Libraries in the News

Here are some highlights from the American Library Association newsletter that comes out each Wednesday. Happy reading...

An evening with Neil Gaiman
Newbery-winning author Neil Gaiman spoke to more than 700 library lovers and fans as part of an online event during National Library Week. Watch the two-part video to learn more on Gaiman’s thoughts on libraries and librarians, from the time he was a child in England to coming to America and becoming involved in intellectual freedom issues....
@ your library, Apr. 16


George Washington’s missing library books
More than 200 years ago, the nation’s first president borrowed two volumes from the New York Society Library and never returned them. On October 5, 1789, George Washington checked out Emer de Vattel’s The Law of Nations and volume 12 of the British House of Commons Debates. Washington spent his first year as President in New York City at a mansion that was located near Pearl and Dover Streets (now under the Brooklyn Bridge), only a short carriage ride from the library, which was then in Federal Hall at 23 Wall Street. He moved to Philadelphia in 1790, perhaps taking the books with him....
New York Daily News, Apr. 17


Bone of contention
After Ramona DeLay’s son Hardy brought home a copy of the fourth book in Jeff Smith’s Bone graphic novel series, the Apple Valley, Minnesota, resident and Southview Elementary parent filed a request March 15 for the school district to reconsider having the materials available in the library. She objected to the book’s portrayal of gambling, alcohol and tobacco use, and “sexual situations between characters.” A school reconsideration committee met April 20....
Sun Newspapers (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Apr. 15; St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, Apr. 20

Another librarian on Jeopardy
Hilary Caws-Elwitt, systems librarian at the Susquehanna County (Pa.) Historical Society and Free Library Association, will appear on the game show Jeopardy! April 22. Caws-Elwitt taped the appearance in early February, and while she isn’t allowed to reveal the game’s outcome, “It was quite dramatic, and almost everything I wanted to happen did happen,” she said....
Susquehanna County Library, Apr. 15