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

Librarians head for the Hill
Federal budget threats targeted at library programs did not deter the 361 National Library Legislative Day participants who came to Washington, D.C., May 9–10 to tell their library stories to their congressional delegations at the Capitol. “This is the time for LSTA to be robustly funded,” asserted Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz., right) in a briefing session during which he accepted ALTAFF’s 2011 Public Service Award. Read the briefing materials from ALA’s Office of Government Relations at the NLLD website and view the Flickr stream of this year’s activities....
American Libraries news, May 11

Virginia Mathews, children’s services champion
“As ambassador of library youth services to the world, Virginia Mathews continues to inspire new generations,” Carole Fiore said of Virginia Mathews (right) in 1995 on the occasion of her receiving ALSC’s Distinguished Service Award. Mathews, 86, who died May 7, navigated a decades-long career that bridged the worlds of publishing and library advocacy....
American Libraries news, May 11

Sample policies
Q. Can you direct me to one or two sites with sample library policies? I’ve just taken over our small public library and have convinced trustees we need to have policies newer than 25 years old. A. You should probably start with contacting the library development office of your state library. The staff in that office will help you with policies that build on the laws in your state. Next, review the Positions and Public Policy Statements approved by ALA Council. Finally, we’ve collected some links to online sources for library policies....
AL: Ask the ALA Librarian, May 11

A snapshot of Annual Conference
Jenny Levine writes: “Having just launched the second iteration of the Conference Scheduler in ALA Connect for the New Orleans conference, I can tell you that we’re down to just over 1,600 sessions. Some of the decrease comes from committees holding virtual meetings outside of conference, and some is from sections and round tables holding ‘all committee’ meetings where several groups meet in a big room at once. Having manhandled every one of those session records, I can definitively say that there is something for everyone at Annual.”...
ALA Marginalia, May 11

Nominating Commitee seeks candidates
The ALA 2012 Nominating Committee is soliciting nominees to run on the 2012 spring ballot for the offices of ALA president-elect and councilor-at-large. The committee will select two candidates to run for president-elect and no fewer than 50 candidates for the 33 at-large Council seats to be filled in the 2012 spring election. All potential nominees must complete the Potential Candidate Biographical Form and send their nominations no later than August 12 to any member of the 2012 committee....
Office of ALA Governance, May 9

ALA to promote The First Grader
ALA is partnering with National Geographic Entertainment to promote a new narrative feature film, The First Grader. The film will be highlighted through ALA’s advocacy website for the public, ilovelibraries.org, where you can download a personizable poster to promote the film locally. It will premiere in New York and Los Angeles on May 13. ALA and National Geographic also encourage libraries to share their stories on the film’s Facebook page....
ALA Development Office, May 10

2011 Diversity and Outreach Fair
The ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services has selected presentations for the 2011 Diversity and Outreach Fair, to be held June 25 in the Special Events Area in Hall J at the New Orleans Convention Center. The chosen presentations will highlight innovative and successful library outreach initiatives and programs during a poster session open to all ALA attendees at Annual Conference....
OLOS, May 9

Next steps for libraries and youth privacy
Frances Jacobson Harris writes: “At the close of the ALA Privacy and Youth conference held in March, participants were asked to gather in small groups to address next steps. We had spent time explicating the issues and airing our concerns. Now was the time to recommend action. Here are some of the themes that emerged from our discussions.”...
Privacy and Youth, May 6

Four in five librarians do not rock the vote
Andy Woodworth writes: “One in five. That’s how many ALA members voted in this year’s annual elections for positions ranging from President to Council. One in five is also the ratio of voters to nonvoters for the previous year’s election. To get some insight into this phenomena, Oleg Kagan has created a ALA Non-Voter’s Survey for the four in five members to fill out.”...
Agnostic, Maybe, May 8

Certification for three library assistant training programs
The ALA–Allied Professional Association has completed agreements with three Library Assistant Training programs that will allow their graduates to receive Library Support Staff Certification without having to further demonstrate their skills and knowledge. These programs are at the College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois; Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis; and Palomar College in San Marcos, California....
ALA–Allied Professional Association, May 10

Take the RDA Toolkit for a free spin
Informed decisions are typically better decisions. To insure that you are fully aware of all the features and benefits of RDA Toolkit and prepared to make the best possible decision for your institution, we are happy to offer the RDA Toolkit Free Trial. This offer includes one-time, 30-day access to RDA Toolkit and is available to everyone....
RDA Toolkit

New Orleans Pharmacy Museum
In the early 1800s, Louis Joseph Dufilho Jr. of New Orleans became America’s first licensed pharmacist. Today, Dufilho’s 1823 apothecary shop at 514 Chartres Street in the French Quarter houses the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. It is widely believed to be the largest and most diverse pharmaceutical collection in a single location in the United States, containing old patent medicines, books, and pharmaceutical equipment dating back as far as the early 1800s....
New Orleans Museums; Pharmacy Museum

New Orleans African American Museum
The New Orleans African American Museum of Art, Culture, and History seeks to educate, preserve, interpret, and promote the contributions that people of African descent have made to the development of New Orleans and Louisiana culture. It is located at 1418 Governor Nicholls Street in the historic Tremé neighborhood, the oldest surviving black community in the United States, and housed in the Tremé Villa (right), built in 1828–1829. The museum offers tours of the district that include Congo Square, the Candle Light Lounge, and Tuba Fats Square....
New Orleans African American Museum

Ancestors of Congo Square
The New Orleans Museum of Art is offering an exhibition of African art through July 17, “Ancestors of Congo Square: African Art.” The title is a nod to the historic Congo Square adjacent to the French Quarter in New Orleans, where African-American slaves would gather to socialize, make music, and dance in the 18th and 19th centuries. Dan Kershaw of the Metropolitan Museum of Art designed and installed the show, which will feature 100 of the most important of NOMA’s permanent collection of African artworks....
New Orleans Museum of Art

Reshaping New Orleans
Although it does not mention anything about the city’s libraries, this 30-minute news documentary produced by public television station WYES and broadcast shortly after the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, is an excellent summary of how New Orleans has emerged from the catastrophe. It covers the restructuring of the levee system, restoration of the coast, and the return of businesses to the city and surrounding parishes....
WYES-TV, New Orleans, Sept. 22, 2010

Audubon Park
Site improvements made for the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition of 1884 (Louisiana’s first world’s fair) laid the foundation for this urban park. Bird Island sits in the center of Audubon Park Lagoon and houses one of the most prominent rookeries in the region. Hundreds of birds nest here every year—egrets, herons, cormorants, and anhingas. The rest of the park is an urban oasis offering vistas of ancient live oaks, a tranquil 1.8-mile jogging path, picnic shelters, playgrounds, tennis courts, and soccer fields....
Audubon Park

Gadgets to ease the pains of travel
Travel technology has actually gotten better. As with most things electronic, products and services have gotten more powerful, smaller, and less expensive with the passage of time. Today’s travelers can carry far less than they used to even just a few years ago, thanks to combinations and innovations. Here are a few gadgets that can add a great deal to your travel experience while still keeping your baggage within carry-on restrictions....
New York Times, May 4

ALCTS President’s Program features Paul Courant
Paul Courant (right), university librarian at the University of Michigan, will be the featured speaker at the 2011 ALCTS President’s Program June 27 at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. The economics of libraries will be the subject of his presentation, “Economic Reflections on Libraries.”...
ALCTS, May 9

Scholarly resources usage study
ACRL has published Scholarly Practice, Participatory Design, and the eXtensible Catalog, edited by Nancy Fried Foster, Katie Clark, Kornelia Tancheva, and Rebekah Kilzer. This new book examines the application of forward-thinking, collaborative, research and design principles to the software development process. Research findings informed the design and development of the eXtensible Catalog, a set of open-source applications that provides access to resources across a range of databases, metadata schemas, and standards....
ACRL, May 10

Hughes-Hassell appointed JRLYA editor
YALSA has named Sandra Hughes-Hassell (right), professor and coordinator of the school library media program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as the editor of the Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults. She chairs the journal’s advisory board and will begin a three-year term on YALSA’s Board of Directors in June. JRLYA is an online, peer-reviewed, open access research journal that focuses on library service to young adults....
YALSA, May 10

Register for 2011 LITA National Forum
Registration is now open for the 2011 LITA National Forum, “Rivers of Data, Currents of Change,” to be held September 29–October 2 at the Hyatt Regency at The Arch in downtown St. Louis. Keynote sessions anchor the event and include speakers John Blyberg, Karen Coyle, and Barbara McGlamery. Registration is limited to 500 in order to preserve the advantages of a small conference....
LITA, May 10

ConverStations proposals for the 2012 PLA Conference
PLA is accepting ConverStations proposals for its 2012 Conference, to be held March 13–17, 2012, in Philadelphia. Applications may be submitted by an online form through July 15. ConverStations provide conference attendees with forums for discussion on timely, relevant topics for public library professionals. Facilitators are expected to briefly showcase model programs or innovative techniques, or report on projects or studies and stimulate discussion....
PLA, May 10

PLA Accidental Technology Trainer course
PLA is now accepting registrations for a second session of its popular “Accidental Public Library Technology Trainer” course. This four-week blended learning course begins August 1 and is designed for library professionals who have unexpectedly found themselves responsible for technology training at their library. Register by July 27....
PLA, May 10

ALTAFF cosponsors BookExpo America panel
ALTAFF and Algonquin Books will sponsor “From Writer to Reader,” a panel featuring author Naomi Benaron and her editor Kathy Pories, on May 26 at BookExpo America in New York. The panel will discuss the process of writing, editing, and publishing a prize-winning novel....
ALTAFF, May 10

ALTAFF advocacy programs at Annual Conference
will sponsor several programs focused on advocacy at the ALA Annual Conference on June 24–25, including “Nuts and Bolts for Trustees, Friends, and Foundations,” the Advocacy Institute Workshop “Boomers, Staff, and Students: Engaging the Many Voices of Advocacy,” and “How Louisiana Libraries Created New Beginnings.”...
ALTAFF, May 10

Día 101 webinar available from ALSC
ALSC’s archived webinar, “Día 101: Everything you need to know about celebrating El día de los niños/El día de los libros,” is now available for purchase. Presented live on April 1, the webinar was taught by Beatriz Pascual Wallace, children’s librarian at the Seattle Public Library, and is now archived on the ALSC website....
ALSC, May 10

ALSC webinar on family programming
ALSC will host a May 13 webinar on “Family Programs on a Shoestring @ your library.” Taught by Angela Young, youth services librarian at the Lorain (Ohio) Public Library, the hour-long webinar helps librarians explore new ways to save money and still offer super library programs for the whole family....
ALSC, May 10

Biblioquilts a highlight at ERT Silent Auction (PDF file)
The ALA Biblioquilters have contributed four quilts to this year’s Annual Conference Silent Auction, sponsored by the Exhibits Round Table, that benefits the Christopher J. Hoy Scholarship Fund. The ALA Biblioquilters began in 1998 at the Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., when Connie Jo Ozinga and Nann Blaine Hilyard met by chance outside the convention center. The 14 quilts they have contributed to silent auctions from 2000 to 2010 have raised more than $3,500 for the Scholarship Fund....
Cognotes, Conference Preview issue, May, pp. 13, 19

Enter the NMRT video contest
Create and submit a short 1–3 minute video for new librarians who cannot attend the 2011 ALA Annual Conference, June 23–28, in New Orleans. Watch and vote for your fellow New Members Round Table members’ videos, and spread the word to all librarians you know. The entry deadline is May 30. Voting will take place June 7–15, and the winner will be announced June 25 online as well as in person at the NMRT reception....
NMRT, May 2

2011 White House Conference Award
Alison Kenney (right), a business owner from Marblehead, Massachusetts, is the winner of the 2011 White House Conference on Library and Information Services Award. The award, which is given to a nonlibrarian participating in National Library Legislative Day for the first time, covers hotel stay in addition to a $300 stipend to reduce the cost of attending the event. Kenney said her love of books, book club discussions, and the important place libraries have in the community has inspired her to be involved with local libraries....
ALA Office of Government Relations, May 5

Hargett and Mosley win Trustee Citation awards
ALTAFF has named Dave Hargett (posthumously) and Rose Mosley the winners of the 2011 ALA Trustee Citation award. The citation honors the best contributions and efforts of the estimated 60,000 American citizens who serve on library boards. Hargett was a trustee for three years at the Fountaindale Public Library in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and Mosley is serving her fifth six-year term as trustee at the Maywood (Ill.) Public Library....
ALTAFF, May 10

Honorary membership nominations open
Nominations are being accepted for ALA honorary membership, the Association’s highest honor, which is bestowed on living citizens of any country whose contributions to librarianship or a closely related field are so outstanding that they are of significant and lasting importance to the whole field of library service. Members who wish to forward nominations must complete the online ALA honorary member nomination form and submit it by September 1....
Office of ALA Governance, May 10

Mara Rojeski wins Nijhoff international study grant
Mara Degnan Rojeski (right), social sciences liaison librarian at Dickinson College, has been selected to receive the 2011 ACRL Western European Studies Section Coutts Nijhoff International West European Specialist Study Grant. The grant provides $3,000 to support a trip to Europe. Rojeski is working on a bibliography of the pamphlets of the Deutscher Fichte-Bund, a propaganda organization active in Hamburg, Germany from 1914–1941....
ACRL, May 9

Kent Oliver honored with Liberty Bell Award
Kent Oliver (right), executive director of the Stark County (Ohio) District Library, was named the Stark County Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award winner for 2011. The award, presented as part of the bar association’s Law Day celebration, is given to people who are not lawyers yet work to defend the Bill of Rights. Oliver has chaired the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee and currently serves as president of the board of the Freedom to Read Foundation....
Massillon (Ohio) Independent, May 6

Laura Bush announces school library grants
Former First Lady Laura Bush announced May 5 that her foundation, which has provided more than $14 million in grants intended to fill school libraries with more and better books, is dispersing $1.1 million to 241 schools this year (PDF file). Bush made the announcement at Jack Lowe Sr. Elementary School in Dallas in front of 30 schoolchildren and educators. The schools receiving the grants will get as much as $5,000 for their collections....
Dallas Observer: Unfair Park, May 6; Laura Bush Foundation

NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award
On May 9, author Adam Levin was named the winner of the New York Public Library’s 2011 Young Lions Fiction Award for The Instructions. The award, given each spring to a writer age 35 or younger for a novel or a collection of short stories, includes a $10,000 prize. Levin’s 1,000-page title was released in November 2010 with three different covers. It tells the story of Gurion Maccabee, age 10: a lover, a fighter, a scholar, and a truly spectacular talker who was ejected from three Jewish day schools for acts of violence and messianic tendencies....
GalleyCat, May 10

Society of Midland Authors Awards
The Society of Midland Authors presented its 2011 awards May 10 in Chicago, honoring its choices for the best books by Midwest authors in 2010. The winner in adult fiction was Benjamin Percy, The Wilding (Graywolf), although Booklist Online Editor Keir Graff was a runner-up with his The Price of Liberty (Severn House). The winner in adult nonfiction was Deborah Blum, The Poisoner’s Handbook (Penguin)....
Society of Midland Authors, May 4

James Beard cookbook awards
Diana Kennedy’s Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy (University of Texas) was the best cookbook of 2010 according to the James Beard Foundation, which announced its awards May 6 at Espace in New York. Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking (1984) was placed in the Cookbook Hall of Fame. Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes (Ten Speed) by Mark Bitterman won in the Reference and Scholarship category....
Los Angeles Times: Daily Dish, May 6

2011 Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards
The Crystal Kite Awards are given by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators to recognize great books from the 70 SCBWI regions around the world. Along with the SCBWI Golden Kite Awards, the Crystal Kite Awards are chosen by other children’s book writers and illustrators, making them the only peer-given awards in publishing for young readers. Selling Hope, by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb, won in the Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri region....
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, May 3

Libraries spared in Florida budget
For a second consecutive year, Florida legislators saved public libraries from the guillotine in the final round of budget debates. The Florida Senate’s original working budget contained no funding for the public library, while the House version provided for $17.7 million, a $3.5-million reduction from last budget year. In the final round of budget negotiations, lawmakers agreed to continue last year’s funding of $21.2 million, with an added $100,000. That funding level makes the state eligible for federal matching funds....
Panama City (Fla.) News Herald, May 5; Florida Library Association

Rockefeller introduces “do not track” bill
Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) on May 9 introduced an online “do not track” privacy bill that would allow consumers to block internet companies from following their activity on the web. The Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011 (PDF file) comes amid increased attention by lawmakers on creating privacy rules for the internet. The White House has called for such rules but has not supported a specific mandate that would block companies from tracking users. Privacy groups seem impressed with the bill, pointing out that the FTC has a good deal of flexibility in tailoring a persistent opt-out mechanism. The House had introduced a comparable draft bill (PDF file) May 6....
Washington Post: Post Tech, May 9; Ars Technica, May 10; Jurist: Paper Chase, May 8

Clarkstown keeps its Perks
The Clarkstown (N.Y.) Board of Education unanimously voted to keep The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky in the high school English curriculum, ending weeks of furious debate among community members. The controversy erupted in early February, when Aldo and Patricia DeVivo, parents of a Clarkstown High School North junior, contacted the district, saying they objected to their daughter being taught the book in class. They said they found the book morally and religiously reprehensible, and asked that it be removed from the curriculum and the libraries....
White Plains (N.Y.) Journal News, May 5

Ann Arbor library signs digital music deal
Cory Doctorow writes: “The Ann Arbor (Mich.) District Library has bought a bulk license to the Magnatune catalog of Creative Commons licensed music. The annual license fee of $10,000 goes to Magnatune and the musicians, and gives the library’s patrons the right to listen, download, and copy the music. Libraries are one of the last havens for DRM-crippled music, but Magnatune presents an alternative to the take-it-or-leave-it DRM deal the big labels demand.”...
Boing Boing, May 9

Minnesota Republican attacks Neil Gaiman’s fee
Author Neil Gaiman got caught in the midst of a legislative feud in early May when House Majority Leader Matt Dean singled out the $45,000 tax-funded payment Gaiman received as a speaking fee at Stillwater Junior High in April 2010 for a Twin Cities library Club Book event. Dean called him a “pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota.” Dean sort of apologized after Gaiman took offense. Minnesota State House Republican committee chairman Dean Urdahl pushed to trim the same amount from the library system’s budget....
St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, May 7; Citypages: The Blotter, May 5

Washington State Law Library threatened
The 158-year-old Washington State Law Library in Olympia will close its doors if the state Senate budget for 2011–2013 becomes law. This should concern citizens because the law library is used by many people who are not lawyers but need to research legal issues affecting their lives. The Legislature reduced the library’s 2009–2011 budget consistent with the need for belt-tightening, but the Senate now proposes a level of funding that will not permit the library to retain even one librarian....
Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune, May 5

Pasadena libraries on shaky footings
None of the 10 library branches in Pasadena, California, meet the most current earthquake codes and the cost of upgrading the system would exceed the $59-million price tag to fix its fire stations, according to a city official. Pasadena Public Library Director Jan Sanders said that the newest branch was constructed more than 50 years ago, although they have undergone some cosmetic upgrades since the Northridge Earthquake in 1994....
Pasadena (Calif.) Star-News, May 9

Mayor Daley’s lasting legacy
James Warren writes: “As the media marks the ‘lasts’ of Richard M. Daley’s dwindling mayoralty, it’s missed one that might best reflect a lasting legacy. On May 6, in the presence of a diverse and working-class crowd of 150 onlookers on the far northwest side of Chicago, the mayor opened the 57th and final branch library of his 22-year tenure. ‘No other mayor in the world has made this commitment to libraries,’ said Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey.”...
Chicago News Cooperative, May 10

Libraries aid immigrants seeking citizenship
In libraries across Colorado, immigrants from dozens of countries, with the aid of a large contingent of volunteers, learn to read, write, and speak English and to navigate the byzantine regulations of the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Thousands, including Somalian refugees, Mexican farmworkers, and Serbian students, also gather in libraries each week to learn the more mundane tasks of being in a new country—sorting out bus schedules, applying for jobs, and filling out school forms....
Denver Post, May 10

Across the Midwest, shutting the local library
Niala Boodhoo reports: “What happens when your local library shuts its doors? That’s a question Midwestern towns from Evanston, Illinois, to Troy, Michigan, are asking as local libraries are targeted in budget cuts. I went to Northwest Indiana, where the Gary Library Board has just decided to close its main branch, to find out the impact on a local community.”...
Changing Gears, May 10

Salt Lake librarian winning his battle over Tourette’s
Josh Hanagarne (right) stalks into the back room of the buzzing Salt Lake Main Library on a gray, wet Tuesday afternoon. Hanagarne is massive; he stands 6-foot-8 and makes for the most unlikely of librarians. What may be the easiest to overlook is perhaps Hanagarne’s most important feature. He battles with Tourette’s Syndrome, a complicated disorder that starts within the inner workings of the brain, ending with a visible outward reaction, or tic. And he is now trying to share it with the estimated 100,000 people in America who suffer from this much-misunderstood disease....
Salt Lake City Deseret News, May 8

George Washington drank here
Even George Washington needed to take the edge off sometimes. The first president was a man of the people when it came to his drink of preference. His Notebook as a Virginia Colonel, dating from 1757, includes a handwritten recipe for “small beer.” That notebook, along with many of Washington’s other papers, is part of the New York Public Library’s collection. NYPL is joining with Shmaltz Brewing Co. to recreate a modern version of the porter to celebrate the Stephen A. Schwarzman building’s centennial....
Wall Street Journal, May 5

1790 book returned to Maine library
Heather Bilodeau, director of the Walsh History Center at the Camden (Maine) Public Library, recently received a package containing three well-used books two centuries old with an incredible story. They were found by Chuck Regan in Thousand Oaks, California, who retraced their journey from the “Cambden” library to a decaying flour barrel in a garage in Portland to his bookshelf in California, and hand-delivered them back to Maine. One of the books is Oliver Goldsmith’s History of England, from the Earliest Times to the Death of George II, vol. 1 (1790)....
Camden (Maine) Herald Gazette, May 10

South Carolina jail bans everything except bibles
Prisoners at the Berkeley County Detention Center in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, are being denied any reading material other than the Bible, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the policy on behalf of the monthly Prison Legal News last autumn. Last week a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to stand alongside Prison Legal News as a plaintiff in the lawsuit was granted by a federal judge, and the ACLU has now asked a federal judge to block enforcement of the policy....
The Guardian (U.K.), May 10

Book lending station opens on BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit customers are now able to borrow a book on their way to their train at Millbrae Station, handed to them by the robotic arm of a new book-lending machine. BART and the Peninsula Library System of San Mateo County, California, unveiled a “Free2 Read and Ride” vending machine on the concourse level of the station during a ceremony on May 5. The device holds more than 300 books, mostly popular fiction and biographies, chosen by Peninsula librarians....
BART news, May 5; KQED-TV: News Fix, May 7

Tuscaloosa elementary school and library demolished
Classes had been cancelled at Alberta Elementary School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in preparation for the storm, so luckily no one was inside when the tornado hit the school the evening of April 27, completely destroying it. Librarian Mary Schellhammer (right) points to an empty space where her office, the storytime area, and the nonfiction books were located....
WKRG-TV, Mobile, Ala., May 4

Miami-Dade Library’s unique art collection
In 1963, long before there was a thriving international art scene in South Florida, Margarita Cano—an exiled librarian and museum guide from Havana whose résumé included cataloging items at the island’s eclectic Napoleonic Museum—found work at the old Miami library in Bayfront Park. She began to tap players in South Florida’s fledgling art world with an enthusiastic pitch about libraries being perfect places to showcase art. Some 40 years later, the Miami-Dade Public Library System houses a distinguished Permanent Art Collection that tells the story of the region’s art history....
Miami Herald, May 7

Flash mob gets rowdy in Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island campus police escorted about 400 rowdy students from the crowded second floor of the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons on May 8 at about 10:30 p.m. Police said they believe the gathering, which began building an hour or so earlier, was organized through social media technology. URI officials decided to close the library for safety reasons at 11 p.m., affecting students who were there to study for final exams. The group’s creator, dubbed Laidback Luke, reportedly drew his inspiration from other college parties during finals week. The inevitable videos (12:37) have surfaced....
University of Rhode Island, May 9; YouTube, May 8; Narragansett (R.I.) Patch, May 9

Children’s library opens in Manila
A nonprofit organization has opened a small library in Quezon City, Philippines, that aims to give poor kids in Metro Manila free use of books and research materials. A-Book-Saya Group founder Armand Nocum said he converted the large garage in his house into a Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (right) where thousands of children’s books and other textbooks are freely available. Two computers for internet use are also in the library....
Philippine Star (Manila), May 8

Go back to the Top

ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 23–28, 2011. Peruse the Cognotes preview issue (PDF file), then go to the new Annual Conference Scheduler to plan your activities. Anyone can see the sessions, but only users with ALA Connect accounts (both members and nonmembers) can create schedules.

Email your elected officials about library issues through May 13.

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