The ALA has come out in support of US President Bill
Clintons proposal on after school and education
initiatives Read the release HERE \"The nation\'s
librarians welcome the opportunity to enhance learning
opportunities
for kids through an expanded role in afterschool and
education
initiatives outlined by President Bill Clinton in his State
of the Union address Jan. 27.
Clinton called on Congress to double funding for afterschool
programs to $1 bill

The NY Post has a story
HERE on
budget
problems in the New York Citiy Libraries.

Libraries should charge borrowers Blockbuster rates for
movie videos and CDs -- or come up with other money-raising
ideas -- to cover part of a $41million budget cut, the
mayor\'s new spending proposal says.

From
the Pioneer Planet.

The mad dash for public library Internet terminals begins shortly after 2 p.m. on school days. St. Paul students, some as young as 6 or 7, scramble to snare one of the coveted computers that provide free online access at neighborhood branches.

``Kids sometimes run to our sign-up sheets,\'\' says Kathy Heiderich, a city librarian who heads up the St. Paul Public Library system\'s Internet committee. ``It\'s like ice cream.\'\'

From
the Pioneer Planet.

The mad dash for public library Internet terminals begins shortly after 2 p.m. on school days. St. Paul students, some as young as 6 or 7, scramble to snare one of the coveted computers that provide free online access at neighborhood branches.

``Kids sometimes run to our sign-up sheets,\'\' says Kathy Heiderich, a city librarian who heads up the St. Paul Public Library system\'s Internet committee. ``It\'s like ice cream.\'\'

The savannahmorningnew
s has a nice story on a banned book Here . It follows the story for a year
and
a half.
\"It started with a single complaint. One man offended by
what he read on the pages of his stepdaughter\'s
schoolbooks. It snowballed into a book ban, a
full-fledged censorship fight, gathering disbelief and
outrage as it rolled on its controversial path.\"

USNEws has an intersting
read Here on the new breed of Librarians.

\"Library science is a field transformed by the
cyber-revolution. A generation ago, \'\'the librarian had the
crepe-soled shoes and the bun and was holding court in a
book-lined environment,\'\' says Carol Hoffmann, assistant to
the director of the University of Pittsburgh\'s library
system. Lately, explosive growth in the volume and import of
electronic
information has created demand across disciplines for people
expert in organizing and retrie

\"The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is
preparing to conduct proceedings to make recommendations in
accordance with section 1201(a)(1) of the Copyright Act, 17
U.S.C.
1201(a)(1), which was added by the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act and which provides that the Librarian of
Congress may exempt certain classes of
works from the prohibition against circumventing a
technological measure that controls access to a copyrighted
w

From the Nando
Times.
A Greenville lawmaker has filed a bill to make public
libraries criminally liable if they fail to keep children
from pornography on the Internet.

From
the Greenville News.
Responding to the Greenville County Library\'s refusal to
filter Internet access, state Sen. Mike Fair is seeking to
open libraries statewide to prosecution if minors see
pornography on their computer screens.

From the Ann Arbor News.

The Ann Arbor District Library is blaming accounting errors
for a newfound budget deficit of nearly $1 million that has
forced the library to begin cutbacks and postpone major
building plans for two of its branches.

The library board of directors may also consider increasing
the levy it collects from taxpayers in the dist