Jessica Horvath's blog

For one year only, Library Advocacy Day replaced National Library Legislative Day. This morning, around 2,000 library workers and supporters met at Upper Senate Park in Washington, D.C. to rally for libraries. After the event, participants met with their elected officials and staff.

If you weren’t able to attend the rally, you can read the moment-to-moment coverage and see partipants’ photos at #lad2010.

As Conference nears its end, Monday provided a strong finish to the Exhibits and the Auditorium Speaker Series.

John Grisham, author of 21 novels, including The Firm and The Pelican Brief, spoke yesterday as part of ALA10’s Auditorium Speaker Series. In his speech, he discusses how he sold the first copies of A Time To Kill with the help of his public library.

Natalie Merchant, acclaimed songwriter and performer, performed selections from her newly released Leave Your Sleep, a set of songs adapted from the works of various classic and contemporary poets. The album, her first studio recording since 2003, is the culmination of six years of research and collaboration and is, in Merchant’s words, “The most elaborate project I have ever completed or even imagined.” The special event was presented by Baker & Taylor, Nonesuch Records, and WEA.

Prior to his speech at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., John Grisham, author of “The Pelican Brief” and “The Firm,” spoke about the value of libraries in the Green Room.

Sunday featured some new-classic Annual Conference entertainment, namely the Book Cart Drill Team and the Parade of Bookmobiles. Excited fans waved at the sixth annual Book Cart Drill Team competition, which showcased library workers performing dance routines accompanied by themed costumes. Yesterday’s victors were the University of Pittsburgh’s “Night of the Living Librarian” team, who won the audience over with their scary costume and fancy moves.

The ALA10’s Exhibit Hall, or The Stacks — world’s largest exhibits for the library community with 6,558 exhibitor registrants.

Jerry Pinkney is all smiles signing copies of his book “The Lion & The Mouse” at Little, Brown and Company booth #2713.

See more scenes from ALA10 Conference at our Flickr photostream.

NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show invited ALA President Camila Alire, PLA President Sari Feldman, and President of the DCPL Board of Trustees, John Hill, to today’s show titled, “The Changing Role of Public Libraries.” They discussed the ever-growing need for public libraries’ free resources, and the ongoing state budget cuts.

From Monday’s Cognotes - by Megan Hodge, University of North Texas:

Moderated and organized by Allyson Carlyle of the University of Washington’s iSchool, this Sunday panel brought together four experts on current cataloging trends in order to provide research ideas for what ALCTS has dubbed the Year of Cataloging Research.