Councilor James Casey prepares a nice report after each conference and shares it publicly. Here is his report on ALA Annual 2006: AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING – New Orleans June 23-28, 2006. Notes by James B. Casey Only some 10 months after the Katrina hurricane devastated many neighborhoods of New Orleans and forced tens … Read more Jim Casey’s notes on ALA Annual 2006
Over the next few days I’ll be reporting on aspects of the ALA Conference that just took place in New Orleans, and talking about some of the things that ALA as an organization has been working on. It seems to me that ALA members like me who are very involved in the association could do … Read more Conference reports coming up
The school board in Miami, Florida just voted to remove a book from the school’s library – “Vamos a Cuba / A Visit to Cuba” – because they consider it ideologically incorrect. This story has been developing for a while, but today’s news is about the actual vote of the school board. One school board … Read more Ironic Dade County
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an informative article on Jo Ann Pinder’s firing.
On this day we celebrate the Barnette decision. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on flag day, 1943, overturning a law which made it compulsory for students to salute the flag and recite the pledge of allegiance. (The law made parents and guardians … Read more Happy Flag Day
Jo Ann Pinder, a completely mainstream librarian and longtime head of the Gwinnett County, Georgia, library system, was recently fired from her job by the library board, with no explanation given, after a local conservative organization set up a website that aimed to “harmonize [their] library system with the conservative values of Gwinnett County families.” … Read more Conservative campaign forces Georgia librarian from post
The Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards were announced in late April of this year. The award is described thusly: “The Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards are given annually to the children’s picture books and longer books published the preceding year that effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of … Read more Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards
Issue 154/155 of the SRRT Newsletter is just published. It has a report from the Midwinter meeting, a message from the Coordinator, updates on Task Force and member activities, and a feature article by Fred Stoss on the situation facing the EPA Library Network.
Check out Barbara Fister’s thoughts on Library 2.0 and the culture of reading in her posting on the ACRL blog. She refers and links to a discussion in the mainstream press which I have been neglecting, about how the medium of the web is affecting reading and book culture. This discussion involves Kevin Kelley, Lee … Read more Barbara Fister on Library 2.0 and the culture of reading
The Wall Street Journal published an article on Monday claiming that science journals routinely manipulate impact factors by encouraging contributors to cite heavily prior articles from the same journals. (The link goes to a login-free copy of the article as found on the Stay Free! blog.) Now, I think it’s true that because many journals … Read more WSJ claims STM journals rig impact factors