02.10.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:39 am by Leonard Kniffel
You probably heard it for yourself, but last night President Barack Obama did it again. He said “libraries.” At his first prime-time press conference since taking office, he addressed a nervous nation about unemployment, emphasizing that “the single most important part of this Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan is the fact that it will save or create up to 4 million jobs, because that’s what America needs most right now.”
More than 90% of the jobs created in the plan will be in the private sector, he said, and “they’re not going to be make-work jobs but jobs doing the work that America desperately needs done, jobs rebuilding our crumbling bridges, repairing our dangerously deficient dams and levees, so that we don’t face another Katrina.” And then he added, “They’ll be jobs creating the 21st-century classrooms, libraries, and labs for millions of children across America.”
“He hears us,” I thought to myself, and he hears ALA. His people are listening. Asked later in the press conference about bipartisanship, Obama took it back to education: “The suggestion is, why should the federal government be involved in school construction? Well. I visited a school down in South Carolina that was built in the 1850s. Kids are still learning in that school—as best they can…. It’s right next to a railroad, and when the train runs by the whole building shakes and the teacher has to top teaching for a while. The auditorium is completely broken down and they can’t use it. So why wouldn’t we want to build state-of-the-art schools with science labs that are teaching our kids the skills they need for the 21st century, that will enhance our economy and, by the way, right now will create jobs?”
Indeed, why wouldn’t we? Every once in a while, it’s good for all of us inside ALA to remind ourselves that we are a 501(c)3 organization—noprofit educational—and that we are in the knowledge business more than the information business. It’s going to take more than the dissemination of information to play a key role in the nation’s economic recovery. The new ALA Office for Library Advocacy and the Washington Office are redoubling their efforts to reach the new administration with our education message. It seems they are listening.
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02.06.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:22 pm by Leonard Kniffel
Got a fax yesterday from Ken Miller, director of the Bayliss Public Library in Sault Sainte Marie, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula near the Soo Locks. Ken and I were pages together a long time ago at the Detroit Public Library. “We received the attached letter with a $50 check,” Ken said. “I thought you might be interested in it because she said that she donated a like amount to one library in each state. That amounts to a $2,500 nationwide donation to libraries. It is one of the most unique things I have ever seen.” He went on to say, “And she thanks us! Wow.”
I ageee with Ken’s “wow” factor. Indeed, it is we who should be thanking her. So I’ve sent her story over to ALA’s Office for Library Advocacy, where we are collecting stories for “I Love Libraries”. And out goes a big Inside Scoop thank-you to the library angel who understands how one person makes a difference. Her letter to the Bayliss Library, in full:
Dear Librarians,
Today is my 50th birthday and I decided that rather than spend a lot of money on a party, I would mark this milestone by acknowledging some of my favorite things: the 50 states that make up our country, children, nature, and books (and of course, libraries!). To accomplish this goal, I am sending a check for $50 to a library in each state, and I am asking that the money be spent on nature books for children. If you can’t decide what to get, may I suggest one of my favorite subjects in nature: birds, or space-related topics/!
Thanks you for helping make this day extra special for me.
Sincerely,
Mary Alice Howard
Roslindale, Massachusetts
PS: A few years ago I had a wonderful visit to your town. I had wanted to see the locks since I was a kid and read my dad’s copy of Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling.
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02.03.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:21 pm by Greg Landgraf
The 60 or so submissions for this year's Library Design Showcase
The beginning of February also means the beginning of Facilities season at AL. The Library Design Showcase in the April issue is one of the largest individual articles of the year, and with the deadline for submissions passing yesterday, the bulk of the work on this end starts now. AL editors and designers will meet soon to select the projects and the photos that will be included in the showcase; from there, it’s a relatively straightforward process of pulling as much information about each project as possible into a few sentences. In addition to the print Facilities issue, we are also planning a second AL digital supplement, the better to showcase your success stories.
Of course, the library building itself isn’t the only part of a new building or renovation project. Retired librarian Gary Huggens recently wrote with the suggestion that we incorporate more coverage of library gardens and landscapes. “Since I am now a landscape designer who is especially interested in creating wildlife habitat and sustainability in landscapes, I thought this kind of news (and pictures) would be a wonderful thing for AL to collect from libaries nationwide to share with everyone in the profession. It would help transplant ideas from one library to many other libraries, and help to promote better environmental stewardship by libraries in their communities and on their own turf, so to speak.”
In last year’s showcase, there were a few mentions of interesting landscape features, and many of the external photographs naturally showed some of the green spaces around the libraries. But the lawns and gardens were never the focus.
So from there, I ask you: Should they be? Are you interested in reading more about library landscapes, gardens, and wildlife habitats? And if so, what do you want to see? I’d also welcome hearing your successes or lessons learned, either in comments or by e-mail to glandgraf@ala.org.
I’ll start it off with one bit of advice from Huggens: “I’d imagine that even in these budget-strapped times most libraries could count on volunteers and local plant centers or nurseries to give their landscapes a boost with native plants and sustainable approaches, which save money and time.”
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