Digital working group pushes for expanded ebook access
Sari Feldman and Robert Wolven write: “If out of frustration come new ideas, creativity, and entrepreneurship, then ALA’s Digital Content and Libraries Working Group (DCWG) is due its lightning-bolt moment. Following the 2012 ALA Midwinter Meeting in January, the newly formed DCWG was ready and willing to deliver meaningful direction to the Association and its members. But as we all know, the collective power of the library community is greater than that of any single group.”...
American Libraries feature

Ebooks and users’ rights
Deborah Caldwell-Stone writes: “Last September, libraries and librarians around the country welcomed the announcement that OverDrive and Amazon had reached an agreement that would allow Kindle owners to borrow books through their public libraries. The new arrangement allowed libraries to meet a pent-up patron demand for Kindle ebook loans. But librarians and users alike learned that the deal came with some strings attached: Kindle users whose loan periods were coming to an end began to receive marketing messages from Amazon.”...
American Libraries feature

Ebooks: A publisher’s view
Lisa Long Hickman writes: “Librarians and publishers are not effectively communicating with each other. There, I said it. Many of us already know this to be true, but as someone who comes from the publishing side, I came to this realization during my yearlong process of selling ebooks across the country and through my many conversations with library directors, state librarians, and heads of consortia.”...
American Libraries feature

ALA seeks feedback on digital content
ALA’s Digital Content and Libraries Working Group, which tackles ebook-related issues, is seeking feedback from individuals who experiment with the creation, publication, and preservation of digital content. The deadline to participate in the survey is June 1. We are looking for digitization effort experiments that can help ALA recommend policies, address issues, or promote information exchange about this emerging area. Email the working group....
AL: E-Content, May 29

Dewey or LC?
Q. Which is older, the Library of Congress Classification or Dewey? Which is more popular? A. Quickly, Dewey is older and more popular, depending somewhat on the type of library. But let’s step back to the purposes of a classification system to understand a bit more about classification. To “catalog” a book or other form of library material involves several interrelated processes that all contribute to the achievement of Charles Ammi Cutter’s “objects” for a catalog....
AL: Ask the ALA Librarian, May 30

New American Libraries Pinterest boards
American Libraries has launched two new Pinterest boards. One contains images from films in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, while the other offers images from national, regional, and state library associations in North America. Both are works in progress....

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Be an Emerging Leader
ALA is now accepting applications for the 2013 class of Emerging Leaders. Details on the program criteria as well as a link to the application can be found on the Emerging Leaders web page. The deadline to apply is August 3. The program is designed to enable library workers to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership. Participants are given the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, network with peers, and gain an understanding of the ALA structure and wide range of activities....
Human Resource Development and Recruitment, May 29

Meet the 2012 Emerging Leaders
Attendees of the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim are invited to meet the 2012 class of Emerging Leaders at a poster session and reception on June 22. The 2012 class will showcase their final projects at the poster session, which will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center, Room 303AB. Participants in the 2012 class come from both the United States and other countries, and represent a variety of types of libraries....
Human Resource Development and Recruitment, May 29; The Magpie Librarian, Jan. 22

Surviving a career crisis
In his book, Recovery, Reframing, and Renewal: Surviving an Information Science Career Crisis in a Time of Change, author Oliver Cutshaw examines the difficulties confronting information professionals who are forced to reevaluate their career options. During a June 23 session in the ALA JobLIST Placement Center in Anaheim, Cutshaw will give a brief presentation based on his book and then open the floor for a lively, interactive discussion....
Human Resource Development and Recruitment, May 29

Win a one-year subscription to the Virtual Career Library
Visit the ALA Membership Pavilion at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim to register your library to win a free one-year subscription ($950 value) to the Virtual Career Library. This innovative career information service is changing the way libraries are providing career guidance and job search information for their library patrons. Entry forms will be available June 23–24....
Human Resource Development and Recruitment, May 29

Linked data will transform libraries
ALA TechSource will hold a new 90-minute workshop, “Libraries and Linked Data: Looking to the Future,” with library data guru and consultant Karen Coyle on July 19. Providing a sampling of metadata building blocks, both elements and vocabularies, Coyle will survey elements available from areas of the linked data cloud outside libraries. Sign up at the ALA Store....
ALA TechSource, May 23

Creating your library brand
ALA Editions is hosting a new 90-minute workshop, “Creating Your Library Brand.” To stand out in today’s information-saturated world, libraries need a clear and compelling story about why they matter to their communities. On July 18, librarian and marketing expert Elisabeth Doucett will take you through a step-by-step process showing you how to define your library’s story and develop your brand. Sign up at the ALA Store....
ALA Editions, May 29

Pennsylvania chapter focuses on five literacies
The Pennsylvania Library Association has launched an initiative called “PA Forward,” designed to make public, academic, and school libraries across the state community centers of information, technology, and learning. Project Manager Kathy Silks said that based on input from PaLA members on best practices, Pennsylvania’s libraries now have a toolbox with ideas and methods to help their communities improve basic literacy, information literacy, civic and social literacies, health literacy, and financial literacy....
Lansdale (Pa.) Reporter, May 24

IFRT seeks committee volunteers
The Intellectual Freedom Round Table is seeking volunteers for committees. If you are interested in becoming a committee member of one of IFRT’s several committees, please submit this form. Note: You must be a member of ALA and IFRT in order to serve on one of its committees....
OIF Blog, May 29

Free STEM traveling exhibition
Angela Hanshaw writes: “Earlier we shared a Civil War exhibition, and now we’re diving into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is looking for a few libraries that might be interested in hosting a lightweight, portable STEM multidisciplinary exhibit about universal physics concepts in 2013. ‘Here, There, and Everywhere’ is a NASA-funded program that consists of a series of exhibitions, posters, and supporting activities that use analogies to teach STEM.”...
Programming Librarian, May 24

Da Chen and David Treuer to appear at JCLC
Award-winning and bestselling authors Da Chen and David Treuer will join the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color for an adult author luncheon, September 19–23 in Kansas City, Missouri. Registration is open now, with early bird registration available through June 13. Da Chen is the author of numerous titles, including Brothers; and David Treuer is the author of three novels and a book of criticism....
Office for Diversity, May 29

Learn Google Apps and Open Office
ALA Editions is offering a new facilitated eCourse, “Google Apps and Open Office: Easy Alternatives to Expensive Software,” with Maurice Coleman and Robin Hastings (right). This two-week eCourse will begin on August 6. Devoting one week each to Open Office and Google Apps, two of the most popular alternatives to Microsoft Office, you’ll learn how to set up and run these programs. Sign up at the ALA Store....
ALA Editions, May 22

Ten more Tech Set volumes
The Tech Set #11–20, published in collaboration with LITA and available through Neal-Schuman, is the next collection in the award-winning series for anyone charged with determining or implementing the next generation of patron services. Edited by Ellyssa Kroski, these 10 volumes (available as a set or individually) by the field’s hottest tech gurus provide practical instructions and advice on everything from planning and development to marketing and metrics. Each title in the series is a one-stop passport to an emerging technology....
ALA Neal-Schuman, May 23

International case studies of public libraries’ policies
One of the first books of its kind, Public Libraries and Their National Policies: International Case Studies by John Helling, offers an in-depth look at national public library policies at a time of shrinking budgets and pressure on libraries to make structural changes. Helling explores service models from a dozen countries around the world, focuses on areas such as funding sources, standards, regulations, and use, and offers insights into international best practices....
ALA Neal-Schuman, May 29

A guide for trainers and presenters
Increasingly, library personnel are called upon to teach classes, deliver presentations, and represent their organizations in an official capacity. Instructional Strategies and Techniques for Information Professionals by Nicole A. Cooke and Jeffrey J. Teichmann, is designed to assist those professionals with little to no experience designing and delivering training, instructional sessions, and presentations. It covers all aspects of training from audience evaluation to lesson plans to evaluation to lesson delivery....
ALA Neal-Schuman, May 29

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Disneyland hotel guests get more time to play
Beginning with arrivals on June 18, guests staying at a Disneyland Resort hotel can take advantage of Extra Magic Hour—early admission to either Disneyland park or Disney California Adventure park—every day of their stay (with valid theme park admission and active hotel room key card). Extra Magic Hour will allow registered hotel guests admission into select attractions on certain days before the parks open to the general public....
Disney Parks Blog, May 25

Special buses go to Knotts
Anaheim visitors can now take special buses between the Disneyland area and other tourist destinations, including Knott’s Berry Farm and the Discovery Science Center. The Anaheim Resort Transportation (or ART) has added two routes—one to Buena Park and another to Santa Ana—that are meant to help tourists easily get between popular Orange County venues. The fare for these large shuttle buses is $4 a day....
Orange County (Calif.) Register, Apr. 3

Getting hungry on Main Street?
In Disneyland, the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor has been a Main Street institution dating back to opening day in 1955. In 1977, the restaurant expanded with an outdoor dining area. Now expanded and spruced up, the outdoor café will reopen on June 13 with an updated menu. It’s a good place to relax at a table-service restaurant during a hectic theme park visit. Here are some other choices (plus a nice Anaheim breakfast eatery)....
Yesterland; Disney Parks Blog, May 14; Orange County (Calif.) Register, Mar. 2

Mad T Party kicks off June 15
Ramping up for the June 15 opening of Cars Land, Disney California Adventure began previews of its Mad T Party in late May. The Mad T Party picks up where the former elecTRONica left off, providing a family-friendly dance party for a crowd thirsty for disco—and mixed drinks. The set design for the Mad T Party is a main stage shaped like a tea table in front of the Monsters ride. It is occupied by a cover band made up of Lewis Carroll characters filtered through Studio 54....
Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise, May 29; Los Angeles Times, May 26

Carrying on? Do it with the right bag
The right piece of carry-on luggage—durable, spacious, and stylish—can go a long way toward making a business trip less stressful. It’s important “that the bag is made of a ballistic nylon material or something very similar—a very thick, durable nylon that can endure the rigors of travel,” says Caitlin Krupinski, manager at Kaehler Luggage in Chicago. Get some tips from this video (3:16)....
Crain’s Chicago Business, May 25

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Explore the future of the book with ACRL
ACRL has released a new report, “Futures Thinking for Academic Librarians: Scenarios for the Future of the Book” (PDF file), to help librarians reexamine their assumptions, which may be grounded in the current ebook zeitgeist. Authored by David J. Staley, director of the Harvey Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching at the Ohio State University History Department, the report is a companion to the 2010 report Staley coauthored for ACRL. The new report presents four scenarios, based in part on feedback from academic library directors....
ACRL, May 29

The changing academic library
ACRL has published a second edition of The Changing Academic Library: Operations, Cultures, and Environments by John M. Budd as number 65 in the ACRL Publications in Librarianship series. Budd presents a critical examination of major issues facing colleges and universities and the unique challenges that their libraries must come to grips with. The book can be used as a text in LIS courses, as well as an introduction for new professionals and academic administrators....
ACRL, May 29

Geek Alert!
ALTAFF will host “Geek Alert! Your Brain on Science and Technology” on June 24 at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. Join bestselling authors Lawrence Joseph, Sam Kean, Leonard Mlodinow, Jonathan D. Moreno, and Paul Zak (right) as they discuss their latest books. The program will be moderated by Barbara Hoffert, editor of Library Journal’s Prepub Alert. An author signing will follow....
ALTAFF, May 29

Academic Friends groups
ALTAFF will host “Nuts and Bolts for Academic Friends Groups” at the Anaheim Convention Center on June 23. Join this discussion to learn about starting a Friends group in an academic setting, discuss best practices, and share materials. The session will be lead by Charles Hanson (right), director of library services at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan....
ALTAFF, May 29

AASL extends deadline for data-analysis proposals
AASL has extended the deadline for researchers to submit a proposal to undertake a data analysis of its national longitudinal survey of school library programs, School Libraries Count! Those interested in submitting a proposal are asked to send required materials to the AASL office before the extended deadline of June 15....
AASL, May 29

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Art gallery of Coretta Scott King winners
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Illustrations Gallery is a new feature on the Coretta Scott King Book Awards website. The gallery includes beautiful, large images from the award-winning and honor titles, and showcases the outstanding illustrators who have received the award. The gallery may inspire you to read these beloved books in your library, your classroom, and your home....
OLOS Columns, May 23

Baker & Taylor Awards honor library Friends
The winners of ALTAFF’s 2011 Baker & Taylor Awards are the Batavia (Ill.) Public Library Foundation, the Friends of Hackley Public Library in Muskegon, Michigan, and the Friends of the Troy (Mich.) Public Library. Each group will receive a $1,000 check and a plaque....
ALTAFF, May 29

ALSC scholarships
ALSC announced six scholarship winners for the 2012–2013 academic year to help advance children’s librarianship. Four winners were each awarded a $7,000 Bound to Stay Bound Books Scholarship, made possible by Bound to Stay Bound Books: Michelle Ahern, Rebecca Baker, Micaela Sanchez, and Lisa Jordan. Two winners were each awarded a $6,000 Frederic G. Melcher Scholarship: Katie Clausen and Eileen Gilbert....
ALSC, May 30

Hoy Scholarship auction at Anaheim
The Christopher J. Hoy Scholarship Fund will hold its annual auction during the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. The silent auction will open up with a reception at 5 p.m. on June 22 and will run until noon on June 25. This $5,000 General ALA Scholarship is awarded each year to an individual who will be attending an ALA-accredited program of library and information studies leading to a master’s degree....
Exhibits Round Table, May 29

LC announces Letters About Literature winners
Letters About Literature, a national reading and writing program that asks young people in grades 4–12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives, has announced its 2012 winners. The program is an initiative of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. The two national winners each designate a favorite library that will receive a $10,000 grant from Target....
Library of Congress, May 25

Brooklyn Public Library wins grant to restore Art Deco doors
With the highest percentage of votes garnered in a Partners in Preservation contest, the Brooklyn Public Library has received $250,000 to repair the entrance (right) to its Central Library. The library had been a leading vote-getter for much of the contest. The building is an important part of Brooklyn’s architectural heritage and a Modernist landmark. The library plans to replace the original 1937 main entry doors using “historically sensitive materials and methods,” but refurbish and reuse the original doors where possible....
New York Daily News: Page Views, May 23; Prospect Heights (N.Y.) Patch, May 24

Correll Book Award
Gail Gibbons has won the first-ever Correll Book Award for Excellence in Early Childhood Informational Text for her 2011 book Gorillas. The award was created to bring attention to outstanding informational texts published for young children from birth to 8 and to raise awareness of the need to build young children’s world knowledge. It is administered by the University of Maine’s College of Education and Human Development....
Education Week, May 11

Comstock Read-Aloud Book Award
The 2012 winner of the Comstock Award for the best read-aloud book for 9–12-year-olds is The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister, written by Linda Ravin Lodding and illustrated by Suzanne Beaky. Minnesota State University’s Livingston Lord Library Curriculum Materials Center in Moorhead administers both the Comstock and its companion Wanda Gág Award for read-aloud books for toddlers to 8-year-olds. The latter named as its 2012 award winner Earth to Clunk by Pam Smallcomb and illustrated by Joe Berger....
Minnesota State University

2012 Orwell Book Prize
A book about the death of a British officer in Afghanistan has won the 2012 Orwell Prize for political writing. Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain’s War in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden tells of the death of Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe in 2009. The UK Ministry of Defence paid the book’s publisher Quercus £151,450 ($237,532 US) to destroy 24,000 copies, even though the book had earlier passed a four-month-long prepublication review by the department. Dead Men Risen was the unanimous choice of the book prize judges. The prize has been awarded since 1994....
BBC News, May 23; The Guardian (UK), May 24

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Fifty Shades to return to Brevard shelves
Less than a month after the erotic bestseller was pulled from library shelves, officials plan to put Fifty Shades of Grey back in circulation in late May, said the chairman of the Brevard County (Fla.) Commission. Chuck Nelson said May 25 that details are being worked out. Viera resident Linda Tyndall and her 16-year-old daughter, Rebecca (above), started an online petition asking for the book’s return that drew nearly 2,000 signatures. Watch the Florida Today video (2:30). Barbara Jones, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, weighed in on the topic on the NBC Nightly News (2:24)....
Melbourne Florida Today, May 25; NBC Nightly News, May 23

Former pick for Oregon state librarian admits forgery
Robert Hulshof-Schmidt (right), who abruptly resigned December 6 after being chosen as Oregon state librarian, pleaded guilty May 24 to forging his employment application by falsely claiming he had an MLS. According to the court, his formal application included a University of Washington transcript that he had altered to show completed coursework. He was sentenced to 24 months of probation, with community service and an undisclosed financial penalty. One of three finalists to succeed James Scheppke as state librarian, Hulshof-Schmidt was offered the library’s top job October 21....
Salem (Oreg.) Statesman Journal, May 24

Occupy Wall Street sues New York City over destruction of People’s Library
In a federal complaint filed May 24, five People’s Library volunteers are seeking $47,000 in compensatory damages from the City of New York for the November 15, 2011, destruction of more than 2,500 books, six computers, and other equipment. “The bottom line is: You don’t nuke books,” attorney Norman Siegel said. He added that, after conferring with officials, city attorneys told the plaintiffs there could be no out-of-court settlement. Three of the plaintiffs—Mandy Henk, Jamie Taylor, and Betsy Fagin—spoke at the 2012 ALA Midwinter Meeting about their OWS experiences....
Village Voice: Runnin’ Scared, May 24

Confronting the biggest threat to public libraries
Christian Zabriskie writes: “Google has not killed the library and ebooks won’t do it either. The biggest threat to the public library in American culture is limited hours.” To protest a proposed budget cut of $96.4 million to the New York, Queens, and Brooklyn public libraries—almost 32% of their combined budgets—Urban Librarians Unite and the Save NYC Libraries Campaign are “seeding” more than 1,600 advance reading copies of books all over the city. The bound galleys (above) bear a bright yellow sticker that reads, “When libraries close, this could be your only access to free books,” a QR code with a link to petitions, and a green “Take Me” sticker....
The Huffington Post: Libraries in Crisis Blog, May 25

Former employees feel gagged on NYPL project
New York Public Library’s Central Library Plan, which will turn part of its flagship Fifth Avenue research center into a lending library, has unleashed a torrent of commentary, with scholars, writers, artists, and students signing a petition and writing articles, many of them critical. But former librarians say they can’t comment because of a nondisparagement agreement they signed in exchange for severance pay. At a May 22 debate about the Central Library Plan, NYPL President Anthony Marx asserted that the agreements are “not meant to gag former employees from talking about issues of public concern.”...
New York Times, May 22–23

Canada’s national archives to be decentralized
The Library and Archives Canada is abandoning its commitment to acquire and maintain a comprehensive collection of Canada’s documentary heritage. Library and Archivist of Canada Daniel Caron has announced that “the new environment is totally decentralized and our monopoly as stewards of the national documentary heritage is over.” A large portion of its materials will be scattered to both public and private collections across the country. On May 28, archivists from across Canada came to Ottawa to hold a mock funeral (above) and protest the cuts that led to the situation. Watch the video (2:00)....
Save Library and Archives Canada; CBC News, May 28

Friends of the Library have a gripe
Bookstore managers for the Friends of the Dana Point branch of the Orange County (Calif.) Public Libraries say that their current President Terrence Inouye has ousted them without explanation, alienated members, and demoralized the 80-year-old volunteers. Volunteer Jayne Boydston estimated that 25 volunteers and managers—about one-third of the membership—have either resigned in protest or been pushed out. Opponents say that Inouye’s behavior has grown increasingly erratic in recent months....
Dana Point (Calif.) Times, May 25

Ulysses S. Grant gets his own Presidential Library
The board of directors of the Ulysses S. Grant Association announced May 18 that the Ulysses S. Grant Collection housed at Mississippi State University’s Mitchell Memorial Library will be designated the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library. The collection holds some 15,000 linear feet of correspondence, research notes, artifacts, photographs, scrapbooks, and memorabilia from Grant’s birth in 1822 through his post–White House years until his death in 1885. It also houses 4,000 published monographs on various aspects of Grant’s life and times....
Mississippi Library Association, May 29

Kensal Rise library stripped of books
A library building, first handed to the local community by Mark Twain more than 100 years ago, will be put on the market after the council authority stripped the shelves of books in a May 29 dawn raid. All Souls, the Oxford University college that owns the building, confirmed the move to either sell it or rent it out, presenting campaigners with yet another obstacle in their fight to save the Kensal Rise library in the London borough of Brent. A library advocate called the raid “cowardly.”...
The Independent (UK), May 29; The Bookseller, May 29

Mount Vernon replicates George Washington’s personal library
James Rees, president and chief executive of George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate, Museum, and Gardens, decided to replicate the first president’s 1,200-volume personal library, book by book. Washington’s personal library is part of the larger $100 million, 45,000-square-foot Fred W. Smith National Library, opening September 2013. It will house historical manuscripts, special collection photos and memorabilia, and 150 years of Mount Vernon archives....
Washington Post, May 25

Regina library staffers on strike
Regina (Sask.) Public Library staffers temporarily walked out of work and are refusing to collect late fees in a bid to get the administration back to the bargaining table. A post to the library website for CUPE Local 1594, which represents RPL library workers, states union members are “refusing to collect fines on overdue materials or library fees as they continue their strike to achieve a fair agreement.”...
Quill & Quire: Quillblog, May 29; Regina (Sask.) Public Library, May 29

Italian library director confesses to rare book thefts
Italian police arrested the director of the oldest library in Naples May 24 for stealing hundreds of books and manuscripts from his own collection. Massimo Marino De Caro, director of the Girolamini Library (right), confessed to stealing the materials and offered his cooperation after spending one night in prison. One thousand books, 240 of which have ownership stamps from the Girolamini Library, were found in storage in De Caro’s home city of Verona. Five other individuals, including Curator Fr. Sandro Marsano, were also arrested in an apparent plot to sell some of the books at auction. De Caro, a political appointee with no graduate degree, had been accused of mismanagement in April. The library, owned by the Italian government, was established by the Oratorian Fathers in the 16th century....
Agence France-Presse, May 25; La Repubblica (Naples), May 26; Corriere della Mezzogiorno (Naples), May 18; Corriere della Sera (Milan), Apr. 17

A visit to libraries in Mexico
Maureen Moore writes: “I thought it would be fun to lead you on a photographic journey to the libraries I recently visited on a spring trip to Mexico. From the 19th-century former-girls-school-turned-central library of Oaxaca City (right) to the cultural centers that house private collections of philanthropists and artists, to the ultramodern Vasconcelos library of Mexico City, my visit confirmed libraries are very much alive in Mexico: ¡Qué vivan las bibliotecas!”...
Fifth & Flower, May 25

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ALA Annual Conference, Anaheim, June 21–26. Divisional President’s Programs are not to be missed this year. Highlights include John Jantsch of “Duct Tape Marketing” fame (ASCLA); Lori Takeuchi on raising children in a digital age (AASL); Stephen Abram and Michelle Poris on the digital life of tweens and young teens (ALSC and YALSA); Duane Bray on the future of the book (ACRL and ALCTS); and author Sherman Alexie (PLA).

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