Contents of August 2004 American Libraries

News Fronts

6  ALA

• Early Retirement Plan to Ease Budget Crunch 
• Diversity Office Gets $900,000 IMLS Grant 
• Virus Shuts Down HQ Computers 
• Accreditation Actions Announced  

10  Washington

• House Rejects Effort to Curb Patriot Act 
• Supreme Court Blocks COPA, Sends Case Back to Lower Court 
• House Hearings on E-Rate Abuse Find Fraud, Lax Oversight

12  USA and International

• Opening of New Seattle PL Draws Huge Crowds 
• Providence Library Layoffs Spark Protests 
• Black Employees at LC File Discrimination Complaint
• Libraries Choose to Filter or Not to Filter As CIPA Deadline Arrives 
• Global Reach 
• Interview: Straight Answers from MICHELE RIDGE 

Special News Reports

29  Bilingual in British Columbia

      BY MARTIN DOWDING
      A report on the Canadian Library Association Annual Conference.

30  Librarians amid Throngs in Chicago

      BY GORDON FLAGG
      Coverage of BookExpo America 2004.

Features

40  Cover Story: Staying Public:
       The Real Crisis in Librarianship

      BY JOHN BUSCHMAN
      As libraries grow more entrepreneurial, their change of focus is
      dismantling the public sphere.

43  Restore Our Destiny:
       Full—Not Plural—Funding

      BY THOMAS J. HENNEN JR.
      Growing dependence on fundraising is not the answer for public
      libraries’ budget woes.

46  Digital Dissertations

      BY JAMES BEAVEN
      Keeping low-tech backups of your online thesis collection will help
      prevent problems when formats change.

48  Roots of Hope

      BY ELIZABETH PIERRE-LOUIS
      Haiti’s community libraries promise a better future.

51  The Apprentice Comes to Farmingdale

      BY DEBBIE PODOLSKI
      Can a popular television show’s management principles
      be applied to libraries?

Conference Coverage

60  Opposition to Iraq War
       Pervades ALA in Orlando

      Plus: Council and Executive Board coverage, p. 71–76.

Departments

5  ALA President’s Message

      “Stand Up and Speak Out”
      BY CAROL BREY-CASIANO

34  Thus Said

35  Reader Forum

38  Editorial

      “How ALA Does and Doesn’t Oppose the War in Iraq”
      BY LEONARD KNIFFEL

39  On My Mind

      “Beware the Mini-CIPAs”
      BY RAIZEL LIEBLER

68  Technically Speaking

      “Hot Conference, Cool Technology”
      BY ANDREW K. PACE

77  Currents

80  The Crawford Files

      “Meta, Federated, Distributed: Search Solutions”
      BY WALT CRAWFORD

82  Internet Librarian

      “License to ILL”
      BY JOSEPH JANES

84  Working Knowledge

      “Manners Matter for Employers and Applicants”
      BY ELISA F. TOPPER

86  Librarian’s Library

      BY CATHLEEN BOURDON

88  Quick Bibs

      “Memoirs, Fiction, and the West”
      BY BILL OTT

87  Grassroots Report

      “Weeding the Amazon Way”
      BY JENNIFER BUREK PIERCE

91  Datebook

93  Career Leads

103  Index to Advertisers

104  Will’s World

      “Beware of Soft-Pretzel Vendors”
      BY WILL MANLEY