Here's a video clip from the Library Advocacy Rally down in Washington, DC on June 29th. Over 1,600 ALA members and advocates of all ages braved the 90-degree heat to take part in the largest federal advocacy event in ALA history.

At the rally, ALA President Alire emphasized the main themes of the advocacy day including increasing Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding to $300 million for FY2011 and including support for school librarians in the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Pumping up the crowd for their meetings on the Hill following the rally, she led the group with the rally cry, “We’re going to tell them!”

Library Advocacy Day Rally from ALA Washington on Vimeo.

Posted by Steve B. at 06:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Marilyn Johnson, author of the critically acclaimed book, This Book is Overdue, spent an hour and a half this past Friday visiting with a dozen Gen-X librarians from Portsmouth Public Library before giving a terrific book talk in town. The pre-booktalk gathering, which included delicious Flatbreads pizza and lively conversation, was the first of a series of upcoming social events for Gen-X librarians throughout NH.

Marilyn's book talk reflected both her passionate belief in the critical role of all librarians in today's society and her terrific sense of humor. I would highly recommend inviting Marilyn to come speak in your community. She would love to make the trip. The best way to contact Marilyn is by email at this address, marilynajohnson at aol dot com.

If you would like to be informed of future social and/or professional events for NH Gen-X librarians, contact me by email, skbutzel at cityofportsmouth dot com.

For more info about Marilyn, visit these sites:

• http://www.thisbookisoverdue.com
• http://www.marilynjohnson.net
• http://www.twitter.com/Marilynajohnson
  

Posted by Steve B. at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Library Use Value Calculator on our site, http://www.nhlibrarians.org/calculator.html,  has been updated to include additional services such as music CDs, adult and child/YA books, and auditorium use. I've also changed the entry for database usage to something that I hope you find more intuitive. Rather than asking for months of EBSCO usage, I changed it to number of articles and other resources accessed via library databases. Let me know if you have suggestions for other improvements.

Posted by Steve B. at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)