Title: Black Resource Center Presents Eating to Die
Location: AC Bilbrew Library, Los Angeles
Description: Lottie Perkins, RN, MHA, Ph.D, “shares her knowledge, insight, and personal experiences to help other African Americans make conscious lifestyle choices that will increase their quality of life and longevity.”
Start Time: 2pm
Date: September 26, 2009
By LEE LOGAN, Associated Press Writer Lee Logan, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 17, 10:32 pm ET
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Could a vintage, dog-eared copy of “The Cat in the Hat” or “Where the Wild Things Are” be hazardous to your children?
Probably not, according to the nation’s premier medical sleuths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But a new federal law banning more than minute levels of lead in most products intended for children 12 or younger — and a federal agency’s interpretation of the law — prompted at least two libraries last month to pull children’s books printed before 1986 from their shelves.
Lead poisoning has been linked to irreversible learning disabilities and behavioral problems, and lead was present in printer’s ink until a growing body of regulations banned it in 1986. The federal law, which took effect Feb. 10, was passed last summer after a string of recalls of toys.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has interpreted the law to include books but has neither concluded that older books could be hazardous to children nor made any recommendations to libraries about quarantining such tomes, agency chief of staff Joe Martyak said Tuesday.
Still, the agency’s interpretation itself has been labeled alarmist by some librarians.
“We’re talking about tens of millions of copies of children’s books that are perfectly safe. I wish a reasonable, rational person would just say, `This is stupid. What are we doing?’” said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s Washington office.\
By Martha Cornog, Philadelphia — Library Journal, 2/12/2009 1:12:00 PM
African American history turned a corner in January when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. From Washington, DC, Obamamania swept through the recent New York Comic-Con, where exhibitors sold Alex Ross’s striking Superman Obama print as well as T-shirts proclaiming “Obama is my homeboy.” Obama comics are also jumping out of stores, and several more are in production.
Because our new president is a poster honcho for literacy as well as a comics-friendly icon, I hope we will soon see more graphic novels for children and tweens featuring black people as major characters. Luckily, there are many existing works that offer distinctive and often powerful portrayals of African Americans famous and unknown, real and fictional. Limited to teen through adult readers, the titles below are recommended for public and school libraries, and many would be welcome in academic collections. Display away, librarians!
American Library Association’s Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) division presented a number of awards, including the inaugural Zora Neal Hurston Award recognizing an individual RUSA member who demonstrated leadership in promoting African American literature. The initial winner is Miriam Rodriquez, assistant director, Public Services/Community Integration of the Dallas PL. Rodriguez won the prize for her role in “Tulisoma,” a community-based literary festival highlighting African American authors and artists.
African American Views: 40 Titles for Black History Month
By Ann Burns — Library Journal, 11/1/2008
Founded in 1909, the NAACP has since been the major civil rights group in the United States, and it’s still around. Next year, the organization celebrates its centennial in conjunction with the publication of NAACP: Celebrating 100 Years 1909–2009 in February, Black History Month. Also, at this historic time, with our first African American president, there are three books here showcasing Barack Obama. He’s seen in campaign photographs, as an essayist, and as profiled by journalist Gwen Ifill. Other authors reveal their struggles with racism and drugs; entertainers Quincy Jones and the late James Brown are here, too. In addition, we’ve included three classics, from Ed Bullins, James Weldon Johnson, and LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka). These titles will play an essential role in enhancing your collections for years to come.
For the list, see the article at the Library Journal website.
Title: An Evening with Toni Morrison
In conversation with David L. Ulin, Book Editor, LA Times
Location: Aratani/Japan America Theatre, Los Angeles
ALOUD, a presentation by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles
Description:
Aratani/Japan America Theatre
244 S. San Pedro St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
$20 General Admission /
$10 Library Associates
In 1993, the Nobel committee lauded Toni Morrison \”who, in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.\” Come celebrate this magnificent author and her new novel, A Mercy.
A limited number of tickets will be made available the day of the event at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre Box Office.
Start Time: 19:30
Date: 2008-11-19