Most recently, Amazon crowed that it is selling more ebooks than hardcovers. Interestingly, the most recent figures from the Association of American Publishers indicate that new adult hardcover sales in both April and May rose by more than 40 percent over the same months last year, a rebound from last year's shopping paralysis brought on by the…

The author has been thinking about the kind of freedoms embodied in the idea of the library and the plight of the book that cannot find its reader. What can librarians do to help readers and books find one another in a world where money is going toward temporary access to corporate-controlled intellectual property? How can one liberate knowledge…

This article profiles Rebecca Knuth, winner of the LJ Teaching Award for 2009. The way she plans a class she's teaching illustrates why she was nominated by her students and won the award. The award, which comes with a $5000 honorarium and a celebration at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting, is sponsored by ProQuest. For…

Discusses steps taken by the Idaho Library Association to defeat an antigay ballot initiative by means of a coordinated, statewide public relations campaign. The ballot, known as Proposition One, would have violated First Amendment rights and caused library materials to be censored to determine whether they addressed homosexuality. (Author/JKP)

If patrons are afraid -- should others know what they read -- of being wrongfully indicted for such reading, then librarians have had little success curtailing censorship or extending intellectual freedom. (Author)

A critical review of the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Manual, with particular attention to the "impracticality, oversimplification, legal difficulties, anti-intellectualism, and want of professionalism" in the manual's introduction. (LS)

A librarian's reaction to the U. S. Senate's rejection of the report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. (Author)

Librarians and publishers have worked together for the past twenty years and hopefully will continue to cooperate in the future. Past and present programs such as National Library Week and the International Book Year are discussed. (DH)

Reports on the American Library Association's 2002 annual conference in Atlanta. Topics include incoming president Mitch Freedman's initiative to improve librarian salaries; author presentations; new technology, especially Amazon.com, and the library's role; ALA politics; intellectual freedom issues; salaries and recruiting; interoperability; and…

This article was sent into a column of "Library Journal" entitled "How Do You Manage?" Submissions to this column, are based on actual events in libraries across the United States and Canada. This particular piece describes a conversation between two library employees, where one, following a recovery from a devastating auto accident found…

At this Midwinter, the Intellectual Freedom Committee confronted a number of threatening apparitions--both past and present, facing them with strong resolve and bringing in the most decidedly affirmative action" of an otherwise refer-and-postpone week. (Author)

Reports on the 116th Annual Conference of the American Library Association (ALA) held in San Francisco June 26-July 1, 1997. Discusses intellectual freedom and Internet filters, the Communications Decency Act, the 1996 Telecommunications Act's Universal Service provision, the Hawaii outsourcing model, exhibits, books and authors, diversity, ALA…

Reviews major library issues and events of 1988, including: (1) the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Library Awareness Program; (2) cooperation with USSR libraries; (3) library finance; (4) preservation; and (5) special programing. News about a number of prominent library professionals is included in a sidebar. (MES)

Provides excerpts from David Berninghausens's "Social Responsibility vs. the Library Bill of Rights" and responses that appeared in "Library Journal" in 1972 and 1973 because of the continuing debate over the role of the American Library Association (ALA) Social Responsibilities Round Table and whether or not ALA should take…

Views librarians as having dual roles as censor and defender against censorship in making decisions on acquisition and access to minors. The Library Bill of Rights is criticized for its ambiguity and idealistic purity. (SW)