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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Library Association (ALA) distributed its Resolution on Access to and Classification of Government Information to all members of the U.S. Congress and to the White House this week in recognition of Sunshine Week, a national initiative to promote dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. The resolution, which was passed during the 2011 Midwinter Conference, resolved that the ALA: commends President Barack Obama for establishing the National Declassification Agency and issuing Executive Order 13526 on Classified National Security Information and supports and encourages expanded initiatives to reform the U.S. classification system; urges Congress to pass legislation that expands protections for whistleblowers in the Federal government, such as the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2010; urges the U.S. President, Congress, the federal courts and executive and legislative agencies to defend the inalienable

WASHINGTON, D.C.– The American Library Association (ALA) distributed its Resolution on Access to and Classification of Government Information to all members of the U.S. Congress and to the White House this week in recognition of Sunshine Week, a national initiative to promote dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. The resolution, which was passed during the 2011 Midwinter Conference, resolved that the ALA: commends President Barack Obama for establishing the National Declassification Agency and issuing Executive Order 13526 on Classified National Security Information and supports and encourages expanded initiatives to reform the U.S. classification system; urges Congress to pass legislation that expands protections for whistleblowers in the Federal government, such as the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2010; urges the U.S. President, Congress, the federal courts and executive and legislative agencies to defend the inalienable r

CHICAGO - The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announces that its scholarly research journal, College & Research Libraries (C&RL), will become an open access publication beginning with the May 2011 issue. This change in access policy lifts the online version of the publication’s current six-month embargo on new content and makes the complete contents of the journal from 1997 to the present freely available through the publication website at http://crl.acrl.org.

CHICAGO - The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announces that its scholarly research journal, College & Research Libraries (C&RL), will become an open access publication beginning with the May 2011 issue. This change in access policy lifts the online version of the publication’s current six-month embargo on new content and makes the complete contents of the journal from 1997 to the present freely available through the publication website at http://crl.acrl.org.

Social media has become a hugely important force in the world, and the historic events in recent months have proven how integral they are to how we engage, learn, and communicate in 2011. In an effort to learn more about how librarians, library workers, library students, and library associations use social media, FAIFE and IFLA have developed a short survey on these topics. Our hope is that the results will show how our community uses social networking around the world, allowing us to better communicate with those in the worldwide library community—using the most effective tools at our disposal. We're also very interested in those who DON'T use certain social media, and why not. http://www.ifla.org/en/news/ifla-social-media-survey

Last week's massive earthquake—and subsequent tsunami—in Japan has caused an untold number of deaths and tremendous damage. IFLA extends our deepest sympathy and sorrow to our Japanese colleagues as they struggle to deal with the damage to their lives and their country. http://www.ifla.org/en/news/resources-from-the-library-community-affected-by-the-march-11th-earthquake-in-japan

There is a vacancy at headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, for the position of Policy Officer. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is an independent, international, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization with its headquarters in the the Koninkliike Bibliotheek in The Hague, Netherlands. IFLA has decentralized regional offices and language centres throughout the world. An international staff of 14 coordinates all of IFLA's activities at IFLA Headquarters. Application deadline: 12 April 2011. http://www.ifla.org/en/news/job-opportunity-at-ifla-headquarters-0

The rumored death of librarianship caused by the advent of technology has not, and will not, come to pass. In fact, technology has exponentially increased the librarian’s ability to provide library service. The core of library service is organizing, providing access, and guiding others in the use of materials. Material format changes (handwritten scrolls to printed books to ebooks) and methods change, but the core service roles do not. These service roles can be called the organizer, the gatekeeper, and the navigator. Depending on the size of the library, these service roles may be assigned to different departments or job titles. http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/dec10/Gharst.shtml

A handful of pioneering suburban libraries are transitioning from the librarian-loved but misunderstood Dewey to the type of organization system used by booksellers. The new layout groups books by subject rather than number, uses signs to highlight contemporary, popular categories, and displays books by their covers. Critics say the new system is a nightmare for anyone trying to find a specific book that doesn't fit into an obvious category. Supporters counter that the system does what libraries should be doing: encourage people to read more books. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-drop-dewey-20110218,0,7016754.story

"Banned books return to shelves in Egypt and TunisiaWorks by censored authors available again in wake of revolutions." by Benedicte Page. It talks about how books banned in Tunisia and Egypt by the repressive government are now appearing in bookstores and other locations. A number of highly political titles censored by the regime of ousted Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali are now returning to the country's bookshop shelves. La Regente de Carthage by Nicolas Beau and Catherine Graciet, a critical book about the former president's family, focusing in particular on the role of his wife, Leila, is among those now openly on sale in the country, according to the International Publishers Association. Cairo is also to hold a book fair in Tahrir Square – the focus for protests against former president Hosni Mubarak – at the end of March, according to Trevor Naylor of the American University of Cairo Press bookshop, which is based in the square http://www.guard

Librarians Go Online To Catch a Suspected Book Thief By Bob Warburton A suspected library book thief with a taste for expensive reference works and a very active eBay account is scheduled to appear in court next week thanks to the nimble Internet detective work of some Long Island, NY, librarians. Staff members at the East Meadow Public Library know the alleged crook visited their library twice last summer: Once he made off with three out-of-print reference books worth about $1300; the second time he was barely thwarted in his bid for a volume worth almost $1000. By tracking the suspect through an eBay account, the librarians were able not only to discover their own missing works but also unearth a startling history. "He was cleaning out and cleaning up," said Loretta Kelleher, an East Meadow librarian since 1963. "This man had been operating for 11 years. The people buying these books were very pleased and gave him such a good rating. They didn't have a clue b

Entering into its 52nd anniversary, Chinua Achebe’s classic novel, Things Fall Apart, continues to garner a string of laurels around the world. The latest honor for this, the most widely read and translated novel by an African author, came recently when scholar Andrew Taylor named Things Fall Apart as one of the 50 most “most important and influential books in the history of the world. http://www.saharareporters.com/news-page/things-fall-apart-makes-list-50-most-influential-books

Thrive rather than survive: Incorporate assessment into your library planning By Kathy Brown, Director for Planning and Research, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, USA The depth and extent of the current economic downturn have affected all of us in both our professional and personal lives. Strategic thinking and careful planning are absolutely critical when the focus is on surviving rather than thriving. To a certain extent, this is not a new scenario for libraries. We have always had to plan carefully. Even in the best of times, we’ve rarely experienced the luxury of having enough resources to match what we hoped to achieve with our services, collections and staff. While retrenchment may be the order of the day, library planning has undergone another major change over the last decade. Funding agencies no longer take it on faith that libraries do good things with their allocations. Society in general is demanding accountability, and assessment is becoming an incr