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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 27 Palatine, IL 60095 ALAALAIssue 5 CognotesOrlando, FL Annual Conference Highlights Clarke Asks Librarians To Defend Constitution Inside By Alberta Davis Comer after 9/11 America these rights then the terrorists Indiana State University should have competed have won. While law enforcement Richard A. Clarke, who served in terms of ideology. He needs legal tools to do its job, law President's Program seven U.S. presidents including said that America won enforcement needs to get warrants Page 2 serving as counterterrorism czar the Cold War not by from federal court judges to do so. for Bill Clinton and George W. killing the enemy, but To win the war in the right Bush, was the keynote speaker at by competing against way, by engaging in a battle of E.L. Doctorow the official Opening General Ses- the ideas of commu- ideas, Clarke believes American Page 2 sion on Saturday, June 26. nism. America’s ability citizens need to be well informed Clarke is author of the controver- to win the struggle for and that libraries play a key role Carl Hiaasen sial book Against All Enemies: ideas has diminished in this venture. Libraries also Page 5 Inside America’s War on Terror. because so many of its play a key role by stimulating de- Edwin Buckhalter, chair of former friends, such as bate even in times when debate Severn House Publishers, intro- Morocco, Egypt and and dissent have been dampened. Mitch Albom duced Clarke as “a prophet with- Turkey, now have He said that the title of his book Page 14 Former White House Terrorism Advisor out honor in his own country.” negative opinions of Richard Clarke addresses attendees came from a line in the Constitu- Clarke began his address by stat- Americans. Clarke during the Opening General Session. tion that is used as an oath for ing that it was especially appro- warned that Iraqi chil- every federal official. That oath priate for him to address this dren have seen American troops the ways that have been tried are requires that the person preserve, year’s ALA conference because kick down doors and they have seen counterproductive. protect, and defend the Constitu- 2005 Dates this has been the year when po- bodies of dead Iraqis. America, he In his 20 years of fighting ter- tion against all enemies, foreign litical debates have been informed cautions, will pay a price for this rorists, Clarke never had a rea- and domestic. His departing re- Midwinter Meeting not by newspapers, television, or because the youth will hate Ameri- son to look at library records. He quest to the attendees was to join Boston, Massachusetts the Internet, but by books. cans and a whole new generation stated that the provisions in the in defending the Constitution January 14-19 Clarke discussed the reasons of terrorists will develop. He cau- PATRIOT Act that allow such re- against all enemies. why the so-called war on terror- tioned that while it is important to view of library records have a chill- The response from the packed Registration opens ism is being lost. He contends that America to win this so-called war, ing effect on people using librar- auditorium was a rousing stand- September 1 ies. And, he said, if we give up ing ovation. Housing opens October 3 Taylor Branch: We Learn www.ala.org/midwinter Through Stories Annual Conference By Amy Pickett He is currently completing the Chicago, Illinois University of Pittsburgh third and final installment, At June 23-29 Taylor Branch presented “A Canaan’s Edge. Registration opens Writer’s Life: How We Learn Branch recounted childhood From History,” part of the years spent pitching in at his December 1 Auditorium Speaker Series, on father’s dry-cleaning business. Housing opens Monday, June 28. Branch is the His father’s employees were January 3 author of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize- primarily African-American, www.ala.org/annual winning Parting the Waters: including one, Peter Mitchell, America in the King Years, 1954- who shared his father’s love of 1963. In 1999 he published Pillar pranks and practical jokes. The The Guerilla Girls, sponsered by Penguin Putnam, are featured of Fire: America in the King two often bet on Atlanta Cracker on the Stacks Stage during the SupERTuesday Exhibits Closing Years, 1963-1965, the second baseball games, and occasionally Reception. installment in his King Trilogy. Continued on page 11 Visit us at Booth 1432 Page 2 • Cognotes 2004 Annual Conference Highlights Effects of Landmark Brown Ruling Debated By Rochelle Hartman father, Oliver Brown, was the Brown Bloomington Public Library (IL) named in the case. A distinguished panel addressed the Henderson devoted much of her talk history and legacy of the Brown v. to debunking the media myth of Brown Board of Education in which the U.S. v. Board. Putting the case in historical Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that perspective, Henderson said that the public schools could no longer be seg- case was 105 years in the making, be- regated at Sunday, June 27’s ginning with the first documented law- President’s Program. suit for integration filed in 1849. Be- ALA President Carla Hayden’s pro- tween then and 1954, there were doz- gram, “Equity: Are We There Yet?” in- ens, if not hundreds of lawsuits for inte- cluded Pulitzer Prize-winning author gration filed. Brown v. Board was the 12th ALA President Carla Hayden leads a question and answer session with Taylor Branch; E. J. Josey; Ray Suarez such case filed by the Kansas NAACP. President’s Program speakers (from left to right) Taylor Branch, Cheryl and Cheryl Brown Henderson, whose Far from being about a little girl who Brown Henderson, Ray Suarez and E.J. Josey. wanted to go to school, Henderson said that hers was one of 13 families and 300 people that were a part of the class action Doctorow Addresses Contemporary Politics suit. Ironically, her father’s name ended By Frederick J. Augustyn, Jr. the nation that we get.” There is an his- up on the suit because he was the only The Library of Congress torical precedent for current events. He male plaintiff listed. President-elect Carol Brey-Casiano in- drew a parallel between the early 1950s While Henderson said that the real troduced E. L. (Edgar Lawrence) Doctorow when the U. S. endured a seemingly end- story makes her family no less proud of as an award-wining fiction writer who less ideological war with a formidable foe, the legacy, they owe it to history to be since the 1960s “has challenged his read- had troops engaged on the field in battle, honest. Saying that “The Internet is the ers in the way that they look at people feared the equivalent of WMDs, and faced most egregious purveyor of this mythol- and their environments.” Doctorow noted a chilling intellectual climate. But even ogy,” Henderson followed up by saying that he last spoke before ALA at its an- during that time, more divergent voices that people need to come to libraries to nual conference seven years ago in Mi- existed than were immediately apparent. discover the truth, and not rely on me- ami. He said that he was “not comfort- Among those “energies of self-correction” dia accounts. She referred to herself as able emerging from behind my metaphors” were the beats and saintly people such as an “archival convert.” to address contemporary questions, but Dorothy Day. Recently the U. S. Supreme While all agreed that tremendous did so here. Court ruled that enemy combatants held E.L. Doctorow delivers the Closing progress has been made, panelists spoke Referencing Thomas Jefferson’s obser- in detention have a right to due process. Session keynote address. about losing ground in recent years. vation that “America is the last, best hope He concluded with a secular humanist Doctorow could sign copies of his latest Suarez said it has been demonstrated here on earth,” he asserted that “in our prayer blessing librarians, among other book, Sweet Land Stories, for members repeatedly there are those who manage national elections, the president we get is people. The talk ended early so that of the audience. to follow the letter, but "violate the spirit” of Brown v. Board. Thank you for supporting Democracy. D is for Democracy: A Citizen’s Alphabet In refreshingly candid and straight-to-the-point language author Elissa Grodin takes readers of all ages on an A-Z trip through our government’s structure, from its earliest beginnings to definitions of basic components and concepts (including immigration and taxation). Engaging, disarming, and frequently thought-provoking artwork from illustrator Victor Juhasz emphasizes the magnitude of the subject. From founding fathers, first ladies, and the First Amendment to the presidential oath of office, D is for Democracy details the political processes, parties, and people of democracy, American-style. D is for Democracy: A Citizen’s Alphabet By Elissa Grodin, with illustrations by Victor Juhasz 1-58536-234-4 | $16.95 Available in August from Sleeping Bear Press. Or call 1-800-877-4253. © 2004 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. Thomson and Star Logo are trademarks and Gale and Sleeping Bear Press are registered trademarks used herein under license. Page 4 • Cognotes 2004 Annual Conference Highlights ALA President Carla Hayden, left, and President- elect Carol Brey Casiano, right, cut the ribbon to open the exhibits as John Ison and Executive Board members observe. Lace Keaton, Worthington Libraries, Worthington, OH, braves “Jaws” for a souvenir photo during the Scholarship Bash at Universal Studios.