It's official, Roberta Stevens of the Library of Congress is ALA's new president-elect. With 6,786 or 55.7% of the votes cast, she was selected over Kenton L. Oliver who garnered 5,416 or 44.3% of the votes cast. As soon as the divisions have notified their candidates, all of the ALA Council election results will be … Continue reading Roberta Stevens Is President-Elect
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
The executive director for networked library services at the world’s largest library consortium paints the big picture regarding OCLC’s web-platform initiative in an April 24, 2009, conversation with American Libraries Editor-in-Chief Leonard Kniffel. American Libraries: Who is the target market for this new management service? Andrew Pace: You’re talking about the web-scale management services, not … Continue reading OCLC’s Andrew Pace Reveals Plans for Web-Scale Management
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 … Continue reading Avi interview
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. More ALA videos available at alfocus.ala.org.
ALA staff will gather tomorrow morning for a special memorial to Judith Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, who died April 11. The tribute below will appear in the May issue of American Libraries. Judith Krug believed that no one has the right to tell other people what they can or cannot read. When … Continue reading A Tribute to Judith Krug
ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels notified the staff this morning of very sad news to start the week: Judith Krug, executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation and director of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom for more than 40 years, passed away on Saturday morning. In cooperation with OIF and ALA's Public Information Office, … Continue reading The Passing of Judith Krug
Just in time for National Library Week, ALA is going live tomorrow, April 9, with a new @ your library website aimed at raising public awareness. Focusing on what's available at libraries for families, kids and teens, and jobseekers, this website is a pilot project funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and is the first … Continue reading Public Awareness @ your library
Today ALA Connect launches. We've been hearing about it for weeks. "It's like Facebook–but for librarians," we've said, all-too-simply (and inaccurately) in categorizing ALA Connect, ALA's new centralized virtual space. That's a facile comparison to make, but really Connect is more than that. Not just another social network, ALA Connect will help members engage in … Continue reading ALA Connect: not just another social network
John Hope Franklin died March 25 at the age of 94. The Associated Press called him "a towering scholar and pioneer of African-American studies who wrote the seminal text on the black experience in the U.S. and worked on the landmark Supreme Court case that outlawed public school segregation." He lived a remarkable life. His name … Continue reading The Passing of John Hope Franklin
Unit Managers heard it this morning for the first time as a group, when ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels announced that the Association would attempt to close a projected $1.6 million shortfall in the $27 million FY2009 general-fund budget by, among other things, eliminating 10 staff positions and imposing a three-day payless furlough and other vacation … Continue reading $1.6-Million Shortfall Forces ALA Staff Cuts, Furloughs
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.
