Although many feared that the Jan. 17 Los Angeles earthquake would scare away attendees, overall attendance was up from last year's American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter in Denver: 5,221 during the Feb. 5-8 conference, vs. 4,941.
And traffic at the Library of Congress courtesy booth was also heavy -- with more than a third of all ALA attendees paying a visit to see what LC was offering libraries and the public. There they could get a demonstration of the LC card catalog online (including the new ACCESS touch-screen feature); LC MARVEL, a data base available over Internet with information about the Library's policies, programs, events, etc.; the Library of Congress News Service, a dialup informational data base; Library exhibitions on Internet, which lets users view images as well text from selected shows; and new products from the Cataloging Distribution Service. Representatives from the Center for the Book were also on hand to answer questions about its literacy and reading programs. Films from the Global Library Project, a series of documentaries made with the support of Jones Intercable for its Mind Extension University, and "A Conversation with Poet Laureate Rita Dove" could also be seen.
Perhaps it was the booth's new overhead banner, visible from all over the Los Angeles Convention Center floor, that drew so many visitors. The colorful four-sided banner, which incorporated design elements from the booth, was the latest effort of Roberta Stevens, who coordinates the booth for the Library, to improve its appearance and thus make it more competitive with the 720 other booths vying for visitors' attention.
"Who designed your booth?" asked one impressed visitor.
Ever since August 1992, when the Library began offering access to information online, the number of visitors to its booth has been increasing.
The President's Program was held Sunday, Feb. 6, the second day the exhibition floor was open. As its name suggests, the proceedings are presided over by the ALA president, currently, Hardy Franklin, head of the District of Columbia Public Library. Mr. Franklin introduced Seymour Gelber, mayor of Miami Beach, where the annual ALA will be held. Many librarians had expressed fears for their safety, because of the recent highly publicized murders of tourists traveling from the Dade County airport to Miami. Mr. Gelber's deadpan humor was reassuring: "If you make it to the airport, we'll get you home alive!"
He also assured the audience that a "new, more relaxed dress code" would prevail. "So be prepared to be casual" when attending meetings and visiting exhibitions, he said.
For Elizabeth Martinez, director of the Los Angeles Public Library, the program was a chance to celebrate the date TK reopening of the Central Library after an arsonist set fire to the building in 19TK.
On opening day, 80 thousand people "from this city of angels" waited in line to get into the Library, "and 6,000 people come through our doors every day," she said.
"There is no alternative to a public library," Ms. Martinez added. "No other public institution is open to everyone regardless of background."
Mr. Franklin warned librarians to make the Clinton administration aware of libraries "as part of the electronic infrastructure. [Otherwise] we will be off on the off-ramp instead of the on-ramp to this information superhighway."
He then introduced the keynote speaker, Lerone Bennett, editor of Ebony magazine. [Mr. Bennett spoke at the Library of Congress on Feb. 27, 1992. (LC Information Bulletin, March 22, 1992.)]
"As a lifelong library junkie I am delighted to be with my favorite people: librarians," said Mr. Bennett, as the crowd roared. He then made what he referred to as a "noncontroversial" statement: "Contrary to what we learned in school, there is no American history.
"The biggest secret of 'American history' is that there is no commonly accepted multicultural history," he continued. "The most urgent task before librarians and writers is the task of creating a common American history."
The response from the audience indicated that the majority agreed with the speaker, who then launched into several other "noncontroversial" remarks.
"The white Founding Fathers," said Mr. Bennett, "never believed in the American dream for all people. ... The idea that this is a white country with a white history is gone," Mr. Bennett added. "We have to go back to the beginning. We now see through a glass whitely. We need to see in living color."
The cheers and laughter of the crowd were silenced by Mr. Bennett's next statement: "All Americans are black."
What he meant was that "the black experience has colored the American experience" and that unless American history integrates the history of all its peoples, there can never be a true "American history."
Mr. Bennett's conclusion: "If we don't integrate history, the dream will die."
