As we mark the halfway point of the 2011–2015 ALA Strategic Plan, the American Library Association (ALA) has made significant strides towards its goal to provide leadership in the transformation of libraries and library services in an increasingly digital information environment.
As a former AV geek during my high school and college years, I can assure you that schlepping movies (or worse, TVs) across a campus gets old pretty fast. In analog days, the answer was to play the VHS tape in a central location and then deliver it via closed circuit TV to the classroom.
Ed. note: After examining the data from Douglas County (Colo.) Libraries’ January 2013 ebook price comparison report, two members of ALA’s Digital Content and Libraries Working Group offered their insights.
Since ALA President Maureen Sullivan led a delegation to New York in late September, ALA leadership and the Digital Content and Libraries Working Group (DCWG) have continued to spread the word about ebooks and libraries.
As content and patron interactions go online, there are a whole slew of new regulations to consider. There are the usual Section 508 compliance requirements to make resources accessible to people with disabilities, but other privacy requirements have been cropping up around the country.
After years of being on the receiving end of unfair ebook prices and library lending restrictions from some of the world’s largest book publishers, leadership at the State Library of Kansas has had enough.
I had the honor of delivering the opening general session address at the Iowa Library Association conference in October, and I was certainly impressed by the persistent power of Iowa librarians (as well as the beauty of Dubuque).
Over the past year, ALA has taken significant steps to address the ebook lending issues affecting libraries, including the development of a report on ebook business models and the implementation of an
Accessibility is one of those issues that often needs a headline to grab attention. Too often, the headlines we see are about public institutions that didn’t heed warnings and are facing litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
I love living and working in rural Western New York, but the schools and libraries in my geographic area are facing daunting challenges in the shift to digital content. E-content is often priced on a site-based basis, and that means our small school libraries end up paying an inequitably high price.
