Renewing Our Mission in New Orleans - Page 3

A presentation by Daniel Ellsberg, the man the Nixon administration dubbed “the most dangerous man in America,” takes place Sunday, June 26 from 8 to 9:15 a.m. He is the former U.S. military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making about the Vietnam War, to the New York Times and other newspapers. This is the 40th anniversary of Ellsberg’s going into hiding to avoid arrest by the FBI while disseminating the Pentagon Papers to the major news media. The full-length 2009 Oscar-nominated documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, is part of the “Now Showing @ ALA Film Program” (see other scheduled films below) and will be screened for conference registrants Saturday, June 25 at 6 p.m. A panel discussion is planned at the conclusion of the film, time permitting.

Brooke Gladstone, co-host and managing editor of NPR’s award-winning On The Media, will give a talk Sunday, June 26, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. A former senior editor at Weekend Edition and All Things Considered, Gladstone received a Peabody Award, two Murrow Awards, and the National Press Club’s press criticism award, and was the recipient of a Peabody and a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University. Her first book, The Influencing Machine, was scheduled for publication by W. W. Norton and Company in May.

ALA’s Public Library Association (PLA) and PLA President Audra Caplan welcome writer-producer David Simon and mystery author Laura Lippman as keynote speakers Sunday, June 26, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., part of the Auditorium Speakers Series. Simon and Lippman, husband and wife, bring a dynamic energy and urban perspective to the stage. Their Baltimore origins inspire their work—Simon as writer and producer of the award-winning shows Homicide and The Wire, and Lippman as the bestselling author of mysteries featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan and books What the Dead Know (Morrow, 2007) and Life Sentences (Morrow, 2009). Simon also brings unique insight on the conference host city, New Orleans, from his current work on the TV drama Treme.

C. J. Cherryh, multiple award–winning author of more than 30 novels, and Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author of The Hero of Ages (Tor, 2008) and Warbreaker (Tor, 2009), comprise the Science Fiction/Fantasy Panel, Monday, June 27, from 10:30 to 11:30 p.m. Cherryh’s novels, including Tripoint (Warner, 1994) and The Pride of Chanur (DAW, 1981), are famous for their knife-edge suspense and complex, realistic characters. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1977, and Hugo Awards for her short story “Cassandra” in 1979 and novels Downbelow Station (DAW, 1981) in 1982 and Cyteen (Warner, 1988) in 1989. Sanderson is in the process of completing Robert Jordan’s bestselling Wheel of Time series with A Memory of Light.

Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? (Collins Business, 2009), is the final Auditorium Series speaker Monday, June 27, from 1 to 2 p.m. He blogs about media and news at Buzzmachine.com and is associate professor and director of the Interactive Journalism Program and the New Business Models for News project at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism. Jarvis is also consulting editor and a partner at Daylife, a news startup companyW. Jarvis writes a new media column for The Guardian and is host of its Media Talk USA podcast.

Division presidents shine

In addition to the PLA President’s Program with David Simon and Laura Lippman, part of the Auditorium Speakers Series, the following programs are being hosted by division leaders.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL)—Nancy Everhart: “Life is What You Make It—Seize the Day!” with Sally Karioth. Some public speakers make you laugh. Some speakers make you cry. Some speakers make you look at life differently. Karioth makes listeners do all three. An expert on grief, loss, and trauma, following Hurricane Katrina, First Lady Laura Bush asked her to help in restocking books for children that dealt with responses to trauma and loss. Saturday, June 25, from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

Association of College and Research Libraries—Lisa Hinchliffe: “From Idea to Innovation to Implementation: How Teams Make it Happen,” with Jason Young, author of Culturetopia: The Ultimate High-Performance Workplace (BetterWay, 2008) and president of LeadSmart. Young will share his perspectives on the importance of identifying and developing the essential factors that impact performance for any team or organization: leadership principles, management practices, alignment, and employee behavior. Saturday, June 25, from 10:30 a.m. to noon.