Retracing Steps

I've spent much of July on the road and will try to send some updates on recent travels and activities, not necessarily in chronological order!

First, feel free to check my open blogs linked from my new ALA President-Elect website (lorieneroy.com). Check under the blog circle and feel free to post messages on the blogs associated with my three Presidential initiatives: (1) Supporting LIS Education Through Practice; (2) Circle of Literacy; and (3) Workplace Wellness. I welcome your ideas and comments.

Today I returned from the Lifelong Access Libraries Institute on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This was the first of three gatherings for Fellows for the Institute, representing public libraries across the country that are providing exemplary services for boomers and older adults. I was delighted to serve on a panel with Anthony Sarmiento, President and Executive Director of Senior Service America. My talk addressed an indigenous view of lifespan. While I could not stay for the entire institute, I was privileged to hear two excellent key note addresses. I have often cited Dr. Robert Butler's work on life term review and found his call for the development of a philosophy of longevity exciting. Dr. Catherine Bateson's views of the potential of the American public library were equally challenging as she called on libraries to find out how they can help older adults transform themselves.

Recent Library Visits, #18-21.

I'll provide more details on recent visits to the Hialeah Public Library in Florida(#18) as well as the tribal community library at the Big Cypress Seminole Community (#19), the library at the Seminole museum (#20) and the library science collection at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. At UNC I browsed a collection of ALA programs from the early 1930s to the 1950s!

Reading Circle:

One of the great joys of traveling is the opportunity to read during lengthy waits and transits. Here are some of my recent reads: Louise Erdrich's "Four Souls": Adrian Wojnarowski's "The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season With Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty"; Sebastian Barry's "A Long Long Way"; Chris Bohjalian's "The Buffalo Soldier"; Leo Litwak's "The Medic: Life and Death in the Last Days of World War II"; Carol Shields' "The Stone Diaries" and a reread of Gregory Cajete's "Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education." Some of my favorite romance writers are no longer writing, or I have read through their publications. This short list includes Rosamund Pilcher, Lavyrle Spencer, Mauve Binchy. I am now reading Nicholas Sparks, starting with "Message in a Bottle." Set in North Carolina, I often like to read works depicting the settings where I travel.