E. J. Josey was born January 20, 1924. By 1984 he had reached the pinnacle of his profession, becoming the second African-American president of the American Library Association (Clara Jones was the first, in 1976) after devoting his professional life to fighting the racism that permeated American society. Those of us who had the privilege of … Continue reading Civil Rights Pioneer, Librarian E. J. Josey Dies at 85
American Libraries: With many libraries being forced to reduce hours because of funding problems, just when so many more people need service, what can the federal government do to help? Arne Duncan: You hit the nail on the head. At a time of pretty significant increases in usage among children, among parents, among families, unfortunately … Continue reading Arne Duncan on Libraries in Economic Recovery
One of the earliest requests we had when we started AL Focus was to include transcripts of videos. We looked for an easy, elegant way to provide them… and didn't find any. We did, eventually, find a more mundane way, thanks to John Chrastka, ALA's director of Membership Development, and Molly Sasajima of ALA Conference Services, … Continue reading AL Focus Videos: Transcriptions Now Available
It's been nine days since Pres. Obama announced his administration’s nationwide “United We Serve” volunteer initiative, mentioning “reading to kids at your local library” as an example of how individuals and groups can boost local efforts toward improving education and community renewal, among other worthwhile projects. The library community, of course, is no stranger to harnessing volunteer … Continue reading Why Community Spirit Is Just the Ticket
Fresh from the launch of "United We Serve" at the Fanwood Memorial Library in New Jersey, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan took time to do a "Newsmaker" interview for American Libraries yesterday afternoon. I chatted with Duncan for about 20 minutes, and he talked with conviction about the value of libraries and about the … Continue reading Chatting with Arne Duncan
ALA Presidential Candidate Roberta Stevens responds to Karen Schneider’s question on enforcing ALA policy on GLBT rights. More ALA videos available at alfocus.ala.org. Question: Karen Schneider: Hi, Im Karen Schneider. I blog at freerangelibrarian.com. Ive been an ALA member since 1992. I served on ALA Council three times. And Ive served on numerous task forces, … Continue reading ALA Presidential Candidate Question Responses: Stevens on GLBT Employment Rights
A memorial video to intellectual freedom legend Judith Krug, the long-time director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and Freedom to Read Foundation, featuring messages from colleagues, interviews featuring Judy, and photos of Judy from throughout her career. Transcript (opens in new window or tab).
Kate DiCamillo, author of The Tale of Despereaux and Because of Winn-Dixie, sat down with Booklist’s Ilene Cooper to talk about seeing her creations become major motion pictures, the surreal moments that came along with the Despereaux phenomenon, and her latest projects. Also, there’s tons of laughing.
Legendary author Avi speaks to Booklist about Poppy and Ereth—his newest and most autobiographical book—as well as how he ended up with his famous name, how his lack of a distinctive style helps him as a writer, his thoughts on how the Newbery Award could improve, and which of his books is the “best.” Hint: … Continue reading Avi interview
ALA’s book and media awards represent some of the best works of the year. In this video, the chairs of many of the committees charged with choosing the award winners discuss the winning books and why they were selected. For more information, see the accompanying "Read This Now" article in the May 2009 issue of … Continue reading Read This Now
ALA sure picked a great place for its headquarters when it moved here in 1909. Sure, the winters are terrible, and the sticky heat of a Chicago summer is enough to tax anyone’s patience, but when it comes to restaurants, Chicago has the best in the country. Think of a cuisine, any cuisine, and you … Continue reading Chow Down in Chi-Town
As the editor of American Libraries Online, I’m always on the lookout for news stories to research and develop about libraries and trends affecting them. Because libraries impact just about every aspect of society, there’s an impressive daily deluge to sort through, as& the abundance of annotated links in our weekly e-newsletter American Libraries Direct attests. … Continue reading This Just In – Again
