ala – Page 4 – librarian.net

two worthwhile reports – ALA on ebooks and a digital curation guide

I’ve been trying to have as much summer as is possible with a messed up ankle. I just got through driving a friend’s Mini Cooper across the country (see photos here) and am heading back to the east coast tomorrow. Have been sitting down to catch up, I’m totally unused to checking email only a few times a day and actually taking a real vacation from MetaFilter. Here are the two things that have bubbled to the top of my pile

1. Digital Curation Resource Guide by Charles W. Bailey, Jr. – very thorough look at what people are writing about digital curation. Available as a website or in EPUB format.

2. ALA’s Ebook Business Models for Public Libraries (pdf) outlining what libraries are looking for, or should be looking for, in the world of ebooks, moving forward. Me, I’m just looking forward to the time when we can call them just books because that’s what they’ll be. We’re not there yet.

National Library Week – you belong @ your library

Posted on 08Apr1222Apr12 by jessamyn

So National Library Week starts today which is complicated because it’s a Sunday and most libraries are closed on Sunday. It’s also Easter which means some more libraries are closed on Easter. So this is good news if you’re scheming for stuff to do over the week, less good news if you’re a patron wanting to celebrate. This year’s theme is “You belong @ your library” which continues with the @ motif that ALA has been using since 1997. The actual national event has been going since 1958 and the first year’s theme was “Wake up and Read.” ALA has been the sole sponsor since 1974. If you want to get something started today, ALA has made some fairly nifty facebook “cover art” that you might like. Me, I’m waiting for the State of America’s Libraries report that is coming out on Monday because I always use those statistics in my digital divide talks and I’m always curious about trends in connectivity and tech use at libraries. Also who doesn’t like National Bookmobile Day?

This has been a tough year to be a library in many places. A friend sent me the video below where the Troy Library (MI) went all out with a “Okay you want to close the library? Let’s burn the books!” hoax campaign that actually got people thinking about why it’s important to keep the library doors open. While some folks might consider this an epic troll, I also think it does a good job redirecting people’s concerns from the Tea Party message of “money money” to the broader concern of “community community” which I think is a helpful shift and the social media angle is interesting. However not everyone thinks that this sort of stunt is helpful. As much as it was a fun jape, it doesn’t seem like any of the other library workers or supporters were in on the joke which turned into a bit of a PR mess. I’m not sure if the website for the Book Burning Party wasn’t as clear about their goals as it is now.

telling it like it is a reading list from 1970

Posted on 04Mar11 by jessamyn

“The Mod-Mod Read-In Paperback Book List was produced in 1970, under the auspices of the Young Adult Services Division, the precursor of the Young Adult Library Services Association. From the titles, it seems to be an ancestor of both Popular Paperbacks and Quick Picks. It was part of a project called â€œOperation Opportunity;â€ apparently the Jayceesâ€™ response to the Great Society.”

Read the whole post over at Sara Ryan’s terrific blog.

Banned Books Week as seen through its funders’ eyes

Posted on 27Sep1027Sep10 by jessamyn

More on the Chicago Defender.
Here are my old Banned Books Weeks posts: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. I skipped 2005.

It’s time for a review of Banned Books Week. This year most of my BBW information comes from Twitter. Amusingly BBW on Twitter can mean two very different things. This is the note I put on Twitter yesterday.

“Oh look an actual attempt at, well not book banning exactly. Weird old Pentagon. http://bit.ly/cqg9PL Happy [sort of] Banned Books Week.”

Pretty sketchy story. The Pentagon bought up the entire first printing of a book published by St Martin’s Press because it “contained information which could cause damage to national security.” The second edition has come out, heavily redacted. This is one of the closer “government is telling you what you can’t read” stories that I’ve seen this year. Here’s another look at the websites that are linked from ALA’s offical BBW website ala.org/bbooks, a page that is linked from the front page, but only as one of the six “slides” that revolve through the top of the page. So, Banned Books Week is sponsored by these organizations. Let’s see what their websites look like.

American Booksellers Association has a link to this functional site from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, much better than last year. This blog post (from August) seems to summarize what they’ve been up to. Nothing on their Twitter. They also run the website BannedBooks.org which has been updated a little for this year.
The American Library Association – has one of the six slides linked to their BBW page. The press kit page is more interesting. The full list of books that were challenged or banned last year is hidden away in a PDF. Mostly school challenges. A few interesting public library cases. ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom is posting a lot on their Twitter and their blog.
American Society of Journalists and Authors has a button for sale in their store, no other mention that I could find including on their Twitter and on facebook.
Association of American Publishers has a short bloggish post talking about what some publishers are up to this week, linked from the front page. Is anyone else freaked out that the URL includes a misspelling of the word “archives”? I remember that from last year.
the National Association of College Stores has nothing, as usual.
It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress but no mention that I can see.

One of the interesting thigns to note about the ALA list of challenges is how many of the public library challenges seem to be centered around just a few library systems. Most of these stories are ones that hit the national news and so I’ve heard about them and you probably have also.

There are also good websites to go to to learn about censorship and the larger (to me) issue of chilling effects on people’s right to live free from fear and free from silencing. Here are a few things I’ve been reading lately

The National Coalition Against Censorship has protested book ratings in a sensible and clear headed way.
A Few Words About Public Libraries and MPAA Ratings (pdf)
An interesting discussion on a unicycle forum about the public library and whether they should buy “cleaned up” versions of popular music.
Online books about censorship, from the Online Books Page’s banned books page.
I always find something interesting to read at Project Censored.

Join me in a rousing song celebrating free expression, won’t you?

show us the numbers re: new librarian jobs

Posted on 02Sep1021Feb24 by jessamyn

If the numbers are there, I’d like to see them. Otherwise this speculation about the graying of the profession doesn’t really seem to be fact-based.

“ALA, along with some meilleur casino en ligne français is still promoting the idea that we are approaching a librarian shortage and cannot possibly train enough people to continue on the grand tradition of librarianship. This information was suspect a couple years ago, and considering the state if libraries right nowâ€“academic, public and specialâ€“ it’s a damn lie.” [via @librarianmer]