“Don’t focus on the negative and scary,” actor Ted Danson advised at Roberta Stevens’s President’s Program today during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. In conversation with Stevens, the Emmy–award winning television and movie star and oceanic environmental activist warned of the perils of over-fishing, saying “the clock is ticking,” but “the problems are fixable.”
Following an afternoon with the Publishing Committee examining bottom lines, business models, and marketing strategies, what a contrast it was to settle into one hour and fifteen minutes of the ALA/ERT/Booklist Author Forum, a reminder of what a simple delightful it can be to listen to five intelligent authors do nothing more than talk about books—well, not about books really, abo
The San Francisco architectural firm of EHDD recently announced the completion of Zhang Jia Yuan Elementary School in Quian Yang County, Shaanxi Province, China. The design project is part EHDD’s pro-bono effort to help rebuild a region of China damaged by a powerful earthquake in 2008.
I spotted ALA past presidents Peggy Sullivan, Beverly Lynch, Sarah Long, Barbara Ford, Loriene Roy, Leslie Burger, Camila Alire, and John W. Berry among the crowd gathered at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina this evening to say thanks to the Library Champions, Major Donors, members of the Legacy Society, and others who contribute so generously to the programs of the Association.
In collaboration with Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication, Ghana’s Ministry of Communications has launched the national Mobile Library Connectivity initiative at Breman Asikuma in Ghana’s Central Region. The project aims to bridge the digital information gap for unserved and underserved communities and ensure sustainable development through the use of computers.
Nancy Everhart, president of ALA’s American Association of School Librarians, is a third of the way through her “Vision Tour” of outstanding school libraries throughout the United States. Everhart says the tour is garnering attention that has already produced major changes for the good.
ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels notified the Association’s governing Council today the decision by the Library of Congress and other government agencies to block online access to the WikiLeaks website will be added to the Midwinter Meeting discussion agenda in San Diego in January. Here is his message to Council in full:
Consumer activist Ralph Nader is a longtime library and literacy champion. He has been a speaker at ALA conferences, has written two articles for American Libraries, and has been a crusader for improving the public library system in his home city, Washington, D.C. I had a long telephone chat with Nader yesterday about his latest idea for getting Americans to read books.
Aarhus, Denmark, is hosting a “Next Library” conference June 19–21, 2011, in the city known for its progressive high-tech approach to public library service. (Watch the 7:08 video.)
