Lisa Peet & Kara Yorio

The American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, held June 27–July 2 in San Diego, CA, was big and busy, with more than 8,400 attendees and 5,000 exhibitors, authors, illustrators, members of the press, and staff. And while those numbers didn’t top last year’s Annual in Chicago, which saw more than 15,000 guests, it felt busier—possibly because of the slightly smaller venue, and definitely because of the sense of engagement and enthusiasm throughout. The great weather may have kicked the mood up a few notches as well.

An online ALA Council poll, held August 9–16, voted 140–4 to rescind a controversial meeting room interpretation. The Library Bill of Rights will revert to the 1991 version that had previously been in effect.

An article that appeared in Forbes magazine online on July 21, calling for all public libraries to be replaced by Amazon bookstores, has the library community—and the communities they serve—up in arms. The op-ed piece, “Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money,” by Panos Mourdoukoutas, chair of the economics department at Long Island University’s Post campus, drew righteously indignant and thoughtful responses.