Wednesday, 23 March 2011

2011 One City, One Story


It's not too late to participate in Pasadena's 2011 One City, One Story events. If you're on campus at Pasadena City College on Friday, March 25 from 10am-12:30pm, you can catch Hillary Jordan in the Crevelling Lounge as she shares her experiences as an author. This will most likely be a smaller event. One of the final events is Conversation with Author - Hillary Jordan on March 26 at 3:30-5:00pm at the Pasadena Convention Center Ballroom. The Pasadena High School student photography display at the Central Library in conjunction with this month long event will be up till March 31st. All events are free.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

US Statistical Abstract on Chopping Block!

Edited from CJC-L ... Please excuse the cross postings.

The Census Bureau has had to put the US Statistical Abstract on the chopping block for 2012. This budget estimate is currently sitting at Congress. See University of Michigan’s Population Studies Center’s blog entry about it here, with links to the actual document: http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pscinfoserv/?p=1814.

Contact representatives in Congress to advocate that the Abstract be continued. (http://www.contactingthecongress.org/)

Please note that the County and City Data Book and the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book are also on the chopping block.

I hope that we as individuals and groups within ALA can work together to save this invaluable resource.

Liane Taylor
RUSA Reference Services Section Vice-Chair, 2010-2011
Serials Acquisitions Librarian
Albert B. Alkek Library
Texas State University - San Marcos601 University Drive • San Marcos • TX • 78666
ltaylor@txstate.edu • 512.245.2643

Monday, 14 March 2011

UNT/CSUN Greater Los Angeles MLIS Program

UNT/CSUN Greater Los Angeles MLIS Program
Onsite Information Sessions March 29 – April 2 – see locations below
Dr. Phil Turner, UNT DLIS Professor and Director of the UNT/CSUN Greater Los Angeles MLIS Program will provide information on the unique blended MLIS program delivered in partnership with CSUN. Information will be provided on the academic program, on-site attendance requirements, admissions, and costs and there will be opportunity to ask questions.
To review information about the program, please visit www.lis.unt.edu and select the “Distance Locations” item and review the information about the Greater Los Angeles Program. Admissions information and forms can be found at www.lis.unt.edu under the “Prospective Students” item.
For further information on this unique program, see the Greater Los Angeles flyer, http://www.lis.unt.edu/main/pdf/CaliforniaCohort.pdf.
For questions on the program, please contact Dr. Phil Turner pturner@unt.edu or Michele Lucero michelealucero@gmail.com.

There will be five information sessions conducted March 29 through April 2. No RSVP necessary:

  • Tuesday, March 29, 2011 6:30-8:00 p.m.
    Terrace Room, Shatford Library, Pasadena City College
    , 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91106 Parking on campus is $2.00
  • Wednesday, March 30, 2011 6:30-8:00 p.m.
    Community Room, Thousand Oaks Public Library, 1401 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
  • Thursday, March 31, 2011 6:30-8:00 p.m.
    Board Room, Radisson Hotel, 9777 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Chatsworth, CA 91311
  • Friday, April 1, 2011 6:30-8:00 p.m.
    William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, CA 90018 Come through gate entrance on Cimarron Street into parking lot. Library entrance is on left side down the staircase.
  • Saturday, April 2, 2011 2:30-3:30 p.m.
    Auditorium (2nd floor), Glendale Public Library, 222 East Harvard Street, Glendale, CA 91205 Library Visitors receive 3 hours FREE parking across Harvard at the Marketplace parking structure with validation at the Loan Desk.

NOTE: UNT/CSUN Greater Los Angeles MLIS Program Student Association will sponsor a Library Career Day at the Glendale Public Library from 4:00-5:30 p.m. Potential students welcome! Please RSVP for the Library Career Day to Michele Lucero michelealucero@gmail.com
-- Kind regards,Michele A. LuceroUNT CSUN Local Coordinator626.234.3804michelealucero@gmail.com

Restrictions on library e-book lending threaten access to information

E-Books and Public Libraries

ALA Press Release http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=6517

excerpt from: BoingBoing:
American Library Association task forces to take on ebook lending
Cory Doctorow at 9:23 AM Wednesday, Mar 9, 2011
The American Library Association has struck two new task forces to investigate the future of ebooks in libraries: the Equitable Access to Electronic Content Task Force and the E-book Task Force. The objective is to come up with a nationwide, coherent strategy to address the fact that some publishers will not make their books available as lendable ebooks, while others require ebooks to be packaged in crippleware formats that self-destruct after a certain number of checkouts.

Thursday, 10 March 2011

Registration Assistance Awards for the ALA Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program

Registration Assistance Awards for the ALA Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program

Note: this is an alternative to PCC’s Library Technology Certificate Program. It is primarily intended for library workers with experience but no coursework. Information about ALA’s Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program http://ala-apa.org/lssc/

Information and application for the registration assistance award is online: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/lssirt/news/index.cfm

The full registration fee for LSSC is $350 ($325 for ALA members). The Registration Assistance Award (RAA) is for one-half of the full registration fee ($175). The RAA is applied at the time of registration as a credit for one-half of the total amount. LSSIRT will be offering 50 Registration Assistance Awards. Deadline for submission is April 30, 2011. The Award recipients will be notified in early May.

Eligibility Requirements:

· Must have worked in a library as a staff member or volunteer for at least one year (1082) hours in the last five years.

· If you are a recipient of the award, you must apply to be a candidate for Library Support Staff Certification within three (3) months of receiving the award. If you do not register within 3 months, the award may be given to another applicant.

· Submit a paragraph indicating why you would like to become a Certified Library Support Staff.

Copied from e-mail by:

Ian Lashbrook - ilashbrook@ala.org
Research Associate
Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSC)
Office Hours: Mon-Thurs, 8:30am - 4:30pm
50 East Huron, Chicago, IL 60611
(o)312-280-1411, (f)312-280-5297
http://ala-apa.org/lssc

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

March is Women's History Month



Want to find out more about Women's History Month? Here are some websites you can check out. Library of Congress has its own website dedicated to this topic. The Biography website has a cool interactive journey and video clips. If you're into museums, check out these six women's museums at Infoplease. The History Channel has more videos one can view as well.
Looking for ideas on celebrating Women's History month? The Shatford Library has Celebrating women's history : a women's history month resource book which is in the Reference Collection. Check out the book display by the circulation desk as well for the Women Who Dare series and other interesting books in relation to Women's History Month. These are just a small sampling of the many books we have. How will you celebrate Women's History Month?
Here's a great quote: "Sometimes questions are more important than answers." ~ Nancy Willard I think that's quite fitting since libraries deal with answering questions all the time.

Free Lecture on Google's Universal Library at Huntington

Lecture: The Use and Abuse of the Universal Library

March 14 (Monday)

7:30 p.m. Free

Google’s project to digitize millions of books and create a “universal library” joins a long history of such visionary schemes. Adrian Johns, professor of history at the University of Chicago, will invoke that history to show the radical implications such an endeavor would have for authorship, reading, and publishing. Friends' Hall. No reservations required.

http://www.huntington.org/cal_event_detail.aspx?d=3/14/2011

Saturday, 5 March 2011

HarperCollins, Libraries and the 27th Reader

You might have heard about this but just in case you haven't this is a quick summary. As most of you know libraries have e-books that are available to library users. Many libraries use a company called OverDrive to handle the electronic lending of e-books.

The user downloads the book for a period of time. After the loan period has been reached the book is de-activated on the user's computer or reading device. The book is virtually returned so that another patron can check out the book.

Well, publisher HarperCollins wants to change that. They want to put a cap on the number of books a library can lend. For a two week lending period that would be 26 books.

So if you have a popular e-book and readers 1 to 26 have read the book your library would be required to purchase another license to allow person 27 to download the book.

If the library cannot afford to purchase the license or has maxed out the purchasing budget reader #27 is S.O.L; stone out of luck.



This, as you can imagine is not sitting well with libraries and librarians. This is a demonstration of the policy by the number of readers who have read certain physical books. This video by librarians of the Pioneer Library System in Norman, Oklahoma.

There are some who are calling for a ban on purchasing HarperCollins publications in all its permutations. This means a lock down of J.R.R. Tolken, To Kill A Mockingbird, Ursula K. Le Guin, Creatures of Light and Darkness, Anne McCafree and Z is for Zombie.

It is more than the requirement to re-purchase the book.

This does get at the heart of who owns a copy of a book. One book, one patron at a time has been the rule. When the book needed repair the library handled it, not the publisher. When the book could no longer be in service the library withdraws the book from circulation. At that time the library purchased a new book.

Or not. Because it works both ways.

HarperCollins has responded via a letter to Library Journal.

Other folks with opinions and concerns:
If you want to follow the Twitter responses the hashtag is #hcod. For the full details and current news visit Library Journal.