The article, in the travel section, begins:

New York City certainly isn’t the place to prove that the best things in life are free.

But one important resource there never levies any charges.

And it turns out to be a great tourist stop, too.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the article doesn’t just tout the library as a thrifty tourist stop, but goes into detail about why the library is an interesting place to visit - and puts in a plug for visiting your local library, too:

The library in New York City merits a stop next time you’re in the Big Apple. But remember, the one in your own home community is worth a stop anytime.

I don’t know if my grandmother knows this, but the first place my husband and I went on our honeymoon was the Enoch Pratt Free Library! And last year my mom and I had a great time exploring the Boston Public Library, with a nice lunch in their cafe.

The rapper, who recently co-wrote a 52-page book of “thoughts and theories,” said he is a “proud non-reader” and “would never want a book’s autograph.” (Read more in the Reuters article.)

I’m not normally one to get all worked up about the fact that kids today aren’t reading as much as previous generations (and I’m not entirely convinced about that) but Kanye’s statements got me a little worked up. They remind me of all the kids in middle school who took pride in being stupid and made me ashamed of being “smart.”

Fortunately, Cake Wrecks has come to my rescue with a fabulous collection of book-related cakes.

Mmm, cake. Cake wins, no question. It always does, unless it goes up against pie, and then pie wins.

I’ll probably be twittering during the conference, but I’ll also try to blog about anything of interest to the library world.

Newspapers have always been a big part of my life. Wherever my family lived, we always got a local paper, and I still do. My father and husband were both newspaper reporters for a time, and I do some freelancing for my local paper now. I am an anomaly in my generation, and a complete weirdo to younger generations. (I know young people are getting their news from the internet, but I still don’t know what they line their birdcages and compost bins with, or how they pack fragile items, or quickly dry out their wet sneakers.)

Some would say we don’t need newspapers. We can get a lot of news from other sources. Citizen journalists, bloggers, and even libraries can fill some traditional newspaper roles.

I think there is a reason the founding fathers insisted on a free press, and it wasn’t just because blogging hadn’t been invented yet. We don’t just need newspapers for our daily Sudoku fix or to line our birdcages with - we need strong, independent, and diverse media.

Who else, besides a free press, is going to do investigative journalism? (as Leonard Pitts, Jr. asks in his column).

What else will force us to look outside our own worldview? (as Nicholas Kristof asks in his column).

It’s only preliminary, but a study conducted by scholars at Princeton showed that newspapers promote political and civic engagement.

Clearly, newspapers–like libraries–need to make some changes. They need to be where their readers are (I’m following my local paper on Facebook and Twitter). They need to become more interactive (my local paper has started publishing comments received via Twitter on the opinion page). They need to focus on their specialty (usually, their local community). They need to find new ways of supporting themselves. I just hope it’s not too late.

I look forward to this conference every year, and I think this year’s conference will be particularly good. While APLIC is geared toward population information professionals, the range of topics for this very small conference is impressive: data confidentiality; author’s rights and open access; delivering user training; China demographic data and GIS; ROI for libraries; and tours of ICPSR, the University of Michigan’s vast data archive, and the Ann Arbor District Library. (I’m not responsible for this great line-up, just for getting it up on the web site.)

I’m also looking forward to having the conference on the University of Michigan campus instead of in a big-city hotel. It’s always an intimate conference and I think it will be even more so this year.

If you’re interested in attending, the 3-day conference is a bargain - $200 ($75 for students) includes all the sessions and tours plus a banquet.

You can tell that the library moved from one building to another. You can tell that we own (or owned at some point) multiple copies of this book. You can tell how many times it has circulated, and when. You can tell that we reuse book cards.

(We do have an online catalog and we track circulation in a database. We are not old-fashioned, just very small-scale and this system makes sense for us. I always tell new graduate students, “You just write your name on this card and drop it in the box, just like you probably did in elementary school.” I am waiting for the day when this description draws a blank stare from the student - it has not happened yet, but when it does, it will make me feel old.)

The theme is “Inspiration and Diversity - SLA Around the Globe” - but that’s just an idea to get you started. We’re interested in seeing all kinds of ideas - research you’ve been doing, innovations in your library, or anything else relevant to SLA members.

Presenting a poster is a great way to share your ideas with colleagues, to get recognition in the field, and to justify travel in tight budget times.

The poster session, sponsored by the Social Science, Museums, Arts, & Humanities, and Education Divisions, is open to any SLA member. For details, see the call for posters.

The poster session, sponsored by the Social Science, Museums, Arts, & Humanities, and Education Divisions, is open to any SLA member. For details, see the call for posters.