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

ALA 2011 Midwinter Meeting
Librarians and library supporters gathered to discuss issues affecting the future of libraries and examine the challenges facing them in troubled economic times at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, held January 7–11 in San Diego. This year’s event drew 7,549 attendees and 2,561 exhibitors, compared with 8,526 and 2,569 for the 2010 Midwinter Meeting in Boston, and 7,905 and 2,315 for the 2009 event in Denver. Newbery Medal winner Neil Gaiman and Nancy Pearl (above) spent an afternoon discussing Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, which was the first book to win both Newbery and Carnegie Medals....
Public Information Office, Jan. 11

Author Forum brings books to life
Leonard Kniffel writes: “Following an afternoon with the Publishing Committee January 7 examining bottom lines, business models, and marketing strategies, what a pleasure it was to settle into 75 minutes of the ALA/ERT/Booklist Author Forum at the Midwinter Meeting, a reminder of how delightful it can be to listen to five intelligent people do nothing more than talk about books—well, not about books really, about ideas. The forum featured authors (above) Armistead Maupin, Susan Vreeland, David Levithan, and Stewart O’Nan.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 7

The clash of old and new technology
Journalist and historian Richard Rhodes (right) delivered the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture January 8 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986), Rhodes chose to talk to the ALA audience about the introduction and slow acceptance of new technologies, going all the way back to ancient times. Rhodes quoted Augustine of Hippo, whose account in the Confessions remains the “first instance in Western literature of someone reading silently.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 8

Alexander Street Press: The Morning Edition
Alexander Street Press held its 20th customer appreciation breakfast January 9 at the San Diego Convention Center during the ALA Midwinter Meeting. This year the featured speaker was the dynamic Renée Montagne (right), cohost of National Public Radio’s Morning Edition since 2004. As part of her reminiscences about the early days of NPR and its commitment to “provide news of events in a context that gives it meaning,” she noted that the first staff person hired by the network was a librarian, Carolyn Jensen, who was brought in to set up a research facility for All Things Considered in 1970, one year before the show first aired....
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 9

Ted Danson on the environment
“Don’t focus on the negative and scary,” actor Ted Danson advised at Roberta Stevens’s President’s Program January 9 in San Diego. In conversation with Stevens, the Emmy–award winning television and movie star and oceanic environmental activist warned of the perils of over-fishing, saying “the clock is ticking,” but “the problems are fixable.” Danson joked about using his celebrity to focus attention on the environment, saying it was “like having a roomful of adults focused on a 5-year-old.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 9

King Sunrise Celebration
“I grew up as a follower of Martin Luther King,” said University of Washington Professor Michael K. Honey, who delivered the keynote address at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sunrise Celebration held during the ALA Midwinter Meeting on January 10. “During all that time and still today, I kept King’s teachings in my mind: An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere; the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice,” he told the audience....
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 11

Building a library in India
A project that launched January 8 aims to raise enough money to build a library in an otherwise book-free neighborhood in India. The Buy India a Library project, which grew out of a Twitter discussion by Andromeda Yelton (right) and three other librarians, is hoping to raise at least £1,250 ($1,943 U.S.) to pay for furniture, books, and two years of a librarian’s salary through the Good Gifts Catalogue, a British charity. Watch the video (1:46)....
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 8; ALA YouTube, Jan. 9

Capacity crowd talks e-books
The Washington Office Update opened January 8 with “Turning the Page on E-Books,” a wide-ranging discussion driven by questions from the overflow crowd. Panelists Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive; Sue Polanka, head of reference and instruction at Wright State University; and Tom Peters, CEO of TAP Information Services, spoke on a range of topics related to e-books, including the near future of the format, accessibility, legal issues, and the differences between licensing and purchasing....
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 8

Will’s World: Your morning metaphor
Will Manley writes: “Everybody has a wake-up routine. It typically involves coffee or some other stimulant for the body and a television show, newspaper, radio program, or some other stimulant for the mind. Most morning routines do not involve other people. Relating to other people takes time. Me, I like to start the day with various breakfast cereals. If there are other people around, I arrange the boxes in a fort-like rectangle that shuts them politely out.”...
American Libraries column, Jan./Feb.

Outsourcing: Turning a negative into a positive
ALA President Roberta A. Stevens writes: “Over the past few months, I have been contacted by a variety of media. Quite a few of my interviews with them were about the privatization of libraries. Interest in this subject was initiated by LSSI, a private-sector firm with contracts in place to manage the operations of nearly 70 public library branches. The interviews about privatization have actually been a great opportunity to provide information about libraries and library staff.”...
ALA President’s Message, Jan. 10

ALA statement on California library budget cuts
California Gov. Jerry Brown (right) released his 2011–2012 budget proposal January 10, calling it “painful” and one that requires sacrifice from every sector of the state. The proposal eliminates all state funding for the Public Library Foundation, Transaction Based Reimbursement, and the California Library Literacy and English Acquisition Service. The cuts translate to more than $30 million, which will be stripped away from California public libraries. ALA President Roberta Stevens released a statement regarding the proposed reduction of funding. The California Library Association also issued a statement....
Chapter Relations Office, Jan. 11; Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, Jan. 11; CLA Blog, Jan. 11

The future of the Midwinter Meeting
A White Paper on the ALA Midwinter Meeting (PDF file) was prepared just ahead of this year’s meeting in San Diego. Presented to the ALA Executive Board for discussion by Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels and Senior Associate Executive Director Mary Ghikas, the paper concludes that “the ALA Midwinter Meeting is, above all, about conversations and networking,” and “the reality is that members are quietly creating a Midwinter that works for them.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 11

Presidents thank Library Champions
Leonard Kniffel writes: “I spotted eight ALA past presidents among the crowd gathered at the San Diego Marriott Hotel January 6 to say thanks to the Library Champions, Major Donors, members of the Legacy Society, and others who contribute so generously to ALA programs. ALA President Roberta Stevens urged contributions to the Spectrum fund to reach its goal of raising $1 million for minority students in library education programs.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 6

Demystifying ALA
ALA President Roberta Stevens offers an “Insider and Outsider” perspective (5:47) on the Association. Her insights on getting started as a member and becoming more involved will help newer members better understand this large and sometimes complex organization, while providing long-time members with a refresher on ways that ALA membership impacts one’s career, community, and library....
ALA Membership Blog, Jan. 5; ALA YouTube, Jan. 4

ALA JobLIST Direct launched at Midwinter
JobLIST launched its free biweekly e-newsletter ALA JobLIST Direct at the Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. The newsletter will keep you up to date on what’s going on with job-seeking and hiring in the profession, including information on new publications, professional development offerings, and opportunities to connect and network. To subscribe, sign up here....
JobLIST, Jan. 8

New Congress still offers opportunities for libraries
“Libraries have traditionally done well under Republicans,” according to ALA Washington Office Director Emily Sheketoff (right), who told those attending the “New Congress, New Challenges” break-out session that “all is not bleak, but all is not well either.” Casey Dominguez, assistant professor of political science at the University of San Diego, provided an overview of the November 2010 election, noting that Tea Party candidates did just as well as non–Tea Party candidates. Watch an interview with Emily Sheketoff....
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 9; ALA YouTube, Jan. 9

Domestic partner job listing measure
A measure that encourages clarification in job listings on the presence or absence of domestic partner benefits was the sole action taken by the ALA’s governing Council during its first session January 9. The resolution called for encouraging employers to specify explicitly in their job announcments in ALA publications or websites whether or not domestic partner benefits are offered. Watch the video (2:19)....
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 9; ALA YouTube, Jan. 9

Programmatic Priorities approved for 2015
In its second session on January 10, ALA’s governing Council approved 2015 Programmatic Priorities, offered by Treasurer Jim Neal. The priorities are diversity, equitable access to information and library services, education and lifelong learning, intellectual freedom, advocacy for libraries and the profession, literacy, organizational excellence, and transforming libraries....
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 11

Council passes WikiLeaks resolution
ALA Council unanimously passed a resolution at its third session January 11 on access to government information, the current classification system, whistleblowing, and WikiLeaks. The resolution was a collaborative effort of the Intellectual Freedom Committee and the Committee on Legislation. Other Council actions are listed here....
OIF Blog, Jan. 11; AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 11

Why I Need My Library! Teen Video Contest
As part of her presidential initiatives, ALA President Roberta Stevens launched a video contest for teens at the Midwinter Meeting. Why I Need My Library!, which runs through April 18, encourages teens ages 13–18 to create original videos on why they think libraries are needed now more than ever. The winning contestant or group of contestants from each age category will receive $3,000 for their selected libraries....
Public Information Office, Jan. 11; I Love Libraries

Apply to host “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War”
The Public Programs Office, in partnership with the National Constitution Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities, has announced a large-scale tour for the traveling exhibition, “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War.” The exhibition offers a fresh and innovative perspective on the Civil War that brings into focus the constitutional crises at the heart of this great conflict. Online applications will be accepted through May 5....
Public Programs Office, Jan. 11

Apply for “Let’s Talk About It: The Civil War” grant
The Public Programs Office and the National Endowment for the Humanities are now accepting applications for “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War,” a reading and discussion program in America’s libraries. Public libraries are invited to apply online through April 19....
Public Programs Office, Jan. 11

ACRL discussion group focuses on Joss Whedon
The ACRL Popular Cultures Discussion Group hosted a spirited group of Midwinter participants January 7, celebrating the work of screenwriter Joss Whedon, who created the quasi-stereotypical high-school librarian character, Rupert Giles, for his Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. The group compared Giles favorably with the special librarians featured in the 1957 movie Desk Set....
Cognotes, Jan. 8, p. 22

Jason Griffey interviews Vernor Vinge at Midwinter
Mike Diaz writes: “Jason Griffey kicked off the January 8 LITA session by introducing Vernor Vinge (right) and talking about his many accolades as a science fiction writer and futurist. Vinge then talked about how humans are the best tool-creating animal and the only animal that has figured out how to outsource its cognition. As an example, he talked about how writing and speaking are an outsourcing of our thinking, and money represents an outsourcing of our perceived value for things.” Watch the video stream....
LITA Blog, Jan. 9

An almost streamed meeting causes a ruckus
Michelle Boule writes: “Something happened January 8 that I am still trying to understand. Jason Griffey set up a Ustream of the LITA board meeting so that members not physically present in San Diego could watch it. The main speaker for the section of the meeting in question was a consultant who did an analysis of how the LITA leadership works and how we can make our organization better. The board voted to suspend the live stream ‘during this portion of the meeting’ (though the stream was never set back up). The LITA board meeting is an open meeting. Open.”...
A Wandering Eyre, Jan. 9

Virtual conference participation
Karen A. Coombs writes: “In nearly all of my LITA and ALA interactions, virtual participants have been a secondary concern or an afterthought. As a result, events don’t get planned with both virtual and in-person participation expected from the start. This results in things like the LITA board meeting where the stream was shut down because the division didn’t have permission to broadcast the presentation of a consultant who was coming in to the meeting to provide information.”...
Library Web Chic, Jan. 10

Teen services and the Whole Library Experience
Eva Mitnick writes: “I attended the all-day YALSA institute on ‘Teen Services and the Whole Library Experience.’ This was a primer on how to get all the other folks in your library branch and/or system to understand and buy into the idea of giving good service to teens. I was particularly taken with Sara Ryan’s remarks on how to talk to non-YA librarians about teens. Here are my notes.”...
Eva’s Book Addiction, Jan. 8; YALSA Blog, Nov. 23

Electronic resource management as a public service
The ALCTS Electronic Resources Interest Group presented a Midwinter program January 8 on delivering quality electronic content. Donna Scanlon, e-resources coordinator at the Library of Congress, discussed how OCLC developed a database to provide electronic resources management access to both their own staff and the public....
Cognotes, Jan. 9, p. 9

Nancy Everhart visits San Diego school library
As part of her tour of school libraries nationwide, AASL President Nancy Everhart visited Bernardo Heights Middle School Library in San Diego on January 10. By touring exemplary school libraries in each state, Everhart hopes to gain support for the Learning4Life plan and raise the profile of what an outstanding school library can do for students, as well as the school and local community....
AASL, Jan. 10

“School Libraries Count!” study now open
AASL announced the launch of the fifth year of its longitudinal study, “School Libraries Count!”, which gathers basic data about the status of school library programs across the country. The division will use this information to develop advocacy tools to support school library programs at the local, state, and national levels. The last day to complete the survey is March 18....
AASL, Jan. 10

PLA Virtual Spring Symposium
PLA will host a Virtual Spring Symposium on March 30. This new online event will offer the premier professional education that PLA’s Spring Symposium is known for, but will be more affordable and convenient for attendees....
PLA, Jan. 11

Train the technology trainer course
PLA is now accepting registrations for its “Accidental Public Library Technology Trainer” course. This four-week blended-learning course begins February 1 and is designed for library professionals who have unexpectedly found themselves responsible for technology training at their library. The registration deadline is January 31....
PLA, Jan. 11

PLA will kick off advocacy training at TLA conference
PLA is launching “Turning the Page 2.0,” a free half-day preconference and subsequent six-week training, on April 12 at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference. The 2.0 training addresses the core issues of advocacy, communications, and relationship building in a convenient blended-learning format....
PLA, Jan. 11

Free online collaboration tools
At the Midwinter Meeting, the Library Instruction Round Table’s Web Advisory Committee held a demonstration of free online products designed to enhance communication, management, and organization in the workplace. The products included BaseCamp, DimDim, GoogleDocs, and ALA Connect....
Cognotes, Jan. 10, p. 10

The 2011 Amelia Bloomer List
The Feminist Task Force of the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table has announced this year’s Amelia Bloomer List, featuring books for young readers, ages birth through 18, that contain significant feminist content—tales of girls and women who have broken barriers and fought to change their situations and their environment. These 68 books for children and youth comprise the best feminist books published in the last year and a half. The full list is here....
Social Responsibilities Round Table, Jan. 11; Amelia Bloomer Project, Jan. 11

First-ever Over the Rainbow bibliography
The 2011 Over the Rainbow Book List, sponsored by the ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table, was announced at the Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. The bibliography features quality fiction and nonfiction books that are recognized by the committee for their authentic expression of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experiences. This year’s list includes 108 titles published between July 1, 2009, and December 31, 2010....
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table, Jan. 11

Youth Media Award winners
ALA announced the top books, videos, and audiobooks for children and young adults—including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery, and Printz awards—at its Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. The announcement was webcast for those who could not attend....
Public Information Office, Jan. 10

Newbery and Caldecott winners
Clare Vanderpool, author of Moon over Manifest and Erin E. Stead, illustrator of A Sick Day for Amos McGee, are the 2011 winners of the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals. The Newbery and Caldecott medals honor outstanding writing and illustration of works published in the United States during the previous year....
ALSC, Jan. 10

Velásquez, Muñoz Ryan win Pura Belpré Awards
Eric Velásquez, illustrator of Grandma’s Gift, and Pam Muñoz Ryan, author of The Dreamer, are the 2011 winners of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award and Author Award, which honor Latino authors and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in children’s books....
ALSC, Jan. 10

Williams-Garcia, Collier win Coretta Scott King Awards
Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer, and Bryan Collier, illustrator of Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, are the winners of the 2011 Coretta Scott King Book Awards honoring African-American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults. Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon, authors of Zora and Me, and Sonia Lynn Sadler, illustrator of Seeds of Change, are the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winners....
Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, Jan. 10

Smith wins CSK–Virginia Hamilton Award
Henrietta Mays Smith, professor emerita at the University of South Florida SLIS, is the winner of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement. Smith began her career as a children’s librarian and storyteller in the New York Public Library system in 1948....
Public Information Office, Jan. 10

DiCamillo, McGhee, Fucile win Geisel Award
Authors Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and illustrator Tony Fucile are the 2011 recipients of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for Bink and Gollie, published by Candlewick Press. The book provides a clever peek into the lives of dissimilar friends celebrating the ups and downs of their daily escapades in three lively chapters. The Geisel Award is given to the author(s) and illustrator of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States....
ALSC, Jan. 10

Bacigalupi wins Printz Award
Paolo Bacigalupi, author of Ship Breaker, published by Little, Brown, has won the 2011 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. Near a drowned New Orleans ravaged by hurricanes and global warming, Nailer and his young crew eke out a meager existence by scavenging materials on the ship-littered coast. The book was also a National Book Award Finalist. Four Printz Honor Books were also named....
YALSA, Jan. 10

Pratchett honored with Edwards Award
Sir Terry Pratchett is the recipient of the 2011 Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his significant and lasting contribution to writing for teens. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2009 for services to literature, Pratchett has published over 50 books and his works have been translated into 36 languages. His tales of Discworld have won over generations of teen readers with intelligence, heart, and undeniable wit....
YALSA, Jan. 10

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction
Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing, written by Ann Angel and published by Amulet/Abrams, has been named the 2011 winner of the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults. From her humble beginnings in a small town in Texas to her marquee life as a superstar of 1960s rock, Janis Joplin remains an icon of music. Despite her short life, she left an indelible impression on the music of an era. The award honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12–18) during a November 1–October 31 publishing year....
YALSA, Jan. 10

Batchelder Award honors Delacorte Press
Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, is the winner of the 2011 Mildred L. Batchelder Award for the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a foreign language and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States. Originally published in French in 2009 as Le Temps des Miracles, A Time of Miracles was written by Anne-Laure Bondoux and translated by Y. Maudet....
ALSC, Jan. 10

Carnegie Medal goes to The Curious Garden
Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods, producers of The Curious Garden, are the 2011 recipients of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children’s video. In this adaptation of Peter Brown’s 2009 book, young urban explorer Liam discovers a dying garden. With determination he nurtures the besieged plants, transforming the concrete landscape of a bleak city into a vibrant garden and community of people working together. The narration is by Katherine Kellgren....
ALSC, Jan. 10

Montgomery, Bishop win 2011 Sibert Medal
Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop, author and photographer/illustrator of Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot, were named the winners of the 2011 Robert F. Sibert Medal for the most distinguished informational book for children published in 2010. Naturalist Montgomery and wildlife photographer Bishop document the successes and failures of the rescue team dedicated to saving a New Zealand species of flightless parrot numbering fewer than 100....
ALSC, Jan. 10

Blythe Woolston wins William C. Morris Award
The Freak Observer, written by Blythe Woolston and published by Carolrhoda Lab, has been named the 2011 winner of the William C. Morris Award, which honors a book written for young adults by a previously unpublished author. Loa, a strong, intelligent, hardworking 16-year-old girl, experiences a year of loss. While trying to take care of her family and make it through school, she ponders the laws of physics as she tries to understand what can never make sense....
YALSA, Jan. 10

2011 Alex Awards
YALSA has selected 10 adult books with special appeal to teen readers to receive the 2011 Alex Awards. The awards, sponsored by the Margaret A. Edwards Trust, were created to recognize that many teens enjoy and often prefer books written for adults, and to assist librarians in recommending adult books that appeal to teens....
YALSA, Jan. 10

Odyssey Award goes to Listening Library
Listening Library, producer of the audiobook The True Meaning of Smekday, has won the 2011 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production. The Odyssey Award is given to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults. In The True Meaning of Smekday, written by Adam Rex, narrator Bahni Turpin gives an unforgettable performance, seamlessly slipping into the voices of wiseacre 8th-grader Gratuity “Tip” Tucci and her alien Boov companion as they embark on a rollicking road trip....
YALSA, Jan. 10

2011 Schneider Family Book Awards
Winners of the Schneider Family Book Award, which honors authors and illustrators for the for the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences, were announced at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon is the winner in the young children’s category; After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick is the winner in the middle-school category; and Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John is the winner in the teen category....
Public Information Office, Jan. 10

Peter Sís to deliver 2012 Arbuthnot Lecture
Peter Sís, 2008 winner of the Robert F. Sibert Medal, will deliver the 2012 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. Each year, an individual of distinction in the field of children’s literature is chosen to write and deliver a lecture that will make a significant contribution to the world of children’s literature. The lecture is delivered each April and is subsequently published in Children and Libraries....
ALSC, Jan. 10

2011 Stonewall Children’s and YA Award
Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher is the 2011 winner of the Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award. The Stonewall Book Awards are given annually to English-language works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience. Sage Hendricks is the new girl at Logan Witherspoon’s school. Logan is immediately drawn to Sage’s intelligence and humor; they need each other’s friendship, but Sage’s life is a mystery. Watch the Stonewall Awards video (2:06)....
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table, Jan. 10; ALA YouTube, Jan. 10

Tomie dePaola wins Laura Ingalls Wilder Award
Author/Illustrator Tomie dePaola is the winner of the 2011 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honoring an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. His numerous works include 26 Fairmont Avenue (Putnam, 1999), Strega Nona (Prentice-Hall, 1975), The Legend of the Poinsettia (Putnam, 1994), and Oliver Button Is a Sissy (Harcourt, 1979)....
ALSC, Jan. 10

2011 John Cotton Dana award winners
Five libraries are winners of the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, which recognizes and honors outstanding achievement in library public relations. Sponsored by the H. W. Wilson Company, the H. W. Wilson Foundation, and LLAMA, the award is considered the most prestigious in the field of library public relations. Watch the video (2:42)....
LLAMA, Jan. 9; ALA YouTube, Jan. 9

Notable Videos for Adults
The ALA Video Round Table’s Notable Videos for Adults Committee has compiled its 2011 list of Notable Videos for Adults, a list of 15 outstanding programs released on video within the past two years and suitable for all libraries serving adults. Its purpose is to call attention to recent video releases that make a significant contribution to the world of video recordings....
Video Round Table, Jan. 10

Fashion encyclopedia wins Dartmouth Medal
RUSA has selected the Oxford University Press Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, along with the online Berg Fashion Library, as the winner of its 2011 Dartmouth Medal, an annual award for a reference work of outstanding quality and significance. The 10-volume encyclopedia is a landmark of scholarship that is complemented and updated by the database’s content, including e-books, color images, and articles....
RUSA, Jan. 9

Outstanding Reference Sources
RUSA has announced its selection for the 2011 Outstanding Reference Sources. This list of titles identifies the most important reference publications for small and medium-sized public and academic libraries published in a given year....
RUSA, Jan. 9

Notable Books List
RUSA has announced its selections for the 2011 Notable Books List—a source for very good and very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for the nation’s adult readers. The winners were selected by the Notable Books Council, a group of RUSA members and readers’ advisory experts from around the country. Since 1944, the council has annually selected a list of 25 important books for adults....
RUSA, Jan. 9

Reading List of genre fiction
RUSA has announced the selections for its 2011 Reading List, which annually recognizes the best books in eight genres: adrenaline (including suspense, thrillers, and adventure), fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, and women’s fiction. This year’s list includes novels that will please die-hard fans, as well as introduce new readers to the pleasures of genre fiction....
RUSA, Jan. 10

2011 Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish literature
The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time by Judith Shulevitz (Random House) was chosen by RUSA for this year’s Sophie Brody Medal, given to encourage, recognize, and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature published in the United States. The book explores the idea and the history of the Sabbath from many perspectives, its development and evolution since the birth of Judaism and Christianity, and how each religion has viewed the importance of the Sabbath....
RUSA, Jan. 9

Janice Welburn named academic librarian of the year
Janice Welburn, dean of university libraries at Marquette University, is the 2011 ACRL Academic or Research Librarian of the Year. The award, sponsored by YBP Library Services, recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a significant national or international contribution to academic/research librarianship and library development. Welborn was cited for her committment to mentoring and diversity....
ACRL, Jan. 11

ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries winners
The winners of the 2011 ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award are the Luria Library at Santa Barbara (Calif.) City College (right); Grinnell (Iowa) College Libraries; and the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Sponsored by ACRL and YBP Library Services, the award recognizes the staff of a college, university, and community college library for programs that deliver exemplary services....
ACRL, Jan. 12

Bill Ott wins 2011 Louis Shores Award
Bill Ott, editor and publisher of Booklist magazine, was selected by RUSA to receive the 2011 Louis Shores Award for his outstanding contributions to the field of reviewing. The award recognizes an individual reviewer, group, editor, review medium, or organization for excellence in book reviewing and other media for libraries. At Booklist, Ott not only helms a publication that is one of the most important review sources in the country and an invaluable resource for librarians, but he also consistently contributes some of its most thoughtful and insightful reviews....
RUSA, Jan. 9

Great Stories CLUB grants
The Public Programs Office and YALSA selected 150 libraries to receive Great Stories CLUB grants, which will support book discussion programs targeting troubled teens. Among those selected to receive grants, 25 sites will also receive small cash grants to support program-related expenses. The full list of selected libraries and partner organizations is available online....
Public Programs Office, Jan. 7

Travel grants to AASL National Conference
AASL is offering 30 grants for travel to its 15th National Conference and Exhibition in Minneapolis, October 27–30. The $750 grants for first-time attendees of the conference are sponsored by Bound To Stay Bound Books. The application deadline is March 8....
AASL, Jan. 12

YALSA summer reading grants
Librarians seeking funding for summer reading programs aimed at teens can apply for one of 20 summer reading grants, each worth $1,000, distributed by YALSA and funded by Dollar General. YALSA encourages innovative proposals that are inclusive of underserved teen populations, including but not limited to teens with disabilities and teens who speak English as a second language. Applications are due March 1....
YALSA, Jan. 7

Georgia Library Association supports Spectrum
The Georgia Library Association has announced its support of the ALA Spectrum Scholarship Program through a gift to the Spectrum Presidential Fundraising Initiative. GLA has made a $600 contribution to the initiative....
Spectrum Initiative, Jan. 5

2011 BCALA Literary Awards
The Black Caucus of the American Library Association announced the winners of its 2011 Literary Awards during the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The awards recognize excellence in adult fiction and nonfiction by African-American authors published in 2010, including the work of a first novelist and a citation for Outstanding Contribution to Publishing. The winner in the fiction category is Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden (Akashic)....
Cognotes, Jan. 10, p. 6

2011 Sydney Taylor Book Awards
Howard Schwartz and Kristina Swarner, author and illustrator of Gathering Sparks; Barry Deutsch, author and illustrator of Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword; and Dana Reinhardt, author of The Things a Brother Knows are the 2011 winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award, sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries. The award honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience....
Association of Jewish Libraries Blog, Jan. 10

2010 Costa Book Awards
The winners of the 2010 Costa Book Awards were announced on January 4. The Costa Awards recognize the nost enjoyable books in the five categories of first novel, novel, biography, poetry, and children’s book published in the last year by writers based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Debut author Jason Wallace won in the children’s book category with Out of Shadows (Andersen), an atmospheric tale set in 1980s Zimbabwe. Best novel went to Maggie O’Farrell for The Hand That First Held Mine (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)....
The Guardian (U.K.), Jan. 5

U.S. subpoenas WikiLeaks’ Twitter account
U.S. officials has issued a subpoena to demand details about WikiLeaks’ Twitter account. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ordered San Francisco-based Twitter to hand over private messages, billing addresses, and connection records of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and other alleged associates—including the U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of handing classified information to the site and a high-profile Icelandic parliamentarian. Twitter challenged the secrecy, not the subpoena itself, and won the right to inform the people whose records the government was seeking....
New York Times, Jan. 8–9

FCC report on e-rate and broadband usage (PDF file)
The Federal Communications Commission released a report January 6 on the state of broadband connectivity at schools and libraries receiving funds from the federal e-rate program, which provides support to help connect schools and libraries to the internet. Nearly 80% of all the survey respondents said their broadband connections do not fully meet current needs. For libraries, online reference materials are the most essential applications....
Federal Communications Commission, Jan. 6

FEMA adds libraries to services eligible for emergency relocation
Efforts by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) have resulted in a change to Federal Emergency Management Agency policy that will designate libraries as eligible for temporary relocation facilities during major disasters and emergencies under the FEMA Public Assistance Program. Section 403 of the Stafford Act allows for the provision of temporary facilities for schools and other essential community services, when it relates to saving lives and protecting property or public health and safety....
ALA Washington Office, Jan. 10

Library leaders face tough choices
During the Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, ALA President Roberta Stevens appeared on KPBS-TV and talked about the economic challenges facing libraries and how they are responding. When asked how libraries are faring, she answered that the good news is that there is no longer any question about why we have libraries or why we need them. On the other hand, she said, “Just like other parts of the country, libraries are being affected by cuts in funding.” Watch the newscast (5:56). The station also reported on librarians’ young, hip image....
ALA Membership Blog, Jan. 9; KPBS-TV, San Diego, Jan. 7, 10

Menino still looks to close Boston branches
Opponents of a plan to close four of Boston’s libraries scored a significant victory in early January when the state allocated extra money to keep the branches open. But that sense of triumph may be fleeting. The $350,000 is a one-time fix that keeps the buildings open only an additional three months until the fiscal year ends June 30. Mayor Thomas M. Menino says libraries could once again be on the chopping block....
Boston Globe, Jan. 11

Playing catch-up in a digital library race
America stood at the forefront of the public library movement in 1731, when Benjamin Franklin founded the Library Company of Philadelphia, our first successful lending library. Lending libraries may have been the newfangled democratizing factor of their day. Centuries later, though, the United States finds itself trailing Europe and Japan in creating the modern equivalent: a national digital library that would serve as an electronic repository for the nation’s cultural heritage. In other words, there’s a real digital library divide....
New York Times, Jan. 8

D.C. tops ranking of most literate U.S. cities
Washingtonians are the nation’s most well-read citizens, but they’re reading less these days. And so, it appears, are city dwellers everywhere. That’s according to the latest findings of an annual study of the most literate cities in the United States, which ranks the “culture and resources for reading” in the nation’s 75 largest metro areas. The study examines not whether people can read, but whether they actually do....
USA Today, Jan. 10; Central Connecticut State University, Jan. 6

Snakehead challenged in Florida school
Parent Christy Jordan thought the 400-page novel, Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz, was a bit much for her 9-year-old son, who brought the book home from the Westside Elementary School library in Spring Hill, Florida. After reading the back of the book, part of the “Alex Rider” series that focuses on a teenage spy, she said drug and weapons smuggling and gang violence is too much for any child to have access to at that age. A review committee has twice denied her requests that the book be removed....
Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, Jan. 6

Paulo Coelho says Iran bans his books
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho (right) has said his books have been banned in Iran and has appealed to Brazil to intervene. Coelho published on his blog a message from his editor in Iran informing him of the government’s decision. Coelho, whose 1988 allegorical novel The Alchemist is one of the best-selling books of all time, said he would make all of his books translated into the Persian language available for free on the internet....
Reuters, Jan. 10; Paulo Coelho’s Blog, Jan. 9

Library accountant fired for whistleblowing
Cheryl Macedonio alleges in a January 6 complaint that she lost her job as an internal accountant at the New Orleans Public Library on December 15 because she raised questions about duplicate invoices, missing files, and more than $5,000 in copy-machine revenue that was not deposited into the proper accounts. Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux confirmed that agents were acting on a tip January 4 when they seized records from the library’s main branch....
New Orleans Times-Picayune, Jan. 7

Toronto board votes to keep its Urban Affairs Library
During a a raucous library board meeting January 6, Toronto Public Library board members voted overwhelmingly not to close its Urban Affairs Library at Metro Hall. The closure and a number of other cuts were proposed by City Librarian Jane Pyper’s office, in accordance with the expectations of Mayor Ford’s administration, which has promised fiscal savings without “major cuts.” The decision is not final....
Torontoist, Jan. 7

Play an autoharp at story time
Taylor (Tex.) Public Library Director Karen Ellis is learning to play the autoharp, a relatively simple instrument that is ideal for self-accompaniment. Ellis decided to learn it for just that, accompanying herself during story time at the library to expose more kids to different kinds of music. It boils down to the importance of interaction between adults and children that’s motivating for her in this musical endeavor. Even for children too young to read, music can have an impact....
Taylor (Tex.) Daily Press, Jan. 5

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ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, California, January 7–11, 2011.

Visit the ALA video channel to see coverage of the Midwinter Meeting.

Check out the ALA Midwinter Flickr photostream.

Keep track of Midwinter events and photos at the American Libraries #alamw11 feed.

“Like” American Libraries on Facebook.

Classic Film for Family Movie Night: The Band Wagon 2011 Youth Media Awards Have Been Announced! Matt Dembicki : An Affinity for Books (video) Winner of "Vote for Your Favorite Newbery Medal Winner" Poll Donna Seaman Interviews Author Miles Harvey Maximize Your Job Seeking Mojo: The Library Can Help You to Find Your Next Job Be Heard in Congress: The Election May be Over, But You can Still Influence the Work of Congress Join Us on Facebook Subscribe to our Newsletter

ProQuest acquires ebrary
Just months after rolling out its redesigned search and discovery platform, ProQuest announced January 6 that it has acquired e-book pioneer ebrary, setting the stage for the company’s plans to offer greater depth of access to content from a growing variety of sources and media types. The agreement adds a pool of a quarter-million e-books to ProQuest’s offerings and enables users to search seamlessly across multiple formats and into greater historical depth....
AL: Inside Scoop, Jan. 8; ProQuest, Jan. 6

Huck Finn navigates choppy waters
A new edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn omits a racial epithet that has caused controversy since the book was first published in 1885. In place of the n-word, which appears 219 times in Twain’s text, the word “slave” will be substituted in a combined edition of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, to be published in February by NewSouth Books. Many Twain scholars are upset. “The book without that word is not Huckleberry Finn,” said ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom Director Barbara Jones. Michiko Kakutani provides an overview of literary fumigations....
USA Today, Jan. 6; NewSouth Books, Jan. 4; New York Times: Books, Jan. 6

New “Books at JSTOR” program
Five of the nation’s leading university presses—Chicago, Minnesota, North Carolina, Princeton, and Yale—are at the forefront of a new effort to publish scholarly books online as part of the nonprofit service JSTOR. Their books, representing ground-breaking scholarship across the humanistic, social, and scientific disciplines, are expected to be available in 2012. “Books at JSTOR” will make front- and backlist titles available to libraries around the world in flexible ways that encourage purchase, adoption, and use....
ResourceShelf, Jan. 11

Bridging the book-library divide
Eric Hellman writes: “Libraries show no signs of imminent e-book–induced death. The latest data from OverDrive, the dominant provider of e-books to public libraries, shows staggering growth. Based on the buzz at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, OverDrive should blow those numbers away in 2011. Almost every librarian I’ve talked to here has decided to take the plunge into e-books in a big way in 2011.”...
TeleRead, Jan. 10

J. K. Rowling cleared of plagiarism
Scholastic, U.S. publisher of the bestselling Harry Potter novels, won a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by the estate of an author claiming one of the books copied his work. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan dismissed the suit brought by the trustee for the estate of Adrian Jacobs against New York–based Scholastic because the books were too different. The lawsuit claimed that Rowling used elements of Jacobs’s book, The Adventures of Willy the Wizard, published in the U.K. in 1987....
Bloomberg, Jan. 7

Interactive fiction in the e-book era
Now that we’re all getting comfortable with the notion of reading books on digital displays, it’s little surprise that developers are starting to explore the interactive possibilities of electronic novels. In fact, simple interactive fiction has been available on the iPod since the very beginning, with a community of writers using the HTML functionality in the device’s Notes application to create “choose your own adventure” stories....
The Guardian (U.K.), Jan. 11

The case of the first mystery novelist
Paul Collins writes: “Reader, never mind whether the butler did it. Here’s a real mystery for you: Who wrote the first detective novel? For years, the usual suspect was Wilkie Collins with The Moonstone, published in 1868. In 1975, however, the novelist and critic Julian Symons revealed in The Times that it was The Notting Hill Mystery, an anonymous eight-part serial that ran in 1862. But the book itself presented something of a mystery.”...
New York Times Sunday Book Review, Jan. 7

Ex officina Elseviriorum
L. D. Mitchell writes: “Scattered among the many glorious decorations that grace the Great Hall of the Library of Congress is a mural (right) of a philosopher picking grapes from a vine that is entwined about the trunk of an elm tree (the tree also is entwined by a snake). Opposite this scene is a scroll emblazoned with the Latin motto Non Solus (not alone). First introduced ca. 1620, this printer’s mark is said to symbolize the close relationship between publisher and scholar.”...
The Private Library, Jan. 7

Wikipedia comes of age
Oxford University Press Vice President Casper Grathwohl writes: “Not long ago, publishers like myself would groan when someone talked about how Wikipedia was effectively replacing reference publishing, especially for students. But my perspective has changed. As Wikipedia has grown since it was launched 10 years ago, it has become increasingly clear that it functions as a necessary layer in the internet knowledge system, a layer that was not needed in the analog age. A study carried out by Alison Head and Michael Eisenberg, of the University of Washington Information School, shows that to gain context on a topic and orient themselves, university students start with Wikipedia. That makes perfect sense.”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 7; Project Information Literacy

OCLC report on cloud-sourcing research collections
Cloud-Sourcing Research Collections (PDF file), by Constance Malpas, presents findings from a year-long study designed and executed by OCLC Research and the HathiTrust. Its objective was to examine the feasibility of outsourcing management of low-use print books held in academic libraries to shared service providers, including large-scale print and digital repositories....
OCLC, Jan. 6

Your to-do list: Print, digital, hybrid
Steven Bell writes: “The start of a new year is a time for resolutions, and getting more organized and getting things done is right there at the top of many resolution lists. For many of us, the common ‘to-do’ list is our indispensable tool for accomplishing both tasks. There are many different approaches to compiling and maintaining a basic to-do list. You can simply write things down on a piece of paper and tape it to your computer monitor or pin it on your bulletin board, or you can try to be more systematic.”...
ACRLog, Jan. 10

11 foreign-language resources to try in 2011
Richard Byrne writes: “Today, I have 11 good foreign-language resources to try in 2011 (I’ve included a couple of ESL/EFL resources in this list). The first is Forvo, which can best be described as an audio wiki for word pronunciations. One of the problems with learning to speak a language that is not phonetic is trying to figure out how to pronounce the words.”...
Free Technology for Teachers, Jan. 11

Library Girl’s tips for getting that grant
Jennifer LaGarde writes: “With mandated library funding rapidly becoming a thing of the past, grant writing is no longer just a nice skill to have. Rather, it is a necessary and important part of the school librarian’s job description. While I certainly haven’t received every grant I’ve ever applied for, these strategies have helped me earn over $30,000 in supplemental funds for my school library over the last several years.”...
Georgia Library Media Association Blog, Jan. 11

Jedi librarian
Andy Priestner writes: “This morning I found myself watching another episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and the library and a Jedi librarian that featured in it could just not pass without comment. Apart from the completely predictable decision to have a be-bunned elderly lady librarian—Jocasta Nu—I was fascinated by its incredibly old-fashioned approach to the electronic library with shelves upon shelves of what appeared to be e-books and very few computer terminals.”...
Libreaction, Dec. 31

18 things to do to manage copyright laws in 2011
Lesley Ellen Harris writes: “The year end is often a time to review finances, clean off desks, and get organized for the new year. Here is a list of actions to get your copyright matters in order, including permissions and licenses, education and training, management and compliance.”...
copyrightlaws.com, Dec. 15

Books and bars: L.A.’s thirst for literature
There is currently a trendy movement in Los Angeles that has seen the marriage of books and bars. That’s right—drinking establishments that line their walls and shelves with everything from hardbound classics and modern novellas to law encyclopedias and philosophical tomes. While it’s around, order a cocktail and soak up the libraryesque atmosphere that such bars as the Wellesbourne, Hyperion Tavern, the Library Bar, and XIV are working hard to recreate....
Styleture, Jan. 4

The woman who smells books
Anna Jane Grossman writes: “After artist Rachael Morrison started working at the Museum of Modern Art library in New York, she’d joke that she was smelling books all day. She loves being surrounded by all these books in an increasingly digitized age. She began wondering what it would be like not to be able to smell them anymore. So six months ago, she decided to spend her lunch breaks chronicling the unique scent of each book in the MoMA stacks.”...
New York, Dec. 12

LC to stream over 200,000 donated master recordings
Songs by such seminal 20th-century artists as Billie Holiday (right), Louis Armstrong, and Bing Crosby are scheduled to begin streaming from the Library of Congress website in the spring, thanks to a gift from University Music Group of almost a quarter-million master recordings. The largest-ever donation of music that the Library of Congress has received, the gift of recordings made from the late 1920s through the late 1940s—many long out-of-print or never released—will be digitized by the library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Virginia. But it has not yet been determined which songs will be made available, a process that could be complicated by Universal’s plans to sell some of the digitized material through iTunes....
Library of Congress, Jan. 10; New York Times, Jan. 9

Vatican bibliophilately
Larry Nix writes: “George Eberhart coined the term bibliophilately in an American Libraries article in June 1982, and this got me hooked on collecting library postage stamps. Vatican City has recently issued (September 20, 2010) what might be considered the ultimate bibliophilatelic artifact. This stamp is an actual miniature book that celebrates the reopening of the Vatican Apostolic Library. The miniature book stamp is inserted into a slot on a backing card that shows the Salone Sistino of the Library.”...
Library History Buff Blog, Jan. 11

LC taps LII for legislative information models
The Library of Congress has selected Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute to work on a redesign of its legislative metadata models. This sounds like really geeky stuff, but the effects for government and for citizens should be big. What’s really being talked about is a great improvement not only in what can be retrieved from systems like THOMAS and LIS (the less-well-known internal system used by Congress itself), but also in what can be linked to and referenced....
Cornell University Law School, Jan. 5

Cabinets of curiosities in the 17th century
Ben Breen writes: “Early modern Europeans envisioned their own bodies as miniature worlds that echoed God’s creation in every detail. And in the expansionist, acquisitive, and globalizing era of the 17th century, the wonders of creation frequently became conflated with the treasures of the tropical world that Europeans were busy exploiting. The early-modern curiosity cabinet (often called Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer, wonder-rooms) stood at the intersection of this dual preoccupation with microcosms and colonial treasures.”...
Res Obscura, Jan. 5

Adorable kids with obsolete technology
Chris Higgins writes: “Ready to feel really old? In this video (3:26), some French-Canadian kids are presented with technology from the 1980s and 1990s. They then try to figure out what the items are, and the results are delightful. Although the video is in French (and I don’t speak any French), I could easily follow what was going on.”...
Mental Floss, Jan. 7; YouTube, Dec. 21

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