Late Bulletins

The Association of American Publishers' (AAP) Libraries Committee will launch a campaign at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting calling on publishers, librarians, distributors, and others to urge their state and federal representatives to fund adequately library books and other materials. AAP has partnered with ALA and Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA). Meeting attendees can sign postcards at the FOLUSA booth, 1517.

ALA president Carla Hayden, cited for her forceful response to Attorney General John Ashcroft's Patriot Act comments (see News, LJ 10/15/03, p. 16), was named one of ten Ms. magazine 2003 Women of the Year. The winter issue of Ms. features page-long profiles of each of the honorees. She and the other women—including Joan Blades of MoveOn.org and Martha Burk of the National Council of Women's Organizations—were recognized at a National Press Club ceremony December 8.

The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Borough Public Library will split $6 million from the Wallace Foundation. The money, donated in response to NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg's $36 million emergency fundraising campaign (see News, LJ 6/1/03 , p. 15), will be used to support programs that serve children during nonschool hours. The foundation also gave $897,000 to the Urban Libraries Council's Learning in Libraries program, aimed at increasing both services to children and young adults and coordination among the three library systems.

Besides discussion of the USA PATRIOT Act, expect controversy at ALA's Midwinter Meeting over three other topics. A resolution on Cuba's "independent librarians" will be debated, in the wake of criticism of ALA's stance by columnist Nat Hentoff and mixed responses from members. Author and essayist Richard Rodriguez (Brown: The Last Discovery of America) will deliver the fifth annual Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture; some members are wary of his criticisms of both affirmative action and bilingual education. Also, expect questions raised over ALA's murky policy regarding whether subgroups are allowed to endorse ALA candidates.

Thomson Gale, the book and electronic reference publishing division of Thomson Learning, will by February 6 eliminate 181 positions, approximately 14 percent of its worldwide work force of 1300. The cuts center in Gale's editorial and technology departments. Gale spokesperson Jessica Rohm denied rumors that either the Macmillan or Charles Scribner's Sons reference imprints would close or be scaled back. Rohm said that Gale's title output will not be reduced and attributed the cuts to "a soft library market" and a focus on new electronic product initiatives.

The American Library Association–Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), formed to lobby for better pay and to provide certification, finally has a director. Jenifer Grady, a librarian with a business degree, took the job December 22 and will meet with the ALA-APA Salaries and Status Committee and others at the Midwinter Meeting. Grady has an MSLS (1993) from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and an MBA (2003) from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.