Brian Huddleston, senior reference librarian at Loyola University College of Law Library in New Orleans, contacted me this morning to say, "I guess one useful thing about a blog is that you can publish stuff that are only half-formed ideas because the campaign staff of certain big politicians never return your calls." He was letting … Continue reading The Campaign Article That Never Was
Sandra Fernandez, manager of public relations for Houston Public Library, contacted me this morning to give us an update on what the library has done to aid in recovery from Hurricane Ike, which made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast shortly after midnight September 13. After talking last week with Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey … Continue reading Hurricane Recovery in Houston
Finally! I’m happy to say that we’ve removed the login requirement to view the online archive of American Libraries, which includes all issues, including the current one, dating back to January 2003. The issues are available through ebrary, and you will need to download the ebrary reader if it’s your first visit. We got support … Continue reading American Libraries Available Online to All
I don't plan on making this a regular occurrence, but I'd like to take an opportunity to plug an AL Focus video:I'm sharing this for the content, not the cinematography (of which there's more or less none). This is Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, reading a letter from one of … Continue reading Video: Stephen Chbosky
It’s been a rocky month, made unexpectedly rockier for American Libraries by a telephone call from Tom Hennen (just as the October issue of the magazine had mailed and the newly redesigned Chicago Tribune was arriving on my doorstep) informing me that he’d unwittingly used the wrong dataset to tabulate the latest edition of his … Continue reading An Unfortunate Mis-HAPLR
"Where is the outrage?” That's what Garrison Keillor asked recently in his syndicated column, calling the federal bailout of the financial market “a calamity people accept as if it were just one more hurricane…. It wasn’t their money they were playing with,” he added. “It was yours. Where were the cops?” It was library money too, and … Continue reading Finances
This week, the ALA Council's list is buzzing over the Association's move to an all-electronic voting system for the forthcoming election of officers and Council members. Of course any member of the Association is still going to be able to obtain a paper ballot on demand. Nevertheless, many are concerned that voting via the internet might pose … Continue reading Electronic Voting
By way of introduction: my name is Greg, and I’m an associate editor for American Libraries. In my view, Inside Scoop isn’t a place for “official statements”—they have their place and their purpose, I guess, but this isn’t it. So what exactly will Inside Scoop entail? For me, there’s an easy answer and a hard … Continue reading It Begins
Inside Scoop is American Libraries’ new, and first, general blog. The purpose of Inside Scoop is to offer American Libraries’ readers news and views from inside the American Library Association’s headquarters in Chicago, in combination with American Libraries Direct, our weekly electronic newsletter. As AL Editor in Chief, I want to shorten the lag between what’s new … Continue reading Welcome to Inside Scoop
The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund supports librarians who are facing financial difficulty due to discrimination or because they have taken a stand in support of intellectual freedom. In this video, trustees describe the fund, and why it’s needed. More ALA videos available at alfocus.ala.org.
Author Steven Chbosky shares a letter he received from a reader of his young adult novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Alternately funny and moving, it demonstrates the effect that a book can have on a life–even (and especially) a book that some would have removed from library shelves. Filmed at ALA’s Banned Books … Continue reading Why Not To Ban Books
This overview of the Reforma National Conference, held September 18-21 in El Paso, Texas, features musicians at the exhibit hall opening, conversations with Author Luncheon speaker Diana Washington Valdez and former ALA President Carol Brey-Casiano, a tour of the Biblioteca de la Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad in Juarez, Mexico, and music and dance under the … Continue reading 2008 Reforma National Conference: Promoting Library Services to Latinos and Spanish-Speakers
