How Ohio public libraries have counteracted state funding cuts provides insight into the power of independent governance for libraries across the country.
The economic climate may give libraries their biggest opportunity yet to get into the broadband debate and avoid being passed over in an increasingly mobile connected world, as well as to make the case for
In Colorado, and elsewhere, saving on taxes trumps saving services.
Go back to the Academic Newswirefor more storiesBoucher assures that bill will not disrupt e-commerce Privacy groups cite too many loopholesALA reserves comment but calls it a startU.S. Reps. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Chairman of the More...
Go back to the Academic Newswirefor more storiesAdvocates make the caseWould trump NIH 12-month embargoOpposition from publishersBaby steps toward legislation: the broad open access mandate known as The Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) is More...
Go back to the Academic Newswirefor more storiesFCC may have to regulate broadband strictlyLibrary groups remain optimisticTechnology makes it easier to degrade Internet serviceAfter a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Tuesdaythat the Federal Communications Commission More...
Top ten security issues in public librariesSecurity professional shares experiencesQuestions posed via chat, not anonymouslyToday's PLA Virtual Conferencesession on security issues in public libraries-broadcast live from 1:30–2:30 p.m. EST and having earlier taken place at More...
Climate in Washington has changedALA: more time for negotiationACLU dismayedThree sections of the USA PATRIOT Act, reauthorized last week for one year, did not include any library-friendly amendments, but library advocates are optimistic that progress More...
Petitioner allowed at nonleased branchesLoses small claims court case, pursues legal actionPetitions ACLU of Arizona to take caseRetired librarian Michelle Graye has spent the last six months gathering signatures for the Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiative More...
A press releaseabout the award,issued by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is below. Here's past coverage of the issue in School Library Journal.The press release More...
School Library Journal reports:Following the firing of two of its circulation staffers for barring an 11-year-old access to the graphic novel, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (Wildstorm, 2008), the Jessamine County Library in More...
Demand for public computer centers can't be metApplication is cumbersomeLibraries should be prioritized as anchor institutionsIn comments filed to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Rural Utilities Service (RUS) regarding the implementation of More...
Most libraries have inadequate connection speedsSites like MySpace can hog networkNeed for more capacity planningNearly 60 percent of public libraries report inadequate Internet connection speeds to meet patron demand, according to the American Library Association's More...
Increased protections for library, bookstore recordsMore safeguards regarding gag ordersFurther debate coming in HouseSenate committee passed narrower reformsWhile the American Library Association has expressed dismay that Senate Judiciary Committee did not reform the USA PATRIOT More...
Substitute bill marked up ThursdaySection 215 has higher standard for library recordsALA seeks reform of procedures regarding NSLsWhile at a September 23 hearing Democratic Senators seemed to welcome adjustments in the USA PATRIOT Act, behind-the-scenes More...
Go back to the Academic Newswirefor more storiesFor the past couple of weeks I've been dipping into Dennis Baron's A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution, a history of writing technologies and a More...
Two reform bills saluted by ALALeahy's bill would require government to prove relevanceWould eliminate one-yearban onchallenge togag ordersThree Democratic Senators have introduced a second piece of legislation to amend expiring USA PATRIOT Act Provisions set More...
Go back to the Academic Newswirefor more storiesFCC Commissioner speaksNew principles will receive rule-makingALA points to role of distance learningLibrary advocates have long supported 'net neutrality,'; a principle under which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) choose More...
Go back to the Academic Newswirefor more storiesIt seems inconceivable that Yale University Press, or any university press, for that matter, publishing a scholarly book on the Danish newspaper cartoons of Muhammad that sparked violence More...
Go back to the Academic Newswirefor more storiesI knew when I browsed the ALA program that one of the speakers I wanted to be sure to hear was Tom Blanton, director of the National Security More...
FromSchool Library Journal, following up earlier coverage: The four board members of Wisconsin's West Bend Community Memorial Public Library who were likely to vote against moving sexually explicit YA books to the adult section won't More...
From School Library Journal:The West Bend Community Memorial Public Library.The library board that's supposed to determine the fate of a major book challenge at Wisconsin's West Bend Community Memorial Public Libraryis having a hard time More...
From Publishers Weekly:Four members of a library board in West Bend, WI, were dismissed last week for refusing to remove controversial books from the library's young adult section-and yesterday, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free More...
Issue comes down to costNewspaper editorializes against filtersPlan would have been similar to CIPAThough much of an 18-month debate over Internet filters at the San Jose Public Library, CA, concerned the appropriateness and effectiveness of More...
Vote apparently aimed to avoid lawsuitLibrary will post new noticesBoard member says books are not kids' magnetApparently aiming to avoid a lawsuit over its February decisionto restrict minors' access to four sex-related books books, the More...
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) has introduced legislation that would exempt ordinary books from a regulation in the recently enacted Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), which seeks to protectchildren from the dangers of More...
Deputy mayor slams incumbent for appointeesNo lawsuit yetWould J-card be better?The 5-3 decision last week by the board of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, KS, to restrict minors' access to four books on More...
$9 billion in stimulus funds under debate$200 million for public computer centers, including librariesALA says overall package would have major impactQuestions about whether money is too little, or targeted wronglyALA says sustainability will remain focus More...
The tongue-in-cheek title alludes to the equally tongue-in-cheek blog that moved last month to LibraryJournal.com, Annoyed Librarian, or, as I call her, AL. The A could stand for anonymous, too, since AL is masked by More...
Should a library add Daddy's Roommate?Knowyour community, whether it's Wasilla or AnchorageWhat to do when a book disappearsSee LJ's complete Sarah Palin andLibraries coverage.Given the controversy over the gay-themed titles that allegedly raised the ire More...
See LJ's complete Sarah Palin andLibraries coverage.First public statement by former library headNewspaper reporter recalls titles, but memory unclearPalin's church concerned about book on gays; mayor's role murkyMore information has finally emerged about Republican Vice-Presidential More...
Hearing scheduled for September 11Response to publishers' concerns aboutpublic accessPublishers had been warning of a challengeIn less than a week, on Thursday, September 11, the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property of the More...
Resident took sex ed book, called itobsceneCity imposed fine, but didn't pursue jail timeFour copies of book donated to the libraryThe city of Lewiston, ME, has decided not to pursue further prosecution of a woman More...
Credit card verification for "harmful to minors" material deemed overbroadFilters, says ACLU, are a better solutionALA sibling FTRF joined in amicus briefThe Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which would have required web sites with 'harmful More...
No 'information self-determination'; in the U.S.Doctorow: information architecture is politicsVendors could create systems that protect privacy but give more to patronsIn one sector of libraryland, some thinkers believe that the library profession's well-grounded concern with More...
Writer compares Israelis to NazisBook owned by virtually no librariesWould library give a platform to 'Mohammed cartoons';?Depending on whom you ask, the Vancouver Public Library (VPL), BC, either is taking freedom expression seriously by welcoming More...
Writer compares Israelis to NazisBook owned by virtually no librariesWould library give a platform to 'Mohammed cartoons';?Depending on whom you ask, the Vancouver Public Library (VPL), BC, either is taking freedom expression seriously by welcoming More...
Cites offense 'to public sensitivity';ALA warns about initial decisionPresentations moved to larger venueAfter significant criticism, including from the American Library Association, the Greenwich Library , CT, reversed its decision to cancel two talks by a More...
A Maine library has been cleared of obscenity charges for having a controversial sex ed title on its shelves, and the patron who removed the book from the library will stand trial for theft. A More...
Ten years after it rejected the use of Internet filters on public library computer terminals, the San Jose, CA, City Council is again debating whether to install Internet filtering software to prevent users of the More...
The American Library Association (ALA) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) are seeking language that would ensure that law enforcement requests for library patron records or the surveillance of library users through library networks More...
Following the September 25 recommendations of a review committee consisting of board chair David Ables, director Michael Hamlett, and library staffers, the Jackson-George Regional Library System, MS, returned comedian Jim Norton's volume Happy Endings: The More...
On the fall agenda for Congress, which reconvenes September 4: reconciling House and Senate versions of the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act (OPEN Government Act), which was passed by unanimous consent the More...
At the urging of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), a scholarly book pulped by its British publisher is maintaining a safe haven in U.S. libraries. Alms for Jihad was the target More...
Despite protests by Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle that its collection includes 'hard-core pornography,'; the private Stonewall Library, one of the largest gay and lesbian libraries in the United States, will have a new home More...
In mid-May, two Yutan, NE, male teens repeatedly broke into their town library after hours in order to access online pornography. City leaders came up with a novel solution. They didn't put a lockdown on More...
A month after the board of the Monroe County Library System, NY, agreed to tighten its Internet policy, the board of the Rochester Public Library (RPL), which is funded by the county and serves both More...
In Illinois, a proposed state version of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which would tie public library filtering to the receipt of state library aid, has stalled and seems unlikely to pass in the More...
Internet service in several Illinois libraries went dark May 14, protesting the passage in the Illinois House of Representatives of a demanding library Internet filter bill. While some libraries turned off the net, others installed More...
'Did you see this nonsense?'; Virginia Conway asked fellow librarian Lois Brody.'What, Ginny?'; said Brody. The two women are among the staff of the medium-sized Walker Public Library.'This new directive from on high,'; Conway said, More...
In response to a threat from Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks to deny $6.6 million to the Rochester Public Library Central Library, NY--which is funded by the county and serves both systems--if Internet pornography were More...
