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By Staff -- Library Journal, 2/1/2007

Photo IDs needed!

We are a small library funded by neither city nor county and exist solely through donations from our wonderful community and through grants and fundraisers. We have very little money to spend on our collection. We have had patrons in the past give us a false or nonexistent address or who have claimed to be who they are not and have walked away with items from our collection that we cannot afford to replace. Asking for a picture ID (Francine Fialkoff, “Say No to Photo IDs,” Editorial, LJ 11/1/06, p. 8) is one way to ensure that the person is who they say they are and gives us an address that is, more likely than not, a correct one.... I do not like the idea of having to prove who I am, either, but in an age where more and more people seem to show less and less responsibility when it comes to items that belong to someone else, it seems that picture IDs are a necessity.—Barbara Sheffield, Dir., Coldspring Area P.L., TX

Well I have had it! The joy, excitement, and knowledge I have had in my professional career is being strangled by separatism (Rebecca Miller & Aida Bardales, “Better Together: The Joint Conference,” LJ 11/15/06, p. 34–35). Joint Conference of Librarians of Color! What crap! For far too long I have labored under the illusion that we were all Americans, born, naturalized, and educated in the United States of America. The language of my country is English, and the founding fathers were Christians. Being an immigrant’s daughter, I speak more than one language and enjoy a different culture from time to time.... The culture of my parents, the food, music, language, and faith are enjoyed privately, not spread all over the media like a joke! If I’m working in this country, my language will be English, and my “business dress” will be American.... I don’t want to see a head scarf in a tax-supported institution, but then I want to see men and boys take their hats off in the elevator, too. We are a melting pot, and as such we have created our own culture, music, art, literature, but most of all a special brand of freedom that is American! I want us to act as Americans, not Afro-American, Greek American, Mexican American. Those labels belong to those who are immigrants and through naturalization can drop the label and just be American....—Tess Pappas, MLS, Evanston, IL

As a newly elected American Library Association (ALA) councilor-at-large, I am both perplexed and troubled by John Berry’s “Democracy in ALA” (Blatant Berry, LJ 12/06, p. 10). Not having yet attended a Council meeting as an elected representative, I can’t attest to the inner workings of our ALA governing body, but I can tell you that my interest in and election to Council are anything but elitist.

In December 2005, I posted a message to the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Forum list that referenced a meeting that two state librarians had with representatives from the U.S. Department of Education regarding the classification of school library media specialists as “instructional support staff” instead of the more fitting “instructional staff.”

These classifications carry important weight in financial decision-making by local education agencies, often to the detriment of school libraries. I questioned what we as ALA/AASL members could do to make more of an impact. Following a lively discussion on the forum, a small group of interested members, including AASL members who also served as ALA councilors-at-large, decided to draft a resolution to be introduced at ALA Midwinter 2006. This grass-roots group crafted and refined the resolution, which was the first resolution introduced and passed (unanimously) at Council.... Inspired by this very grass-roots experience in ALA’s governance structure, I decided to run as a petition candidate for councilor- at-large. Any member who gathers the required number of signatures can run without going through the nomination process. I gathered signatures, submitted my petition, and was elected to Council a few months later.

What I learned from this experience is that ALA is what its members make of it. I did not wait for a committee to ask me to participate. I identified an issue of importance, conferred with my colleagues, and followed through. In an organization as large as ALA, you have to make your own way, step up to the plate, and participate. I look forward to the next three years representing the members of ALA. To me, this process has been the very essence of democracy.—Ann Dutton Ewbank, Ph.D., Education Liaison Libn., Fletcher Lib., Arizona State Univ., Tempe

The Chicago-based firm Frye Gillan Molinaro Architects is the design architects for the Lower Valley Branch of the El Paso Public Library, TX, featured in our annual Year in Architecture issue (LJ 12/06, p. 51). The library is the winner for Outstanding Architectural Design from the El Paso Chapter of the AIA and the Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Design. We apologize for the omission.