ALA Task Force on the Status of Librarians

http://www.ala.org/hrdr/status.html

Librarians don't get no respect! For generations, librarians have struggled to erase the persistent stereotype of their profession, but the popular image of the bespectacled spinster who spends her days stamping due dates and shushing readers endures. This skewed public perception contributes to low salaries, understaffing in libraries, and the under-valuing of librarians' expertise. Now the American Library Association has appointed a Presidential Task Force on the Status of Librarians to recommend an action plan to improve librarians' status. Their work is just beginning. You can read about the issues and contribute your own thoughts at their web site.

PREVIOUSLY FEATURED LINK:   September 2001

National Library Card Sign-Up Month

http://www.ala.org/pio/librarycard/2001/

To encourage school children to visit the library, National Library Card Sign-Up Month gets a boost from its new celebrity spokesperson -- Arthur, the loveable young aardvark star of children's television and books. The American Library Association hosts the month's official web site, which features ideas for activities, public relations hints, clip art, a "librarian's nook," and numerous links to resources on the Arthur site hosted by PBS. As Arthur and his pals say, "Having fun isn't hard…When you've got a library card!"

Previously Featured Link:  August 2001

Council on Library and Information Resources

http://www.clir.org/

The Council on Library and Information Resources has a single, succinct goal: "to ensure the well-being of the scholarly communication system upon which knowledge creation depends." CLIR is doing its part to foster communication by mounting full text copies of its timely reports. See the "Publications and Resources" page on CLIR's site for links to thought-provoking reports, such as Building Sustainable Collections of Free Third-Party Web Resources by Louis A. Pitschmann, and Preservation Science Survey: An Overview of Recent Developments in Research on the Conservation of Selected Analog Library and Archival Materials by Henk J. Porck and René Teygele.

Previously Featured Link:  July 2001

The UCLA Internet Project: "Surveying the Digital Future"

http://www.ccp.ucla.edu/pages/internet-report.asp

Aiming to document the social impact of the Internet over a generation, researchers at UCLA's Center for Communication Policy launched the World Internet Project -- an ambitious ongoing survey of the behavior, lifestyle, and Internet use of households around the world. "Surveying the Digital Future" is the first report to emerge from the project. It details data from over two thousand U.S. households regarding many aspects of Internet use and non-use and the attitudes Americans hold toward the Internet. Read beyond the Executive Summary for fascinating findings with implications for libraries and other information providers.

Previously Featured Link:  June 2001

Guys Read: A Literacy Initiative for Boys

http://www.GuysRead.com/

The notion that young male readers are shortchanged in schools and libraries has been debated in the library profession for several years. Jon Scieszka (author of the highly lauded picture book, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales) presents a convincing argument that "too many boys still struggle with reading" because of the absence of "a guy sensibility in the worlds of elementary education and kids’ books." This nicely designed offers a list of "favorite books for guys," suggests activities to foster literacy among boys, and provides a page where boys can share their own favorite reads. Matter-of-fact and action-oriented, the Guys Read site epitomizes Scieszka's vision of boyhood without descending into sexist antagonism toward girls.

Previously Featured Link: May 2001

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography. Houston: University of Houston Libraries, 1996-2001.

http://info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepb.html  

Far too often, timely bibliographies on hot topics in LIS are compiled, get posted on the web, and then suffer benign neglect by their creators. Frequent updates are one reason we appreciate Charles W. Bailey, Jr.’s excellent guide to print and web resources about the electronic publishing of scholarly books and serials. Other strong points: an easy-to-navigate classified organization; a pleasing graphic design; a simple search feature; and a nicely arranged set of links to other resources. The bibliography includes writings of interest to both librarians and publishers, and addresses such specific concerns as cataloging, preservation, intellectual property rights, and the economics of e-publishing.

http://www.ala.org/pio/foiday/

On March 16, Freedom of Information Day, the American Library Association urges us to remember that information access is the cornerstone of democracy. At the same time, ALA warns that free and open access to information produced by the federal government is at risk due to diminishing funding for the federal depository library program and the shift away from print toward electronic documents. On this site, you’ll find numerous ideas for promoting continued free access to federal information, along with pointers to more resources on the web and in print.