As the cell phone has become ubiquitous and has transformed from novelty to necessity, there have been letters to newspaper advice columnists and etiquette experts asking about their use, especially taking calls, in various situations—in public restrooms, while conducting a retail transaction, in theaters, in the middle of a meeting, during conference presentations, etc.

In the past three months I have had the opportunity to observe this at conferences in four countries. These are typical, not universal, behaviors I observed:

• In Mexico when a cell phone rang the owner usually answered it speaking quietly and left the room as quickly as possible before getting into the conversation. Or silenced the ringing and then checked to see who called and decided whether or not to leave the room to return the call.
• In Crimea, a province of Ukraine, the owner usually answered the call and quickly left the room. But in a very small number of instances the owner answered the phone and had a conversation at normal voice volume. Or louder—it seems some individuals, regardless of nationality, feel a need to raise their volume to be heard when speaking over any sort of phone. Because nearly 80% of the participants in the conference in Crimea were from Russia, this observations may reflect cell phone etiquette there more than in Ukraine.
• Behavior in China is similar to Crimea. Most times the owner answered the phone and left the room as quickly as possible. A greater number in China than in Crimea answered their phone and stayed in their seat and conducted their conversation—but always with a very soft voice. A good number silenced their phone as soon as it began to ring. At least one participant initiated a cell phone conversation during a presentation and carried it on in a soft voice.
• In the United States at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim I saw the effect of the request made at the start of many meetings and programs that everyone present either turn their cell phones off or set them on vibrate. Either those present just didn’t receive calls or they followed the request. Nevertheless, sometimes phones did ring during sessions. Usually the owner would answer quietly and then leave the room as quickly as possible before getting into the conversation. Or silenced the ringing and then checked to see who called and decided whether or not to leave the room to return the call.

What conclusions can be drawn from this decidedly unscientific four-nation sampling of cell phone behavior during conference sessions? None, really, other than that the opening bars of American pop music are the cell phone ringtone of choice of many librarians in Mexico, Russia, China, and the United States.

At the 2008 Sino-US Forum for Library Practice in Kunming, China, I have learned that academic libraries and  librarians in the US and China have a great deal in common.  I have also learned that there are clear cultural differences.  In the Q&A after a presentation by Haiwang Yuan of Western Kentucky University an audience member asked “Who controls the content posted in blogs and how is it controlled?”

The Chinese American Librarians Association invited me to participate in the 2008 Sino-US Forum for Library Practice in Kunming, China.  Its co-sponsors are the Library and Information Committee for Academic Libraries of Yunnan Province and the library of Kunming University of Science and Technology.

Among the speakers from China, all of them directors of university libraries, the survival of the academic library has been a recurrent theme.  Mass digitization projects—both those well known in the US such as Google’s and the Internet Archives’ Million Books project—as well as significant projects in China have prompted questions about the viability of libraries that are known for their extensive print collections complemented by access to online databases, many offering a wide range of full-text content.

Again and again they cited the need for libraries to digitize the unique and special items in their special collections as a way to demonstrate the distinct contribution each can make.  They didn’t address issues about the library’s survival once these collections are digitized and as widely available as the contents of the Million Books project.  They also cited copyright restrictions as limitations on the usefulness of digitized book collections.

One library director outlined her strategy for assuring that her university will value the library’s contribution.  Dr. Jinhau Shen, chief librarian at Tongji University in Shanghai described a unique outreach program.  As China continues to industrialize and its own people become a larger and larger market for its products, information becomes more important to emerging industries such as automobile manufacturing.  Tongji University’s library has initiated discussions with local auto manufacturers to learn what sort of business, engineering, and scientific information they need.  It has developed partnerships to provide that information.  This library has found a void and filled it.  It demonstrates its value by providing needed information to an industry that is very important to the nation’s future.   It expects to have competitors in the future, but also thinks that its experience as a pioneer will give it a competitive advantage for some time to come.

I commend Dr. Jinhau Shen and her staff for their innovation and strategic thinking.  It has identified an underserved, perhaps even unserved, community and has developed services that will contribute to the community’s success.  I don’t advise every US academic library to imitate this example of providing information services to a local industry.  But we do need to act in the same spirit.  Dr. Shen’s presentation made me wonder who are the underserved or unserved in my library’s community?  Perhaps they are individuals within the groups we strive to serve, especially faculty and students?  How do we identify those individuals and how do we reach them?  This isn’t a new question nor one we have ignored.  But it is proving difficult to answer.  Yet answer it we must.

I am writing this at Dulles airport. In about 45 minutes boarding will begin for my non-stop flight to Beijing. From there I will travel to Kunming and join a small group of members of the Chinese American Library Association for CALA’s 21st Century Librarian Seminar. It will be held at Kunming University of Science and Technology in Kunming in Yunnan Province. On Thursday I will present a paper on “Challenges for Academic Libraries in the Networked World.”

After the seminar concludes my wife and I will take another ten days or so to tour some of China’s highlights–the terra-cotta army in Xian, the panda reserve near Chengdu, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City in Beijing, and more.

I thank CALA for inviting me to participate in the seminar.

On July 2 my old ALA president-elect’s Web site came down and was replaced by a new ALA president’s Web site. It remains at the same URL. It repeats the design of the old site but has been reorganized to highlight the president’s activities. The newest item at the site is an audio recording, made in a studio prior to the event. of my July 1 American Library Association inaugural address. To listen click on “Listen to and watch Jim.”

To set the tone and establish the theme for my inaugural speech, a fife and drum corps opened the ceremony and Benjamin Franklin, played by an interpreter, welcomed the audience and reflected on his love of reading and his contribution to the genesis of the library movement in America.

I am honored to serve as ALA’s president for 2008-09. I will do my best to honor the great trust my fellow ALA members have placed in me.