May 13, 2008

Holocaust Book Program

One of the more interesting programs sponsored by the Children's Services Section at this Conference was a program on Holocaust books for children. The presenter was Kathe Pinchuk, this year's chair of the American Jewish Library Association's Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee. Ms. Pinchuk gave her audience some tips on reviewing and evaluating books on the Holocaust and then provided with an excellent list of recommended titles for a wide variety of ages. Her powerpoint presentation and an annotated list of recommended books have been posted to the handouts section of the wiki, so don't miss them.

Pat Vasilik
Children's Coordinator
Clifton Public Library
Clifton, NJ

Posted by Children's Services Section at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Conference 2008

Program recommending Spanish language books for Children

Lucia Acosta, from the Princeton Public Library, presented a great program at the conference, talking about the importance of including Spanish language materials in our public library collections and highlighting some of the books in Spanish that she thinks are outstanding. Lucia is not a big fan of bilingual books. (A biligual text often interupts the flow of the book, especially picture books, and very often the Spanish translation suffers.) Her recommended list of books for children will be posted to the wiki soon, so watch for it.

Posted by Children's Services Section at 3:11 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Conference 2008

May 9, 2008

NJLA Conference 2008

Within my work history, my previous experience with professional shows was horticulture. Just try to imagine the garden section at your local Home Depot or Lowe's picked up, reorganized into booths over the size of a football field, and then assigned a small group of knowledgeable but surreally excitable representatives. I cannot say that I got very excited over a new type of PVC pipe or a reformulated herbicides or the latest in tractor technology. To be fair, I cannot say that I got very excited over shelving systems or databases or book distributors, but I think it is only because I don't have access to the library system checkbook. Overall, it was an enjoyable introduction to the professional librarian convention scene.

My wife and I are librarians for different branches of the Burlington County Library System. The conference was a great way to spend the day with her while we both broadened our professional horizons. And with the various conference offerings, we were able to take in different presentations and compare notes on the car ride home. The only thing I missed was the chance to chat and do some social networking with some of the other librarians present; but this was more of a product of our conference schedule than actual opportunity. In any event, I found the programs that I attended to be interesting and relevant to what I do on a daily basis.

There was one observation that I found that will not shock or surprise anyone who was in attendance nor in the library profession and it will sound like such an obvious statement that some who read this might think I'm being a bit obvious. But it was something that stuck in my head, so I will try to put this as diplomatically as possible: the female to male ratio is somewhat askew. And by somewhat askew, I mean to say "noticeable to the point where I remarked to my wife about it and she looked me like I was a simpleton". It was something apparent in graduate school as well, but when you see it on such a large scale, it really drives the point home. It is in sharp relief to the very male dominated horticulture industry that I was a part of before library science (although I cannot think of one little girl that I have met who has said, "When I grow up, I want to apply pesticides!"). Personally, gender ratio doesn't matter to me, but the scientist within wonders as to the causes and whether it will maintain the status quo for the future.

I'm not sure of the exact causes, but studies indicate libraries tend to lose male patronage at puberty. We (the royal "we") seem to have a hard time regaining them so it is no surprise that they would be less inclined to make a career out of it. I will leave any discussion on how to reclaim these patrons to more experienced and better educated peers, but my inexperienced and non-educated belief is that, with the continuing digital revolution, we will see the gender balance tip closer to parity. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds along side the ongoing information revolution.

I look forward to next year's conference.

Andy Woodworth
Librarian
Bordentown Library
Burlington County Library System

Posted by Conference 2008 at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Conference 2008

May 8, 2008

Jersey City Bookmobile returns

by Lysa Chen
Thursday May 08, 2008, 1:33 PM

The Jersey City Free Public Library's new Bookmobile will begin routes Monday, two years after the previous Bookmobile went out of commission.

The 33-foot, disabled-accessible Bookmobile, which will be unveiled at 5 p.m. tonight before the library's "Casino Night & Silent Auction" event, will alternate between two weekly schedules, which can be found at http://jclibrary.org/libinfo/bookmobile.php.

The Bookmobile will stop at various locations in Jersey City, including community centers, day cares and senior centers.

"There are people who have a hard time getting to a library, so we're bringing the library to them," said Library Foundation Treasurer Mike Ryan.

The air-conditioned mobile library features a television and DVD player, a satellite dish and three computers and can hold 2000 books, Ryan said.

The Bookmobile cost $222,780.84 and was paid through proceeds from Library Foundation fund-raisers since 2005.

"The old Bookmobile looked like an antique bus, kind of embarrassing for a big city," Ryan said. "The new bus is something a city like Jersey City deserves. It's as big as the city is."

Posted by Pat Tumulty, NJLA Executive Director at 6:49 PM | Comments (0)
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FBI withdraws digital library's national security letter

By PAUL ELIAS
Published: Wednesday, May 07, 2008

A nonprofit digital library has successfully fought an FBI attempt to seize information about one of its users, and is calling on other groups to challenge government agencies attempting to obtain online customer information without a judge's order.
The FBI presented the San Francisco-based Internet Archive with a national security letter in November asking for a library patron's records. The group sued the agency a month later, alleging the letter violated free speech rights because they prohibit recipients from talking to anyone else about them.

The Internet Archive said Wednesday the FBI agreed to withdraw the letter last week and make the case, which had been filed under seal, public. Sections of the lawsuit and supporting documents detailing what and who investigators were looking into have been blacked out.

Continue reading "FBI withdraws digital library's national security letter "

Posted by Pat Tumulty, NJLA Executive Director at 6:47 PM | Comments (0)
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