American Libraries articles from December 2007

American Libraries archives from December 2007

All Sides of the Big Picture
December 1, 2007... Seven has always been my lucky number, and as luck would have it, 2007 has been my favorite year of all since I slid into the chief editor's chair at American Libraries 12 years ago. It's lucky to be part of a publication that has lasted 100...

Circle of Literacy: The Little Spirit Moon Month or Manidoo-Giizisoons
December 1, 2007... Literacy is the power to be great in the world," storyteller Gcina Mhlophe assured the audience August 19 during the opening ceremony of the 73rd World Library and Information Congress of the International Federation of Library Associations and...

Correction.(Correction notice)
December 1, 2007... The last line of "Laying Down the Law: ALA's Code of Ethics" (Nov. p. 56-57) by Roy L. Sturgeon was inadvertently truncated. The sentence should have read: "It is unclear how to remedy current ignorance of the code within the profession, but...

A Century of Progress
December 1, 2007... Finding a 100-year-old librarian was one of the goals American Libraries set for its centennial year of 2007. No sooner had the August "Newsmaker" (p. 34) interview with 90-year-old Frieda Greene of the Boynton Beach (Fla.) City Library...

Alire, Williams Seek 2009-2010 ALA Presidency
December 1, 2007... Camila Alire, dean emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, and J. Linda Williams, coordinator of library media services for Anne Arundel County (Md.) public schools, are candidates for the...

FOLUSA head becomes interim ALTA director.(ALA)(Friends of Libraries USA, Association for Library Trustees and Advocates )(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) Executive Director Sally G. Reed was named interim director of ALA's Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA) October 23 during ALTA's 2007 fall planning session. The board also agreed to work...

Rettig testifies on LC cataloging.(ALA)(Jim Rettig )(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... ALA President-Elect Jim Rettig testified October 24 before the U.S. House of Representatives' House Administration Committee oversight hearing on the Library of Congress (LC), recommending that LC "return to its former practice of broad and...

Endowment trustee candidate sought.(ALA)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... In an effort to increase the pool of potential candidates for the upcoming Endowment Trustees opening, the ALA Executive Board has reopened and extended the search for candidates. The deadline is now February 1, 2008. The candidate will be...

ALA receives Oprah's Angel Network funds.(ALA)(America Library Association)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... ALA has been awarded $300,000 from Oprah's Angel Network to continue support of the Great Stories Club national reading and discussion program, launched in 2005, that targets at-risk teens. The program is administered by ALA's Public Programs...

"Step Up to the Plate" Winner Named
December 1, 2007... In a random drawing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum October 6, Hall of Famer and "Step Up to the Plate" spokesperson Ozzie Smith chose 12-year-old Hannah Cavanaugh of St. Louis as the grand-prize winner of the "Step Up to the...

San Jose boosts ALA student membership.(ALA)(American Library Association)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... As part of its commitment to the profession, San Jose (Calif.) State University's School of Library and Information Science announced in late October that it will enroll all of its MLIS students as ALA and California Library Association (CLA)...

YALSA announces avatar contest.(ALA)( Young Adult Library Services Association)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Librarians are invited to showcase their creativity and their library's technological resources in the Young Adult Library Services Association's (YALSA) "Create Your Own Avatar" contest. The winner and up to five finalists will win $100 in...

Roy Wiis in Idaho.(ALA)(Loriene Roy )(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... ALA President Loriene Roy demonstrates how to play Wii games October 4 during her visit to the Idaho Library Association conference, where a special area was set up near the exhibits. "I was pretty pitiful with bowling and marginally better...

Making over history.(ALA)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... End-of-stack panels that carry the likenesses of such luminaries as Marian Anderson (left) and Malcolm X adorn the newly reopened Black Studies Division of the District of Columbia Public Library's Martin Luther King Central Library. The new...

Online election process underway.(MEMBERS-ONLY ALERT)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... For the fifth year, ALA will hold its election online. All paid ALA members as of January 31, 2008, are eligible to vote in the 2008 election. Polls will open March 17. To ensure that member e-mail records are accurate, ALA conducted an...

Yalsa
December 1, 2007... A MISSION-DRIVEN ASSOCIATION The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to advocate, promote, and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who...

2008 ALA Nominating Committee Council Nominees
December 1, 2007... Nancy H. Allen Dean and Director Penrose Library University of Denver Denver, Colorado J. Douglas (Doug) Archer Reference and Peace Studies Librarian University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana Arlene C. Bielefield ...

Teens LOL @ libraries nationwide.(Teen Read Week)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Teens from across the country celebrated the 10th observance of Teen Read Week, October 14-20, in libraries, schools, and bookstores. The annual event, sponsored by ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), encourages youth to...

Lawsuit Delays Release of Librarian's Potter Project
December 1, 2007... Former school librarian Steve Vander Ark's publisher is delaying the release of his Harry Potter Lexicon in the face of a suit filed October 31 by Warner Brothers Entertainment and J. K. Rowling for copyright infringement. RDR Books, based in...

OCLC Scans Social Spaces
December 1, 2007... OCLC has issued the third in a series of research reports to its membership on online issues and trends that affect library use, services, and resources. Sharing, Privacy, and Trust in Our Networked World, released October 22, explores the use...

Katrina Recovery Progresses with Reopenings, Millages, and a Blueprint
December 1, 2007... Two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, more signs of recovery are popping up in Louisiana as facilities reopen, millages pass, and recovery plans take hold. New Orleans Public Library reopened its Martin Luther King Jr....

Montana State Library Plan under Fire
December 1, 2007... A plan to restrict public access to physical collections at the Montana State Library in Helena as the library makes a major transition to digital access came under heavy criticism in mid-October after MSL Director Darlene Staffeldt talked...

SLA, ALA urge Sandia not to close library.(U.S. & International)(Special Libraries Association, American Library Associationm, Sandia National Laboratories)
December 1, 2007... One week after Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, sent out an internal memo October 15 announcing that it was closing the physical stacks of its Technical Library in order to go completely virtual, the Special Libraries...

Boston Board Ousts Director Margolis
December 1, 2007... The Boston Public Library board of trustees voted 7-2 at a heated November 13 meeting not to renew 10-year BPL President Bernard Margolis's contract when it expires June 30, 2008. Supporters packed rows of chairs in the small meeting room at the...

Vancouver strike ends; libraries reopen.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library staff returned to work October 22 after an 88-day strike (AL, Oct., p. 28-29) over pay equity and benefits issues. CUPE 391 members voted 71% in favor of the agreement, the union reported October 19. The...

Chicago tax hike to help libraries.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... On November 13 the Chicago City Council approved an $83.4-million property tax increase, the majority of which will go to libraries. The increase is part of the 2008 budget proposed by Mayor Richard M. Daley. The funds will go toward...

FBI Accused of Violating Library Policy
December 1, 2007... A Pakistani man charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists claims that the FBI obtained evidence against him illegally when an agent went into the Chestatee Regional Library in Dawsonville, Georgia, to record his...

National libraries unite to implement RDA.(U.S. & International)(Resource Description and Access)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The Library of Congress, the British Library, Library and Archives Canada, and the National Library of Australia have agreed on a coordinated implementation of RDA: Resource Description and Access, successor to the Anglo-American Cataloguing...

Louisville Regroups after Ballot Defeat
December 1, 2007... An ambitious plan to fund a $200-million expansion of Louisville (Ky.) Free Public Library facilities and services through a hike in the county's occupational tax was soundly rejected by some two-thirds of voters November 6. Nonetheless, city...

Proposition 2 1/2 maims another library.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The halving of the operating budget for Bridgewater (Mass.) Public Library as of mid-October has shrunk service hours to only 15 per week, and will force the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) to decertify the library as of...

Sacramento sues contractor for $1.3M.(U.S. & International)(Hagginwood Services )
December 1, 2007... Following an investigation initiated by Sacramento (Calif.) Public Library Director Ann Marie Gold, SPL filed suit October 30 against a local contractor, asking for more than $1.3 million in restitution and damages and accusing Hagginwood...

Beware the Magic Attic.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Libraries in Florida and other states are taking steps to remove a phone number in the back of the books in the Magic Attic Club, a series of some 38 fantasy and adventure titles published in the late 1990s for girls aged 9 to 12. A...

Earthquake shakes up San Jose stacks.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The top four floors of San Jose, California's, eight-story Martin Luther King Jr. Library, which serves as the public library system's main branch as well as the San Jose State University library, were temporarily closed to reshelve books...

Structural concerns close Salem library.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Salem (Mass.) State College President Patricia Maguire Meservey ordered the emergency closing October 15 of the campus library until further notice due to concerns about the 38-year-old building's structural integrity. She advised SSC library...

Unsurprisingly, the Harry Potter series still generates controversy on several fronts.(CENSORSHIP WATCH)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Unsurprisingly, the Harry Potter series still generates controversy on several fronts. The October 25 Boston Globe reported that a Catholic school pastor in Wakefield, Massachusetts, had the Harry Potter series pulled from the school library...

A forum whose focus was on tolerance for people who are gay took place peacefully November 2-3 at the York (Maine) Public Library--but not before several area residents, including some library Friends, objected to the venue.(CENSORSHIP WATCH)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... A forum whose focus was on tolerance for people who are gay took place peacefully November 2-3 at the York (Maine) Public Library--but not before several area residents, including some library Friends, objected to the venue. YPL Director...

After a challenge and three appeals, the York County (Va.) School Board has retained Tripping Over the Lunch Lady and Other School Stories at Magruder Elementary School.(CENSORSHIP WATCH)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... After a challenge and three appeals, the York County (Va.) School Board has retained Tripping Over the Lunch Lady and Other School Stories at Magruder Elementary School. A 3rd-grader's mom, whose husband is a soldier in Iraq, claimed that it...

Aiding in the transition.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Librarian Sue Haise of Hennepin County (Minn.) Library explains the checkout process to members of the Liberian Women's Initiative during a tour of the Brookdale branch October 6. Many of the women were visiting an American library for the...

Hello Hepburn.(U.S. & International)(Katharine Hepburn )(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... This costume sketch of Katharine Hepburn from a 1955 production of The Taming of the Shrew is among 30 linear feet of papers relating to Hepburn's stage career donated by her estate to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts....

April facilities call.(U.S. & International)
December 1, 2007... Every year, American Libraries' April issue features articles and photographs spotlighting new, expanded, and renovated library buildings. A showcase of exteriors and interiors of all kinds, this special issue features some of the best in...

Early inspiration.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)(Photograph)
December 1, 2007... Friends of the Bernardsville (N.J.) Public Library sponsored a reading by author Karen Rostoker-Gruber October 19 to preschool and kindergarten students from Palmer School, also in Bernardsville. Here she poses with her books Food Fright!...

By the numbers.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... 668 Number of pages in a report by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, declaring that the state publishes too many reports.--Associated Press, Oct. 30. $30 Fee being paid per application by the U.S. Passport Agency in...

Singing in the stacks.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Kiera Pembleton, a student at Central Carolina Technical College in Sumter, South Carolina, became this year's Richland County Public Library Teen Idol on October 18 after braving two audition rounds and besting 19 other finalists. The annual...

The nation's report card.(U.S. & International)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Reading skills are improving for both 4th- and 8th-graders, particularly among lower- and middle-performing students, says "The Nation's Report Card: Reading 2007." Many student groups made gains in both grades; however, these gains were not...

Global Reach
December 1, 2007... UNITED KINGDOM 1 A scheme to put thousands of advertisements into library books will find borrowers taking home more than they expected. Up to 500,000 inserts a month are due to be handed out by libraries in Essex, Somerset, Bromley, Leeds,...

LC, Xerox Do Digital Duet
December 1, 2007... Part of the mission of the Library of Congress is to ensure that America's history and heritage are accessible for generations to come. To that end, the library and Xerox Corporation are working together to develop better ways to store,...

Knowledge Initiative.(Tech News)(New Jersey Knowledge Initiative website)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... New Jersey State Librarian Norma E. Blake and State Assemblyman Louis D. Greenwald (D-6th District) check out the website of the award-winning New Jersey Knowledge Initiative at Cherry Hill Public Library in South Jersey. Developed by the...

Checklist offered for wireless policy.(Tech News)(wireless network policy for libraries)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... "Steal this wireless policy checklist" was the headline of Louise Alcorn's October 22 MaintainIT blog posting--and there are plenty of reasons to do just that. Alcorn outlines six points to consider when developing a wireless policy for your...

3M and Checkpoint join forces.(TECH BRIEFS)(3M Company and Checkpoint Systems)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The 3M Company and Checkpoint Systems announced a joint agreement October 29 to expand each company's commitment to the library market. Under terms of the alliance, 3M Library Systems will become the exclusive reseller of Checkpoint's line of...

Mellon funds extensible Catalog at University of Rochester.(TECH BRIEFS)(Andrew W. Mellon Foundation)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... A $749,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the University of Rochester's (N.Y.) River Campus Libraries will be used toward building and deploying the extensible Catalog (XC), a set of open-source software applications libraries...

Scribe to advance digitization at UNC.(TECH BRIEFS)(University of North Carolina's acquisition of a high-speed scanner and software application from the nonprofit group Internet Archive)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The first Scribe in the Southeast arrived at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library in November, thanks to an agreement between the library and Internet Archive. Scribe is a high-speed scanner and software application...

Writing 2007 to Memory: Where We Are and Where We're Headed
December 1, 2007... As I look over a year's worth of stories and topics in this column and on the Hectic Pace blog, I can tell it's been a busy year, both for libraries and their vendors. Closing out the year is this mixture of the top stories, trends, and products...

Web 2.0 and You: Which Trends and Technologies Are for Your Library?
December 1, 2007... Since last year's publication of my article "The Promise of Web 2.0" (AL, Oct. 2006, p. 32), we've seen more 2.0-type tools, more books and articles about those tools, and more conference presentations than one could count. For my report this...

All the Books; Access to Everything: Overwhelming but Useful
December 1, 2007... Among the many good friends who graciously joined in on the future-of-libraries class I taught last summer in Toronto was Ben Bunnell, manager of library partnerships for Google Book Search. The phrase he used to describe their ultimate mission...

Your Stuff, Their Space: Promoting Library Content beyond Your Website
December 1, 2007... In a perfect world, the library would be the first place people would think of when they needed to do research. Unfortunately, we haven't been the only game in town for many years. It's so easy to search Wikipedia to find a quick answer or look...

Tony Wilhelm
December 1, 2007... On January 1, 1954, NBC broadcast the first coast-to-coast color television program, showing the Tournament of Roses Parade. More than 50 years later, what is being hailed as the next great advance in television will happen when full-power...

How the World Sees Us
December 1, 2007... "And you can be sure Brady will be seen in public with a homely librarian before he engages in any discussion about the difference between the receivers he was forced to work with last season and the ones he has now." Columnist BOB RYAN on New...

The Freedom to Be Literate: Teaching Literacy under Technological Constraints
December 1, 2007... In the real world, when most people have a need for information, they ask people they trust for the answer. If that line fails them, they may try to find it on the internet if they have access to a computer with an internet connection. If they...

Year in Review: Top 10 Library Stories of 2007
December 1, 2007... Staying in business is all about the bottom line, and in that regard library service is no different from Wal-Mart. The year 2007 was one of uncertainty for many libraries. One librarian in the Midwest, whose name is being withheld at her...

In Flew Enza: What We Can Learn from the Way American Libraries Responded to the 1918 Influenza Pandemic
December 1, 2007... In 1918-19 the world was shaken by a massive influenza pandemic that killed an estimated 50-100 million people, including more than half a million in the United States. Nearly one-quarter of the U.S. population--25 million people--from all walks...

Prognosis: Literacy; A Complex Healthcare System and Reliance on the Internet Make Health-Information Literacy Increasingly Important
December 1, 2007... Literacy has always been a major focus of libraries, but in recent years, as the U.S. struggles with a dysfunctional healthcare system, this focus has gained an important new dimension: the health of Americans. Consider these statistics from the...

A Centennial Journey: Highlights from 100 Years of American Libraries' Evolution
December 1, 2007... This first number of a Bulletin of the American Library Association marks, it is hoped, the beginning of a closer connection between the Association and its members." Those words, penned by ALA Publishing Board Chairman William Coolidge Lane,...

School Librarians Explore the Future in Reno: American Association of School Librarians Unveils Standards
December 1, 2007... Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, a document designed to "provide a foundation for a strong library media program in every school," was unveiled by ALA's American Association of School Librarians (AASL) President Sara Kelly Johns during...

ALA Executive Board: Graduated Dues Study Halted in Favor of Membership Survey
December 1, 2007... ALA's Executive Board voted during its fall meeting October 20-21 at the Association's headquarters in Chicago to proceed with a demographic membership survey but agreed with the Budget Analysis and Review Committee that a proposed graduated...

RDA: Imminent Debacle; the Editor of AACR2 Takes Issue with Cataloging's New Direction
December 1, 2007... There is an old story of an international committee watching a demonstration of a new invention. Everyone was impressed by its speed and efficiency, everyone, that, is but the French delegate. He leaned back in his chair and said: "It obviously...

Sarah Baker.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Sarah Baker has joined New Mexico State University in Las Cruces as education librarian.

Tammy K. Baker.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... October 1 Tammy K. Baker became technology librarian at North Harris Montgomery Community College District in The Woodlands, Texas.

Jason Battles.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa has named Jason Battles as head of web services.

Margaret H. Bean.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... November 12 Margaret H. Bean became resource sharing librarian at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Joshua Berkov.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... October 1 Joshua Berkov joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as digital projects librarian.

Malore I. Brown.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... October 31 Malore I. Brown was named project director for The Electric Company at Sesame Workshop in New York City. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Richard Burns.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... January 1 Richard Burns becomes head librarian for the Hawaii State Public Library System.

Robin Chen.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Robin Chen joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as assistant manuscripts reference librarian October 1.

Richard Conroy.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Stratford (Conn.) Library appointed Richard Conroy as head of information technology services October 11. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Maggie Dickson.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... September 10 Maggie Dickson joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as Watson-Brown Project librarian.

Valerie Glenn.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa has appointed Valerie Glenn as government documents and reference librarian and information consultant.

Alisa C. Gonzalez.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Alisa C. Gonzalez has joined New Mexico State University in Las Cruces as social science librarian.

Mira Greene.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Rice University in Houston has named Mira Greene assistant head of cataloging.

Mildred Jackson.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Mildred Jackson has been named associate dean for collections at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Anita Jennings.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Newport News (Va.) Public Library System has appointed Anita Jennings supervisor of the Pearl Bailey branch. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Albie Johnson.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Albie Johnson has been named state librarian of Massachusetts.

Rafal Kasprowksi.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... November 1 Rafal Kasprowksi became electronic resources librarian at Rice University in Houston.

Thomas A. Lehner.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... Thomas A. Lehner has joined Baltimore County (Md.) Public Library as facilities services coordinator. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Rod MacNeil.(Currents)
December 1, 2007... October 15 Rod MacNeil became deputy library director at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]