ULC, LAMA To Lease Yacht for Summits

-- Library Journal, 4/1/2006

The Urban Libraries Council (ULC) and the Library Administration and Management Association have won a National Leadership Grant from the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services to lease a luxury yacht for global “leadership summits.” “It will be a significant revenue stream for us,” said ULC Executive Director Martin Gomez, who noted that, while public library budgets may be tightening, directors’ travel budgets remain steady. The ULC will be working with the International Library Yachting Association (ILYA), an offshoot of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA).

“Public libraries today serve global populations, and we need to be there. Out there. Basically, anywhere but here,” said Ginnie Cooper, executive director of the Brooklyn Public Library. Deborah Jacobs, Seattle’s City Librarian, concurred, explaining that: “You can’t really understand RFID until you’ve seen Singapore from the sea.” The first leadership summit will be held July 15-July 30 and will depart from the Greek Island of Mykonos. Its destination? “We don’t know,” said Dan Walters, director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District and current president of the Public Library Association, “we’re blindfolding the captain. But it must have some gambling.” There was no confirmation on the rumor that the ship would be rechristened “The John N. Berry III.”

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