cover cvr1 444n4_final.indd4n4_final.indd ccvr1vr1 77/14/2005/14/2005 44:52:39:52:39 PPMM Baker & Taylor Your One-Stop Total Solution With over 177 years invested in serving libraries, our commitment to you has never been stronger. By offering the programs, services, and product you need to best meet patron demand and expectation, Baker & Taylor can provide you with total solution from a single distributor. What makes us so special? • Over 90,000 U.K. titles available through • Five regional service centers for quick order Gardners Books turnaround • Expanded Spanish language offerings through • Local sales consultants acquisition of Libros Sin Fronteras • Experienced Customer Service Representatives • Access to over 80,000 eBook titles through • Online Customer Service 24/7 partnership with NetLibrary • Customized Library Services • Our database contains information on over 3.8 million print and non-print titles • Autoship services and notification to make your job easier • Over 1.3 million titles stocked at all times For more information on any of these services, please visit us at www.btol.com, call 1-800-775-1800 or contact your local sales consultant. 444n4_final.indd4n4_final.indd ccvr2vr2 77/14/2005/14/2005 44:53:33:53:33 PPMM Renée Vaillancourt McGrath Features Editor Kathleen M. Hughes CONTENTS Managing Editor July/August 2005 Vol. 44, No. 4 217 A+ Partners in Education Linking Libraries to Education for a Flourishing Future Valerie J. Gross 223 Contemporary Forces That Supported the Founding of the Boston Public Library Grace-Ellen McCrann 229 Unintentional Recruiting for Diversity Denice Adkins and Lisa K. Hussey 234 Assessing the True Nature of Information Transactions at a Suburban Library Rhonda S. Boyd IN EVERY ISSUE 188 Editor’s Note 208 Internet Spotlight Renée Vaillancourt McGrath Steven M. Cohen 189 From the President 210 Tech Talk Daniel L. Walters A. Paula Wilson 194 Tales from the Front 211 On the Agenda Jennifer T. Ries-Taggart 212 Bringing in the Money 196 Perspectives Stephanie K. Gerding Hampton (Skip) Auld 243 News from PLA 205 Book Talk Kathleen Hughes The Worst Day Writing Is Better 244 By the Book Than the Best Day of Work: An Julie Elliott Interview with Terry Trueman 247 New Product News Stephanie Squicciarini Vicki Nesting PLUS . 186 Readers Respond 215 InterViews 192 Verso Copyright Concerns: The Instant Messaging: Quick and Copyright Implications of Blogs Dirty Reference for Teens and Carrie Russell Others 246 Index to Advertisers Sarah Houghton The Public Library Association is a division of the American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; www.pla.org. Cover design by Jim Lange, Jim Lange Design, Chicago 444n4_final.indd4n4_final.indd 118585 77/14/2005/14/2005 44:53:48:53:48 PPMM EDITORIAL FEATURES EDITOR: Renée Vaillancourt McGrath MANAGING EDITOR: Kathleen M. Hughes CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Hampton (Skip) Auld, Steven Cohen, Julie Elliott, Stephanie K. Gerding, Nann Blaine Hilyard, Vicki Nesting, Jennifer Ries- Taggart, Paula Wilson EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Brendan Dowling ADVISORY COMMITTEE Isabel Dale Silver, Chair, Champaign, IL; Marilyn Boria, Elmhurst, IL; Nancy Charnee, New York, NY; Barbara Custen, Pasadena, CA; Sally Decker-Smith, Wheeling, The Sky is Not Falling on the Talking Books Program IL; Luren E. Dickinson, Jackson, MI; Nann Blaine Hilyard, Zion, IL; Marcia Schneider, San Francisco, CA; Thank you for publishing the Perspectives column on talking books (“That All May Bessie Condos, Sacramento, CA. Read,” Public Libraries, March/April 2005). Each essay offers a unique perspective EX OFFICIO: Clara N. Bohrer, West Bloomfield Library, 4600 Walnut Lake Rd., West Bloomfield, MI on the future development of the talking book service in the United States, and I’m 48323-2557; [email protected]. sure that many public librarians will find these insights helpful in sorting out the vari- PLA PRESIDENT: Daniel L. Walters, Las Vegas-Clark ous views on this topic. County Library District, 833 Las Vegas Blvd. N., Las I must point out, however, some serious flaws in the essay by Jim Scheppke (“The Vegas, NV 89101; [email protected] End of Talking Books?”), which predicts that the talking book service may come to an PUBLIC LIBRARIES (ISSN 0163-5506) is published end if the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) bimonthly at 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. It is the official publication of the Public Library does not manage to get the new digital format ready for distribution by the end of Association, a division of the American Library 2006 because he fears the use of cassettes will drive away prospective readers. There Association. Subscription price: to members of PLA, are many reasons why this will not happen. $25 a year, included in membership dues; to non- members: U.S. $50; Canada $60; all other countries First, Scheppke’s doomsday forecast is partly based on the use of eligibility esti- $60. Single copies, $10. Periodicals postage paid at mates from a study done by the American Foundation for the Blind in 1979. That Chicago, IL, and at additional mailing offices. study, while a model for its time, is now outdated and unreliable. More recent studies on the percentage of Americans with activity limitations and disabling conditions indi- POSTMASTER: send address changes to Public Libraries, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. cate that the rate of disability has dropped significantly in recent years. For example, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, the percentage of noninstitu- SUBSCRIPTIONS tionalized Americans with a limitation that affects daily living activities has dropped Nonmember subscriptions, orders, changes of address, 1 from 13.3 percent in 1997 to 12.4 percent in 2002. and inquiries should be sent to Public Libraries, Sub- Note that the decline has been greatest among the demographic groups that most scription Department, American Library Association, heavily use NLS services—people between the ages of 65 and 74 (from 30 percent 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; 1-800-545-2433, press 5; fax: (312) 944-2641; e-mail: subscriptions@ in 1997 to 25.2 percent in 2002), and those who are over the age of 75 (from 50.2 ala.org. percent in 1997 to 45.1 percent in 2002). While these declines in the rate of disability ADVERTISING are for all people with activity limitations, those eligible for talking books (people William N. Coffee, c/o Benson, Coffee & Associates, with visual, physical, or reading disabilities that prevent or impede the use of reading 1411 Peterson Ave., Park Ridge, IL 60068; (847) 692- materials in standard print) are a subset of this population. In just the past few years, 4695; fax (847) 692-3877. there has been explosive growth in the number of people who can benefit from new PRODUCTION medical procedures, such as improved laser surgery techniques and cataract removal, ALA PRODUCTION SERVICES: Troy D. Linker, so the percentage of Americans with visual impairments has slowly but steadily Angela Hanshaw; Stephanie Kuenn, Kristen McKulski, declined as a result. Karen Sheets, and Christine Velez. Second, as pointed out in Susan E. Randolph’s excellent article in the same issue MANUSCRIPTS (“The Promise of the Great American Wealth Transfer for Public Libraries”), there Unless otherwise noted, all submissions should be sent was a dip in the birth rate between 1926 and 1936, so the population of people who to Kathleen Hughes, Public Library Association, 50 E. are 75 years of age will not grow as quickly between 2001 and 2011. This will be Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; [email protected]. See www.pla.org for submission instructions. partially offset, however, by improvements in medical care, which have increased the INDEXING/ABSTRACTING likelihood of Americans living beyond age seventy-five. Still, the decline in the birth rate during the Depression helped lower the number of people who are now eligible Public Libraries is indexed in Library Literature and Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE), in for talking books. addition to a number of online services. Contents Third, a close examination of the number of people receiving NLS services reveals are ab stracted in Library and Information Science that the service population has not dropped as much as Scheppke’s chart implies. Abstracts. The total number of U.S. residents receiving services from NLS has indeed declined MICROFILM COPIES in recent years (from 554,719 in 1997 to 476,663 in 2002, a drop of 14.1 percent). Microfilm copies are available from University Micro- But NLS counts each customer by format, so a person who reads both Braille and films, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48103. cassette materials is counted twice, and during the time period in question, NLS was The paper used in this publication meets the mini- phasing out the production of materials on records. For example, the number of indi- mum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed vidual disc readers declined from nearly 97,000 in 1997 to just over 26,000 in 2002 Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. ∞ (a dramatic reduction of 73 percent). Since the last disc magazines were converted to ©2005 by the American Library Association continued on page 190 All materials in this journal are subject to copyright by the American Library Association and may be pho- tocopied for the noncommercial purpose of scientific Public Libraries encourages letters to the editor. Letters are used on a space-available basis and or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For may be excerpted. Preference will be given to letters that address issues raised by the magazine. other reprinting, photocopying, or translating, address Acceptance is at the editor’s discretion.