Page 861 – American Libraries Magazine

Midwinter Friday: Women of Mystery

January 23, 2009

My last bloggable event of the day was the ERT Author Forum, subtitled "Women of Mystery" and featuring the mystery authors Erica Spindler, Francine Mathews, Mary Jane Clark, and Nancy Atherton. I had to miss the last half for a planning meeting, but I'd like to share some juicy quotes from the first half. Spindler: … Continue reading Midwinter Friday: Women of Mystery →

Midwinter Friday: Forum on Library Education

January 23, 2009

At the Forum on Library Education, four supporters of the Draft Core Competences Statement, which is scheduled to be considered for Council approval at the Council II session on Tuesday, discussed the statement and took questions from the crowd of about 60 attendees. While acknowledging that the draft statement is more general than some—including some … Continue reading Midwinter Friday: Forum on Library Education →

Midwinter Friday: Orientation

January 23, 2009

After an early (6am) flight, my morning has been spent getting oriented. This is my first Midwinter and things seem manageable, although they may look different once the full mass of people gets here and the events get into swing. ALA is sharing the convention center with the International Sportsman’s Exhibition. No word yet on … Continue reading Midwinter Friday: Orientation →

More Midwinter Miscellany

January 22, 2009

American Libraries Associate Editor Greg Landgraf and I will be blogging the daylights out of the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver, beginning tomorrow, January 23. In addition, Senior Editor George Eberhart will be producing next week's issue of American Libraries Direct during the conference, to bring you a roundup next Wednesday of the latest happenings … Continue reading More Midwinter Miscellany →

Midwinter Miscellany

January 22, 2009

With the start of Midwinter imminent, I've got a few related announcements and hopefully amusing oddments to share: Watch this blog for our Midwinter coverage. American Libraries Editor in Chief Leonard Kniffel and I will both be blogging from Denver. Also, I'll be filming the ALA Presidential Candidates Forum on Saturday and posting the entire … Continue reading Midwinter Miscellany →

An Intellectual Resource Essential to Economic Recovery

January 16, 2009

We received the text of his letter to the New York Times today from Jeffrey Scherer, board chair for Libraries for the Future in New York and architect at Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle in Minneapolis. Widely known for library design and a longtime champion for libraries, Scherer asked that we disseminate the letter, which, he … Continue reading An Intellectual Resource Essential to Economic Recovery →

ALA’s Tools to Help Libraries in a Bad Economy

January 13, 2009

ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels discusses the economy, its effect on libraries, and what ALA offers to help libraries survive in tough times. This video also serves as an introduction to a special issue of AL Direct to be sent January 20 on the economy. To subscribe to AL Direct, visit www.ala.org/ala/alonline/aldirect/aldirect.cfm. More ALA … Continue reading ALA’s Tools to Help Libraries in a Bad Economy →

Midwinter Event Planner Blues

January 12, 2009

In what has become something of a tradition, the Midwinter Event Planner has been opened… and widely panned on the ALA Council email list and several library blogs (What I Learned Today… and librarian.net, as two examples). I spoke to ALA Senior Associate Executive Director of Member Programs and Services Mary Ghikas yesterday about the … Continue reading Midwinter Event Planner Blues →

Midwinter Dining Guide

January 8, 2009

A quick alert: I've just posted Sherry Spitsnaugle's excellent Denver Dining Guide from AL's January-February issue on the Midwinter Wiki. It's one of four dining guides there, including one repurposed from Rocky Mountain SLA. Attendees, enjoy!

Library Design Showcase Online Submission Now Available

January 6, 2009

I am pleased to announce that you can now submit your new and renovated buildings for American Libraries’ April Library Design Showcase online. We’ve bought a YouSendIt account to handle the very large files that this entails. As a result, sending the files will be slightly more complicated than simply sending an e-mail—but not much, … Continue reading Library Design Showcase Online Submission Now Available →

A Year-End Message from Vartan Gregorian

December 22, 2008

Any managers in Libraryland who tell you they are not concerned about revenue and expenses for 2009 are clearly in denial. But while we must all plan for tight financial times, the trick is understanding what to expect. Still on a high from the I Love My Librarian awards, I'll soon be caught, along with … Continue reading A Year-End Message from Vartan Gregorian →

I Love My Librarian Award Ceremony Video

December 22, 2008

While later than we’d hoped (there were difficulties both in getting the raw footage and in getting the necessary approvals), we finally have video from the I Love My Librarian Award ceremony, held December 9 in New York City. Enjoy!

Latest Library Links

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Jennifer Nardine writes: “I recently finished a second master’s degree, an MaEd in Counseling from Virginia Tech’s School of Education. Shortly after graduating, I was startled when a colleague asked, ‘How are you going to show that [mental health] counseling is related to your work?’ Her implication: even though I’d put in the work to earn the degree, it wouldn’t serve me when it came time to apply for promotion. My response: It’s obvious to me that education, librarianship, and counseling are related.”

ACRLog, July 18
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Willem Marx writes: “Sometimes it’s not about catching up on the newest news or the hottest debut. Sometimes it’s about taking a bath with a cup of tea on a Sunday morning and listening to famous writers laugh about their MFA students while going nuts about their favorite short story writers. Sometimes it’s about taking a plane across the Atlantic just to visit a bookstore and pretend it’s still 1922 and Ulysses is all the rage. The book life is about a lot of things and these podcasts cover every single one.”

Electric Literature, July 19
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Stephanie Buffamonte writes: “Altamonte Springs (Fla.) residents came together to save their local library. In an Altamonte Springs City Commission meeting July 18, commissioners voted to keep the city’s local library after the city announced it would close. The city held a special meeting to discuss the library shutting down, and residents came out in droves. Most argued to commissioners that the library should not shut down and is vital to the city.” Commissioners voted at the meeting to raise the city’s property tax rate from 3.01 mills to 4 mills.

WRBW-TV (Orlando), July 19; WESH-TV (Orlando), July 9; Orlando Sentinel, July 19
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ALA applauded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s July 18 vote allowing libraries and schools to use federal E-Rate funding to purchase Wi-Fi hotspots for lending. The new policy is a keystone of FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s Learn Without Limits proposal, announced at ALA Annual Conference in June 2023, to meet increasing connectivity needs nationwide by expanding and modernizing the E-Rate program. The move comes amid concerns about the impact of recently sunset pandemic-era programs, including the Emergency Connectivity Fund, which helped more than a thousand libraries provide Wi-Fi hotspots during the past three years.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, July 18
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$Sheep doing math wrong$ Heather Kelly writes: “Anyone with an internet connection can watch breaking news unfold in real time, or at least some version of it. Across social media, posts can fly up faster than most fact-checkers and moderators can handle, and they are often an unpredictable mix of true, fake, out of context, and straight propaganda. The risk is higher immediately after politically charged incidents such as the Trump rally shooting, which has already flooded social media with incorrect information and spawned a number of conspiracy theories. Here are some basic tools everyone should use when consuming breaking news online.”

Washington Post, July 15
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Martin Appel writes: “Sometimes small news can reveal big truths. When Microsoft released its annual sustainability report in May, the numbers hid something interesting: the company has increased its emissions by 30% since 2020. Why? One key explanation can be summarized in two letters: AI. Microsoft’s massive investment in artificial intelligence (AI) has led to proportionally massive climate emissions. AI and cloud computing are here to stay and there’s nothing we can do to stop that. In that case, how long can we—the consumers and people of the world—continue to use them without paying?”

PC World, July 10
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Brown University’s John Hay Library in Providence, Rhode Island, has acquired the contemporary papers of poet, musician, playwright, author, and activist Joy Harjo, the 23rd US poet laureate. Harjo, who served in that role from 2019–2022, was the first Native American to hold the position. The acquisition primarily includes materials from 2021–2024, and Harjo will continue to send materials to the library throughout her life. Harjo received an honorary degree from Brown in May, and had been mentored by Brown’s late Professor of Literary Arts and English Michael S. Harper.

Brown University, July 11

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