, into an ongoing national volunteer program for librarians. The new program will provide year-round assistance to local communities and, in order to emphasize the importance that librarians bring to both libraries and communities, the national program will be renamed “Librarians Build Communities.”...
ALA Membership Blog, Apr. 26

Branding @ your library: A success story
In the fall of 2006, Grand Rapids (Minn.) Area Library Director Marcia Anderson was looking for a new way to promote the library to the local media. At the Minnesota Library Association conference she overheard a group of librarians discussing the Campaign for America’s Libraries’ @ your library brand and decided to adopt it. The newspaper liked it too and has been running a weekly @ your library column since late 2006. After 200 articles, Anderson and the library continue to see the brand’s value. See a recent article here (PDF file)....
Campaign for America’s Libraries, Apr. 26

Learn how to build a great library website
ALA TechSource is offering the “Building the Digital Branch” workshop 2:30–4 p.m. Eastern time on June 8. Taught by David Lee King, this workshop will provide librarians with a foundation to build or expand their library websites with effective planning and minimal costs. Topics include how to find out what your patrons want from your website and how to create strategic plans and goals. Registration is open....
ALA TechSource, Apr. 26

A constellation of stars celebrates books and libraries
In his new book Reading with the Stars: A Celebration of Books and Libraries, former American Libraries Editor-in-Chief Leonard Kniffel offers a compelling collection of interviews with prominent figures, all of whom have special connections to libraries. From President Barack Obama to actress Julie Andrews, from basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to former First Lady and librarian Laura Bush, and many others, stars of literature, politics, entertainment, and the public arena speak with Kniffel about the ways libraries have been critical in their lives....
ALA Editions, Apr. 22

Learning and leadership in the library
The best kind of learning is that which never ends—and a culture of training means that staff will be more flexible and responsive to new ideas and strategies, imperative in today’s libraries. Using real-life examples of trainers who serve as leaders within libraries and their communities, Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers by Lori Reed and Paul Signorelli sheds light on an underappreciated but important component of library operations....
ALA Editions, Apr. 26

ALA 2011 New Orleans tours
Spouses and guests can have fun while you are networking June 24–28 by signing up for a French Quarter walking tour, a city tour, a dinner jazz cruise, New Orleans School of Cooking tour, or a Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour. Tours are provided by Accent on Arrangements, and advance registration by June 10 is recommended. Onsite registration will only be available on a space-available basis. Contact the arrangers at (504) 524-0188....
ALA Conference Services

Is the best sandwich in America the muffuletta?
Take a walk through the French Quarter and it seems that almost every other sign you see touts a muffuletta sandwich; but the original, which dates back to 1906, is available only at Central Grocery (right) at 923 Decatur Street. The sesame bread measures 10 inches around, but the Central Grocery’s secret ingredient is its homemade olive spread. Serio’s Deli at 133 St. Charles is also a contender for best muffuletta (video, 5:11), as is Nor-Joe’s at 505 Frisco Avenue in Metairie. Jason Perlow has a detailed comparison of Central Grocery and Nor-Joe’s muffulettas....
Today (NBC), Sept. 17, 2007; Wikipedia; Roadfood.com; Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, Season 3; Off The Broiler, Jan. 27, 2008

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas
The New Orleans aquarium is located along the banks of the Mississippi River by the edge of the French Quarter off Canal Street, at the upper end of Woldenberg Park. In addition to its popular displays of sea otters, penguins, an Amazon rain forest, and a Caribbean reef, the Audubon Aquarium has a new exhibit called “Parakeet Pointe: Treats for Tweets,” which allows you to walk through an 800-square-foot outdoor environment filled with hundreds of free-flying parakeets. Guests can also purchase seed sticks and feed the birds....
Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

Longue Vue House and Gardens
Longue Vue House and Gardens is a Greek Revival mansion and garden located at 7 Bamboo Road and built in 1939–1942. It serves as an educational, cultural, and community resource, offering tours, events, exhibits, and community programs to the public. The gardens took a pounding from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but the Garden Conservancy has restored much of it, and the Discovery Garden is fully up and running. This pastoral urban spot has been prized since it opened to the public in the 1970s. Here’s what’s in bloom in late June....
Longue Vue House; White Plains (N.Y.) Journal News, Feb. 10, 2009

Best golf courses in New Orleans
Mike Bailey writes: “Though New Orleans isn’t exactly known for its golf, the Crescent City is a pretty good choice for a golf vacation when you consider the whole package. Pete Dye’s TPC of Louisiana (right) in Avondale is one of the most accessible courses in the TPC network: There’s water and sand everywhere with plenty of doglegs and risk-reward opportunities. Other good courses are Stonebridge Golf Club of New Orleans, Belle Terre Country Club, and Audubon Park.”...
Travel Caddie, Apr. 25

Delta lets you follow your baggage in real time
Brett Snyder writes: “You can now follow your checked bag on Delta just like you follow a package on FedEx. And that’s only a part of what the airline is doing to make things move more smoothly. In addition, Delta has brought the claim form into the 21st century. Until recently, once you reported your bag lost, you had to fill out a paper claim form for reimbursement. But now, you can do it online. Finally.”...
The Cranky Flier, Apr. 21

2011 Día booklist available
The 2011 book list (PDF file) to help libraries and families celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) is now available. Containing more than 200 titles, the list features books for those who speak English and Spanish, as well as for those who speak Pashto, French, Hindi, Michif, Russian, Swahili, and Vietnamese. The new book list and list of websites, a collaboration between ALSC and Reforma, are part of a brochure for parents with tips on reading to and with their children....
ALSC, Apr. 20

A Preservation Week podcast
ALCTS Executive Director Charles Wilt (right) discusses Preservation Week (April 24–30), the importance of preservation, and the valuable role libraries play in its awareness in this podcast (8:31). Recognizing that critical role, ALCTS, the Library of Congress, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services launched Preservation Week in 2010....
Visibility @ your library, Apr. 26

Marilyn Johnson to appear at ALTAFF President’s Program
The ALTAFF President’s Program will feature best-selling author and library advocate Marilyn Johnson, June 27, at the 2011 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. Johnson has been a national champion of libraries and was the moving force behind ALTAFF’s Authors for Libraries, a large and growing group of authors who are willing and ready to speak out at the local and national levels about the importance of libraries....
ALTAFF, Apr. 26

Meet YA authors at the YALSA Coffee Klatch
Meet your favorite authors over coffee at YALSA’s annual YA Authors Coffee Klatch on June 26 in New Orleans, as part of the ALA Annual Conference. This year’s klatch will feature more than 25 authors whose books have won YALSA awards or appeared on its booklists. The klatch uses a speed-dating approach so attendees can meet as many authors as possible....
YALSA, Apr. 25

2011 Michael L. Printz Award program
Annual Conference attendees won’t want to miss the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award Program and Reception, sponsored by YALSA, on June 27 in New Orleans. Author Paolo Bacigalupi (right), whose book Ship Breaker won this year’s award, will speak, as will honor book authors Lucy Christopher (Stolen), Marcus Sedgwick (Revolver), A. S. King (Please Ignore Vera Dietz), and Janne Teller (Nothing). Tickets for the program cost $29 before advance registration closes on May 13....
YALSA, Apr. 26

Pratchett to speak at Margaret A. Edwards Luncheon
Join YALSA in honoring Terry Pratchett, winner of the 2011 Margaret A. Edwards Award for nine of his novels, at the Margaret A. Edwards Luncheon, June 25, at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. He will speak about his books and writing for children and teens. Advance registration for this event ends May 13....
YALSA, Apr. 26

Registration open for RBMS Preconference
ACRL has opened registration for the 52nd Annual Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Preconference, “In the Hurricane’s Eye: Challenges of Collecting in the 21st Century,” which will be held June 21–24 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Register by May 18 and save $50 off the full registration fee. Registration materials are available on the RBMS website....
ACRL, Apr. 26

Transform your library’s image
On May 18, PLA will host the “Transforming Our Image” webinar as part of its “Public Libraries at Work” monthly series. Instructor Valerie Gross (right) will describe a straightforward concept that enables libraries to heighten their importance by replacing traditional terms with powerful, intuitive, value-enhanced terminology that people understand. Register to learn how strategic vocabulary can immediately convey the library’s true value—even to someone who has never set foot in a library....
PLA, Apr. 26

Write for the YALSA blog
mk Eagle writes: “Do you read the YALSA Blog regularly and wish you could contribute? Now is your chance! We’re looking for new bloggers to join our award-winning team. If you are a YALSA member and interested in writing for the blog, contact mk Eagle.”...
YALSA Blog, Apr. 26

Spring into learning with YALSA’s webinars-on-demand
Looking for guidance into the latest topics in teen services? Look no further than YALSA’s Webinars-on-Demand. Previously recorded webinars, led by content experts, are complimentary for YALSA members only and available for purchase for everyone else. New offerings include Tech4U and Homework Help Programs....
YALSA, Apr. 22

Get street smart with street lit
Street lit’s appeal extends well beyond urban teens. Find out more about this increasingly popular genre of literature and how to incorporate it into your library at the YALSA webinar, “Street Smart: Serving Teen Street Lit Readers,” hosted by Megan Honig, on June 16. Registration is open now....
YALSA, Apr. 22

Make over your teen space
Looking for ways to spruce up your existing teen space? Or are you moving into a new building and need to redesign or plan something new? Join Kim Bolan Cullin as she discusses the latest in teen space planning and implementation in a May 19 YALSA webinar. Registration is open now....
YALSA, Apr. 25

Reach teens and tweens this summer
School and teen services librarians find their roles evolving constantly, and many are now called to serve tweens and teens. What are the differences in need between these two age groups, and how do librarians successfully serve both? Find out how in “Navigating the Divide between Teens and Tweens,” a new online course offered by YALSA, July 11–August 8. Registration closes July 5....
YALSA, Apr. 22

Camila Alire receives 2011 Lippincott Award
Camila Alire (right), dean emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University, is this year’s recipient of the ALA Joseph W. Lippincott Award. The award is given annually to an individual for distinguished service to the profession of librarianship. Alire is past-president of ALA, the ALA Allied Professional Association, ACRL, and Reforma....
Office of ALA Governance, Apr. 26

Shannon Hyman wins Henne Award
Shannon Hyman (right), school librarian at the Harry F. Byrd Middle School in Henrico, Virginia, has received the 2011 AASL Frances Henne Award. In the letter of nomination, Hyman was praised for having “transformed her library program and facility into an active and exciting daily stop for the entire Byrd learning community.” Sponsored by Greenwood Publishing Group, the award recognizes a school librarian with five years or less experience who demonstrates leadership qualities with students, teachers, and administrators....
AASL, Apr. 26

Harada wins AASL Distinguished Service Award
Violet H. Harada, LIS professor at the University of Hawaii, is the 2011 recipient of the AASL Distinguished Service Award. Established in 1978, the award recognizes an individual member of the library profession who has made an outstanding national contribution to school librarianship. Harada was cited for her work on the Learning Standards Indicators and Assessment Task Force charged with developing indicators, benchmarks, and model examples from the AASL learning standards....
AASL, Apr. 26

RBMS Leab Exhibition Award winners
The ACRL Rare Books and Manuscripts Section has selected five winners and one honorable mention for the 2011 Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Catalogue Awards. The awards recognize outstanding exhibition catalogues issued by American or Canadian institutions in conjunction with library exhibitions as well as electronic exhibition catalogues. The winner in the electronic category was the Linda Hall Library for “The Grandeur of Life” (above)....
ACRL, Apr. 26

AASL Innovative Reading Grant
Shanna Miles’s project, the Billionaire’s Book Club, is the 2011 recipient of the AASL Innovative Reading Grant. Sponsored by Capstone Publishers, this grant of $2,500 supports the planning and implementation of a unique and innovative program for children. Working out of the Tech High School library in Atlanta, the Billionaire’s Book Club will team 9th-grade struggling readers with an upperclassman who is a member of the National Honor Society....
AASL, Apr. 26

AASL Research Grants
The research teams of Mary K. Biagini and Rebecca Morris from Pennsylvania, and Kara Krueger and Jean Donham from Iowa are the winners of AASL Research Grants sponsored by Heinemann Raintree. Biagini and Morris’s project is “Educating 21st-Century School Librarians to Help 21st-Century K–12 Students Learn,” and Krueger and Donham are working on “Influence of School Library Resources on Student Learning in Rural Iowa Schools.”...
AASL, Apr. 26

23rd Annual Minnesota Book Awards
The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library has announced the winners of the 23rd annual Minnesota Book Awards. In addition to winners in eight categories, the awards included the Readers’ Choice Award, selected by nearly 2,000 voters from across Minnesota, which went to Laurie Hertzel’s News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist (University of Minnesota)....
Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, Apr. 17

2011 Canadian Jewish Book Awards
Alison Pick’s novel Far to Go (House of Anansi), about a Jewish Czech family in the months preceding World War II, and Mordecai: The Life and Times (Knopf Canada), Charles Foran’s biography of the late Canadian novelist, are among the winners of the 2011 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards, announced April 21. Pick won in the Fiction category, while Foran won in Biography and Memoir....
National Post (Canada), Apr. 21

2011 British Columbia Book Prizes
The British Columbia Book Prizes were handed out April 21 in West Vancouver. The star of the show was Gurjinder Basran from North Delta, who took home the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for her debut novel Everything Was Good-bye. Basran writes about her experience growing up as an Indo-Canadian in North Delta in the novel, which begins when Meena is in high school, and she’s feeling a bit rebellious....
Vancouver (B.C.) Sun, Apr. 22

IMLS releases 2011 budget allocation table
The Institute of Museum and Library Services released its FY2011 budget allocation table (PDF file) April 26. The announcement follows congressional approval of H.R. 1473, the budget bill that will fund the government through the remaining months to September 2011. The bill includes a $28-million cut to IMLS, not including the agency’s $16 million in lost earmarks that had already been eliminated. Most alarming is that these budget cuts were made by a Congress attempting to reduce the federal deficit by eliminating “wasteful spending.”...
District Dispatch, Apr. 26

NYPL lions (and their building) turn 100
Will Patience (right) have the patience to make it to 100? Will Fortitude have the fortitude? The lions in front of the New York Public Library (and the Stephen A. Schwarzman building that they guard) will be a century old on May 23. The library is planning a gala that will celebrate the building’s history, but did not want to forget the lions. So they have commissioned artist Nathan Sawaya to create a playful homage to them in Legos....
New York Times: City Room, Apr. 21

Detroit Public Library criticized for lavish renovation
Detroit Public Library officials say finances have grown so bad they could close most neighborhood branches, but in a few weeks plan to unveil a revamped wing of a main library that spares few expenses. The South Wing is stocked with 20 yellow-and-orange European lounge chairs (right) that cost $1,092 apiece, artistic pendant light fixtures, and two alcohol-burning fireplaces. Director Jo Anne Mondowney said her staff tried unsuccessfully to return the chairs after learning how much they cost. The project morphed from a $300,000 furniture update to a $2.3-million overhaul with new floors, study rooms, lighting. and built-in bookshelves....
Detroit News, Apr. 22, 26

Sect attorney: It wasn’t a book burning
An attorney for a polygamous sect says a bonfire set in Colorado City, Arizona, April 16–17 was part of an effort to clean up an old building, not to burn thousands of books. Rod Parker, who represents the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said a local man was merely cleaning up a dilapidated building that was being vandalized by teenagers. Most of the books inside were donated to libraries in Cedar City and St. George, Utah, as well as the Deseret Industries thrift store in Cedar City, though some that were in poor condition were added to the burning trash....
Salt Lake Tribune, Apr. 23; KSTU-TV, Salt Lake City, Apr. 22

L.A. Council: Library shouldn’t filter internet
The city of Los Angeles will not install pornography-filtering software on library computers, but instead will make the monitors more difficult to be seen by nearby children, officials said April 26. The City Council discussion was sparked by an incident in December when parents complained that a patron at the Chinatown branch was viewing pornography on a public computer in plain sight of children....
Los Angeles Daily News, Apr. 26

East Texas librarian robbed at gunpoint
Daingerfield (Tex.) Public Library Director Earlene Walton (right) was robbed at gunpoint April 25 when a man entered the library shortly after it opened and requested to use a computer. He then told Walton that he had forgotten something and left the building. When he returned, he pulled out a gun and took a jar that library Friends use to collect donations. Police have arrested a suspect on an aggravated robbery charge....
KLTV-TV, Tyler, Tex., Apr. 25

Five Illinois systems slated to merge July 1
As of July 1, the five library systems serving libraries throughout northern Illinois will combine to form RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System). The name was chosen in March by members of the merger transition team. The decision to combine the Metropolitan, Alliance, DuPage, North Suburban, and Prairie Area library systems was made in January as an answer to ongoing financial woes faced by the state-funded operations....
Lake County (Ill.) News-Sun, Apr. 22

Muskegon royal wedding fête to raise library funds
Come April 29, even though the sun won’t be up in Muskegon, Michigan, Friends of the Hackley Library President Kathleen Snider will put on her best hat, pull on a pair of dress gloves—and go to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding. Never mind that Snider will be in downtown Muskegon watching the festivities on TV at the Muskegon Athletic Club. The Friends are hosting a Royal Wedding Breakfast there, with all proceeds to be donated to the library’s children’s department “which badly needs repairs,” Snider said....
Muskegon (Mich.) News, Apr. 27

Salt Lake boosts its transparency
Wobbled by months of management controversy—including calls for the director’s resignation and a board member departure—the Salt Lake City Public Library has unveiled an ambitious transparency initiative that includes the quick release of draft minutes and perhaps televised board meetings. But it did little to quell the still-raging tempest, which erupted April 21 during a testy three-hour board meeting....
Salt Lake Tribune, Apr. 22

New York Public Library manuscripts dispute
Paul Brodeur, a former investigative reporter for the New Yorker who donated thousands of pages of his work to the New York Public Library in 1992, is demanding that the papers be returned. He claims it should not have taken the library 18 years to determine that it only wanted 53 of his 320 boxes of papers. Brodeur also says the library told him in 1997 that his papers had been reviewed and prepared for public viewing. The library cited a backlog of donations for the 18-year wait, but now Brodeur wants all the boxes back....
New York Times, Apr. 22

Librarian leaves $646,000 to Hennepin County Library
The Hennepin County Library has received a gift of $646,000 from the estate of a former employee. Librarian Lillian G. Wallis (right) bequested the sum and it was accepted by the County Board of Commissioners April 19. Wallis began working for the Minneapolis Public Library in 1951 and retired as director of technical services in 1987....
KMSP-TV, Minneapolis, Apr. 25

Hawaii donates books to western Pacific islands
Bookshelves languishing in a basement at the University of Hawaii were packed into containers April 23 destined for islands in the western Pacific. Textbooks from local high schools were also shipped. The nonprofit Reach Out Pacific hopes the donations will improve communities in Micronesia and the Northern Marianas and reduce the surge of migrants from those areas to Hawaii. REPAC President Glenn Wakai believes increasing resources for schools and libraries will encourage people to stay and improve their home islands....
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Apr. 26

Where novels go to die
A bit like the Island of Misfit Toys from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV series, Parmly Billings Library’s basement is where neglected works of fiction—castaways, rarities, and ones that aren’t popular anymore—often wind up. Called the Montana Last Copy Fiction Depository, it houses nearly 70,000 fiction volumes, some of which are more than 100 years old, from libraries around Montana and other northwestern states. But plans for a new library in Billings do not include it....
Billings (Mont.) Gazette, Apr. 24

“Don’t say gay” bill clears Tennessee Senate panel
After some convoluted maneuvers, a Tennessee Senate committee approved a bill April 20 that will prohibit teachers from discussing homosexuality in K–8 classrooms. The measure (SB49) is sponsored by Sen. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville), who unsuccessfully pushed the same idea—nicknamed the “don’t say gay” bill—for six years as a member of the state House before he was elected to the Senate....
Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel, Apr. 21

Foot stabbings at University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky officials issued a safety warning April 20 after two reported assaults in the basement of the W. T. Young Library. Both occurred April 18, and in each case the alleged victim told them a man crawled under the desk and punctured their feet with a sharp object. Both victims were females wearing sandals....
UK Kentucky Kernel, Apr. 21

Library vandal gets Face-booked
A British teen faces jail after admitting on Facebook that he flooded the central library in Portsmouth and caused £150,000 ($247,500 U.S.) in damage. Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard how he filled the plugholes in the third-floor men’s toilets with toilet roll and switched on the taps—causing water to pour through the library on the night of August 18–19. After initially denying the charge, the teen changed his plea when he was confronted with the transcript of a Facebook conversation in which he told a friend he was responsible....
Portsmouth (U.K.) News, Apr. 25

Mubarak’s stash of library cash
A prominent American scientist serving as trustee for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina said that $145 million was found in February in an Egyptian bank account supposedly set up to benefit the nine-year-old library—but was held in ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s name. Nina V. Fedoroff (right), current president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said no one at the library knew about the account, which was registered under the library’s name but opened over Mubarak’s signature....
The Daily Beast, Apr. 24

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ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 23–28, 2011. Check out the ALA Spouse/Guest Tour Program.

Preservation Week: A Vinyl Obsession (video) Classic Film for Movie Night: Notorious Chris Wagner: A Librarian Who Makes a Difference Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit Looks at Influence of Latinos in American Popular Music One Book, One City: Reading as a Community is Embraced Throughout the U.S. "Let’s Choose to be a More Literate Society": Pam Muñoz Ryan Join Us on Facebook Subscribe to our Newsletter