GENERAL NEWS: SLIS at ALA Annual Conference (Jul 2, 2010)

Jul 2, 2010

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is an absolutely beautiful day in Columbia! Perfect for the parade on Main Street welcoming our National Champion Baseball Team! How ‘bout those Gamecocks? A very exciting week for USC and just as exciting for library and information professionals. Following the American Library Association Annual Meeting, National Advocacy Day for libraries in Washington, DC brought the nation’s attention to many of the challenges that libraries face in a lean economy. The most important part to me is that libraries are economic developers by their nature. They bring people to a community, help support local businesses, improve the quality of people’s lives, help readers young and old and operate on a minimal budget. What a bargain!

Below are photos of one of my favorite libraries in DC. The Beaux-Arts style of 1903 made it one of the most expensive of all the Carnegie libraries. The Library continued to serve as the city’s central library until 1970 when the book collection moved to the Martin Luther King Library. The building is currently used by the DC Historical Society. I can still get emotional when I read the inscription in the benches, "university for the people" so I can’t say I am totally rational about the value of this beautiful old, hopeful building. Most Carnegie libraries have inscribed ‘free for the people” and that works also. I think it is a quote from Cicero, “if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need” that says it perfectly. I just hope I don’t have to choose between home grown tomatoes and libraries . . .

Speaking of gardens, I hope you get to eat watermelon and corn and tomatoes and peppers and blueberries and all the good things that are fresh in the summer for your 4th of July celebrations. Independence as you know is at the very root of our constitution and desires. We all want to be free. So while you celebrate, think of your librarians and teachers and men and women in service that help us keep our freedom.

The photos below from left to right are: 1) The Newseum lobby http://www.newseum.org/ (great museum reaffirming the importance of journalism and a free press; 2) part of the Berlin Wall at the Newseum; 3)Natalie Merchant http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/arts/music/18merchant.html singing from her project Leave Your Sleep putting poetry for children to song; 4) view of the mall and 5) The Capitol at sunset.

Wishing you and yours a happy and safe 4^th of July!

Yours,

Dr. Sam