ALA president addresses publishers

Tweeting live from AAP HQ in NYC where new ALA president Maureen Sullivan is about to address the assembled publishers #DBW

— Digital Book World (@DigiBookWorld) September 27, 2012

From the New York headquarters of the American Association of Publishers, Digital Book World live-Tweeted a Sept. 27 address by American Library Association president Maureen Sullivan.

I curated the live coverage with Storify because, after all, if you’re going to say that tweets were flying, as an American Libraries writer did, why not show it happening?

e-Publishers discriminate against library users

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression:
Slide image for Banned Books Week

In time for Banned Books Week, American Library Association president Maureen Sullivan spoke out on a systemic barrier: three of the world’s largest publishers — Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Penguin — refuse to provide access to their e-books in U.S. libraries.

Measure A working for Mendocino County libraries

‘Measure Yay.’ Yarnbombing tag at Ukiah library

In a Sept. 24 editorial, the Ukiah Daily Journal states that Measure A is working for Mendocino County libraries.

Student loan debt has grown 275 percent

According to Face The Facts USA, student loan debt grew 275 percent during the last decade. This is why I “hack” library school in the community college system.

For 100 days, Face The Facts USA is partnering with Lake County Publishing to present voters with one new fact each day until the election. View past facts at http://ht.ly/cFw52.

‘A tweet without an @mention is a missed opportunity’

Alexis Grant

Ninety percent of your tweets should include an @mention according to Alexis Grant, guest-blogging on Steve Buttry’s The Buttry Diary.

“Whenever you include someone else’s @handle in your tweet, that tweet shows up in their @mentions feed. Which means they’ll read your tweet. Which means they might click on your @handle to find out more about you. Which means they might follow you back.”

Grant, an entrepreneurial writer and digital strategist, is managing editor of Brazen Life, a blog for ambitious young professionals.

Read Grant’s guest post for The Buttry Diary at http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/twutorial-guest-post-from-alexis-grant-a-simple-twitter-strategy-that-will-dramatically-grow-your-network/.

Copy quality affects swift publication of news release

One of the best professional investments I ever made was a $1 or $2 purchase: an Associated Press (AP) Stylebook that I found at a Santa Rosa yard sale. The book served me well during a two-year tenure as vice president of public relations for my local Toastmasters club, Tenacious Talkers, No. 8731.

Q&A on using Overdrive

Lakeport Library will host a Q&A on using the library’s eBook program, 6 p.m. Oct. 3 at 1425 N. High St. As explained in a press release by Jan Cook, library technician Christopher Veach will explain how to navigate in Overdrive, check out books and request books.

Lake County Library’s eBook loan program went live on Sept. 6 and, according to Cook, patrons began using it immediately. Cook stated that patrons are invited to bring their e-reader devices to the library and talk with Veach about the eBook program.

How not to write about libraries

Writing at librarian.net, library technologist Jessamyn West offers suggestions about how journalists should not write about libraries.

Grassroots library advocacy with ALA Editions webinar

Introducing Grassroots Library Advocacy from ALATechSource

ALA Editions has the link to an informative free webinar, Introducing Grassroots Library Advocacy, archived at its blog. The webinar was presented on Aug. 2 and I listened to it last night and today.

Changes to library cataloging standard

An email this week from ALA Editions alerted me to the pending implementation of a new cataloging standard, Resource Description and Access (RDA).

Raising Cubby: the ‘other side’ of autism parenting

With its release date set for March 12, Raising Cubby by John Elder Robison (Crown, 2013) seems a natural for my list of recommended books about autism.

Here is an update by Robison on Facebook that was posted this morning:

“The horror of autism! The anguish! Too many books have demonized young people like my son and I, and sensationalized our difficulties, in the name of memoir writing.

“The fact is, there are fun times in every family. How could it be otherwise? If kids weren’t fun, parents would simply eat them when the cupboards got bare.”

Trust Robison to provide a much-needed alternative to “my child is autistic and life is horrible” sensationalism.

Accepting the latter view means accepting that my existence made my mother’s life and my family’s life horrible and that, I refuse to do.

Raising Cubby, according to Robison, is “a celebration of the ‘other side’ of autism parenting, with the added twist of autistic parents.”

Published Sept. 18, 2012 in the Lake County Record-Bee

‘Social Thinking at Work’ provides detailed explanation

Social Thinking at Work: A Guidebook for Understanding and Navigating the Social Complexities of the Workplace by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke is a worthy addition to my list of books for people on the autism spectrum.

UUA selects The New Jim Crow as 2012-13 Common Read

The Unitarian Universalist Association announced Friday that the 2012-2013 UUA Common Read is The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (The New Press, 2012):

“In this remarkable book, civil rights advocate and litigator Michelle Alexander asserts that crime-fighting policies and systems in the U.S., such as the ‘war on drugs’ and the incarceration system disproportionately and intentionally affect Americans of color. She describes multifaceted, lifelong discrimination and disenfranchisement that affect people who are branded ‘felon.’”

The UUA Common Read invites participants to read and discuss the same book in a given period of time. Its previous selections, Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel and The Death of Josseline by Margaret Regan, are both available in our UUCLC Lending Library. As stated by the UUA:

“A Common Read can build community in our congregations and our movement by giving diverse people a shared experience, shared language, and a basis for deep, meaningful conversations. A discussion guide to The New Jim Crow will be available online in October, 2012, to help Unitarian Universalist (UU) groups reflect on the book and consider together what steps they are called to take, as people of faith, in response to Alexander's call for awareness and action.”

Study guides for the previous Common Read selections can be accessed from http://www.uua.org/re/multigenerational/read/index.shtml.

Cross-posted from the UUCLC Lending Library’s WordPress blog

Great cataloging aid: OCLC Classify

OCLC Classify is a great cataloging aid; I searched for a book in its database this morning.

The site displays the classification numbers that are most frequently assigned to that book in both Dewey and Library of Congress classification systems.

My thanks to Lorcan Dempsey on Twitter for informing me about this resource.

Libraries have their own PAC

EveryLibrary, the first and only national political action committee (PAC) for libraries, launched this week. Its objective: ballot initiatives and measures for local libraries.

eBooks available through Lake County Library

Jonathan and I spent some time last evening exploring the catalog of eBooks available for download through the Lake County Library.

Vineyard Run for Literacy set for Oct. 14

Jonathan and I walk during a previous Vineyard Run for Literacy

 I'm looking forward to walking again this year in the Vineyard Run for Literacy, scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 14 at Steele Wines, located off Highway 29 at Thomas Drive in Finley.

Invite self-advocates to explain what ‘they’ want

Image credit: A Diary of a Mom

“Jess,” the author of A Diary of a Mom, recounts a conversation with Liz Feld, president of Autism Speaks, in her Aug. 21 blog.

Specifically, Jess shares her thoughts about a question that she felt uncomfortable answering:

“I was explaining why a particular term was problematic and I said that I’d heard self-advocates condemn its use. She asked what they would prefer that we use. She really wanted to know how to better frame it. In context, the question came out, ‘So what do they want?’

“It took me four days to answer the question. I finally wrote the following.

‘The other day, you asked me what they (self-advocates) want. I don’t know if you caught it – but I was somewhat stymied by the question. And it’s bothered me ever since. I wondered if I couldn’t answer it because perhaps I just didn’t have the handle on this that I thought I did.

‘But then I had a revelation.

‘I can’t answer the question because I’m not the one of whom it should be asked. They are.

‘What they want is representation. What they want is to be included in the decision-making process. What they want is for us to stop asking *each other* what they want.

‘What they want is to not be the “they” in this conversation but the US.

‘That’s the answer to your question.’”

Jess expresses gratitude that Feld has begun reaching out to self-advocates.

I appreciate Jess deferring this question to “us” and I second her hope that through these conversations, “the gap can be bridged, changes will be made and that when Autism Speaks it will be autistic voices that we hear.”

Fragments of an SCA history

One of the best arguments for back-dating my writings and migrating them onto my blog is the reasonable assurance that they will continue to exist for as long as I allow them to.

I went looking today for a history of my involvement in the Society for Creative Anachronism. I wrote it more than 15 years ago and submitted it to the website of the Shire of Ravenshore in Lake and Mendocino counties.

From consumers to creators of media

Viking fans Brett Gardner and his mother, Tami Gardner, watch  a video on the
TC Rover TV with John Brewer and C.J. Sinner of TwinCities.com.
From Steve Buttry/The Buttry Diary

In the September/October edition of American Libraries, author Greg Landgraf highlights eight libraries and four museums awarded $100,000 grants to create digital learning labs and mentor teens to become creators and not merely consumers of media.