Those atttending the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio expecting to encounter balmy weather were in for a surprise. On Friday, Jan. 19, the day before exhibits opened, local temperatured were in the teens, and only the following morning did the mercury edge up past the freezing point.
By the afternoon, crowds of people were strolling along the picturesque Riverwalk in shirtsleeves, dining at the many restaurants with tables set along the banks of the narrow San Antonio River or window shopping for souvenirs and Southwestern artifacts.
Nor did the conference itself disappoint -- at least not judging by the paid-attendance figures and number of exhibitors, both of which set records.
The Library's exhibit booth experienced heavy traffic from visitors wanting to see the latest offerings from the National Digital Library (NDL) Program, the Cataloging Distribution Service, Center for the Book and Publishing Office.
New Library digital collections, such as the Nation's Forum Sound Recordings and photographs by Carl Van Vechten, were available for viewing, as were the other collections that have helped to make the Library's World Wide Web homepage (http://www.loc.gov) one of the top providers of intellectual content on the Internet.
Want to know what Calvin Coolidge or Warren G. Harding sounded like? The Nation's Forum offers digitized versions of their speeches. The photographs of Carl Van Vechten, shot in 1932-1964, are especially strong in the arts, with portraits of singer Ethel Waters, bandleader Cab Calloway, actor-director Orson Welles and artist Diego Rivera, among many others.
Representatives from the Cataloging Distribution Service were on hand to demonstrate new products such as Classification Plus, a full-text, Windows-based CD-ROM that combines Library of Congress Classification Schedules and Library of Congress Subject Headings on a single disk.
Staff from the Center for the Book discussed the "Shape Your Future -- READ!" promotion campaign and the Library-Head Start- Museum Partnership.
Suzanne Thorin, associate librarian and coordinator of the Library's NDL Program, delivered a preconference talk on copyright in the digital age, an issue of special importance to LC, not only because the Library is placing intellectual content on the Internet but also because it is the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Her speech was part of a symposium sponsored by OCLC Online Computer Library Center.
"If the Internet is a new publishing tool, and we believe that it is, what are the new rules?" she asked. "How will the copyright law respond to the digital age? How can we as librarians facilitate access and at the same time protect the prerogative of rights holders to receive compensation?
"The intent of copyright is to encourage creativity by guaranteeing payment for original work."
During business conducted elsewhere at the convention, the ALA International Relations Committee commended the Library for restoring its international lending program. Suspended in 1993 as a result of severe budgetary constraints, the Library's Loan Division is now accepting online interlibrary loan requests from non-U.S. libraries participating in the lending systems of OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. and Research Libraries Group Inc.
Also during the conference, the Intellectual Freedom Committee commended the District of Columbia Public Library for mounting "The Cultural Landscape of the Plantation" exhibition after it was closed by the Library when about 40 staffers objected to its location, content or both (see LC Information Bulletin, Vol 55. No. 1).
On Sunday, Jan. 22, the President's Program was held, presided over by ALA President Betty Turock. "Information equity" was the focus of the program, as Ms. Turock noted that ALA cannot "ensure equity on the Information Superhighway without the support of its members. ... The Information Superhighway threatens to widen a gulf between the information-rich and -poor. ... That's where libraries come in. Libraries have served as the nation's great equalizer" in the dissemination of information.
Isabelle Allende, writer of the novel The House of the Spirits and Paula, her memoirs about the death of her daughter, told how she came to live in America. She is the niece of Chilean President Salvador Allende, who was slain in 1973 during a military coup. Forced to flee, she moved to Venezuela. Ms. Allende said that "I came to America to marry the last heterosexual man in Northern California."
Ms. Allende, the Read About Me author for 1995, stressed the importance of literature and literacy. Read About Me provides works by minority authors to libraries and programs with minority constituents.
"A world without books, without reading would be a cold, impersonal place," she said. ... For many minority groups this is compounded by the fact that English is not their first language. The Read About Me program tries to establish partnerships with libraries."
The program also tries to "pick up where government funding leaves off," she added. "When I moved to the United States eight years ago, I was fascinated by its diversity. I was also shocked by discrimination."
According to Ms. Allende, "This comes out of ignorance" and illiteracy.
She noted that there was nothing comparable to America's public library system in her native Chile when she was growing up, "but now this has changed for the better.
"My dream is to see a world agenda," she said, "where race, nationality or class will not define or determine a nation's destiny."
Next on the program, Delano Lewis, chair of the National Information Infrastructure Advisory (NIAA) Committee and president of National Public Radio, immediately won over the librarians in the audience when he said, "We all know we can't do our broadcast without them. The library is no longer a place, it's a function.
But Mr. Lewis noted that such a role mandates a new responsibility. "There are perceptions that must change about librarians, and you have a responsibility to improve your own image."
Keeping with the program's theme, Mr. Lewis discussed his work on the NIAA Committee and its focus on universal access to information. "Let me tell you a little about our work on the committee," he said. "Universal access is a big issue, and libraries have a key role to play. Not every home can afford the hardware and link" necessary to access the Internet.
According to Mr. Lewis, National Public Radio has formed "partnerships and alliances" to help it achieve its mission. "We have learned from our success. A program illustrative of [a public-private partnership] is the Library of Congress," with its National Digital Library Program. (So far, the program has raised more than $21 million from private sources.)
"You [librarians] are the trailblazers of a new frontier in the information revolution. I look forward to working with you as we chart America's future together."
