AL Direct, October 3, 2012 Contents American Libraries Online | ALA News | Booklist Online Division News| Awards & Grants | Libraries in the News Issues | Tech Talk | E-Content | Books & Reading | Tips & Ideas Great Libraries of the World | Digital Library of the Week | Calendar The e-newsletter of the American Library Association | October 3, 2012 American Libraries Online Focus on the future ALA President Maureen Sullivan (right) writes: “In late September, I led an ALA delegation to New York City to meet with ALA Midwinter Meeting publishers to discuss the many concerns of registration and housing the library community about ebook are now open. Critical publishing. Uppermost in our minds were the conversations about the ebook concerns that have come to us from ALA members across the transformation and future country—especially about pricing and availability (or the lack thereof) of libraries will be taking and the slow pace of progress in finding solutions. I expressed these place in popular concerns at a September 27 meeting hosted by the Association of destination city Seattle, American Publishers.” Christopher Harris and Jeremy Greenfield also January 25–29. Details provide summaries of that meeting.... will follow in the coming AL: E-Content, Sept. 27, Oct. 2; Digital Book World, Sept. 27 weeks; in the meantime, get updates on the Joint libraries: Models that work Midwinter Meeting Claire B. Gunnels, Susan E. Green, and Patricia website. M. Butler write: “In the past, academic and public libraries had very different missions and operations. But once the two cultures are merged during a joint venture, there can be some radical adjustments made by the librarians and staff of each type of library. What is a joint library’s mission? To educate, yes. To expand horizons, yes. To help with research, yes. It is a good manager who can harness the best of both worlds.”... American Libraries feature Rocking the joint Laurie D. Borman writes: “A joint library sprouts in Chicago. When a series of floods forced the 2011 closure of a Chicago Public Library branch in the city’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, CPL figured it would cost $15 million to acquire land and build a new http://aldirect.ala.org/sites/default/al_direct/2012/october/100312-2.htm[7/17/2014 9:54:12 AM] AL Direct, October 3, 2012 facility. Then a phoenix arose. Across the street from the closed library, a new high school was about to be built, including an 8,000-square-foot library building.”... American Libraries feature Library Snapshot Day turns three Morgan Reeves writes: “How would you like to tell the world that in one day more than 160,000 people visited your state’s libraries and more than 1,000 people received job- search help? Thanks to Library Snapshot Day, you can. Launched three years ago in New Jersey, the effort has expanded to include librarians nationwide in collecting statistics, customer comments, and pictures from libraries all over their state during a single day, then compiling the results and posting them online. So far the event has taken place in at least 31 states.”... American Libraries feature Outside/In: Community connections David Lee King and Michael Porter write: “Has your library ever thought about using technology and communitywide projects to connect with customers? It’s not easy to pull off, but if you’re successful, your library can make new friends and contacts and can provide useful knowledge or entertainment for the community along the way. Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library, where David works, has done a number of these projects—but with a technology twist. Here are some examples to get you started.”... American Libraries column, Sept./Oct. Library mentor and pioneer Clara Stanton Jones dies Clara Stanton Jones, 99, the first woman and the first African American to direct the Detroit Public Library, died September 30. Jones’s 26-year career at DPL culminated in a promotion to the directorship in 1970, where she served until her retirement in 1978. A renowned mentor to young professionals, Jones was ALA’s first African-American president, serving in 1976–1977.... AL: Inside Scoop, Oct. 3 Top 100 libraries by collection size Valerie Hawkins writes: “As you may know, the ALA Library has several pages called ALA Library Fact Sheets, which answer common questions about libraries, with sources noted. At some point in our history (and on September 30, we turned 88 years old), someone asked what were the top 100 libraries in the country, and we decided to use existing national surveys to respond, http://aldirect.ala.org/sites/default/al_direct/2012/october/100312-2.htm[7/17/2014 9:54:12 AM] AL Direct, October 3, 2012 ranked by collection size. The Nation’s Largest Libraries: A Listing by Volumes Held is one of our oldest fact sheets, and therefore one of ALA’s oldest web pages.”... AL: Ask the ALA Librarian, Oct. 3 Romanian symposium draws francophones Leonard Kniffel writes: “‘English is the language of globalization,’ said Velizar Sadovski, senior researcher at the Institute of Iranian Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, during the opening ceremony of the fifth edition of the international symposium ‘The Book. Romania. Europe.’ Gathered September 23–26 in the Romanian seaside town of Mamaia, francophone librarians from 18 countries delivered 54 papers, primarily in French, which is the traditional second language of Romanians.”... AL: Global Reach, Sept. 26 Go back to the Top ALA News Ways to celebrate Banned Books Week Amanda Christy Brown, Holly Epstein Ojalvo, and Katherine Schulten suggest some ideas for celebrating Banned Books Week—with your students, After 20 years and your children, and anyone who believes in having the more than 100 books, freedom to read: “10. Have you ever been caught kids keep gobbling up reading under the covers? So was the late Judith Goosebumps—the Krug (right), the librarian who created Banned Books thrilling, chilling, page- Week—and her mother’s reaction to what she was turning fright fest from reading taught her a lesson about having the R. L. Stine. Make this freedom to read that later translated into her passion for the First poster and Amendment and intellectual freedom. Be sure to thank your bookmark part of the librarians.”... draw for both longtime New York Times, Apr. 14, 2009; Sept. 21 and new fans of the Banned Books Week flash mob series, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary at Lafayette College with a new collection: As part of Banned Books Week, students, http://aldirect.ala.org/sites/default/al_direct/2012/october/100312-2.htm[7/17/2014 9:54:12 AM] AL Direct, October 3, 2012 Goosebumps Most faculty, and librarians at Lafayette Wanted. NEW! From College in Easton, Pennsylvania, took ALA Graphics. part in a literary flash mob (2:05) October 1 at the entrance to Skillman Library, reading aloud passages from 30 of the ALA’s top banned books. In conjunction with Judith’s Reading Room, a local nonprofit Great Libraries literacy organization, Kirby Librarian Ana Ramirez Luhrs and student Erin D’Amelio organized the event along with a number of related of the World activities in protest of challenged books.... Easton (Pa.) Express-Times, Oct. 2; YouTube, Oct. 1 John Waters reads from Lady Chatterley’s Lover American filmmaker, actor, writer, stand- up comedian, journalist, visual artist, and art collector John Waters reads (3:11) from D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover in City Lights bookstore, San Francisco, for Banned Books Week. The novel became notorious for its story of the physical relationship between a working- class man and an upper-class woman, its explicit descriptions of sex, and its use of then-unprintable words.... Francis Trigge Abandon All Despair Ye Who Enter Here, Oct. 1; YouTube, Oct. 1 Chained Library, St. Wulfram’s Church, Banned book trading cards Grantham, UK. In The Lawrence (Kans.) Public Library is celebrating 1598, Francis Trigge, Banned Books Week by giving away limited-edition rector of Welbourne, banned book trading cards that display drawings gave £100 for a small inspired by banned books and authors created by local library of books for the artists. There is one for each day of the week. The clergy and literate laity week kicked off with an homage to George Orwell’s of Grantham. About Animal Farm created by artist Barry Fitzgerald, 250 of the original followed by an homage to Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt volumes remain. Most Vonnegut, drawn by Kent Smith.... of the books were GalleyCat, Oct. 2 originally chained, riveted to the fore- The next big thing in banned edge of the front books covers. The 82 remaining chains run Michelle Blank writes: “One trend that on rings along bars may point to the next big thing in attached to the banned books is the dramatic drop in the shelves. number of annual challenges. In 1995 there were 762 challenges, compared to only 348 in 2010. Could this mean that book banning is coming to an end? Another possibility for the next big thing in banned books might involve the reasons for book challenges (above). Some age-old favorites like ‘homosexuality’ have dropped off the list for the past couple of years.”... YALSA The Hub, Oct. 1 Locked up with Vonnegut for Banned Books Week Indianapolis writer and editor Corey Michael Dalton is spending this week “locked up with Vonnegut” at the Kurt Great Court and Vonnegut Memorial Library to call Reading Room, http://aldirect.ala.org/sites/default/al_direct/2012/october/100312-2.htm[7/17/2014 9:54:12 AM] AL Direct, October 3, 2012 attention to continued efforts to ban British Museum, books.