A message from Maureen Sullivan, ALA President; Keith Michael Fiels, Executive Director; and James Neal, ALA Treasurer:
Over the last two weeks, the ALA Executive Board and BARC have met to review the status of the Fiscal Year 2013 ALA budget and to approve a preliminary budget for the 2014 fiscal year that begins on September 1, 2013.
The American Library Association (ALA) welcomed today’s announcement from Hachette Book Group that it will begin offering its full catalog of ebooks immediately for lending in US public and school libraries. ALA President Maureen Sullivan today released the following statement:
Nine days after the Boston Public Library found itself part of the crime scene as law enforcement investigated the Boston Marathon bombings, the landmark Central Library received its all-clear and reopened on April 24.
ALA today announced six books as finalists for the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, awarded for the previous year’s best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the US.
Today is happening very differently than I had anticipated. On behalf of the American Library Association (ALA), Alan Inouye and I had planned to trek to the Boston Public Library to celebrate the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) launch. The nearly daily announcements of new DPLA partners underscored our excitement and anticipation for the launch.
Last week I led an ALA delegation to New York to meet with a number of key players in the publishing ecosystem. Overall, I left town feeling a bit more optimistic, although I recognize that libraries are in the midst of a digital revolution that we will be navigating for years to come.
“We are pleased Simon & Schuster has recognized the vital roles of libraries in supporting reading in all its formats by announcing a library e-lending pilot in New York City,” ALA President Maureen Sullivan said today in response to the publishing house’s announcement.
The last holdout from the major trade publishers, Simon & Schuster, this morning announced the start of an ebook pilot (PDF file) with New York City public libraries.
