American Library Association

Baltimore author and illustrator Jonathon Scott Fuqua will discuss his books at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Towson library. Fuqua's works include Darby and, soon to be released, The Pygmy King. He received the Fiction Award from the Maryland State Arts Council in 1993, 1999 and last year. The Reappearance of Sam Webber won an Alex Award from Booklist Magazine and the American Library Association as one of the best books in 2000 for teen-agers. Fuqua's talk is sponsored by the Friends of the Towson Library and is free and open to the public.

In advance of Banned Books Week (Sept. 25-Oct. 2) I want to thank the often unheralded defenders of my First Amendment rights — librarians — who have quietly fought and continue to fight censorship. Large amounts of great literature have been banned at one time or another by self-appointed arbiters of the public morality — churches, school boards, censor boards, etc. — because these books have asked questions or described situations that made the rich and powerful uncomfortable or offended someone's sensibilities.

During May's Asian-Pacific-American Heritage celebrations, the Organization of Chinese Americans swings into full gear with its National Service Project to Promote Literacy in the Community. The group's yearlong commitment will provide books by Asian-Pacific-American authors to public libraries across the nation. These donations intend to increase the visibility of Asian Americans, their history and diversity, by providing a more complete picture of this complex community. In conjunction with the American Library Association, the Organization of Chinese Americans developed a children's reading list with Asian-Pacific-American themes and authors.

When we tried the first generation of Internet pornography filters six years ago, the results were amusing. One filter was so insistent that it blocked the home page of the Essex branch of the Baltimore County Public Library - presumably because its name contained the word sex. I kid you not. The software is better today, but not much. And the situation is less amusing now that the Supreme Court has made Internet filtering the law of the land for public libraries - or at least libraries who can't afford to pass up federal funding.

In advance of Banned Books Week (Sept. 25-Oct. 2) I want to thank the often unheralded defenders of my First Amendment rights — librarians — who have quietly fought and continue to fight censorship. Large amounts of great literature have been banned at one time or another by self-appointed arbiters of the public morality — churches, school boards, censor boards, etc. — because these books have asked questions or described situations that made the rich and powerful uncomfortable or offended someone's sensibilities.

COMPUTER-READ library cards that speed you through the checkout line have always had the potential to record your reading history. But there's been little public fuss about this technology. Indeed, the borrower's selections stand closer personal scrutiny by the librarian at the counter and by other patrons waiting in line.That's one reason why we don't see any serious problem with the Carroll County Public Library's system allowing parents to learn the titles of books and other items currently checked out on their family cards.

This is National Library Week, and Baltimore's chief librarian is celebrating with a trip to Chicago for a meeting of the American Library Association, a group she will soon lead as president. The new job will give Carla D. Hayden, director of the city's Enoch Pratt Free Library, a chance to bring her vision of libraries to a national stage. Hayden, who earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago, was elected president of the ALA last year and in June will be inaugurated for a one-year term - the first time since 1965 that a Baltimore librarian has held the national leadership post.

KATE COPLAN'S time at Enoch Pratt Free Library was so long ago that "publicist" hadn't been coined yet; the term then was "public relations." She was, by considerable, Baltimore's smoothest p.r. person.That's an understatement. Try it this way: from the 1930s on into the 1960s, with Kate ministering to the minds of Baltimore's newspaper, magazine and radio people and thereby to the whole community, Pratt Library was commonly thought of as the municipal agency most eager to be of service. Her library, we writers and editors supposed, was very likely the most helpful one anywhere.

MARION the Librarian might still wear her hair in a bun, but she can surf the Net with any 12-year-old skateboarder in the neighborhood."Mouse" is not how she looks, but what she works with her right hand."

Formal dedication of the newly expanded and remodeled Hoover Libraryat Western Maryland College will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday on the main academic quadrangle and the library's front steps.Guests will include Gov. William Donald Schaefer and former WMC trustee chairman William S. Keigler. They will receive honorary doctorate degrees inlaw and humane letters, respectively.The event's keynote speaker is Lillian Moore Bradshaw, WMC Class of 1937, former president of the American Library Association and retired director of the Dallas Public Library.

This is National Library Week, and Baltimore's chief librarian is celebrating with a trip to Chicago for a meeting of the American Library Association, a group she will soon lead as president. The new job will give Carla D. Hayden, director of the city's Enoch Pratt Free Library, a chance to bring her vision of libraries to a national stage. Hayden, who earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago, was elected president of the ALA last year and in June will be inaugurated for a one-year term - the first time since 1965 that a Baltimore librarian has held the national leadership post.

Baltimore author and illustrator Jonathon Scott Fuqua will discuss his books at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Towson library. Fuqua's works include Darby and, soon to be released, The Pygmy King. He received the Fiction Award from the Maryland State Arts Council in 1993, 1999 and last year. The Reappearance of Sam Webber won an Alex Award from Booklist Magazine and the American Library Association as one of the best books in 2000 for teen-agers. Fuqua's talk is sponsored by the Friends of the Towson Library and is free and open to the public.

Carla D. Hayden, director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, has just vaulted into national prominence as the president-elect of the 63,000-member American Library Association. But in Baltimore, she has found a rockier road to acceptance. Election to the influential post means that Hayden will be regularly testifying before the nation's lawmakers, shaping policy on library matters such as Internet access and copyright law. Yet her nine years here have produced a rare thing: polarized library politics.

This was an incident that seemed to illustrate perfectly the need for the Children's Internet Protection Act, the federal law that would require libraries to install Internet filtering software as a condition of receiving federal technology funds. The case involved illegal child pornography found in a lavatory trash bin of the public library in Sun Prairie, Wis. - material apparently downloaded from an Internet site on one of the library's public computer terminals. As police moved in and confiscated the library's 26 computer terminals, testified librarian Peter Hamon, it seemed a good time to test the filtering software.

During May's Asian-Pacific-American Heritage celebrations, the Organization of Chinese Americans swings into full gear with its National Service Project to Promote Literacy in the Community. The group's yearlong commitment will provide books by Asian-Pacific-American authors to public libraries across the nation. These donations intend to increase the visibility of Asian Americans, their history and diversity, by providing a more complete picture of this complex community. In conjunction with the American Library Association, the Organization of Chinese Americans developed a children's reading list with Asian-Pacific-American themes and authors.

In yesterday's Today section, the incorrect funding organization was noted for the computer education program at the Pimlico branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The Whole New World Program at that branch is funded by the Samuel I. "Sandy" Rosenberg Fund. The Annie E. Casey Foundation will fund the program at the Pennsylvania Avenue and Brooklyn branches.The Sun regrets the error.Ten-year-old Vincent Dawkins surfs through cyberspace toward the 21st century as confidently as Christopher Columbus sailed forth toward his new world.

When we tried the first generation of Internet pornography filters six years ago, the results were amusing. One filter was so insistent that it blocked the home page of the Essex branch of the Baltimore County Public Library - presumably because its name contained the word sex. I kid you not. The software is better today, but not much. And the situation is less amusing now that the Supreme Court has made Internet filtering the law of the land for public libraries - or at least libraries who can't afford to pass up federal funding.

This was an incident that seemed to illustrate perfectly the need for the Children's Internet Protection Act, the federal law that would require libraries to install Internet filtering software as a condition of receiving federal technology funds. The case involved illegal child pornography found in a lavatory trash bin of the public library in Sun Prairie, Wis. - material apparently downloaded from an Internet site on one of the library's public computer terminals. As police moved in and confiscated the library's 26 computer terminals, testified librarian Peter Hamon, it seemed a good time to test the filtering software.

MARION the Librarian might still wear her hair in a bun, but she can surf the Net with any 12-year-old skateboarder in the neighborhood."Mouse" is not how she looks, but what she works with her right hand."

COMPUTER-READ library cards that speed you through the checkout line have always had the potential to record your reading history. But there's been little public fuss about this technology. Indeed, the borrower's selections stand closer personal scrutiny by the librarian at the counter and by other patrons waiting in line.That's one reason why we don't see any serious problem with the Carroll County Public Library's system allowing parents to learn the titles of books and other items currently checked out on their family cards.