Veteran journalist shares tips on using ALA’s State of America’s Libraries report

Contact: Mark Gould


Director,


ALA Public Information Office


(312) 280-5042

mgould@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release,


November 18, 2008

CHICAGO - Tips on how to develop a state of your library report are shared by veteran journalist Chris Kertesz on the American Library Association Public Information Office blog, Visibility @ your library (
http://www.pio.ala.org/visibility).

Kertesz, who has been a journalist for several decades, has prepared many editorial projects on behalf of ALA.

“Libraries and librarians can also draw on and localize another ALA resource - the annual State of America’s Libraries report - to inform their constituencies about developments relevant to their local libraries and reinforce your position as an important source of information for the media,” writes Kertesz in the second of a three-part series.

He continues, “ALA’s State of America’s Libraries Report (available on ALA’s Web site,
http://www.ala.org) is what its title says, but it also seeks to foster reading and literacy, support educational efforts, encourage productive use of the Internet, encourage defense of the right to read and other First Amendment rights, and contribute to community life and local economic development. The report focuses on areas that are likely to interest the media, such as basic factual data about libraries; trends in usage, construction, and funding; current issues; how libraries and librarians are keeping pace with rapidly developing information technologies; and libraries’ efforts in the area of diversity and multicultural outreach.

“The ALA report is national in scope, but it can also serve as a framework and starting point for a local ‘State of Anytown’s Libraries’ report.”