Playwright and filmmaker Luis Valdez discusses multicultural arts in Sarah Ann Long’s President’s Program.

Newbery and Caldecott medal-winning books offer a Kodak moment after the awards announcement on January 17: Caldecott Award Selection Chair Barbara Z. Kiefer (left), ALSC President Caroline Ward, and Newbery Award Selection Chair carolyn S. Brodie.

 

ALA Finds Sunny San Antonio
Muy Simpático

ALA Midwinter Meeting,
January 14–19, 2000

• Introduction
• Multiculturalism Isn’t New, Notes Playwright
• Hightower Delivers First Arthur Curley Lecture
• Curtis Scores Both Newbery and King Awards
• 200 Rise Early for King Tribute
• Legislative Update Revisits Familiar Issues
• Information Session Raises Sticky Issues
• Assembly Addresses New Action Plan
• Reference Publishers Brainstorm Digital Dilemma
• RMG Seminar Focuses on E-commerce
• ARL Leaders Examine Digital Preservation
• Midwinter Registration Totals

The temperatures and the salsa were the only things that were hot when ALA held its 2000 Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, January 14–19. Contentious issues like Internet filtering and outsourcing that had raised tempers at previous conferences were placed on the back burner for now, as the Association turned its attention toward the challenges of the new millennium with the unveiling of ALAction 2005, an ambitious five-year plan to promote the role of libraries and the public’s right to information.

Held only 150 miles from the Mexican border, the meeting had a decided Latino flavor: President Sarah Ann Long hosted a two-day “conference within a conference” that brought together librarians from Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the U.S. It culminated in a President’s Program at which playwright and filmmaker Luis Valdez conveyed his vision of “Multicultural Arts in the Electronic Age.” Reforma, the national association to promote library services to the Spanish-speaking, offered an event featuring traditional conjunto music and a buffet of antojitos.

More southwestern cuisine was on the menu at a chili cookoff that raised over $5,000 for Spectrum Initiative scholarships, and “fiesta areas” in the exhibit hall, sponsored by Gale Research and Ebsco Information Services, attracted visitors with Tex-Mex treats and an opportunity to take a break and chat with colleagues.

San Antonio is always a favorite locale for Midwinter, and the southwestern sunshine and near-record temperatures found conferencegoers spending as much time as possible along the Riverwalk that runs between the San Antonio Convention Center and the conference hotels. The landscaped promenade offered an enticing escape from the bare concrete corridors and construction-related detours of the convention center, which is in the midst of an expansion project that will double its size.

Attendance was down: The total registration of 10,601 was some 2,000 less than the 12,655 that met in Philadelphia last February. The decline was attributed mostly to fewer exhibitors; although the booths sold out, exhibitors sent fewer people to staff them. Paid registration, 5,823, was down from Philadelphia’s 6,036. Registration revenues totaled $541,527.

Texas author and radio talk-show host Jim Hightower inaugurated the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture with a folksy paean to agitators—including librarians, who he said were fighting “a battle for civilization” by defending our country’s essential values.

The annual announcement of ALA’s “Academy Awards” for children’s literature was particularly well received this year. At a press conference on Martin Luther King Day, Christopher Paul Curtis was named the winner of both the John Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award for Bud, Not Buddy (Delacorte Press)—the first black author to receive the Newbery in 25 years. Simms Taback was honored with the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Viking), and the first Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults went to Walter Dean Myers for Monster (HarperCollins). President Long appeared with Curtis and Taback on a January 18 Today show segment spotlighting the awards.

The spiritual high point of Midwinter most certainly came with a celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr., at sunrise on the King Holiday. Longtime activist E. J. Josey keynoted with personal recollections of King and the civil rights movement, and a diverse group of ALA members read from King’s work and joined hands to sing “We Shall Overcome.”

The ALA Executive Board’s enthusiasm for the new ALAction 2005 plan to move the Association forward from ALA Goal 2000 met with a decidedly cool response from Council. However, this had little to do with the substance of the plan and much to do with councilors’ impression that they were being asked to rubber-stamp rather than approve the plan. The Executive Board and staff agreed to scrap a slick new ALAction 2005 brochure and to ask for approval in a humbler fashion.

ALAction 2005 sets far-reaching goals, projecting that in five years the Association will be communicating clearly and strongly why libraries and librarians are unique and valuable; will be recognized as the leading voice for equitable access to knowledge and information resources in all formats for all people; and will be a leader in the use of technology and in continuing education for library personnel.

The dissolution of the Fund for America’s Libraries and the launch of an ALA Development Office also got the attention of councilors, who felt they had again been left out of the loop. ALA Executive Director William Gordon told Council that details would be forthcoming, as would be the Executive Board’s decision on what to do with the $3-million windfall from the refinancing of the ALA Headquarters building.

Council also tackled a wide range of other issues, including offering professional certification for librarians, the World Trade Organization, a statement on “Who Speaks for ALA,” a plan to raise the consciousness of the candidates for president of the United States on the value of libraries, and a plan from the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science to hold another national forum on libraries similar to, but smaller than, the last White House Conference on Library and Information Services, held in 1991.

A Council resolution asking that ALA require the MLS for all candidates for upper-level management positions at Headquarters was whittled down to mandating it only for the executive director. Widely perceived to have been drafted in reaction to the appointment of non-MLS-holder Emily Sheketoff to direct the ALA Washington Office, the resolution led to lengthy discussion of what the role of personnel from outside professions is in librarianship.

A lavish dessert reception for Sheketoff, sponsored by the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies and ALA’s Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, featured glowing introductions and encouraging words that demonstrated that the Council MLS discussion was academic, not personal.

A hearing on ALA’s proposed Core Values Statement attracted some 40 ALA members, although the anticipated appearance of followers of radio talk-show host Laura Schlessinger, who had urged listeners to voice their objections, never occurred. Most of the reaction to the first draft of the statement was favorable, although some speakers expressed qualms about the concept of “unfettered access to ideas” and others called for an emphasis on diversity. Chair Don Sager said the Task Force on Core Values would consider these comments, as well as input already received from ALA units and more than 300 individuals, in developing a final draft to be presented to Council at Annual Conference.

The Intellectual Freedom Committee announced that it had asked the attorneys who represented ALA in the Communications Decency Act to prepare a memorandum on the legal ramifications of filtering in public libraries. Judith Krug, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, told American Libraries the memo will say, “You’re in graver legal difficulties if you filter than if you don’t.” Krug also said the IFC reviewed all interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights in anticipation of the sixth edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual.

The ALA Store registered more than $70,000 in sales at Midwinter, despite its location in a low-traffic area. Store Manager Bob Hershman told AL that this was only $4,000 less than the 1999 meeting in Philadelphia. “More than 1,000 people visited us, and they all were big spenders,” Hershman said.

The ever-crowded Internet Café, sponsored by Canon, suffered from a malady that afflicted virtually no other program or attendee: too much sun (from a nearby wall of western windows). Technicians quickly brought in sunscreens for the computer monitors, and images reappeared on screen. The popular computer-messaging system, provided once again by Ebsco Information Services, was accessed 4,578 times by conferencegoers.

Multiculturalism Isn’t New, Notes Playwright

Playwright and filmmaker Luis Valdez shared his inspiring personal story and his vision of “Multicultural Arts in the Electronic Age” at Sarah Ann Long’s Midwinter President’s Program. The son of farmworkers, Valdez said that the tiny community library in the migrant community he grew up in “was my only link to the outside world.”

The author of the play Zoot Suit and director of the film La Bamba, Valdez enthusiastically spoke of how technology enables libraries and others to store the histories of the world’s many cultures. When his boyhood librarian gave him the Iliad and the Odyssey to read, “I was part of the human race tapping into that fund of knowledge.” However, he warned, unless we have “the human spirit to tap into that wealth of knowledge, nothing will become of it.”

The Internet now makes it possible for farmworker kids like Valdez to not only learn about their histories but to contribute to the knowledge pool. “So every library now becomes accessible to individuals from all over the world,” he marveled. It’s now possible to do incredible things, said Valdez, “save for one thing—we can’t afford them.”

Multiculturalism, Valdez noted, is not a new concept. “The process of the human race has been one of interbreeding, intermarrying, interblending,” he said. Valdez envisions a future that transcends language, gender, and race. “We have to speak the language of human culture”—art, music, and food. “There will be no divisions that keep us from ourselves,” he predicted, “because the future belongs to those that can imagine it.”

Valdez’s remarks were followed by a panel discussion among U.S. and Latin American librarians that embodied Long’s presidential theme, “Libraries Build Communities.” Elda Mónica Guerrero, director of the library of the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas in Mexico City, reported on a study of interlending policies in four Latin American countries; Jeanne Drewes of the Michigan State University library described a joint project of Johns Hopkins students and Cuba preservationists to save the registries of slave ships that stopped in Cuba; José Aponte suggested ways librarians could get involved in community development, based on his experience as Oceanside (Calif.) Public Library director; and Luisa Vigo Cepeda of the University of Puerto Rico library school recounted the establishment of a library in a barrio in San Juan.

Hightower Delivers First Arthur Curley Lecture

Radio talk-show host Jim Hightower inaugurated the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture, praising the late Boston Public Library director as an agitator for intellectual freedom and pointing out that “agitators built this country” and it’s “the agitator in the washing machine that gets the dirt out.”

Saying he was nurtured by librarians in “a little library in Denison, Texas,” Hightower lauded the work librarians do. “It’s an essential fight you’re making, an age-old fight; yours is a battle for civilization. It’s a fight for our country’s founding values.” Noting “You even got Dr. Laura whining at you,” he asked rhetorically “Wouldn’t you like to buy her for what she’s worth and sell her for what she thinks she’s worth?”

Sprinkling his speech with down-home aphorisms (he was “happier than a flea at a dog show” to talk to librarians), Hightower railed against the “pernicious ethic of greed” that has swept over the country, replacing the social contract that was based on the common good. For instance, even though his father was not a library user, he supported a bond issue in the early 60s to start a public library in his hometown, recognizing that “Everybody does better when everybody does better.”

In response to an audience member who asked whether ALA should join the World Trade Organization fray, Hightower urged librarians to use their positions to provide a different point of view from the corporate viewpoint that permeates the media.

One final bit of advice was offered for those who are up against great odds: “No building is too tall for even a small dog to lift his leg on.”

After the talk, reps at the HarperCollins booth handed out 500 free copies of Hightower’s new book, If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They Would Have Given Us Candidates, while the author autographed copies for those willing to wait in a line that snaked through the exhibits.

Curtis Scores Both Newbery and King Awards

For the first time ever, an author won two of the most prestigious achievement awards for children’s literature in a single year. Christopher Paul Curtis, author of Bud, Not Buddy, won both the 2000 Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children and the 2000 Coretta Scott King Author Award that recognizes excellence by an African-American author.

His book, published by Delacorte Press in 1999, tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who runs away from a foster home and begins an unforgettable journey in search of his birth father.

These and other awards were announced at a January 17 press conference sponsored by ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children.

The Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children went to illustrator Simms Taback for his watercolor, gouache, pencil, ink, and collage illustrations in Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, published by Viking. The book is based on a Yiddish folktale about a resourceful tailor who transforms his worn-out overcoat into smaller and smaller garments.

Three Newbery Honor Books were chosen: Getting Near to Baby, by Audrey Couloumbis (Putnam); 26 Fairmount Avenue, by Tomie dePaola (Putnam); and Our Only May Amelia, by Jennifer L. Holm (HarperCollins).

Caldecott Honor Book illustrators were David Weisner for Sector 7 (Clarion); Jerry Pinkney for The Ugly Duckling (Morrow); Molly Bang for When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry (Scholastic); and Trina Schart Hyman for A Child’s Calendar, written by John Updike (Holiday House).

Walter Dean Myers, author of Monster (HarperCollins) was named the first winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults. The book tells the suspenseful, emotionally charged story of a 16-year-old arrested for murder. The new award honors the late Michael L. Printz, a Topeka, Kansas, school librarian known for promoting quality books for young adults.

Also announced at the briefing were:

• Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award: Brian Pinkney, In the Time of the Drums (Hyperion).
• King Author Honor Book Awards: Karen English, Francie (Farrar Straus Giroux); Patricia C. and Frederick L. McKissack, Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers (Scholastic); and Walter Dean Myers, Monster (HarperCollins).
• King Illustrator Honor Book Awards: E. B. Lewis, My Rows and Piles of Coins (Clarion); and Christopher Myers, Black Cat (Scholastic).
• School Library Journal/Young Adult Library Services Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing books for teenagers: Chris Crutcher, author of popular novels that revolve around school, sports, friends, and family, including Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes (Greenwillow, 1994).
• Pura Belpré Awards for Latino writers and illustrators: Author Alma Flor Ada for Under the Royal Palms (Atheneum); and Illustrator Carmen Lomas Garza for Magic Windows (Children’s Book Press).
• Mildred L. Batchelder Award for the most outstanding internationally published foreign-language book subsequently translated into English: The Baboon King, written in Dutch by Anton Quintana and translated by John Nieuwenhuizen.
• Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children’s video: Miss Nelson Has a Field Day, produced by Paul R. Gagne and directed and animiated by Virginia Wilkos and Ty Varszegi (Scholastic).
• May Hill Arbuthnot Lecturer: Susan Cooper, author of distinguished novels, picture books, critical essays, and plays.

200 Rise Early for King Tribute

“Libraries were part of the issues that he felt should be addressed,” said ALA councilor and former president E. J. Josey, recalling a dinner conversation he’d had with the late Martin Luther King Jr. in 1962.

Josey keynoted a sunrise celebration of the life and spirit of the slain civil rights leader organized by the ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services and the Diversity Office in conjunction with various committees, round tables, and affiliate organizations focused on diversity.

More than 200 people showed up at 6:30 a.m. on Martin Luther King Day for the commemoration, dubbed “Celebrating Equity and Empowerment: The Contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King.” The program included readings from King’s writings and speeches, including the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, as well as a moving rendition of “If I Can Help Somebody” by San Antonio singer Inez Stringer.

Martin Luther King had “a global point of view on equity of access,” Josey said. He showed the foresight to call for “quality schools, desegregated schools,” and “libraries open to all so our young people can prepare themselves for the 21st century.”

Alvin Granowksy, president of World Book, told how the company’s Childcraft series endured seven years of boycott in the 1960s simply because libraries in the Deep South refused to accept the inclusion of African-American baseball hero Jackie Robinson.

ALA President Sarah Ann Long urged librarians to adopt strategies for equity of access and empowerment based on King’s legacy, and to eradicate the lack of equity that results in what ALA Executive Director William Gordon referred to as a nation of haves and have-nots. “We have the techniques and resources to get rid of poverty,” Gordon said.

Describing King’s dream as “mind, heart, and spirit in touch with purpose,” ALA Diversity Officer Sandra Balderrama said that for librarians the dream manifests itself in how a diverse assortment of patrons, especially children and teens, is welcomed into the library. “The dream is alive in the integrity of our profession,” she said.

The celebration ended with the crowd linking hands and singing “We Shall Overcome.”

Legislative Update Revisits Familiar Issues

The familiar topics of funding, intellectual property, the e-rate, and Internet filtering were once again front and center at the Legislative and Policy Update held by the ALA Committee on Legislation.

Since Congress had not yet reconvened it was too early to predict what would happen regarding appropriations, noted Mike Stephens, consultant to the ALA Office on Government Relations. However, he described trends that were in place, notably that federal funding for all library programs had remained fairly steady for more than a decade. He also observed that the change from a deficit environment to a surplus environment means that Congress is ready to make some key changes.

“Over the past five years the condition of school libraries has for the most part worsened,” said Elyse Wasch, legislative assistant to Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.). A bill introduced by Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.) and a companion measure in the Senate would help rectify this by providing resources and certified school library media specialists for elementary and secondary schools. However, efforts to get the measures included in appropriations bills have been unsuccessful.

Carrie Russell, copyright education specialist for ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy, described the Copyright Education Project, a new service for ALA members. A Web site has already been launched that features information about a free online tutorial by law professor, librarian, and copyright expert Kenneth Crews that will be offered to members beginning February 14.

Miriam Nisbet, ALA legislative counsel, focused on two intellectual-property issues: the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, a proposed state-level law that would govern the sale of intangible goods such as software and digital information products; and a pair of database-protection measures that were introduced in the last session of Congress and will undoubtedly resurface soon. Nisbet warned that the latter measure would create new layers of costly procedures for libraries by enforcing the broad use of “shrink-wrap” and computer “click-on” licenses and placing constraints on the use of information in mass-market transactions.

The widespread notion that the Internet cannot be governed and regulated is erroneous, maintained OITP Director Rick Weingarten; the only questions are “who will govern the Internet . . . and by what process will it be governed,” as well as “under what constitution will Internet governance be written.” It is crucial that libraries be involved in deciding these questions, he declared.

Ramona Stickell of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service promoted the tax products distribution program, in which some 14,000 libraries disseminate tax forms to their patrons. “When we get them in the library for taxes we’re also exposing them to the library’s other programs,” she noted.

With its third year well underway, the e-rate program of federal subsidies for telecommunications connections “has reached an unprecedented level of stability,” said Kate Moore, chief executive officer of the Schools and Libraries Division. K. G. Ouye, chair of the Schools and Libraries Committee, said she saw “both danger and opportunity in this stability.” If your program is secure, she warned, it’s viewed as a target by many. “As we move into presidential politics this year, we must extract promises from the candidates” on what they will do to maintain the e-rate, Ouye suggested.

Nancy Bolt, chair of ALA’s E-rate Task Force, cited the challenges faced by the program: to work out the bugs in the complicated application process; to get more libraries to apply (schools receive the vast majority of the available funds, with only 3% going to libraries); and to work with Congress and the executive branch to apply “constant vigilance” against those who would eliminate or cripple the program.

Leslie Harris, the Washington Office’s consultant on intellectual-freedom issues, warned that the many tactics the library community has used to keep filtering mandates out of the e-rate will be more difficult this year. She cited a compromise bill introduced by Sen. Rick Santorum, S. 1545, which has the support of both ALA and conservative radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger, demonstrating that “The stranger the bedfellows, the stronger the strategy.”

Information Session Raises Sticky Issues

The Midwinter Council/Executive Board/Membership Information Session offered an opportunity for ALA members to hear from Association leaders and ask questions.

During a report from Liz Bishoff for the Budget Analysis and Review Committee, councilor Herb Biblo asked if BARC had approved the recent transformation of the Fund for America’s Libraries into a development office. She replied, “BARC was apprised and concurred with the recommendations of the executive director.”

Bernard Margolis announced with pleasure that the endowment trustees’ aim of increasing the fund to $10 million by 2000 has been not only achieved but exceeded to the tune of $11.53 million, reflecting 15.4% annual growth. The endowment contained merely $3.9 million 10 years ago.

Reacting to past criticism of the endowment’s financial performance, he said, “Clearly there are other funds that have done better and we applaud those funds, but we are in no way apologetic for the performance of the [ALA] fund.” He defended the trustees’ “prudent and appropriate” strategy, explaining that mutual funds are not historically wise for institutions. “I personally invest in mutual funds. But ALA would pay twice the fees and charges we now pay.”

Margolis noted that “the Executive Board has concluded it should take no action on socially responsible investing” and is satisfied with a policy of allowing challenges by individual members to investments perceived to be socially irresponsible. He concluded by encouraging that part, but not necessarily all, of the $3-million windfall ALA recently realized from the refinancing of the Huron Plaza headquarters building be invested back into the endowment.

President Sarah Ann Long drew attention to Libraries and the Internet Toolkit, an 18-page guide to managing and communicating about the Internet pulled together by President-elect Nancy Kranich and made available at Midwinter. She also pointed to a new promotion funded by the Margaret Edwards Trust to recognize exemplary after-school programs in libraries, the kind of activity that provides an “antidote to Columbine and Fort Worth.”

Kranich talked about her presidential theme of “Libraries as the Cornerstone of Democracy,” saying “public libraries are having a renaissance, but we can’t assume it will go on unless we speak out” and “build smart communities.”

ALA Executive Director William Gordon told the group, “From my perspective this has been a good year for the Association.” ALA has “the highest membership ever and is fiscally sound.” He commended Robert Wedgeworth, ALA Executive Director when the 40 East Huron building was constructed, for his financial foresight, which resulted in the $3-million windfall.

ALA member and former councilor Norman Horrocks raised the issue of allowing the general public to attend the opening general session at ALA Annual Conference. Gordon replied that outsiders had been allowed to attend when conventions were in a hotel but the practice was discontinued when ALA entered into contracts with convention centers. He promised that conference staff “will create a process whereby people can purchase a pass, or perhaps just a ticket for the opening general session” in time for Annual Conference 2000 in Chicago.

Nominating Committee chair Deborah Miller fielded questions about this year’s nomination process and the difficulty the committee had convincing people to run for Council. She concluded that “we all have a responsibility to suggest people to be nominated.” Miller recommended that suggestions for next year’s committee be sent immediately to her successor, Betty Turock.

Councilors Bernadine Hodulski, Al Kagan, and Maurice Freedman voiced objections to the Executive Board’s handling of the question of who can speak for ALA, but the discussion was deferred to Council.

The information session concluded with a celebration, cake included, of ALA Goal 2000 and the Association’s achievements over the past five years. President Long said, “I stand in awe of Goal 2000 and all that you, the owners of the Association, were able to accomplish. What Goal 2000 gave us is something rare and wonderful in a diverse organization such as ours. It gave us focus. It gave us a vision. It encompassed all of our many parts. I think we can do it even better.”

Assembly Addresses New Action Plan

Some 50 division and round- table officers, councilors, and Executive Board members, as well as assorted ALA staffers, gathered at Midwinter for the Planning and Budget Assembly. A forum for discussion of the interrelationship of the Association’s budget and its goals, the assembly received a report from ALA Treasurer Bruce Daniels, who said the Association was in good fiscal health.

Daniels told the group that there has been a 105% increase in ALA’s net worth since 1990, with total assets at $32,705,000, up 9.9% over last year. His one caveat was that expenses are rising at a higher rate than revenue, which speaks to a reluctance to cut programs or raise dues.

The assembly broke into small groups to formulate suggestions for the kinds of activities that will achieve the goals outlined in the ALA Executive Board’s new ALAction 2005 five-year plan, which was presented to ALA Council in San Antonio. Among the recommendations: ALA units should identify things they are already doing that relate to the new objectives and broadcast their accomplishments. Participants called for public-relations support and better use of the Web for communications. One participant suggested “virtual conference registration” that would permit program participation on a pay-per-view basis.

Reference Publishers Brainstorm Digital Dilemma

The Independent Reference Publishers Group met over breakfast and brainstormed till lunchtime with Clifford Lynch, director of the Coalition for Networked Information. Consisting of about a dozen representatives from Oryx Press, McFarland, Neal-Schuman, and other firms, the group picked Lynch’s brain for direction in the unstable business of reference publishing.

Lynch observed that many major reference sources have been reconfigured as databases; publishers are then selling access not to a book but to a reference service. He acknowledged, however, that databases must be constantly updated. While users will understand that a book will not contain information newer than its copyright date, they will not accept out-of-date electronic sources.

Oryx’s Phyllis Steckler expressed pessimism about the future of small-niche reference publishers and predicted that before long information delivery will be entirely electronic. “Print will be an add-on,” she said. That leaves smaller print publishers in the lurch.

The group seemed to agree that the Internet has forever altered the way in which people seek and find information—and the way in which they interpret what they get. Consultant Anne Grodzins Lipow noted with dismay that Internet users are generally unaware of the misinformation on the Web and unconcerned about credibility and authority. She said circulation and reference statistics are in decline, and libraries must learn to deal with the realities of the Internet and “change or go out of business—except for children’s librarians,” she added.

The group agreed that user expectations have changed: People want information when and where they need it, and books available only during library hours won’t cut it. While several participants spoke out about the superior quality of many print sources over similar sources on the Internet, Lynch concluded that for all practical purposes people found that the electronic source was quicker, easier, and good enough.

RMG Seminar Focuses on E-commerce

Nine executives representing vendors of automated library systems (and for the first time, vendors of e-books, databases, and book-distribution services) met at the invitation of RMG Consultants to brainstorm on how trends in e-commerce will affect library services. “Libraries in the 21st Century” was the theme of RMG’s Presidents’ Seminar, an event held for the past 10 years at the Midwinter Meeting.

Epixtech President Lana Porter began by saying that both libraries and their suppliers were taken by surprise by the advent of Amazon.com: “The line is more and more blurred between services that libraries provide and those companies provide through e-commerce.”

Innovative Interfaces Chairman Steve Silberstein countered that Amazon.com does not represent the e-commerce of the future. “It’s just a fancy mail-order house that has shown us what a catalog can look like,” he said, pointing out the site’s links to reviews and related material. “But it’s old-fashioned in its delivery. They still have to mail you the book.” This leaves room for “libraries to take the lead in e-delivery, just as they have done with e-journals.”

However, Mike Tansey, CEO of Thomson Science and Technology, stated that there was “almost no market in libraries for e-articles or e-packages,” and cited an InfoCom industry survey that showed there were 100 search requests from free databases for every one from databases carrying fees. “We shouldn’t place too much reliance on recovering costs from library patrons,” he added.

VTLS President Vinod Chachra supposed that patron “loyalty in exchange for good information will eventually overcome a reticence to pay.” To a suggestion by RoweCom President Dick Rowe that libraries add income to their tax base by selling goods and services on the Web, Chachra pointed out that commercial firms would undoubtedly feel threatened if they sensed competition from the public sector.

Audience member Nancy Gibbs, head of acquisitions at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, said that her library has had limited success with e-book circulation. Patrons liked Rocket eBook readers for fiction and Softbook readers for nonfiction, she said. (Both products were purchased in mid-January by Gemstar International Group Limited, the suppliers of VCR Plus+ technology, headquartered in Medford, Massachusetts.)

She suggested that manufacturers come up with a way for academic libraries to make course reserve material available on e-book readers.

In a summary statement, RMG President Rob McGee cautioned that each book should be digitized only once, not once per vendor. “Look how much money was wasted on catalog conversions in the 1970s and 1980s,” he observed. Chachra chimed in that it will be easier for vendors to accomplish this if they comply with National Information Services Organization (NISO) standards for coding and distribution.

ARL Leaders Examine Digital Preservation

“Preserving Digital Information” was the topic of the 12th annual Ebsco Executive Seminar Series for Association of Research Libraries directors held in conjunction with ALA Midwinter. The series is sponsored by Ebsco Information Services; the topic and speaker development is recommended by Sul Lee, dean of libraries at the University of Oklahoma, in consultation with others in the ARL community. Nearly 100 ARL directors and other invited guests packed into the Plaza Club of Frost Bank Tower to hear Clifford Lynch, William Gosling, and Anne Kenney offer their views on what it will take to preserve the flood of digital data being created.

Lynch, executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information, began by giving an overview of the challenges of digital preservation and his assessment of how those challenges could be met by society. He expressed optimism that the technical challenges of digital preservation would be solved, and asserted that it is the legal, economic, and social issues of digital preservation that are the most daunting. The need to preserve nonscholarly digital information is not even on the radar screen of most content providers, he asserted.

Gosling, director of libraries at the University of Michigan, followed with a description of preservation efforts undertaken by the university library system and an assessment of their effectiveness. The library’s efforts grew out of a desire to develop practices to ensure that digital content created as part of the university’s Digital Library Initiative would be moved to new platforms in perpetuity.

Lastly, Kenney, associate director of the Cornell University Department of Preservation, spoke about Cornell’s efforts at digital preservation. She reviewed the various efforts undertaken by Cornell to preserve the 330+ gigabytes of information stored in Cornell Library computers, and concluded with observations on unmet challenges.

Written versions of the presentations can be obtained free of charge from Ebsco by calling 205-991-1181 and asking for the 2000 Vantage Point Publication, or by filling out a form on the company’s Web site.

Reporting for AL: George Eberhart, Gordon Flagg, Leonard Kniffel, Carol Kristl, and David Dorman. Photos by Curtis Compton, courtesy of Cognotes.

Midwinter Registration Totals

Registration revenue totaled $541,527, compared to $523,707 last year in Philadelphia.