The conversation starts in Seattle
Stephanie Kuenn writes: “Our profession stands at a crossroads: How do libraries merge traditional roles and responsibilities with the changing expectations and needs of the communities they’re in? Joining the many different kinds of conversations at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 25–29, in Seattle, Washington, will help attendees address these and other urgent transformational issues facing libraries.”...
American Libraries feature

Seattle: Food heaven
Connie Adams writes: “Seattle offers an amazing food culture. In this dining guide to Midwinter 2013, we’ve highlighted restaurants near the convention center as well as ones worth a short walk, taxi, or bus ride. We’ve also indicated which spots are good for a few folks and those that may be better for a big gang, as well as price ranges. (Though most vegetarian-only restaurants are outside of the downtown area, almost every restaurant offers vegetarian options.)”...
American Libraries feature

Dine Around Seattle
Lindsay Rosales writes: “Looking to hit the town and explore Seattle over a great dinner with old and new conference friends? Look no further: Join us for an evening of Dine Around Seattle, which gives conference-goers a chance to sign up—for a single seat or as a group—to several local hot-spot restaurants on Friday, January 25. ALA secures the reservations for 10 people; all you do is sign up before those slots are taken.”...
American Libraries feature

Q&A with Midwinter speaker Peter Block
Jordan Brandes writes: “Author and consultant Peter Block (right) says empowerment, stewardship, and accountability are at the heart of what makes libraries function. As a bestselling author of Flawless Consulting, The Empowered Manager, and Community, Block writes books that deal with providing an alternative to mainstream cultural beliefs. To join the conversation, make sure to attend Block’s session during the President’s Program on January 27.”...
American Libraries feature

The library as lifeline
Queens (N.Y.) Library staff members write: “Library workers know that public libraries provide essential services. We live it every day. But until Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on tens of thousands in New York and New Jersey in October, we at Queens Library didn’t realize how pivotal our role is in our communities. As the extent of the damage became apparent, so did the obvious need for authoritative information.”...
American Libraries feature

2012 year in review
The American Libraries editors recap the profession’s highlights of the past year. First up, HathiTrust: “In a big win for digitization, a federal judge ruled October 10 that the book-scanning program run by the research-library collaborative HathiTrust was fair use, on the grounds of both scholarship and transformative value. The ruling went against the Authors Guild’s contention that it violated the copyright of individual works.”...
American Libraries feature

Will’s World: Digitized to distraction
Will Manley writes: “Digital literacy is supposedly what will save the public library, and I don’t doubt that. While you hear stories about welfare recipients and street people carrying around the latest in iPhone technology, those of us who labor in the public library vineyard know that those kinds of tales are triumphs of distortion over reality.”...
American Libraries column, Jan./Feb.

ALA and FIL: A powerful partnership
Peggy Barber writes: “Author Jonathan Franzen, an opening speaker at the Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara (FIL) held November 24–December 2 in Guadalajara, Mexico, captured the event’s mainstream impact when he exclaimed, ‘How marvelous that the cultural calendar of Guadalajara is determined by books.’ The 2012 fair marked the 13th year of the ALA-FIL partnership.”...
American Libraries news, Dec. 21

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Annual Conference registration opens January 14
Registration and housing for the 2013 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, June 27–July 2, are now set to open Monday, January 14 at 9 a.m. Central time. Key issues covered at Annual Conference will include digital content and ebooks, technology in libraries, innovation, books and authors, leadership, library advocacy, community engagement, and library marketing....
Conference Services, Jan. 8

Mobile app for Midwinter Meeting Scheduler
Attendees can plan and keep track of everything while on the go at the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. The mobile app for the Scheduler puts all the information you need at your fingertips, including your existing schedule, list of exhibitors, and notes from the full Scheduler site. Just log in with the same username and password as on the Scheduler to access all of your existing conference information....
Conference Services, Dec. 28

Jamaica Kincaid headlines FTRF fundraiser
The Freedom to Read Foundation will present author Jamaica Kincaid (right) as the featured speaker at its annual banned or challenged author event and fundraiser on the evening of January 26. The event will take place at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 Eighth Ave., a short walk from the Convention Center. The suggested donation for a ticket is $20....
Freedom to Read Foundation, Dec. 26

Ebook lending systems
Libraries are taking on the ebook challenge by creating their own solutions to get ebooks into the hands of library readers. Join members of the ALA Digital Content Working Group at the ALA Midwinter Meeting on January 26 for “Starting from Scratch: New Recipes for Ebook Models that Work,” as they examine current ebook lending systems and offer perspectives on future directions....
District Dispatch, Jan. 3

Strategist to outline the new political landscape
How will libraries be affected by the newly elected class of politicians? In what ways will the recent presidential and congressional elections impact library policies and legislation? Jennifer Duffy (right), senior editor of The Cook Political Report, will detail the new political landscape at the ALA Washington Office Update session at the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle on January 26....
District Dispatch, Nov. 5

ALA Midwinter, in style
Coral Sheldon-Hess writes: “I’ve been to ALA enough times, in enough cities, that I think I finally have a handle on how best to get around, get to the things I want to do, etc. My way may not be the perfect way, but I thought I’d share it, in case you might find it helpful.”...
Web Librarian, Jan. 5

Get free career counseling and résumé reviews
Free career-counseling sessions and résumé-review help will be provided January 26–27 in the ALA JobLIST Placement Center during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. The sessions will be held in the JobLIST Placement Center. Conference attendees are invited to start or recharge their careers by meeting with a professional career counselor....
Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Jan. 2

Network during the free JobLIST open house
As part of its continuing efforts to help job seekers and employers make connections, the ALA JobLIST Placement Center will host an open house on January 27 in the JobLIST Placement Center during the upcoming Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. All conference attendees are welcome to attend....
Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Jan. 2

ALA recognizes Sen. Olympia Snowe’s leadership
On behalf of the millions of people who use our nation’s public, school, and academic libraries, ALA expresses its deepest appreciation for the distinguished work of Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine, right). Upon her retirement from the US Senate on January 3, the library community wants to note the tremendous leadership and work she has done, often on a bipartisan basis, to support libraries....
ALA Washington Office, Dec. 28

Oak Park students gain News Know-how
High school students, using the Oak Park (Ill.) Public Library as their “newsroom,” gained valuable lessons in distinguishing fact from opinion, as they examined news coverage of a wide range of important issues through the News Know-how news literacy project. Administered by Office for Intellectual Freedom, the initiative trained students, grades 10–12, in 10 public libraries in basic news literacy skills. The News Know-how initiative is currently selecting three more sites for 2013....
Office for Intellectual Freedom, Jan. 7

Legal issues in Web 2.0 and cloud computing
Web 2.0 tools and cloud computing applications are now fundamental to libraries, but many LIS professionals may be unaware of the legal issues involved with their use. The No-Nonsense Guide to Legal Issues in Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing, written by Charles Oppenheim and available through ALA Neal-Schuman, simplifies the legal principles concerning applications like YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, and Slideshare.”...
ALA Neal-Schuman, Jan. 4

Digital humanities in practice
Digital humanities is a vibrant and increasingly important global field, drawing together a broad spectrum of disciplines. Digital Humanities in Practice, available through ALA Neal-Schuman, offers a cutting-edge and comprehensive introduction to the field. Editors Claire Warwick, Melissa Terras, and Julianne Nyhan gather expert guidance from leading academics and international case studies to explore the possibilities and challenges that occur when culture and digital technologies intersect....
ALA Neal-Schuman, Jan. 3

Archives in Australia
Records and archival arrangements in Australia are globally relevant because Australia’s indigenous people represent the oldest living culture in the world, and because modern Australia is an ex-colonial society now heavily multicultural in outlook. Michael Piggott’s Archives and Societal Provenance: Australian Essays, available through ALA Neal-Schuman, explores this distinctiveness, using the theoretical concept of societal provenance as propounded by Canadian archival scholars....
ALA Neal-Schuman, Jan. 8

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ArtsGuide Seattle 2013
This selective guide to cultural attractions and events (PDF file) has been created for attendees of the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting by the ACRL Arts Section. It is divided into sections on architecture, dance, music, theatre, visual arts, and museums. See what’s close to you or plot your course by car, foot, or public transit with the Google Maps version of this guide....
ACRL Arts Section

Bookstores in Seattle
Whether you’re looking for a big-name bookstore in Seattle (Elliott Bay Book Company, right) or that tiny, independent spot filled with unique books, the City Guide has you covered. Try visiting these Seattle bookstores when you are in town for the Midwinter Meeting....
SheKnows City Guide

Seattle moviemaking, past and present
Michael Upchurch writes: “The Isis, the Mission, the Liberty, the Lyric, the Alhambra, the Dream Theatre. In the 1920s, these would have been names familiar to any dedicated Seattle moviegoer. In ‘Celluloid Seattle: A City at the Movies’ at the Museum of History and Industry, 860 Terry Ave. N., curator Robert Horton traces the city’s movie-watching habits and moviemaking legacy since the 1890s. The exhibit runs through September 8.” The museum just reopened December 29 after a $90 million transformation....
Seattle Times, Jan. 7; New York Times, Dec. 28

Movies set in Seattle
A number of movies have been set or filmed in the Seattle area (although many were actually filmed in Vancouver). This list was compiled in IMDb by George Rabatin and includes 30 titles, from Sleepless in Seattle to WarGames. A Wikipedia list includes 66 films. Best of all, check out Reel Life in Seattle: An Insider’s Guide to Seattle Film Locations (PDF file), which provides a map of major spots. This guide focuses on Sleepless in Seattle locations....
IMDb; Wikipedia; Seattle Film Office; Film in America

Seattle’s most iconic foods
What are Seattle’s most iconic foods? Here’s the list from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that includes many great suggestions from Facebook followers, such as Rainier cherries (right): Locals know these cherries outshine boring Bings, and that they’re great from the Pike Place Market....
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Seattle’s Big Blog, May 21

Classic burgers
Allison Austin Scheff writes: “Hanging out at Seattle’s classic burger places colors the memories of friends, parents, and grandparents. Dick’s Drive-In, Burgermaster, and even the comparatively young Red Mill Burgers are burger icons, beloved for far more than just fries and shakes.” Read more about Dick’s burgers here (the closest to downtown is at 111 N.E. 45th Street). Another contender is Lunchbox Laboratory, 1253 Thomas Street, which has a sense of humor, an arcade room, and 1970s TV–themed lunchboxes....
Seattle Magazine, Jan. 2012; Serious Eats, Jan. 21, 2011

Seattle Boat Show: Indoors and afloat
The Seattle Boat Show, January 25–February 3, is the West Coast’s largest boat show, featuring more than 1,000 recreational watercraft, seminars, and the latest accessories indoors at CenturyLink Field, plus afloat on South Lake Union. A free shuttle runs every 30 minutes between CenturyLink Field and South Lake Union. The Splash aerial acrobatic show consists of three separate acrobatic performances high above the boats in the West Hall at CenturyLink Event Center....
Seattle Boat Show

Simple products for traveling smart
Ellen Warren writes: “Packing is so personal, I think it’s naive to put together a list of musts that works for everyone. So what I’ve put together here is an array of products and practices that you might not have thought of that I, and others I surveyed, have found particularly helpful. For starters, my most essential travel item is the sleep mask shown here.”...
Chicago Tribune, Dec. 21

FCC to ease internet restrictions on flights
Federal officials inched closer to allowing the internet aboard more flights. The Federal Communications Commission approved on December 28 an application process for airlines to obtain broadband internet licenses aboard their planes. Previously, airlines were granted permission on an ad hoc basis. Airlines need the FCC’s permission to tap into satellite airwaves while in flight, as well as permission from the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees the safety of inflight internet systems....
Washington Post, Dec. 28

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Erin McKean to speak at ALCTS President’s Program
Erin McKean, founder of Wordnik.com and the former editor-in-chief of American Dictionaries for Oxford University Press, is the featured speaker at the ALCTS President’s Program on July 1 during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Her talk is titled “Confessions of a Digital Packrat.” She has authored Weird and Wonderful Words and More Weird and Wonderful Words....
ALCTS, Jan. 7

Be calm as you implement the common core
Register now for the new AASL e-Academy course, “Common Core: Moving from Complex to Calm, Cool, and Collected.” This four-week, self-paced course facilitated by Paige Jaeger (right) will run February 4–March 1. Registration and course information are available on the AASL e-Academy page. Participants will leave the course with strategies to reach out to classroom teachers for CCSS integration....
AASL, Jan. 4

Mentoring new information professionals
ACRL has published the fourth installment in its Active Guides series: Pay It Forward: Mentoring New Information Professionals by Mary Ann Mavrinac and Kim Sytmest. The book offers a unique perspective on mentoring by examining aspects of the relationship from the points of view of both mentor and mentee. Mavrinac and Sytmest describe the benefits of mentoring to each participant, and the profession as a whole, in forming a mentoring partnership....
ACRL, Jan. 7

Manage your stress on January 23
Working in a public library is not for the faint-hearted, so it’s important to keep both heart and mind healthy. Make a commitment this month by joining PLA and instructor Pat Wagner, partner and trainer for Pattern Research in Denver, on January 23, for a live, one-hour webinar, “The Thinking Person’s Guide to Stress Management.”...
PLA, Jan. 8

New Career Resources web page from RUSA
Looking for a library job? RUSA has created a Career Resources page to make your job search more effective and productive. Whether your specialty is in academic, special, corporate, or public libraries, it has something for everyone looking for a job in reference and user services....
RUSA Blog, Dec. 27

Leadership development seminar at Midwinter
LLAMA will present “Mindful Leadership through Tough Times” on January 27 during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. Speakers will be Irene Herold, Kathleen DeLong, and Stephanie Beverage. The seminar will also feature a presentation by this year’s LLAMA-sponsored participants in ALA’s Emerging Leaders project....
LLAMA, Dec. 26

Free PLA webinar recording on ebooks
PLA has released the free archive recording of the 90-minute webinar, “E-Book Action: Inform and Inspire Your Community.” This informative webinar offers inspiring case studies and practical tips to reach out to community members to not only explain why libraries have limited ebook collections but also enlist their help in improving ebook access. The webinar consists of three presentations that highlight distinct initiatives....
PLA, Dec. 21

Two AASL seminars archived on eCOLLAB
Archives of two recent webinars, “Worlds of Learning with Inanimate Alice” and “Making the Most of Professional Learning Communities,” are now available online as a part of the AASL professional development repository, eCOLLAB. AASL members and eCOLLAB subscribers have access to the archives....
AASL, Jan. 8

Wendy Stephens appointed manager of YALSAblog
YALSA has named Wendy Stephens as the member manager of the YALSAblog. This blog delivers news, information, and resources of interest to public and school librarians and library workers who work for and with teens. Stephens will begin on February 1....
YALSA, Jan. 7

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Youth Media Awards slated for January 28
Children’s and young adult authors, illustrators, and publishing groups are waiting in anticipation for the 2013 ALA Youth Media Award announcements. ALA will announce 19 awards the morning of January 28 from the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. The awards include the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, and the Michael L. Printz Award. Tune in live online....
ALSC, YALSA, Jan. 8

RUSA Book and Media Awards Reception
In just three weeks RUSA will unveil the winners of its Reading List, Notable Books, and Listen List selections, as well as the winners of its other awards. All ALA Midwinter Meeting participants are invited to the RUSA Book and Media Awards Reception on January 27 in Seattle....
RUSA Blog, Jan. 7

Interviews with I Love My Librarian Award winners
Winning the 2012 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award meant something different to each of the winners. The 10 winners briefly discuss their award in these YouTube videos....
Campaign for America’s Libraries, Jan. 8; At Your Library

Apply for a John Cotton Dana Award
ALA is accepting submissions for the John Cotton Dana Award. Managed by LLAMA, the award honors outstanding library public relations programs. Eight $10,000 grants are awarded each year by the H. W. Wilson Foundation, and the annual Awards Tea is sponsored by ALA and EBSCO Publishing. Entry documents are available on the EBSCO website, and entries must be received by February 1....
LLAMA, Dec. 21

ALA awards deadline extended
The deadline has been extended to February 15 for a number of ALA awards and grants, including the Beta Phi Mu Award, Melvil Dewey Award, Paul Howard Award For Courage, Scholastic Library Publishing Award, and the Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children. Although the online application has a December 1 deadline date, the applications will be accepted through February 15....
Office of ALA Governance, Jan. 2

Deadline extended for Immroth Award nominations
The deadline for nominations for the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award has been extended to February 17. The award honors intellectual freedom fighters in and outside the library profession who have demonstrated remarkable personal courage in resisting censorship. The award consists of $500 and a citation. Individuals, groups of individuals, and organizations are eligible for the award. Nominations and supporting evidence should be sent to Shumeca Pickett....
Intellectual Freedom Round Table, Dec. 26

ASCLA, RUSA awards deadlines extended
ASCLA has extended the nomination deadline to January 31 for its 2013 awards, which recognize projects focused on library services to people with disabilities. The nomination deadline has been extended to January 15 for several annual awards offered by RUSA....
ASCLA Blog, Dec. 17; RUSA Blog, Dec. 17

Apply for a Día minigrant
ALSC is now accepting applications for minigrants intended to prepare libraries to incorporate El día de los niños/El día de los libros into their existing programs throughout the year. Libraries will use these minigrants to initiate a Día Family Book Club Program. The grants are part of ALSC’s Everyone Reads @ your library grant, funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Apply by February 1....
ALSC, Jan. 7

Citizens-Save-Libraries grants available
Applications for the Citizens-Save-Libraries grants from United for Libraries, made possible by a grant from the Neal-Schuman Foundation, are due March 15. The 20 grants will support advocacy at the local level for libraries with troubled budgets by sending expert advocates to library sites over the next two years....
United for Libraries, Jan. 8

National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards (PDF file)
The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards are the nation’s highest honor for out-of-school arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of American youth. Libraries are eligible to apply. The winning programs are honored at a White House ceremony and will receive $10,000. The deadline is February 4....
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Jan. 2

LibraryAware Community Award
The deadline is approaching for libraries interested in submitting entries for the first-ever LibraryAware Community Award. Submissions must be postmarked by February 1. The award recognizes cities and towns and their libraries that have demonstrated an ability to make the community aware of what the library can do for them—and have delivered on that promise. The award will be given during National Library Week....
EBSCO Publishing, Jan. 3

Library assistant is 2012 Cookie Queen
Paula Chin (right), library assistant at the Canton (Mass.) Public Library, was the winner of the Boston Herald’s Holiday Baking Contest. According to the Herald, “Chin swept the field with her take on rugelach, a rich pastry filled with dried fruit and nuts.” The newspaper proclaimed Chin the Cookie Queen for 2012....
Canton (Mass.) Citizen, Jan. 2

Rob Lopresti wins Black Orchid Novella Award
Western Washington University Reference Librarian Rob Lopresti (right) is the 2012 winner of the Black Orchid Novella Award for his novella “The Red Envelope,” set in Greenwich Village in 1958. The award is the major prize for mysteries of novella length (15,000 to 20,000 words). It is presented each year by Wolfe Pack, in cooperation with Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Wolfe Pack’s 2012 Nero Award went to Dana Stabenow for Though Not Dead (Minotaur Books)....
Bellingham (Wash.) Herald, Dec. 27; Wolfe Pack, Dec. 2

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LC has a Twitter archive but no way to access it
The Library of Congress has been busy archiving the sprawling and frenetic Twitter archive dating back to the site’s 2006 launch. That means saving for posterity more than 170 billion tweets and counting, with an average of more than 400 million new tweets sent each day. LC hasn’t started the daunting task of sorting or filtering its 133 terabytes of Twitter data. However, the library does have a priority to make the archive accessible to researchers in a comprehensive, useful way. One problem is that it takes 24 hours to perform a single search on the complete archive. But at least Twitter is now allowing individuals to archive their entire tweet sets....
Washington Post, Jan. 3; Library of Congress Blog, Jan. 4; BuzzFeed, Jan. 4; Twitter Blog, Dec. 19

Greenville librarian explains Neonomicon decision
Beverly James (right) is standing up to a national backlash from organizations that fight book banning and from fans of award-winning author Alan Moore, who say her decision to take his graphic novel out of circulation at the Greenville County (S.C.) Library is nothing short of censorship. “I’m not going to change my mind,” she said in the first expansive interview she’s given since she decided to take Moore’s Neonomicon out of circulation in December. Watch the video (0:54)....
Greenville (S.C.) News, Jan. 3

Blacksmithing, bowling, butchering @ your library
Owen Fletcher writes: “Alex Pope had no qualms about the ruckus one of his employees made on a recent afternoon at Johnson County’s Central Resource Library in Overland Park, Kansas. The fellow in a black apron and baseball cap sawed around the joint of a 120-pound pig carcass and snapped off the back leg. ‘It was a pretty audible crack,’ said Pope. ‘We like to start with that one because it’s pretty dramatic.’”...
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 7

School library thrives after ditching print
Benilde–St. Margaret’s High School in Minneapolis may have removed nearly all of the physical books from its Moore Library in 2011, but it remains a vital educational space. The expansive use of digital tools plays a major role in the success of the “no books” library, said Principal Sue Skinner, as does a robust community of neighboring branch and university libraries. “We weren’t saying no to hard-copy books, but let’s not duplicate what public and other libraries have.”...
School Library Journal: The Digital Shift, Jan. 8

Oval Office tapes highlight new LBJ Library
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library reopened in Austin, Texas, on December 22 after extensive renovations, allowing visitors to listen to more than 60 Oval Office phone calls and get reacquainted with an animatronic, life-sized version of LBJ. The library has undergone a year-long, $10 million renovation and now has “a completely new look and feel,” Director Mark Updegrove said. He considers the 643 recorded hours of the 36th president’s phone conversations to be the crown jewel of the collection....
NBC News, Dec. 21

Library turns FEMA grant into new science facility
The Brownsville (Tex.) Public Library System is turning a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency into a state-of-the-art facility for science education. The main library is one of three Brownsville sites approved for the construction of FEMA hurricane domes—large storm shelters made possible through federal assistance to the state stemming from devastation wrought by Hurricane Ike in September 2008. And it will be home to Brownsville’s first permanent planetarium....
Brownsville (Tex.) Herald, Jan. 4

Charleston Library Society starts a book bindery
The Charleston (S.C.) Library Society has started its own book bindery to bind, by hand, new editions of historic books and repair books in its collection of tens of thousands of volumes dating to the 15th century. “There are several lifetimes of work in this library,” said Brien Biedler, who has been the bookbinder there since August. To support its new bindery and archival lab, the library published a new, limited edition of The Carolinian Florist, a 1798 work by John Drayton....
Associated Press, Jan. 2

Judith’s Reading Room opens its 45th library
Based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Judith’s Reading Room provides free books to American troops and children in the US and around the world to create libraries that spread freedom through literacy. Its first library in Albania opened in Quatrom (right) in September and the second—its 45th worldwide—began in December in the historic village of Polene. Cathy and Scott Leiber founded the organization in 2010 in memory of Scott’s cousin, Judith Krug, who was the founding director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom....
Easton (Pa.) Express-Times, Jan. 5

Japan to archive 2011 earthquake photos
The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, jointly with the National Diet Library, on January 10 will begin to test an integrated data management system for more than 300,000 items related to the Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011. The new system, to be completed in March 2013, will allow users to locate photos taken in devastated areas, interviews, proceedings of investigatory committees on the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident, and other data through a National Diet Library website....
Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 9

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ALA Midwinter Meeting, Seattle, January 25–29. ALA-APA Networking Reception, Exhibits Opening Reception, Dine-Around, Unconference, Library Camp, Networking Uncommons, Wrap Up/Rev Up, speed networking— these are just some of the ways to connect and network at Midwinter. Information on all these is on the Midwinter website, and you can also stay in touch and get updates by joining the Facebook Event, by tracking the #alamw13 tag, by following our Pinterest page, and by using the Midwinter Meeting Scheduler.

The Entrepreneur's Starter Kit: 50 Things to Know Before Starting a Business Congress to Discuss How to Prevent Gun Massacres Story of Military Mail from Revolutionary War to Afghanistan If It's Sunday, It's Popular Sunday Morning News Talk Shows Rae Anne Locke, 2012 Winner of the I Love My Librarian Award (video) Oral History of Popular Music: John and Yoko, Ray Charles, Mick Jagger and More School Librarian Rae Anne Locke: Cultivating Her Garden Join Us on Facebook Subscribe to our Newsletter

15 undeniable truths about book nerds
Here are some things we know to be true about being a bibliophile: The true way to make us happy is to give us more books. We have priorities. Even our pets are well read. We have many book boyfriends. We experience book hangover on a regular basis....
Epic Reads, Jan. 4

Six manga librarians
Lynzee Lamb writes: “The sexy librarian is a character staple, but nothing’s better than a bookworm that’ll take you down intellectually and in combat.” Here are six that flourish within the manga genre, from Vivio Takamachi (librarian of the Infinity Library) to Mattalast Ballory (right, one of the librarians of the Bantorra Library who guard the books of the dead)....
Anime News Network: The List, Dec. 29

LGBTQ characters on “best of” lists
Emily Calkins writes: “If you haven’t already read Kelly Jensen’s breakdown of this year’s ‘best of’ lists, go check it out. It’s a fantastic and thorough post. In order to maintain a little Hub-wide consistency, I’ve used the same five lists and data to take a close look at the seven nonfiction titles that have LGBTQ protagonists or LGBTQ issues as a central story line. While this may seem like a small number, it’s worth noting that there were only 44 novels with LGBTQ characters or issues published this year.”...
YALSA The Hub, Dec. 13, 27; Malinda Lo, June 25

What is Beowulf?
Some readers may be aware that the British Library holds the unique manuscript of the Old English epic poem Beowulf (Cotton MS Vitellius A XV). Want to find out more? Check this link, which supplies answers to some of the more frequent questions: How old is the manuscript? Who owned it? Why is the manuscript damaged? It also contains a short video featuring images of the manuscript....
British Library: Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Blog, Jan. 4

Collecting literary clutter
Barry Newman writes: “The Green Library at Stanford University houses William Saroyan’s mustache clippings. Timothy Leary’s Nintendo Power Glove has been acquired by the New York Public Library. At the Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin, Norman Mailer’s bar mitzvah speech is preserved in perpetuity. Being dead helps, but isn’t required.” Yet Andrew G. Scrimgeour says that acquiring book collections is akin to bereavement counseling....
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 2; New York Times Sunday Book Review, Dec. 28

Frederic Vinton, librarian and scrapbooker
Stephen Ferguson writes: “Frederic Vinton (right) served as the 20th librarian of Princeton University from the fall of 1873 until his death on January 1, 1890. In addition to being a founder of ALA in 1876, Vinton also left a series of scrapbooks as part of his official legacy. He made these in order to both document and systematically record prodigious national events during his term, especially those dealing with death and disaster.”...
Rare Book Collections @ Princeton, Dec. 24

If Liz Lemon blurbed books
Amanda Nelson writes: “Ah, 30 Rock—source of some of the best one-liners known to man (doesn’t get better than ‘Live every week like it’s Shark Week’). And Liz Lemon (right) would make the best of book blurbers with her awkward-yet-piercingly-truthful thoughts, such as, when refusing to blurb a 50 Shades knock-off, ‘Okay, fine, maybe I’m a little old-fashioned. I’m sorry I’m a real woman and not some over-sexed New York nympho like those sluts on Everybody Loves Raymond.’”...
Book Riot, Jan. 7

Rediscovered management lessons
Karen G. Schneider writes: “This is a smattering of lessons I keep rediscovering in management, which I felt like summarizing as I tick into a new calendar year. A lot of it is obvious, very little of it is new to me, and some of it has been said here before—but management seems to consist of relearning the same things repeatedly, each time in new ways.”...
Free Range Librarian, Jan. 6

Mobile connections to libraries
Some 13% of those age 16 and older have visited library websites or otherwise accessed library services by mobile device. This is the first reading in a national survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project on this subject. An earlier survey in 2009 by scholars at the University of Washington found that 6% of Americans ages 16 and older had used a mobile device to connect to a library site, so the incidence of this activity has doubled since then....
Pew Internet and American Life Project, Dec. 31

New York City libraries more popular than ever
Ebooks have not spelled the demise of the local library in New York. In fact, according to a new report from the Center for an Urban Future, 40.5 million people visited the city’s public libraries—more than the visitors to all of the city’s professional sports teams and major cultural institutions combined. The report finds that while public libraries are serving more New Yorkers than ever, they are “undervalued by policymakers and face growing threats.”...
New Tech City Blog, Jan. 8

Media consumption in the US
Sarah Perez writes: “It’s not too late for yet one more 2012 year-in-review report, and today’s latest addition comes from Nielsen, which examined how Americans have been consuming content over the course of the past year. The report found that of the 289 million US television owners, 119 million own four or more television sets, making TV still the device to beat when it comes to watching and recording programs, among other things.”...
TechCrunch, Jan. 7; NielsenWire, Jan. 7

The sound of silence in the Library of Congress
Glenn Fleishman writes: “The audiovisual conservation part of the Library of Congress has under its purview all recorded audio, film, video, and associated printed material (like movie scripts) donated to and collected by the library. The Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, holds much of this collection. If you ever wondered why we need an official repository to keep a record of our creative past that has an eternal charter, rather than allowing academic, corporate, and private libraries and archives to handle it, one only need consider the problem of nitrate film base.”...
Boing Boing, Jan. 9

Unprogram your programs
Marge Loch-Wouters writes: “Sometimes it seems like programs are planned to a fare-thee-well. Massive amounts of time, sweat, money, prep, and pain go into what is essentially a 45-minute adventure with kids. If you have a massive turnout (the room is full, the self-check-outs are swamped, the staff is scrambling), that kind of preparation and staff time commitment seems to be worth the investment. Then again, if you get a small turnout, is all the prep worth it?.”...
Tiny Tips for Library Fun, Jan. 7

Serving children whose parents are incarcerated
Rebecca Hickman writes: “According to the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, approximately 2 million children in the United States have at least one parent who is incarcerated. The number of children whose parents are serving time on probation or parole is even higher. How can we go about helping these children in a public library setting?”...
ALSC Blog, Jan. 5

Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians
Leona Jacobs writes: “A new, national, nonprofit membership organization has been created to promote, advance, and support the profession of academic librarianship and to further the professional interests of academic librarians in Canada: the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians (CAPAL). The first membership meeting is being planned for January 31 in Toronto.”...
ALA Connect, Jan. 3

Top 10 ways to improve your Google searches
Whitson Gordon writes: “Here are 10 ways to beef up and speed up your Google searches and find things more easily. For example, highlight your search terms on the results pages: You’ve gotten some results for your search terms, but then once you click on the page, you can’t find where it actually used those words. You could just use Ctrl+F to find them, but Google Quick Scroll will do it for you.”...
Lifehacker, Jan. 5

There’s no avoiding Google+
Amir Efrati writes: “Google is challenging Facebook by using a controversial tactic: requiring people to use the Google+ social network. The result is that people who create an account to use Gmail, YouTube, and other Google services—including the Zagat restaurant-review website—are also being set up with public Google+ pages that can be viewed by anyone online. Google+ is a Facebook rival and one of the company’s most important recent initiatives as it tries to snag more online advertising dollars.”...
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 2

How to handle graymail
Jill Duffy writes: “Store discount announcements, daily deal newsletters, word-of-the-day emails—all these messages are graymail, solicited mail that you may want to read sometimes, but are never crucial. Graymail differs from spam in that the latter is unsolicited, whereas graymail comes at your request. Here are some solutions for managing graymail to keep your inbox in check.”...
PC Magazine, Jan. 7

Use Wolfram Alpha to create a strong password
Richard Byrne writes: “The next time you need to create a strong password try Wolfram Alpha. If you enter ‘password’ or ‘generate password’ into Wolfram Alpha, it will give you a random eight-character password as well as some alternate passwords.”...
Free Technology for Teachers, Jan. 6

How to cite a Tweet
Begin the entry in the works-cited list with the author’s real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are known and they differ. If only the user name is known, give it alone. Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the entry with the date and time of the message and the medium of publication (Tweet).”...
Modern Language Association

What the heck is a metadata service?
Laura Smart writes: “The outcry regarding the Harvard Library’s restructuring brings to light the vulnerability of traditional technical services librarians. I received a mandate to turn metadata services into public services when I began my current job. So what do we mean by that? Obviously, the next-gen metadata services are not the standard ones we’ve grown accustomed to in academic libraries.”...
Managing Metadata, Jan. 8

Rotterdam’s library sprouts a green roof and a beehive
The Rotterdam (Netherlands) Central Library building by Jacob Bered Bakema features a modernist stepped design, expansive windows, and a huge cascade of yellow pipes. An ideal space for studying, meeting friends, reading, watching films, and discovering new music, the library now boasts a new green roof (right) complete with a beehive....
Inhabitat, Jan. 7

The Wall of Fun Facts
Melissa D’Agostino writes: “When I began working at Towson University’s Albert S. Cook Library, I got a desk situated so that I sat staring at a large expanse of blank, off-white wall. Then one day I was reminded of why I was drawn to reference librarianship in the first place: My love of learning random, generally useless facts. Thus began my office-famous ‘Random Facts I Learned while Working at Towson’ wall that draws visitors from all over the library.”...
College & Research Libraries News 74, no. 1 (Jan.): 36–37, 49

Living in a library
Chris Wadsworth writes: “When Atlanta residents Randy Brazee and Jonathan Huff first saw an old library building for sale, they immediately saw a home. Brazee and Huff are partners in life and in business, running a successful real estate agency. So when the couple started exploring the old Kirkwood Library in east Atlanta (right), they saw past the commercial aspects of the 1942 building and the 1976 addition. They saw the bones of what would become their showcase house.”...
USA Today, Dec. 30

You might be a librarian if: #librarianstress
Evan Williamson writes: “On January 4, I participated in the Twitter hashtag #librarianstress, which started ironically as a backlash from a CNBC article that named ‘librarian’ as one of the least stressful jobs on the planet. I participated in the mocking of both this article and the people who took it as a serious threat of our position. The primary reaction in the library community was immediate. Here are the facts as I see them.”...
Banned Library News, Jan. 5; CNBC News, Jan. 3; Screwy Decimal, Jan. 4

How to deal with pesky teens
Emily Ellis writes: “Before and after a school break is usually a difficult time. Teens can be extra energetic, to say the least, and with time away, they can forget how to behave in a library setting. Don’t worry, they’ll get the hang of it again and settle into the normal routine. But until that time, Julia Reynolds and I are offering up some suggestions in this video (5:00) on how to deal with those pesky teens.”...
The Gnoming Librarian, Jan. 7; YouTube, Jan. 6

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