CHICAGO – Linda Mays, program officer for the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), discusses El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day), a national celebration of children, families and reading, in this podcast.

Held each April 30, El día de los niños/El día de los libros, or Día, is a national celebration that brings together children, books, languages and cultures, emphasizing the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Here, Mays describes Día as an “opportunity to bring attention to the importance and well-being of children as well as their languages and culture.”

Sponsored by ALSC, a division of the ALA, Día is an extension of Children’s Day, which began in 1925. In 1996, nationally acclaimed children’s book author Pat Mora proposed linking the celebration of childhood and children with literacy. REFORMA, The National Association to Promote Library Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, is a founding partner.

ALSC is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,200 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries.

For more information, please visit the Día Web site or contact Jennifer Petersen at (312) 280-5043 or jpetersen@ala.org.

Submitted by Jennifer Petersen, ALA Public Information Office

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In recognition of the valuable contributions of our nation’s libraries, Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., CEO and Founder, RainbowPUSH Coalition in Chicago, and American Library Association (ALA) Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels spoke at a televised forum about the value of libraries and then read to 20 children on April 11.

The event kicked off the 2009 observance of National Library Week and took place in RainbowPush’s library.

During the RainbowPUSH Coalition’s Saturday Morning Forum, Reverend Jackson and Fiels discussed how libraries are an important community hub of literacy and learning; and a place people turn to during difficult economic times. The Reverend also reflected on libraries as community equalizers, and places of opportunity and knowledge.

Reverend Jackson read “We Were the Ship” by Kadir Nelson, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, and Fiels read Dr. Seuss’ “I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew.”

Submitted by Mark Gould, Director, ALA Public Information Office

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CHICAGO — The value of libraries in communities across the country continued to grow in 2008—and accelerated dramatically as the national economy sank and people looked for cost effective resources in a time of crisis, according to the American Library Association’s (ALA)  annual State of America’s Libraries report, released  as part of  National Library Week, April 12-18, 2009.

U.S. libraries experienced a dramatic increase in library card registration as the public continues to turn to their local library for free services. More than 68 percent of Americans have a library card. This is the greatest number of Americans with library cards since the American Library Association (ALA) started to measure library card usage in 1990, according to a 2008 Web poll conducted by Harris Interactive.

The report also says library usage soared as Americans visited their libraries nearly 1.4 billion times and checked out more than 2 billion items in the past year, an increase of more than 10 percent in both checked out items and library visits, compared to data from the last economic downturn in 2001.

However, public funding did not keep pace with use, according to a survey conducted by the ALA. Forty-one percent of states report declining state funding for U.S. public libraries for fiscal year 2009. Twenty percent of these states anticipate an additional reduction in the current fiscal year.

While reductions have been seen from coast to coast, the southeastern section of the country has been the hardest hit, with declines as large as 30 percent in South Carolina and 23.4 percent in Florida in FY09 compared with FY08. Per capita state aid in South Carolina has fallen back to 2003 levels, at the same time inflation has averaged between 2.5 and 3.4 percent annually.  Additionally:

The effects of the slumping economy on local libraries were often painful, and many community colleges began reducing library hours or staff just when enrollment was swollen by unemployed people seeking to acquire new skills

Even as funding began to falter, the report shows that libraries continued to serve as excellent community resource offering users a goldmine of information, resources and support for those affected by the recession.

Libraries continue to report that job-related activities are a priority use of their computers and Internet services. Nationwide, libraries are offering programs tailored to meet local community economic needs, providing residents with guidance (including sessions with career advisers), training and workshops in resume writing and interviewing, job-search resources, and connections with outside agencies that offer training and job placement.

However, despite increased demand for library computers, libraries typically have not seen a corresponding increase in budgets, and many are challenged to provide enough computers or fast-enough connection speeds to meet demand.”

ALA President Jim Rettig said,“As illustrated in the ALA’s State of America’s Libraries Report, in times of economic hardship, Americans turn to – and depend on – their libraries and librarians.”

Other key findings in the 2009 State of America’s Libraries report:

• Children are among the heaviest users of public-library resources. Children’s materials accounted for 35 percent of all circulation transactions, and attendance at library-based children’s programs was 57.8 million.
• Individual visits to school library media centers increased significantly at the schools that responded to both the 2007 and 2008 surveys: up 22.7 percent for the 50th percentile, up 12.5 percent for the 75th percentile, and up almost 25 percent for the 95th percentile. There were no major year-to-year differences in the responses with regard to the other variables.
• Academic libraries maintain their leading role in partnering to scan and digitize print book collections, with the potential to provide unprecedented access to millions of volumes. Large-scale digitization initiatives include Google Book Search, Microsoft Live Search Books, Open Content Alliance, and the Million Book Project.
• A survey of public, academic, school libraries and special libraries revealed that 40 percent of the 404 libraries that responded circulate games; PC games were the most frequently circulated type, offered by 25 percent, but the number of libraries circulating console and handheld games rose slightly from 2006 to 2007, while those circulating PC games and board/card games decreased slightly.
• The number of mobile library service vehicles continues to increase from more than 930 in 2008, vs. 825 nationwide in 2005.
• The library profession continued its active efforts in 2008 both to make its ranks more accessible to members of ethnic and racial minority groups and to strengthen its outreach efforts to underserved populations.

The ALA State of America’s Libraries Report is produced annually and reports on  key   library  trends and data.

The full text of the 2008 State of America’s Libraries is available at www.ala.org/2009state.

Submitted by Mark Gould, Director, ALA Public Information Office

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Judith Krug, the director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom for more than four decades, who died April 11 at age 69, played a major role in the fight to protect the freedom to read. The importance of her work was recognized in an Opinion piece in the New York Times on April 14.

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CHICAGO – Judith Fingeret Krug, 69, the long-time director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, who fought censorship on behalf of the nation’s libraries, died April 11 after a lengthy illness.

Krug, who often said, “Censorship dies in the light of day,” was the director of OIF and executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation for more than 40 years.  She was admired and respected for her efforts to guarantee the rights of individuals to express ideas and read the ideas of others without governmental interference.

Through her unwavering support of writers, teachers, librarians and, above all, students, she has advised countless numbers of librarians and trustees in dealing with challenges to library material.  She has been involved in multiple First Amendment cases that have gone all the way to the United States Supreme Court.  In addition, she was the founder of ALA’s Banned Books Week, an annual week-long event that celebrates the freedom to choose and the freedom to express one’s opinion.

“For more than four decades Judith Krug inspired librarians and educated government officials and others about everyone’s inviolable right to read. Her leadership in defense of the First Amendment was always principled and unwavering. Judith’s courage, intelligence, humor and passion will be much missed - but her spirit will inspire us always, “said Jim Rettig, ALA president, and Keith Michael Fiels, ALA executive director.

Krug  was the recipient of many awards,  including the Joseph P. Lippincott Award, the Irita Van Doren Award, the Harry Kalven Freedom of Expression Award and, most recently, the William J. Brennan, Jr. award, from the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of  Free Expression.  Krug also received an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Humane Letters, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2005. In July, the Freedom to Read Foundation planned to give her an award for her years of vision and leadership.  In addition, she served as a senator and vice president of the Phi Beta Kappa society.

Earlier this year, she received the William J. Brennan Jr. Award for her “remarkable commitment to the marriage of open books and open minds.”

Krug was only the fifth person to receive the award since 1993. The award recognizes a person or group that demonstrates a commitment to the principles of free expression followed by the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

“Often in the face of great personal criticism, Krug has never wavered in her defense of First Amendment freedoms, whether testifying before Congress, leading legal challenges to unconstitutional laws or intervening hundreds of times to support and advise librarians in their efforts to keep particular books,” according to the center.

…..

Born Judith Fingeret in Pittsburgh in 1940, she began her library career as a reference librarian at Chicago’s John Crerar Library in 1962. Later, she was hired as a cataloguer at Northwestern University’s dental school library, working there from 1963-65. She joined the ALA as a research analyst from 1965-67 and assumed the post of OIF director in 1967,  also taking over the duties of executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Krug was a member of the ALA, as well as Phi Beta Kappa, serving as an associate on the Chicago area’s executive committee and as president from 1991-94. She was also a member of the American Bar Association’s committee on public understanding. In addition, she was on the board of directors of the Chicago chapter of the American Jewish Commission, on the council of Literary Magazines and Presses and the chair of the Media Coalition.

She is survived by her husband Herbert, her children Steven (Denise) of Northbrook and Michelle (David) Litchman of Glencoe and five grandchildren: Jessica, Sydney, Hannah, Rachel and Jason.  She is also survived by her brothers, Jay (Ilene) Fingeret and Dr. Arnold (Denise) Fingeret of Pittsburgh, Pa., and her sister and brother-in-law, Shirley and Dr. Howard Katzman of Miami, Fla. She was preceded in death by her sister Susan (Steve) Pavsner of Bethesda Md.

Services for Judith Fingeret Krug will be held at Beth Emet Synagogue, 1224 Dempster St., Evanston Ill., at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 14, followed by an internment service.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Freedom to Read Foundation, 50 East Huron, Chicago Illinois 60611, or www.ftrf.org.

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CHICAGO - The American Library Association (ALA) is now providing members a common virtual space to engage in ALA business and network with other members around issues and interests relevant to the profession.

ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org) has launched its first phase of operation, in which every ALA group will have the ability to utilize the following tools:

• Posts (which are like blog posts)
• Online docs (which are like collaborative, wiki-like pages or Google Docs)
• Group calendar (for listing meetings, deadlines, etc.)
• Surveys (for asking multiple questions at once)
• Polls (for asking a single question)
• Chat room (text-based, including the ability to save a transcript of the discussion)
• Discussion forums (also known as “bulletin boards”)

“Phase one offers new features that are unavailable via other ALA Web-based services,” said ALA President Jim Rettig. “Members can view all of their current ALA affiliations in one place. They can search for other members and add them to their online network. And they can work together on a document online, rather than passing it around from one e-mail address to another. I look forward to seeing the new communities members create and the issues and interests they address.”

ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels said, “ALA Connect has a unique value for members. It enables members to collaborate within a vibrant and dynamic online community, facilitating their professional growth and extending their contacts within the Association. Members can now easily form new groups around shared interests, respond to emerging issues or create and manage shared projects.”

Members who log in to Connect using their regular ALA Web site username and password will find that their records are automatically synchronized with ALA’s membership database, so their affiliations with ALA’s committees, divisions, events, round tables and sections are displayed.

Each group’s home page automatically displays the latest content posted, upcoming events and the five most popular items from that group. Members of the group can post new content using any of the tools noted above or comment on items already published by others in the group. Members can also browse past content or search for something just within that group.

In addition to the formal working groups, members can also create their own communities, enabling them to cross geographical boundaries, as well as those that have traditionally separated different types of libraries.

Users can also track the public content of an ALA working group via e-mail or RSS feed or they can browse different communities, looking for new ones to join.

Now that phase one of ALA Connect is underway, the ALA will monitor the site to track how well it meets member needs. ALA will train its staff liaisons to work with their formal ALA groups to begin using Connect leading up to the 2009 ALA Annual Conference. Work on phase two will also begin during this time, although ALA Connect will never be a “finished” product, with enhancements and new features released on a regular basis.

Urban Insight, a technology consulting firm (http://urbaninsight.com), was responsible for Drupal development of ALA Connect.

Submitted by Steve Zalusky, Manager of Communications, ALA Public Information Office

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