Denver ALA

Last night I heard on the Denver news about the two librarians who died in a car accident enroute to the airport after their American Library Association meetings. Tuesday that could have been me and another librarian as we returned from the weekend of meetings in Denver. It was my first extended visit to Denver, and the meetings were held in hotels and the Convention Center. We were shuttled through the streets of tall new buildings and the great old ones. But best of all were the meetings and the opportunities to visit with the wide variety of visitors. I was appalled and sympathetic to the number of people from low altitude who were truly suffering in the mile-high climate. Most of them were not uncomfortable, but some were truly stricken.

Still it is the programs and training that are of the greatest value to librarians. Hearing a Nobel Peace Prize winner describe the beginning of his bank as a small town rescue effort when he learned of a village of 44 people who were in debt to the money lenders for $27. He loaned them the money in order to remove the threatening presence of the loan sharks from the village, and he was paid back every cent. His philosophy of loaning to the poor and to women was new to India, and new to most banking institutions. However, he now has a branch in New York City that is proving equally successful. Dr. Muhammad Yunus has two books about his social business concept, the Grameen Banks and microloans.

There was a morning speaker series that included Leigh Rubin, a cartoonist who uses his family situations to create "animal" cartoons; science fiction writers Kevin J. Anderson and Dom Testa interviewed each other and shared writing habits and stories about their stories; Richard North Patterson talked about his new title ECLIPSE which combines his knowledge of North African history and modern day events.

In addition to the program this winter meeting is focused on the business of American Library Association. For many years I have worked with committees on "intellectual freedom." Recently I have become fascinated with the sound of these combined words. INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM intellectual freedom intellectual freedom
In the Library world, the term embodies the first amendment rights of freedom of speech which translates to patron privacy, collection development that provides both sides of every argument, meeting rooms and gathering places without prejudice, and much more. But as I age and mull over those words, I love the challenge of them -- intellectual freedom. I have the freedom to be intellectual --- or not. I can think -- or not. I have a place where I can find information on everything. I have the source -- the font of all knowledge -- at my library. AND SO DO YOU.

Now I have an extended to-do list and not enough hours this week, but I also have a new balance and a reminder of why I love being a librarian, and the special gifts of my current job.