Audio version

2015 MIDWINTER MEETING HIGHLIGHTS COGNOTES • 9

Durbin Provides Washington Update

By Brad Martin, LAC Group

Sen. Richard Durbin (Ill.) told of the origins of his obsession with books at the Washington Office Update session “Whither Washington: The 2014 Election and What It Means for Libraries” on January 31, recalling two key events that were responsible. As a child, Durbin's mother, who had no formal education of her own, would take him to the art museum and to the Saint Louis Public Library. At the museum, she introduced him to paintings and other works of art, and at the library, he was allowed to check out as many books as he could carry. Later, as a student at Georgetown University, Durbin found a job as a clerk at Discount Books and Records, where he said the books were arranged by publisher. This taught him the importance of having someone help find the books.

Now, as a Democratic senator about to celebrate his 20th year in Congress, Durbin knows well the importance of libraries and librarians and can easily answer those who question their need in the age of the internet. “First of all, not everyone has a computer,” he said, stressing that the digital divide is real and after all, “librarians are the original search engines.” Durbin also pointed out that anyone can walk through the door and get a library card, which he called the “passport to opportunity.”

Durbin outlined issues of special interest to librarians and encouraged everyone to get organized in their advocacy efforts. He said that he is very aware of the Patriot Act expiring at the end of May and that federal funding for library services — a “great bargain” in his words — faces challenges, with many in Congress against spending money on just about anything.

Advocacy also was discussed in presentations by University of Chicago professor J. Mark Hansen and the American Bar Association’ s Thomas Sussman.

Hansen gave his view of the electoral landscape and demonstrated political party differences and their change over time. “The divisions are as wide and deep as ever,” Hansen said, noting that increased polarization has made it harder to pass legislation and has made advocacy far more challenging. Hansen offered a couple of pointers

» see page 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8hOLACkXXk

Presidential Candidates Share Individual Vision, Goals

By Brad Martin, LAC Group

Four candidates vying for ALA president presented their cases at a forum on January 31, urging everyone to vote in the upcoming election.

In their opening and closing statements, JP Porcaro, Julie Todaro, Joseph Janes, and James (Jamie) LaRue used the opportunity to highlight their backgrounds and outline the vision they hope to bring to the office of president. In between, they fielded questions from the audience.

Porcaro, librarian for acquisitions and technological discovery at New Jersey City University Guarini Library, presented himself as a candidate of change in his opening statement, and emphasized that while ALA has done a good job of promoting libraries as institutions, he would concentrate more on the people who make up the libraries.

“If elected, I'd initiate a large-scale public relations campaign within the ALA supporting and promoting us, librarians. A library without a librarian is just a building, and our users know this,” he said. Porcaro's accomplishments include being an ALA Emerging Leader in 2010 and being named as a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2012. He also founded the ALA Games and Gaming Round Table and runs the online space called ALA Think Tank. Porcaro expressed his concern that the makeup of ALA does not match that of the nation as a whole, and this needs to change. More listening to all the divisions, roundtables, and caucuses is needed.

Todaro, dean of library services at Austin (Texas) Community College, described her career-long commitment to institutional and association service at the local, state, and national levels, including service in ACRL, ALSC, and as part of a number of roundtables and committees. Experienced as both a school and children's librarian, she noted that “some of the most fun I have had was working on presidential initiatives to help those people in leadership positions in ALA make their dreams come true, their vision realized, and it literally is a vision and a dream when you step up to this position.” Todaro went on to speak about how “you can have the most beautiful library and the best access services, but unless you have those people who are the experts come together to connect people with diverse target populations, and help our constituents meet their needs and realize their vision and their dreams, it isn't what I would call library service in the community.”

The candidates also fielded questions from the audience. Click on the video below to see the January 31 forum in its entirety.

Janes, associate professor and chair of the MLIS program at the University of Washington Information School, opened his remarks by thanking several people who have helped and supported him in his run for ALA president. “I have made people into librarians for 25 years, so even though my dean likes to say he has the best job in the world, I have the best job in the world, because I get to help people live out their dreams and do a better job of serving their communities.”

Janes went on to reflect on a comment he heard from a newspaper reporter from the Oneida Daily Dispatch in his hometown of Oneida, N.Y. “Where would we be without the library? People don't think about that.”

After citing a few examples of the importance of libraries, Janes said, “I want to tell that story. I am tired of people thinking we are a luxury. I'm tired of people thinking we are a good idea. I'm tired of people think we are nice. We are vital. We are critical. We are absolutely the most important part of any community. We are the most important profession in the world, because we make every human activity better, every day.'

LaRue, CEO of LaRue & Associates in Castle Rock, Colo., opened by saying, “I think that, like all of us up here, I am in it for love, people.” He went on to tell where his love of libraries began, which was in a bookmobile of the Waukegan (Ill.) Public Library, where the warm greeting and encouragement of the librarian, Mrs. Johnson, made a lasting impression on him. LaRue was five years old and curious about the concept of the speed of light. After asking the librarian about this, her reply was, “What a fascinating question.

Let's find out.”

“For the next 30 years, I was working at trying to fulfill this promise that I felt Mrs. Johnson had given me,” LaRue said. He talked about creating a library club in the seventh grade, volunteering in libraries, and working in public libraries and with OCLC. He said some of this work was involved with standards and “how to move average or below-average organizations into extraordinary organizations.”

“Over the past several years, I have realized that librarians know how to talk to librarians. What we need to learn is how to talk to people who are not librarians.” LaRue then highlighted his experience writing a newspaper column for 25 years, doing an internet radio show, and running a local cable TV station as being beneficial in this effort.

The candidates also fielded questions from the audience. Click below to see the January 31 forum in its entirety.

WATCH THE ALA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' FORUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQkLGF64eFk&feature=youtu.be