The email below was sent January 27 to all ALA members with email addresses. The goal is a mere 6,344 signatures away from reaching the 25,000 goal: the magic number that allows the petition to reach the desk of President Obama.

Booklovers ended yet another Midwinter Meeting Monday afternoon sipping tea and dining on finger sandwiches while listening to a group of authors tell stories and read from their works before attendees lined up for autograph copies at the Gala Author Tea, hosted by the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends, and Foundations.

ALA Council approved programmatic priorities in line with the ALA Ahead to 2015 strategic plan and as a guide to the preparation of the fiscal year 2013 budget, as presented by Treasurer Jim Neal (Council Document #13.0), during its second session on Monday.

“We live in serious times,” Richard C. Harwood, president and founder of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, told the audience at the start of his presentation at the ALA President’s Program on Sunday about the condition of the United States.