American Libraries

Booksellers, publishers, and librarians in Los Angeles for BookExpo America, April 30 through May 2, found less glitz than expected both on the convention floor and at the various receptions and social events held throughout the city. "Laid-back" was...

Effective state-level lobbying for library issues will headline at least one program sponsored by the Chapter Relations Committee at ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans June 24-30. To whet your appetite, consider the fate of a bill recently derailed...

IT SEEMS THAT OPEN ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION IS THRIVING IN OUR SOCIETY - BUT IS IT REALLY? The concept of freedom of information is as old as our republic Thomas Jefferson originally thought that officials and bureaucrats, knowing that their...

AN AMBITIOUS EFFORT BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRESERVES THE NATION'S DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN TRADITIONS When William "Robot Man" Clark lost his license for his auto repair shop in Newtonville, New Jersey, in 1980, he wasn't ready to retire. So he...

More than 3,500 trade visitors, 1,400 exhibitors from 72 countries, plus software companies, a gallery of African art, and a sizable number of librarians made up the 36th Annual Children's Book Fair in Bologna, Italy, April 8-11. The Italian Pavilion...

In Libraries: An American Value (see insert, following p. 80) the members of the American Library Association "affirm the responsibility and the right of all parents and guardians to guide their own children's use of the library and its resources and...

Several years ago I stayed at a little hotel in the heart of the French Quarter. Although I was alone, I was never lonely. For companionship all I had to do was sit at my window and enjoy the mysterious alchemy in the street below. In the morning,...

It seems that none of the 116 delegates to ALA's Congress on Professional Education knew exactly what to expect when they were thrown together in Washington. D.C.'s Loews l'Enfant Plaza Hotel, April 30-May 1. What they got was an unprecedented opportunity...

A PROLIFIC TELLER OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN TALES RECALLS GETTING HER INSPIRATION FROM A CHILDREN'S LIBRARIAN BEARING BOOKS OF MANY SIZES AND HUES My mother, Etta Belle Hamilton, was a perfectly round, small woman, not five feet tall. As a youngster going...

The University of California/Los Angeles Department of Library and Information Science has become the 10th ALA-accredited master's program in library and information science to drop the word "library" from its title. Rechristened the Department...

Shortly before going on vacation, I went to library discussion lists Publib and Web41ib and posted a quick question about offering e-mail to patrons. Out of nearly 70 responses from a mix of public and academic libraries, all but five reported that...