Early today I finished reading Susan Patron's The Higher Power of Lucky (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006), Newbery Award winner and the center of a silly controversy–so silly and so well known that I won't rehash it here. Lucky is a 10-year-old girl who shows curiosity, imagination, grit, pluck, vulnerability, and love. Her life in Hard Pan, population 43, in the California desert may seem small compared to the life of an urban child her age, but Lucky doesn't see it that way. In a town with a Cannery Row sort of cast of characters Lucky appreciates each one's quirks while oblivious to her own. She always, but always carries her survival backpack. This would seem odd if she had not lost her mother two years earlier when her mother stepped on a downed power line and was electrocuted and if her father's only contact with her since her birth has been through paltry monthly support checks. She has good reason to feel threatened by the world.

Suffice it to say that this subtly plotted book whose characters win our sympathy is indeed worthy of the Newbery. After reading it one thinks only of them, not of a word that some–many of whom have probably not read the book–have erroneously made the book's focal point. I recommend you read it. You can't help but enjoy it.

Wednesday afternoon in Westwood Village near the UCLA campus I picked up a copy of The Onion, that delightful satirical newspaper founded in Madison, Wisconsin nearly twenty years ago. A headline on the front page grabbed my attention: “Child-Safety Experts Call For Restrictions On Childhood Imagination.”

I immediately connected this to the scorched earth legislative proposals intended to protect children from Internet predators by radically restricting youngsters' access to social networking Web sites. Stifling creative young imaginations isn't the intent of these laws, but that would be their collateral damage to kids. This tongue-in-cheek Onion article advises parents to educate their children about the hazards of exercising their young imaginations. So, like the best satire, it offers a kernel of truth. The danger is not in the childrens' imaginations but in the twisted misrepresentations of online predators. And that is something parents should educate their children about.

And speaking of protecting children from their imaginations–nothing can stimulate anyone's imagination, regardless of age, as much as a good book. Maybe that is the real motive behind the controversy about Susan Patron's Newbery Award-winning book, The Higher Power of Lucky. Perhaps concern expressed about the presence of the word “scrotum” in the book is merely a fig leaf covering its critics' true concern. If they can keep the book out of kids' hands, the book cannot stimulate kids' imaginations. So, if the kids hear about the controversy, that will stimulate their imaginations and curiosity about “that word,” a word that to Lucky, the book's young main character, sounds “like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much.” Wouldn't it be fascinating to find out what it sounds like to kids who don't have the opportunity to enjoy the book? Lucky herself “could never ask about the story of Roy, since she had overheard it. If she asked about Roy, then he [Short Sammy] would know she had been eavesdropping at the anonymous twelve-step meetings” alcoholics, gamblers, overeaters, and smokers held on different days on the patio of the Found Object and Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center in Hard Pan, California. Surely some kids have overheard adults discussing the controversy and heard “that word” said in a way that has inspired them to come up with their own ideas about what it means. But were they to ask what the word means, they would out themselves as eavesdroppers.

Hard Pan's Found Object and Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, mentioned in the book's second sentence, should be enough to stimulate any reader's imagination and make him/her eager to read on. Of course, then the reader will encounter “that word” in the second paragraph and would want to read on to find out how Roy, Short Sammy's dog, fared after being bitten by a snake. (Roy vanquishes the attacker and Short Sammy's wife gets him to the vet in time to save him.) The Onion may be on to something–maybe childhood imagination can be dangerous!

I have read only the first chapter of The Higher Power of Lucky and am looking forward to getting to know Lucky, the colorful characters of Hard Pan, why Lucky has a French guardian named Brigette, and more.

American Libraries Online reported on Wednesday, February 21:

Back in September I reported on the fate of the program proposal I sbmitted for the 2007 ACRL National Conference. In August I received notice that the proposal had not been accepted. Then a month later I received notice inviting us to present our program–this because an accepted program had to drop out for some reason. Bill Miller, Jerry Campbell, Cheryl Laguardia, Brian Mathews, and I will present our program, The Reference Question: Where has reference been? Where is reference going? 8:30-9:30 Friday morning, March 30 the Baltimore Convention Center, room 318-323, a very ample room.

This past Friday I received another e-mail from ACRL staff. This one informed me that “The Baltimore Virtual Conference subcommittee thinks your program will have wide appeal and has selected your program as one of the ten they would like to offer as a live webcast. I'm writing to you today to invite you to reoffer your face-to-face presentation, The Reference Question–Where has Reference Been? Where is Reference Going?, as an online webcast.” Not bad to go from rejection to one of only 10!

The February 2, 2007 edition of the Newport News (VA) Daily Press includes an article reporting that librarians working for the Blackwater Regional Library System receive a starting salary of $21,280. The system will conduct a study comparing its salaries to those of other area public libraries.

There is really no need for a study. The study will, however, provide quantitative evidence to support the self-evident–that $21,280 is a paltry starting salary for a professional with a master's degree (who may be carrying sizeable student debt incurred while earning that degree). A study of salaries in other libraries in the region won't, however, tell the whole story.

The question isn't whether or not the Blackwater Regional Library's starting salary for professionals should be raised. The question is how quickly it can nearly double.

I'll let you know if the paper publishes my letter.

Fictional Seattle radio call-in psychiatrist Frazier Crane greeted his audience with “I'm listening, Seattle.” In Seattle during the recent ALA Midwinter Meeting I listened, not to questions about relationships gone awry or intimate secrets, but to ALA members speaking about their concerns about ALA and librarianship along with their hopes and aspirations for the association and our field. What did I hear while making the rounds of ALA groups campaigning for president?

ALTA's exciting idea

When I met with the board of ALTA (the Association of Library Trustees and Advocates) I heard about their plan to offer ALTA membership at a special price to entire library boards. What an innovative way to show more trustees the value of ALTA and ALA! I assured them that this is something I will talk about as ALA president so that more library boards will take advantage of this great opportunity.

Sometimes feeling overlooked

In my meetings with some of the Round Tables and some of the ethnic caucuses (AILA, APALA, BCALA, CALA, REFORMA), I heard two things: First I heard of valuable service they perform in giving their members opportunities to work with colleagues from every type of library on shared interests and passions. They have created needed organizational niches to meet their members' distinct needs. I also heard that they sometimes feel overlooked and underapreciated by ALA. As vice-president and as president I will definitely meet with the leadership of these groups and we will brainstorm about ways to make their contributions better known. In the process I imagine we will find opportunities for collaborations among some of these groups. The ethnic caucuses definitely showed the power of collaboration in their very successful Joint Conference of Librarians of Color in Dallas in October!

Hopes that the ALA Web site will indeed improve

When I was asked about the ALA Web site I was able to relate my experience as a participant in the December 18 Web retreat at ALA headquarters. The group reviewed results of a usability study of the current Web site. This was the launch pad for brainstorming about how the site should serve members and its broader audience. By the end of the day the group gave ALA staff clear direction on priorities for change. During the past year ALA has gone through an RFP process to adopt a new content management system. Conversion of the site to this new CMS will take time, as will implementation of the changes identified as priorities on December 18. ALA is listening. I will continue to listen to members and carry their concerns to ALA headquarters until we have the Web site that meets our needs.

Concern about difficulty booking hotel rooms for Midwinter and the coming Annual Conference in Washington, DC

My platform

I also received a great deal of positive feedback about my platform. Thank you to all who listened to me in Seattle. I hope that after hearing me you decided that you will vote for me. Please do!