ACRL White Paper released

ACRL has released a white paper on “Achieving Racial and Ethnic Diversity among Academic and Research Librarians”. Here’s the link:
www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepapers/whitepapersreports.cfm

According to the ALA Web site, "The white paper recommends specific goals for recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse populations; focusing on collaborative recruitment planning, encouraging a positive work environment and support system for minority hires and increased mentoring opportunities to promote advancement. Working to enact and assess these goals will help academic libraries more effectively serve their diverse communities and overcome the historical lack of recruitment, retention and advancement of people of color in academic librarianship."

Research Report on Public Library Funding and Technology Access

ALA has published a free report entitled, “Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2006-2007.” This study is part of a “sustained effort to provide current information that describes access to computers and the Internet in U.S. public libraries.” Here’s the link to the over 200 page report (which is also broken down into smaller sections including an executive summary.)
http://tinyurl.com/yv9boz
or
http://www.ala.org/ala/ors/publiclibraryfundingtechnologyaccessstudy/0607report.htm

Banned Books Week - Freedom to Read

From ALA Direct:

"According to the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), more than a book a day faces removal from free and open public access in U.S. schools and libraries. During Banned Books Week, September 29 - October 6, 2007, thousands of libraries and bookstores throughout the nation will celebrate a democratic society's most basic freedom -- the freedom to read.In Chicago, the ALA will co-sponsor a national kickoff Read-Out! event, on September 29, with numerous authors performing readings from their banned or "challenged" books. Joining such authors as Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, authors of "And Tango Makes Three," the most challenged book of 2006, will be local Chicago celebrities such as Haki Madhubuti, founder of Third World Press, and Mary Dempsey, commissioner of the Chicago Public Library. "
For more information on book challenges and censorship, please visit the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom's Banned Books Web site at www.ala.org/bbooks