I want a professional organization that reacts reasonably but timely to controversial issues. The American Library Association has been eerily quite on the issue of eBooks and Harper Collins.

The only statement that has been issued comes from the ALA President Roberta Stevens. On her facebook pages she wrote:

“Message to the ALA Executive Board, Council, Division and Round Table Leadership, Equitable Access to Electronic Content Task Force and OITP’s E-Book Subcommittee:

“Recent developments in the e-book marketplace have underscored the importance of a model for e-book purchasing and lending that reflects the interests of all of the stakeholders: authors, publishers, booksellers, libraries and, ultimately, the public.

“At the recent Midwinter Meeting, my president’s report identified the names of the members of the Equitable Access to Electronic Content task force, which was created in response to a Council resolution. The task force, chaired by Linda Crowe and Michael Porter, will be meeting in Washington next week for a working retreat that is being financially supported by ALA. Among other groups, they will get assistance from OITP’s E-Book subcommittee.

“I do not take your concerns about changes in the e-book pricing approach lightly. However, due to the far-reaching and long-term effects, the task force deserves time to gather information and examine the complex issues involved in equitable access to electronic content, including e-books. We will receive their report at the Annual Conference and I look forward to our using it, as an association, to formulate actions that will ensure we have 21st century libraries to meet the needs of our users.

“Meanwhile, please feel free to continue communicating your viewpoints to publishers and e-book distributors.

“Thank you for speaking up.

“Roberta Stevens
“ALA President”

While I appreciate the time and effort the task force has and will put into this issue, Librarians around the country (and the world) don’t want to wait for a committee report to tell us what we all know: this move by HarperCollins will be costly to Librarians and detrimental to the circulation of eBooks. It could also have far reaching effects on the rest of our circulation policies. It will block the free flow of information by requiring Libraries to expend more money on the eBook than on a print copy, thereby stifling what Libraries can do.

Matthew Hamilton wrote recently about a statement “Libraryland” could issue. His words ring true: we all know what needs to be said. So I ask, why is it not being said by our professional organization?

Because as much as the ALA is a professional organization, it is a political one. It does not want to offend the publishers to whom it depends on funding for conferences, events, etc. Its members are not mad enough to demand action, or perhaps they are too complacent (or busy feeding their cats or knitting, or both).

I want ALA to take a stand. I want ALA to see the dangerous road HarperCollins is on and to say something. I don’t want to wait 3 months til ALA Annual for a Committee report because by then Libraries will have been doing exactly what HarperCollins wants them to do: limit eBook checkouts. And if we allow them to do it for even 3 months, what’s the point of taking a stand. I fear it will be too little, too late.

Other good posts on this subject: 
• Andy Woodworth at Agnostic, Maybe:  ”Now what? We do this.”
• Toby Greenwalt, at the analogdivide:  ”Okay, Now what?”
• Barbara Fister at Library Journal: “Boycotts, Censorship, and Taking Action” “
• Sarah Houghton-Jan at Librarian in Black, “More on eBooks and Libraries.”

I am proud to be a member of ALA.  But right now, I am ashamed at the “wait and see” approach they are taking.  ALA members need to demand the ALA President and Council take a stand, quickly and forcefully about the restrictions HarperCollins has now decided to implement before we go along with it for 3 months and acquiesce.

While on a crowded boat in Bangkok this past week, I spotted a woman clutching a book to her chest. She was a fellow traveler like me, and had a small Lonely Planet Bangkok Encounter guide. I know that was the book from what I could see from the obscured title. It was not the title that caught my eye, but the barcode obscuring it.

As she walked past I tried to read the name of the city but couldn’t but did manage to make out the words “public library” to verify it was indeed a library book. Yet another example of the roles Libraries play in peoples lives.

7:45 AM–Arrive at school and have breakfast; helped a colleague order breakfast at a shop next door.

8:00-8:30 AM–Checked in books that were returned while I was at the aquarium for 2 days; Checked email and got ready for the day.

8:30-8:45 AM–Secondary Department meeting in the Library with staff and students.

9:00 AM–Made arrangements for taxi service to airport for trip for Chinese New Year vacation.

9:30 AM–Second grade class checks out books for break.

9:45 AM–Helped install poster in lobby advertising Author visit.

9:45-10:45 AM–Cataloged nonfiction books (900′s). During this time I also spoke to a potential new parent who was touring the school

10:45-11:45 AM–Worked on materials for the Library related to our potential accreditation.

11:45 AM-12:10 PM–Cataloged more nonfiction books (900′s).

12:10-1:10 PM–Lunch!

1:10-1:30 PM–Rounded up Secondary Department students who were supposed to leave because they had half a day.

1:30-3:00 PM–Cataloged more books!

3:00-4:00 PM Supervised kids waiting for transportation.

4:00 PM–Left school! 9 day break for Chinese New Year! Thailand here I come!

Today I will be returning from an overnight field trip with the 7-12th grade classes from the taking the National Museum of of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

Today and tomorrow my posts will be pre-written and automatically posted.

Today I will be taking the High Speed Rail with the Secondary Department to an overnight field trip to the National Museum of of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

7:45 AM–Arrive at work and have my breakfast; Get ready for my day.

8:10-9:00 AM–Finished cataloging some non-fiction books that were on my desk while proctoring a calculus test for a student.

9:00 AM–Talked to a teacher about a book that a student damaged and needed to pay for.

9:10-10:00 AM–Worked on cleaning off my desk and organizing things into my new file cabinet.

10:00 AM–A parent volunteer arrives and I task her (and her friend) to shelve books; The end up shifting some of the Picture Books because I am running out of room.

10:30 AM–Have discipline issues in the Library with a study hall student.

11:00 -11:40 AM–Had the First Grade class to the Library; Read “The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog.”

12:10-1:10 PM-Lunch

1:10-1:50 PM–Had Grade 3 for weekly Library time; Read to them “Dial-A-Croc”.

2:00-2:40 PM–Grade 4 weekly Library visit; Read to them from “Give Peas a Chance” a collection of short stories from Morris Gleitzman.

3:00-4:00 PM–The Elementary students awaiting pickup wait in the library.

7:45 AM– I arrive at work and turn on the lights to the Library and put the new edition of the “Student Post” (the China Times weekly supplement) in our magazine rack. I then sit down to eat my breakfast and turn on my computer.

7:50 AM–My computer tells me it has to reboot to install an update to my virus program. So I save my draft of this blog and do that.

7:55 AM–I finish breakfast and my computer reboots. I then print the sign-in sheets for the daily independent study classes and the after school elementary library time.

8:00 AM–I check in books that were returned after the Library closed on Friday.

8:03 AM–I check my calender and see that I have 3 class visits today: Grades 2 and 5 and the Kindergarten. I know Grade 5 will do silent independent reading after choosing books, but I need to pick a picture book to read to the Kindergarten Class and something for Grade 2.

8:05 AM–Talk to the teachers about projects for the Author visit.

8:32 to 9:50 AM–Work on book display about Australia.

9:50 AM–Email vendor about book order I placed for the Author visit.

9:56 AM–Rescheduled Library visit from Friday to tomorrow to accommodate a teachers Chinese New Year activity.

9:58 AM–Strong armed the 3 students in the Library to become a fan of the Library Facebook page.

10:00-11 AM–Cataloged new nonfiction books into the collection.

11:00-11:40 AM–Weekly visit from Grade 2. Read them “The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog” by Ana Martin Larranaga.

11:50 AM-12:10 PM– Weekly class visit from the 5th graders. I helped students find books from the “Who was” series (non-fiction biographical books)

12:10-12:30 PM– Lunch!

12:30-12:40 PM–Located the Australian flag to hang in the lobby both for the Author visit, but also because we have students from Australia.

12:40-2:00 PM–Cataloged and added more nonfiction to the collection.

2:00-2:12 PM– Discussed payment of invoice for a book order with Elementary and Secondary Principals.

2:12-2:45 PM–Cataloged and added more nonfiction to the collection.

2:45 PM-Emailed a colleague who is an archivist to ask about some discoloration and spots on our books. I am trying to determine if it’s just part of the natural aging process and release of wood-fiber or a mold (we are hoping for the former).

2:50-3:00 PM–Cataloged and added more nonfiction to the collection.

3:00 PM–Primary Department ends day; Students who are awaiting pickup wait in the Library until the office calls for them; Continue to Catalog items.

3:20-3:45 PM –Discussed AP course registration and WASC Candidacy accreditation issues.

3:45 PM– Continue cataloging items.

4:00 PM– Last of the Primary schools students leave the Library.

4:30 PM–Edit and approve bookmark and poster design for the Author visit.

5:00 PM–Close down for the day and go home!

Last night I decided to make a facebook page for my school Library, partly because I was bored and partly because I thought “why not.” So as my first status update for the page, I posted something about our Author visit and tagged the author in it.

Imagine my surprise when I logged in this morning and saw this:

It’s amazing to see what can happen with social media!

So while I was on it, I added a “Like this” code to our Follett Destiny catalog. We’ll see how many kids like the Library Facebook page from that.

This is one of the reasons I love being a Librarian at an International School:

A box of books I ordered from Australia is wending its way to Taiwan, via Singapore, China and the Philippines.

I ordered books from Australia because in less than a month famed children’s author Morris Gleitzman will be visiting our school. He will be in Taiwan for the Taipei International Book Expo. As part of his visit, the Australia Commerce and Industry Office (the de facto Embassy here in Taiwan) has arranged for him to visit our school, speak to the kids and sign his books.

We are very excited and honored to have such an esteemed author take time out of his busy schedule to visit our school. We are also very appreciative of the Australia Commerce and Industry Office for making it possible.

Dear Readers!

I have not gone into hiding, just been busy with the end of semester and Christmas break.

In the coming weeks I’ll be posting about an author visit we have happening, the 21st Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong I’ll be attending as well as the Library Day in the Life project I’ll be participating in. So stay tuned for exciting posts!