Clementine Churchill: an undersung hero

I just finished reading Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell.

Clementine Churchill lived an amazing life. She was incredibly under appreciated, both in her time, and now. I feel like I know a fair amount about Eleanor Roosevelt who was an incredible advocate. Clementine Churchill may well have done more for Britain (and the free world) than Eleanor, but has received almost no credit.

Born into impoverished nobility, she was about a decade younger than Winston Churchill. This book draws heavily from the copious correspondence between Winston and Clementine. They were generally not model parents, and the book does not sugar coat their shortcomings in this area. Clementine was privy to most of what Winston dealt with (including state secrets). She advised and challenged Winston, and was often the only one who could challenge him. She tempered him in many ways, and often re-wrote speeches and memos.

For a book where you know how it will end (there are no secrets about history), it was a gripping read. I even pushed it ahead of other books on my "to read" pile.

ALA Midwinter 2016

Here is my tentative schedule for ALA Midwinter. Note that it is still tentative!

This year Midwinter is VERY early. I'll be in Boston starting the night of January 6, and leaving on the 12th. (If you are looking in December, you will have to page forward to January to see anything in the calendar view. I have not figured out how to make "Agenda" the default view.") Clicking on any event will show details. And do note the time zone note on the bottom. Here, I am seeing things in the Central Time zone, not sure how true that is for others.

Here is my tentative schedule for ALA Midwinter. Note that it is still tentative!

This year Midwinter is VERY early. I'll be in Boston starting the night of January 6, and leaving on the 12th. (If you are looking in December, you will have to page forward to January to see anything in the calendar view. I have not figured out how to make "Agenda" the default view.") Clicking on any event will show details. And do note the time zone note on the bottom. Here, I am seeing things in the Central Time zone, not sure how true that is for others.

ALA Committee Volunteering - part of the inside story

First of all, if you want to volunteer for an ALA Committee, now is the time.

The deadline is November 6, 2015. Here is a link to the online form.

Important note (added 10/28): You are limited to volunteering for 3 positions. (That is the maximum number of volunteer positions you are permitted to hold at any one time.)

The use of this form, which automates many of the database and communication processes involved in volunteering for, being selected by an appointment chair, being notified of a possible appointment, selecting or refusing the appointment, and being added to a committee roster is available to all ALA divisions and round tables. Currently, United for Libraries,FAFLRT, GODORT, LHRT, LRRT, LSSIRT, STORT, and VRT are not using the form. Please contact them directly if you have an interest in volunteering.

So why use the form and what happens next?

The form populates a database that is available to staff (of course) and the volunteer leaders who are responsible for appointments. Those volunteer leaders include division Presidents-elect (me, right now - 2015/16), and the members of the Committee on Committees and Committee on Appointments. If you are interested in the distinction between these two committees and their responsibilities, see my (semi-ancient, but still accurate) post: ALA 101 - Part 5: Committees.

Since I am the President-Elect of ASCLA, I get to use this database. I'll be using it for two different things. First, the Committee on Appointments - which includes all my colleagues in the other divisions - works with the President-Elect of ALA to make some appointments. But, and this is critical, it is also what I will be using to make the appointments to all the ASCLA committees.

I can not repeat this often enough: If you want to serve on an ALA (or division) committee the fill out the form. Back in the day when I served on the Committee on Committees, it was all paper, spreadsheets, and emails. This new system is much smoother and slicker.

Yes, talk to someone if you want to be on a committee but

Fill Out The Form

Feel free to make comments - or otherwise contact me!

Happy Birthday, Blog - 10 years!

It is hard for me to believe that it has been ten years since I started this blog. But, yesterday, marked the 10th anniversary of the blog. I have published 584 posts - there are some still in draft mode which may, or may not see the light of day.

I am in my third job, and state, since starting. I have had a lot of changes in my life which I could never have imagined ten years ago. Some are good. Some were much more painful.

The blog has varied in purpose. Originally, it had a good deal of library content - including reflections on my day job, and information/thoughts about ALA. I was serving on the ALA Executive Board - actually, I was more than half way through.

There was a time when the blog was just a parking place for links - mostly library related.

More recently it has become a more personal and philosophical forum, but still with a focus on libraries.

I don't get many comments, but I do get a lot of views. I guess, I don't worry about that any more. It amazes me to see that ALA 101, written in 2006, still gets traffic. I did go and look at it last year, and it is still pretty accurate.

Anyway, thanks for reading!