American Libraries articles from June 2005

American Libraries archives from June 2005

Grassroots Advocacy Works
June 1, 2005... It is hard to believe that a year has passed since I wrote my first American Libraries column--a time when I was full of high hopes for the creation of a national grassroots advocacy network. The big question now is have we accomplished our...

Leslie Burger Wins 2006-07 Presidency
June 1, 2005... Leslie Burger, director of the Princeton (N.J.) Public Library, has been elected 2006-2007 ALA president. Burger received 5,401 (54%) of the total 9,999 votes cast for president and will serve one year as vice-president/president-elect before...

ALA Councilors Elected
June 1, 2005... Thirty-six members have been elected to Council in results announced May 2. Thirty-three were elected for the 2005-2008 term, and as indicated below, two have been elected for 2005-2007 and one for 2005-2006. * Khafre K. Abif, manager,...

Spring cleaning.(ALA News)
June 1, 2005... SPRING CLEANING. Christine M. Koontz, research associate and director of Florida State University's GeoLib Program in Tallahassee, surrounds herself with conference badges and programs collected from ALA, PLA, and IFLA meetings since 1988....

ASCLA's Middle Name Is Advocacy
June 1, 2005... Members of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies are strong supporters of advocacy efforts. Supported by a grant from the Library of Congress, ASCLA has completely revised the Standards and Guidelines of Service for...

ALA Meets with Atty. Gen. Gonzales
June 1, 2005... ALA President Carol Brey-Casiano and other Association leaders met with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and members of his staff May 2 to discuss library concerns over Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. They traveled to Washington, D.C.,...

Laura Bush honored during NLW.(ALA News)(National Library Week )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The ALA Washington Office honored First Lady Laura Bush during National Library Week for her support of America's libraries and librarians, presenting her with a framed certificate of thanks and copies of the 2005 Newbery and Caldecott...

ALA receives Ford Foundation grant.(ALA News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Three ALA intellectual freedom and advocacy initiatives will be funded over a two-year period by a $380,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. The money will pay for two research studies designed to gauge the frequency and type of contact...

ALA, NEA partner to boost school libraries.(ALA News)(American Library Association)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... ALA and AASL announced a partnership May 4 with the National Education Association aimed at raising public awareness of the connection between school libraries and student achievement. The groups plan to advocate for adequate funding for...

Booklist to launch online version.(ALA News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Booklist, ALA's review journal, is preparing to launch Booklist Online (BOL), an internet venture that will complement and expand the print journal (AL, May, p. 52). The project will combine a free website that will be updated daily and...

L.A. hosts "Major Leagues" kick off.(ALA News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The fourth year of the "Join the Major Leagues @ your library" program (AL, Feb., p. 8) kicked off April 15 at Los Angeles Public Library's Echo Park branch and Dodger Stadium. Sharon Robinson, daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson...

ALA partners with Kiplinger.(ALA News)
June 1, 2005... ALA is teaming with Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine in a program to offer investor education in libraries in a new initiative of the Campaign for America's Libraries. Through "Investor Education @ your library"--which is funded by...

2003-2004 Annual Report online.(ALA News)
June 1, 2005... ALA's 2003-2004 Annual Report is now available online at www.ala.org/annualreport/covering the year's conferences, partnerships, programs, issues, and highlights. The report follows the Association's 2003-2004 fiscal year, from September...

ALSC becomes Dia day center.(ALA News)(Association for Library Service to Children)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... ALSC is now the national center for El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book). Through a second grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the division will annually coordinate the promotion of annual Dia...

First 21st-Century Skills center created.(ALA News)(North Carolina School Library Media Association)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The North Carolina School Library Media Association (NCSLMA), an AASL affiliate, helped to launch the first-ever Center for 21st Century Skills. The project is designed to help students acquire the knowledge and ability needed for success in...

Fifty libraries to host WWI film series.(ALA News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Fifty public and academic libraries have been selected to serve as pilot sites for the six-week documentary film-viewing and discussion series "The World War I Years: America Becomes a World Power," sponsored by ALA's PPO and National Video...

New job-ad site to launch this fall.(EMPLOYEE/EMPLOYER ALERT)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Employers and job-seekers in library and information science and technology will have a user-friendly and all-inclusive resource at their command when the all-new ALA online career center debuts this fall on the ALA website. A joint...

School library award categories changed.(ALA News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... AASL will offer one district award and two single-school awards in its National School Library Media Program of the Year Award for 2006. Sponsored by Follett Library Resources, the awards previously gave $10,000 each in three categories:...

Scholarly toolkit available.(ALA News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... An ACRL member-only online toolkit is available at www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/scholarlycommunication.htm. It is designed to support advocacy efforts that work toward changing the scholarly communication system. The...

Academics sought for ALA-APA group.(ALA News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The ALA-APA Standing Committee on the Salaries and Status of Library Workers is seeking new members for its Academic Libraries Working Group. The group's charge is to "assist in defining, articulating, and otherwise supporting ALA-APA to...

2005 Teen Read Week website unveiled.(ALA News)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The 2005 YALSA Teen Read Week website (www.ala.org/teenread/), which carries the theme "Get Real! @ your library," is now available. The site includes annotated lists of recommended reading; tips for planning and promoting local events;...

ACRL 12th National Conference: Academics and Millennials in Minneapolis
June 1, 2005... The Minneapolis Convention Center exhibit hall and meeting rooms were packed April 7-10 for "Currents and Convergence: Navigating the Rivers of Change," the Association of College and Research Libraries' 12th National Conference, as a...

Library Advocates Lobby Capitol Hill
June 1, 2005... Approximately 480 librarians, trustees, and library advocates representing 45 states visited their congressional representatives May 4 during the 31st annual National Library Legislative Day in Washington, D.C. In a year of tight budgets and...

Patriot Act's Library Provisions Examined in Congressional Hearings
June 1, 2005... Continuing a series of oversight hearings on the USA Patriot Act (AL, May, p. 10), congressional committees heard testimony from administration officials April 27 and 28 on the effectiveness of those provisions set to expire at the end of the...

Appeals court shoots holes in FCC's broadcast flag rule.(NEWS FRONTS WASHINGTON)(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has overturned a Federal Communications Commission rule designed to prevent the redistribution of digital television programs over the internet (AL, Apr., p. 10). A three-judge panel...

U.S. Senate.(Washington Briefs)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The U.S. Senate approved a supplemental appropriations bill May 10 that includes the Real ID Act of 2005, which would set strict rules on how states issue driver's licenses, including requiring proof of legal immigration status. Some library...

A federal appeals court May 10 ordered the dismissal of a case challenging Vice President Richard Cheney's right to withhold details of White House meetings with energy-industry officials (AL, Apr. 2004, p. 11).(Washington Briefs)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... A federal appeals court May 10 ordered the dismissal of a case challenging Vice President Richard Cheney's right to withhold details of White House meetings with energy-industry officials (AL, Apr. 2004, p. 11). The court said the Sierra Club...

U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science.(Washington Briefs)(promoted Trudi Bellardo Hahn to executive director)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Trudi Bellardo Hahn, interim director of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science since November (AL, Dec. 2004, p. 59), was officially named executive director April 30.

Patriot Act Reform Caucus.(Washington Briefs)
June 1, 2005... A group of liberal and conservative members of Congress launched the Patriot Act Reform Caucus April 28. Cochaired by Reps. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Ron Paul (R-Tex.), and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the coalition will help...

ACLU Reports on Use of Filters in R.I. Libraries
June 1, 2005... Rhode Island public libraries are inconsistent in how they comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act (AL, Aug. 2004, p. 17), and in some cases discourage access to constitutionally protected material, the state's American Civil...

Parton party.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... PARTON PARTY. Country singer Dolly Parton and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen spend some time reading to children at Nashville Public Library March 15, after Metro Nashville announced it would adopt Parton's Imagination Library program, which...

Bedford Reopens as Fundraising Efforts Continue
June 1, 2005... The Bedford (Tex.) Public Library reopened its doors May 3, just over a month after it closed following a $2.6-million cut from its $24.8-million budget (AL, May, p. 12). Patrons who gathered outside the library awaiting its reopening greeted...

Beyond large print.(FRIENDS IN DEED)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Until her eyesight began rapidly deteriorating a year ago due to ocular histoplasmosis, a condition that damages the retina, 10-year-old Kelsie Buckley satisfied her love of reading with two to three books a week. Now legally blind and unable...

Giving by giving up.(FRIENDS IN DEED)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... At Little Harbour School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, students have raised over $4,000 for Room to Read, a nonprofit established by former Microsoft executive John Wood to help build libraries and schools in developing parts of the world...

Europe Unites to Create Its Own Digital Library
June 1, 2005... In the wake of France's call for European nations to make their library collections available on the internet to counter a perceived English-language dominance, six European leaders have offered a proposal for what they called a "European...

Police Arrest Ex-Con in Slaying of S.C. Librarian
June 1, 2005... An ex-convict suspected of murdering the South Carolina librarian with whom he lived was captured April 12 in Augusta, Georgia. A manhunt had been underway for Stephen Stanko, 37, since April 8, when Laura Ling, 43, a reference librarian at...

Kansas Board Deselects, Restores ALA Bill of Rights
June 1, 2005... By a vote of 4-3, the Johnson County (Kans.) Library Board removed from its collection policy April 20 the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, which had been part of its acquisitions guidelines since 1956. The action, which...

Santa Cruz Shuns Branch Shutterings
June 1, 2005... A community outcry has trumped worry over red ink among trustees of the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Public Libraries, who unanimously approved a new policy May 2 not to close any of the library's 10 facilities. "When there's no one left on the payroll...

IFLA Blasts Turkmenistan Library Closings
June 1, 2005... The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) called on the government of Turkmenistan April 29 to rescind an order by President Saparmurat Niyazov to close the country's libraries. The controversial leader...

Rockford PL Director resigns.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Following weeks of declining support from the Rockford (Ill.) Public Library board of trustees, Director Karen Van Drie resigned May 2. She will receive 90 days' salary under the terms of her resignation, the Rockford Register Star reported...

Man acquitted in Georgia arson trial.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... A jury has found Jason Allen Nelms, 20, not guilty of arson charges stemming from a 2003 fire that caused at least $12 million in damages at the University of Georgia's main library (AL, Mar. 2004, p. 17-18). A jury of eight women and...

Fire destroys school library in El Cerrito, California.(NEWS FRONTS)
June 1, 2005... Authorities are calling suspicious an early-morning fire April 23 that destroyed the Castro Elementary School library in El Cerrito, California. Damage was estimated at $250,000. Firefighters suspect the blaze began inside plastic...

Former Ocmulgee director pleads not guilty.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The former director of the Ocmulgee Regional Library, headquartered in Eastman, Georgia, pleaded not guilty in federal court April 14 to charges of stealing more than $20,000 in grant money from the six-county library system, according to the...

California could bar RFID.(NEWS FRONTS)(radio frequency identification)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... A bill that cleared the California Senate's Judiciary Committee on April 26 would prohibit the inclusion of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in all state-issued identity documents, including library cards. The Identity Information...

Nevada's license to read.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Library lovers in Nevada can support summer reading programs and educational opportunities for librarians by purchasing a specialty license plate that sports "1 [love] 2 Read" in red over a stack of books. The new plate was unveiled in...

Philly rescinds library bond.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... A committee of the Philadelphia city council voted April 27 to rescind $30 million in bond financing it had authorized in December to help fund the $120-million renovation of its Central Library. Councilman Frank DiCicco, who sponsored the...

San Diego plan threatened.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Supporters of San Diego's $150-million downtown library project have voiced concern that fundraising efforts may be derailed by Mayor Dick Murphy's decision to resign effective July 15. Murphy's April 25 announcement, which came less than...

Pueblo board settles with Lee.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Pueblo (Colo.) City-County Library District board April 3 settled a lawsuit filed by former director Richard Lee for an undisclosed amount. Lee was fired two years earlier after questioning the library's fundraising contract with the...

Director faces porn charges.(NEWS FRONTS)(Beverly (Mass.) Public Library )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Thomas Scully, director of the Beverly (Mass.) Public Library for the past 19 years, was arrested April 22 on a charge of disseminating obscene materials to a minor. He was freed on his own recognizance, placed on administrative leave, and...

Fire damages Minn. library.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... An April 14 fire that destroyed a sporting-goods store in downtown Virginia, Minnesota, also caused severe damage to the city library next door. Two-thirds of the Virginia Public Library was expected to reopen by mid-June with the remainder...

Providence to cut hours.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Providence (R.I.) Public Library announced May 4 that it plans to reduce hours at all 10 branches beginning July 1, in response to Mayor David N. Cicilline's proposed budget that marks the fifth straight year of level funding from the...

Indianapolis settles.(NEWS FRONTS)(Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Officials at Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library have reached an agreement with a steel contractor who had requested an additional payment to recover costs caused by long construction delays. IMCPL Board President Louis Mahern said that...

Clerk bequeaths $350,000.(NEWS FRONTS)(St. Louis Public Library )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... St. Louis Public Library has received $351,000 from a longtime employee whose salary never topped $20,000 a year. Known for his frugality--bringing a sack lunch of a bologna sandwich, graham crackers, and a thermos of milk nearly every...

Arsonists torch Indian library.(NEWS FRONTS)(Central Library of the State of Manipur )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... A group of protesters set fire to the Central Library of the State of Manipur in Imphal, India, April 13, destroying an estimated 145,000 books, journals, and manuscripts. Library employees said the damage included local newspapers published...

Four plead guilty in theft.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Four former college students pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court April 21 to stealing rare books and artworks from Transylvania University Library in Lexington, Kentucky, and attempting to sell them at a New York auction house (AL, Mar., p....

Delayed joy brings in $2,190.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Orchard Park (N.Y.) Public Library, part of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system, received a $2,190 donation April 29, along with a book returned more than 24 years late. Joel P. Schlesinger, a former area resident who...

Global Reach
June 1, 2005... BULGARIA The St. Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia is planning to create a digital archive of its materials. The Culture and Tourism Ministry allocated a subsidy of BGN 650,000 ($421,300 U.S.) for the project. Some of the funding...

Kids rally for Ohio libraries.(NEWS FRONTS)
June 1, 2005... KIDS RALLY FOR OHIO LIBRARIES. Students from Nativity Elementary School in the Pleasant Ridge suburb of Cincinnati show off their signs of an April 20 rally to support funding for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The...

Hooping it up.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... HOOPING IT UP. Fifteen-year-old Akil Matas (right) shows off his copy of Walter Dean Myers's 1983 novel Hoops with Syracuse University basketball player Dayshawn Wright during Wright's April 11 visit to Onondaga County (N.Y.) Public Library's...

When books fly.(NEWS FRONTS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... WHEN BOOKS FLY. Volant volumes fill the three-story stairway atrium connecting the University of California at Berkeley's Doe and Moffitt Libraries. Berkeley Artist-in-Residence Jose Ignacio Diaz de Rabago, a Spanish-born artist known for his...

Junior jamfest.(NEWS FRONTS)
June 1, 2005... JUNIOR JAMFEST. Children's Librarian Joel Caithamer of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio, previews his new 17-part cable-television program Joel's Library Jam for an appreciative audience at PBS Cincinnati's CET...

A touch of polonia.(NEWS FRONTS)
June 1, 2005... A TOUCH OF POLONIA. Flanked by costumed members of the Lajkonik Dance Ensemble, Malgorzata Kot, head librarian at the Polish Museum of America Library, listens to retired PMA librarian Sabina Logisz (left) at the April 22 opening of an...

Sustenance in the stacks.(NEWS FRONTS)
June 1, 2005... SUSTENANCE IN THE STACKS. "Chocolat: the Unpuffed Version," created by Rhiannon Alpers, debuts April 1 during the sixth International Edible Book Show and Tea at Columbia College Library in Chicago. The show, featuring a cornucopia of artful...

Heck-of-a-good fundraiser.(NEWS FRONTS)
June 1, 2005... HECK-OF-A-GOOD FUNDRAISER. Staff and volunteers of the Delaware County (Pa.) Library System display some of the offerings at the consortium's first countywide book sale, held April 29-May 1 to generate cash to help rebuild libraries damaged...

Oklahoma House Passes Anti-Gay Lit Resolution
June 1, 2005... The Oklahoma House passed 81-3 a nonbinding resolution May 9 asking public libraries "to confine homosexually themed books and other age-inappropriate material to areas exclusively for adult access and distribution." The resolution explains that...

Tampa: keep DVDs edifying.(CENSORSHIP WATCH)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Hillsborough County (Fla.) Commission voted 6-1 April 6 to consider modifying the acquisition policy of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System regarding the types of DVDs it collects. The policy currently says that the...

Enid bans chat rooms.(CENSORSHIP WATCH)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Warned by local law enforcement that registered sex offenders are using library computers to contact minors, the board of the Public Library of Enid and Garfield County, Oklahoma, has voted to ban patrons' use of chat rooms. However, trustees...

Hollywood librarian vs. real thing.(IN PRODUCTION)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Librarian-turned-filmmaker Ann Seidl is passionate about movies--and equally passionate about the underrated joys of library work. By producing a documentary film called The Hollywood Librarian, she intends to bring the two together and...

Something for everyone during NLW.(NEWS FRONTS)( National Library Workers )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Communities nationwide celebrated the value of libraries and the contributions of librarians and library workers during National Library Week, April 10-16, and National Library Workers Day, April 12. Children admire actor and storyteller...

Mailer archives to Texas.(COLLECTIONS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin has purchased Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer's papers for $2.5 million. The archive contains manuscripts and other materials on Mailer's works from...

Knox cartoons to Nashville.(COLLECTIONS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The family of the late Jack Knox has donated his collection of more than 300 political cartoons by Knox and other artists to the Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library. Knox drew for the Nashville Banner from the 1940s through the 1970s. At one...

Batista to Miami.(COLLECTIONS)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Former Cuban President Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar's widow and children have donated thousands of his documents to the University of Miami's Cuban Heritage Collection. The documents date from 1958 to 1973--Batista's exile years--and include...

By the numbers.(NEWS FRONTS)
June 1, 2005... 71% Increase in FOIA requests from 2002 to 2004.--GAO report on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, May 11. 60th Floor of the J. W. Marriott Hotel in Shanghai, China, that houses its library, recently certified by Guinness...

Straight Answers from Siva Vaidhyanathan
June 1, 2005... Sivacracy.net, the blog address of New York University Assistant Professor of Culture and Communication Siva Vaidhyanathan, is the personification of its namesake's worldview. In his online town square, the self-described cultural historian and...

Hans Christian Andersen's Birthday Bash: The 2005 Bologna Children's Book Fair
June 1, 2005... A 200th anniversary normally wouldn't count for much in a city that has a university founded in 1088 and a street plan devised by the Romans. But this is Bologna. Italy, home to the largest children's book fair in the world, and 2005 marks the...

Thus Said ... How the World Sees Us
June 1, 2005... "The mission of this library is essential to our country, because to understand the life and the sacrifice of Abraham Lincoln is to understand the meaning and promise of America. Most of you all know the First Lady was a librarian. Any time she...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 1, 2005... CORRECTION: Lillian Lewis became program officer of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Library Alliance, not of SOLINET (Mar., p. 70).

The First Lady and School Libraries
June 1, 2005... At the risk of being labeled an apologist for the Bush administration, I'd like to point out a few things in defense of the citation ALA presented to First Lady Laura Bush during National Library Week (see p. 8-10). Some members of the...

On My Mind: The Emersonian Librarian
June 1, 2005... As a new librarian with a background in literature, I find myself often reflecting on how I can apply the world of novels and poetry to my day-to-day functions and future aspirations. Of course, a knowledge of literature can help with collection...

Stand Up for Libraries: We Must Tend Our Library Gardens and Transplant Our Political Acumen to the Grassroots Level
June 1, 2005... Library-budget news in the states and municipalities has been grim recently. Consider: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * Ohio, the state with some of the best-supported and most-used libraries in the nation, is drastically cutting budgets (see p....

Publicity 101: How to Promote Your Library's Next Event; Even the Best Program Will Play to Empty Houses without a Promotional Push
June 1, 2005... It doesn't matter how fabulous your library's next event looks to be, how popular the guests you've scored, or how much the program can offer your patrons. If nobody knows about it, you risk what theater professionals call "playing to an empty...

129th Annual Conference, June 23-29, Chicago: ALA's Kind of Town; Highlights, Key Meetings and Events, and What's New for 2005
June 1, 2005... From a visit to Oprah's Harpo studios and the lakefront's Navy Pier to dining on deep-dish pizza or a Chicago-style hot dog, a variety of activities and cuisines await some 20,000 librarians, library supporters, vendors, and others expected to...

Getting Bookish in the Windy City
June 1, 2005... Chicago Public Library's Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St., sits at the northeast edge of Printer's Row--a rugged South Loop area once home to the city's bustling publishing houses and railroads. Visit the Popular Library Monday...

Tastes of Chicago: From Old Standbys to Cutting-Edge Cuisine, a Robust Restaurant Scene Awaits Annual Attendees
June 1, 2005... Since ALA last convened in Chicago, much has changed in the realm of dining out in the Windy City. Chicago chefs cook with a newfound emphasis on local produce, meats, and cheeses. Regional Italian cooking has trumped old-fashioned...