GAZETTE Volume 22, No. 3 • January 21, 2011 • A weekly publication for Library staff Jefferson Draws Record Number Of Visitors By Mark Hartsell A record number of visitors entered the Thomas Jefferson Building in the last fiscal year to see exhibitions, attend concerts, use the reading rooms or just take in the splendor of the 19th-century building. According to figures released this month, more than 1.03 million people vis- ited the Jefferson Building from October 2009 to September 2010 – an increase of ALA president Roberta Stevens (fifth from left) with colleagues at a California Library more than 7 percent over the previous Association conference in Sacramento in November. fiscal year. The Jefferson drew a greater number of visitors despite the heavy snows last For Stevens, ALA Presidency winter that paralyzed the region and shut down the Library of Congress for seven Means a Road More Traveled days in February 2010 and two days in in the Netherlands, from the pages of December 2009. By Mark Hartsell Newsweek to the airwaves of XM Sirius, The number of visitors to all three from a gathering at Lake of the Ozarks Library buildings combined dropped to a Banned Books Week Read-out at slightly, declining 1.9 percent from fiscal oberta Stevens didn’t realize quite Lake Michigan. year 2009. The Library recorded 1.7 mil- what she was getting into when she She has taken more than 15 such lion visits in the recently completed fiscal R took a leave of absence from the trips since entering office, and the pace year, down from 1.73 million. Library of Congress last year to serve shows little sign of slackening: Forays to The figures overall, however, mark the as president of the American Library Eastern Europe, Finland and Alaska are continuation of a strong upward trend. Association. in the works. The 1.7 million visits the Library “I knew that the presidential year “It’s exhilarating but exhausting,” received in fiscal year 2010 represented was going to be a full-time job,” Stevens she says. the second-highest total ever. Door says, “but it has turned out to be more The hectic schedule seems to fit the counts dating to 1999 show that visits to than full-time.” turbulent times – Stevens’ tenure hardly the three buildings more than doubled Stevens was inaugurated on June 29, could have come at a more challenging in the subsequent 10 years. and it’s been a steady stream of airports period for libraries. And visits to the Jefferson Building and hotels, conferences and meetings, “We’ve got a perfect storm of escalat- increased by nearly 40 percent in the speeches and task forces, webcasts and ing costs, shrinking financial support, past three years alone. media interviews ever since. surging usage and increased expec- “It’s just a continued upswing,” said Stevens’ work has taken her from tations about the level of service that a book fair in Mexico to a conference STEVENS, continued on page 5 JEFFERSON, continued on page 6 2 T H E LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GA ZETTE JANUARY 21, 2010 Letter to the editor To whom it may concern: GAZETTE www.loc.gov/staff/gazette I would like to thank everyone who was so kind and generous enough to MATTHEW RAYMOND donate leave to me. Words cannot express how much it meant to me. If there Executive Editor is anything that I can do to repay you for what you’ve done for me, please don’t MARK HartSELL Editor hesitate to give me a call. Contributing Editors: Erin Allen, Calendar; Carlin “René” Sayles, Moving On and Length of Service; With sincere thanks, Lisa Davis, Donated Leave Proofreaders: Jennifer Gavin, George Thuronyi Thelma B. Wiley Design and Production: Ashley Jones Rare Books and Special Collections PETER BRAESTRUP GAIL FINEBERG JAMES W. McCLUNG Founder Founding Editor Founding Publisher (1990 – 1997) (1990 – 2009) (1990 – 1994) Mystery Writers Series An official publication of the Library of Congress, The Gazette encourages Library managers and staff to submit articles and The Library of Congress Professional Association presents Debbi Mack, author of photographs of general interest. Submissions will be edited to convey the most necessary information. “Identity Crisis,” the first in a series featuring lawyer Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae. Deadline for submission of articles is 5 p.m. Wednesday, one week prior to publication date. Please submit text in digital form via e-mail ([email protected]) preferably as an attached Mack also is the author of the ebook short-story anthology, “Five Uneasy Pieces,” Microsoft Word file. and her work has appeared in two “Chesapeake Crimes” anthologies. Back issues of The Gazette in print are available in the Public Affairs Office, LM 105. The event is at noon on Jan. 26 in Pickford Theater. Electronic archived issues and the a color PDF file of the current issue are available online at www.loc.gov/staff/gazette. Contact Juanita Lyle (7-8246) or Mary Jane Deeb (7-1221). Library of Congress Washington, DC 20540-1620 Editorial: Mark Hartsell, 7-9194, [email protected] Design and production: Ashley Jones, OIG Would Like to Know 7-9193, [email protected] ISSN 1049-8184 Report suspected illegal activities, waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in Printed on paper that contains recycled paper by the Printing Management Section, Office Systems Services Library programs and operations to the Office of Inspector General (OIG). Library of Congress Regulation 211-6, available on the staff intranet at www.loc.gov/ staff/ogc/lcr/211-6.html, explains the Library of Congress Inspector General Act Gazette Welcomes Letters from Staff Staff is invited to use the Forum pages for lively and thoughtful of 2005. debate relevant to Library issues. However, just as other newspa- per editors exercise discretion over which letters to publish and how to edit them, so do we. In deciding whether or how much Contact the OIG hotline at 7-6306 or [email protected]. Or report anonymously to publish, we consider content (including misstatements of fact, libel, innuendo, ridicule of individuals or the institution, personal by mail to: P.O. Box 15051, Washington, D.C., 20003-9997. attacks, and redundancy) and length (the limit is 600 words). Letters must be signed by the author, whose place of work and telephone extension should be included so we can verify author- ship. Letter writers should understand that when they sign their letters and release them to us for publication they are relinquishing Donated Time privacy. If a letter calls for management response, for example, The following Library employees have satisfied the eligibility requirements to an explanation of a policy or actions or clarification of fact, we receive leave donations from other staff members. Contact Lisa Davis at 7-0033. will ask for management response.—Ed. Julie Biggs Isalemy Deleon Jose Charlotte Mathis Nancy Smith Gazette Deadlines Lisa Dove David Miller Donna Sokol The deadline for editorial copy for the Feb. 4 Tamikia Epperson Thipphavanh Padavong Jamie Stevenson Gazette is Wednesday, Jan. 26. E-mail editorial copy and letters to the editor Cindy Hui Parthenia Palmer Peter Torres to [email protected]. Margie Jones John Pull To promote events through the Library’s Adrienne Lundgren LeeAnn (Buckley) Rupple online calendar (www.loc.gov/loc/events) and the Gazette Calendar, e-mail event and Shaquanna Lloyd DeNina Scott contact information to [email protected] by Donald Marcus Malvina Shimanov 9 a.m. Monday of the week of publication. Boxed announcements should be submitted electronically (text files) by 9 a.m. Monday the week of publication to [email protected]. Read the Gazette in color at www.loc.gov/staff/gazette JANUARY 21, 2010 T H E LIBRARY OF CONGRESS GA ZETTE 3 NEWS The Top Digital Preservation Developments of 2010 By Bill LeFurgy Digital preservation activities made important strides last year. The Library of Congress houses a resi- dent program for this work, the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). In addition to the Library’s own proj- ects, NDIIPP collaborates with a large ‘Memento’ Wins Preservation Award Personal Archiving Outreach network of partners to work on long-term The “Memento” project, sponsored NDIIPP focused significant attention preservation of all things digital – from by NDIIPP, won the prestigious Digital on personal archiving information and institutional data to websites to individual Preservation Award 2010. “Memento” outreach this year. In addition to the personal archives. allows users to see what was formerly on videos already noted, program staff inter- The following projects represent the the web – in essence, to travel back in acted with hundreds of people during key developments in digital preservation time. The award, given by the Institute for the Library’s first Personal Archiving Day of the past year that involved the Library Conservation and the Digital Preserva- in May and again during the National of Congress: tion Coalition in the UK and supported Book Festival. Staff also worked with by Sir Paul McCartney, celebrates the the Smithsonian National Museum of Library Acquires Twitter Archives highest standards worldwide in the field African American History and Culture On April 14, the Library announced – of digital preservation. during outreach visits in Topeka, Kan., via Twitter – it would “acquire the ENTIRE and Detroit, Mich., as part of the Save Our Twitter archive.” African American Treasures program. The reaction from the media, both Rise of Preservation Awareness Video old and new, was enormous. The subject Many digital preservation practitio- surged as a top “trending topic” on Twitter ners believe that building awareness for days, eclipsing even such celebrities of the subject is essential. Given that as Justin Bieber.