ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels summed up the state of Association finances at a general staff meeting in the Chicago headquarters the morning of April 7. “Overall revenues for 2010 are now projected to be 4% less, or just over $2 million,” Fiels said, “than ALA had projected a year ago” (on a total … Continue reading $1-Million Shortfall Results in Another Round of ALA Staff Furloughs
"Education is telling the truth to students," said author and contributing editor to National Public Radio's This American Life Sarah Vowell at the closing of the Public Library Association conference in Portland today. "You have the goods," she added. "You have the places where that person can find that truth." Vowell was responding to a … Continue reading Author Sarah Vowell Closes Public Librarians Conference in Portland
Waiting is never easy for a child. For a child in a hospital, though, it’s really a tough go. The looming surgery, the unfamiliar setting, even just the break in routine all pile on anxiety and make minutes seem like hours. Now many libraries are partnering with hospitals to help ease that anxiety as well … Continue reading Libraries, Hospitals Join Forces to Promote Wellness
The 2010 Olympic Winter Games are over and the Richmond O Zone celebration site here in British Columbia is being dismantled, but Richmond Public Library (RPL) staff are still reflecting on what it means to host the world. But let me shatter all your illusions right up front: We started out being a library, thinking … Continue reading Canadian Library Serves Community as Olympics Host
Members of the ALA governing Council learned yesterday from his wife, Amanda, that longtime councilor and association leader Bernard Margolis has been diagnosed with a severe type of blood cancer. His wife said they were consulting with the famed Dana-Farber/ Harvard Cancer Center in Boston and anticipate that he will need a bone marrow transplant … Continue reading Longtime ALA Leader Margolis Diagnosed with Blood Cancer
"There is no frigate like a book,” Emily Dickinson wrote long ago, “to take us lands away.” Only the foolhardy would quibble with her eloquent, 19th-century paean to the written word, and librarians aplenty support reading as a vehicle for escape and learning alike. Yet in the current century, more and more librarians themselves opt … Continue reading The Pixelated Campus
Avid library patrons will be able to journey through distant galaxies and accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult tasks in history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), thanks to a new partnership between IMAX and the American Library Association. Through April 30, ALA’s public awareness website, atyourlibrary.org, will host “Explore … Continue reading IMAX Offers Library Patrons Seats to Hubble 3D Movie
ALA–Allied Professional Association Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels told members of the ALA-APA governing Council during the Midwinter Meeting that success of the financially struggling organization lies within its Library Support Staff Certification Program, set to begin accepting applications January 25. >Fiels said there are about 150,000 professional librarians working in libraries in the United … Continue reading APA Success Relies Upon Certification Program
ALA past president Betty Turock, in her role as chair of the Spectrum Presidential Initiative, made a special appeal to the Association’s governing Council asking divisions, affiliates, and members to help reach a $1 million goal. Turock has provided a gift of $100,000 to the program on behalf of the Turock family. The gift will … Continue reading Turock Appeals for Spectrum Funds; Donates $100,000 to Presidential Initiative
ALA’s governing Council ended two of its three Midwinter Meeting sessions early in dealing with the Association’s business and also received good news about conference attendance in Boston. A total of 11,095 people attended Midwinter—8,526 registrants and 2,559 exhibitors representing 432 companies. That compares with attendance of 10,220 from the 2009 Midwinter Meeting in Denver. … Continue reading Council Tackles the Association’s Business in Record Time
The Midwinter Tracker, which gathers tweets and Flickr photos related to Midwinter and displays them in one place, is now operational. Developed by Heather Devine, the Midwinter Tracker currently includes materials that bear the hashtags #alamw10, #alamw, #alamwttt (for Top Tech Trends), and #totebag (for "ALA Midwinter Meeting Snark"). "The tracker for ALA Annual 2009 tracked 18 different hashtags, … Continue reading Midwinter Tracker Available
We at American Libraries are kicking off 2010 with a whole new way of keeping on top of library-related news, views, and perspectives with this revamped website. The site offers many new benefits, including expanded news content, web-only spotlights, HTML versions of most of the print magazine’s content, comment-enabled articles, an archive of every issue … Continue reading American Libraries launches revamped website
