Three weeks into a pilot campaign aimed at moving OCLC’s 2008 study From Awareness to Funding from theory to practice, OCLC hosted a session July 11 to talk about where the study has taken them since its publication one year ago and to discuss their new campaign: Geek the Library. The purpose of Geek the … Continue reading From Awareness to Geekdom
The same day that National Security Archive Director Tom Blanton keynoted the ALA President's Program, a front-page article in the New York Times revealed that former Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to withhold information from Congress about a secret counterterrorism program. Blanton noted that as President Gerald Ford's chief of staff, … Continue reading President’s Program: Secrets Expert Tells All
Dressed in Viking armor and braids and performing to "Ride of the Valkyries," the Oak Park (Ill.) Public Library Warrior Librarians took first place in the fifth annual Library Book Cart Drill Team Championship, winning a gold book cart from sponsor Demco before a standing-room-only crowd. For the first time, two teams tied for first … Continue reading Valkyries Ride to Drill Team Victory
The knotty issue of net neutrality—the principle that network providers should not discriminate in the sites or applications they provide access to—and its implications for libraries was deftly explicated by a panel of experts assembled Sunday morning by the Library Information and Technology Association. Clifford Lynch, director of the Coalition for Networked Information, opened by … Continue reading Choosing Sides on Net Neutrality
"The disease of overconsumption is on its death bed," proclaimed Simple Living host Wanda Urbanska during her Auditorium Speaker Series speech, sponsored by American Libraries. As evidence, she cited three primary indicators, which she nicknamed "Heat, Feed, and Speed." "Heat" refers to decreasing energy requirements for the heating and cooling of homes, which have been … Continue reading Urbanska Sees Positive Signs for Green Libraries
Three weeks into a pilot campaign aimed at moving OCLC's 2008 study From Awareness to Funding from theory to practice, OCLC hosted a session July 11 to talk about where the study has taken them since its publication one year ago and to discuss their new campaign: Geek the Library. The purpose of Geek the … Continue reading From Awareness to Geekdom
To anyone attending an ALA conference, viewing the many attendees toting laptops or sporting smartphones and the exhibit hall dominated by high-tech vendors, it’s inescapable how pervasive technology has become in our society; in developing countries, it’s obviously another story. “Technology and the Developing World,” a Saturday-morning program presented by the Library and Information Technology … Continue reading Bringing Technology to the Developing World
The RUSA MARS Hot Topics Discussion Group presented a panel discussion on screencasting Saturday: “Casting a Wide Net: Using Screencasts to Reach and Teach Library Users.” Committee co-chair Michelle Jacobs was not in attendance, so–appropriately enough–she introduced the session via screencast. Eric Frierson of the University of Texas at Arlington demonstrated how his library’s online … Continue reading Annual Saturday: (Screen) Casting a Wide Net
Opening General Session speaker Christie Hefner drew a clear parallel between businesses and libraries in terms of what they need to do to survive. She noted how, as Playboy CEO, she came to the conclusion that the company “didn’t want to be a magazine company—we wanted to be a company that represented a style of … Continue reading Opening General Session: Christie Hefner on Change, Business, and the First Amendment
James van Praagh signs a copy of his book for Michigan Library Association Director of Professional Development Denise Cook Despite murmurs of controversy surrounding his Annual Conference appearance Saturday afternoon, survival evidence medium James van Praagh had the undivided attention of several hundred truth seekers curious to hear about “what the dead can teach us,” … Continue reading The Medium Has a Message
Author James Ellroy is an arrogantly proud Luddite who exults in his disengagement with contemporary culture. “I live in a vacuum,” he told a rapt crowd who attended his Saturday-morning Auditorium Speaker Series appearance. “I ignore pop culture, I don’t read a newspaper.” Ellroy, known for L.A. Confidential and other unrelentingly gritty crime novels, saved his highest disdain … Continue reading James Ellroy Boosts Books, Blasts Bits
ALA Annual Conference keynote speaker Christie Hefner took a few minutes to chat with me before her Opening General Session speech. Hefner is the director of the Center for American Progress and longtime CEO of Playboy Enterprises, the company founded by her father, Hugh Hefner, and restructured and expanded by Christie. Asked what her major message to … Continue reading Chatting with Christie Hefner
