1982

January 14-15 (EA) NCLIS says government must safeguard but not inhibit information marketplace. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, including six ALA members, released its report "Public Sector/Private Sector Interaction in Providing Information Services" on the development of information resources, products and services. The task force asserted that "information resources, products, and services are vital components of the American society and economy and worthy of government attention and support." The task force recommended seven guiding principles for government in providing information resources, products, and services. (p. 15)

February (EA) American Libraries article on "Frontier" contest winner: a radical approach for an inner-city school media center. The article details a library experiment at Chicago's Clark Middle School to help "youngsters most comfortable with oral communication¡¦to regard print as "friendly, too." The program included minimizing instruction on library usage, purchasing books in heavy duplication, eliminating reading games and book promotion and charging fines. (p. 119-121)

March (EA) ALA published Financing Online Search Services in Publicly Supported Libraries. "The report presents results of a project conducted by ALA's Office for Research¡¦The result¡¦will help library managers interested in starting online search services or improving existing ones." Users, searchers and library administrators all had "positive feelings about financing methods whether they involve fees or not." (p. 174)

March (EA) Seminar-by-satellite from ALA's Midwinter Meeting. "Another 3, 000 persons at 55 sites around the nation watched a special live satellite transmission of the¡¦President's program, a minicourse on marketing libraries¡¦A segment of the program was devoted to questions phoned in from viewers in ¡¦the remote sites constituting the Cable Library Network." (p. 178-196)

June 25 (EA) Supreme Court follows ALA's line in Pico v. Island Trees (N.Y.) Union Free School District No. 26. A high school senior and four friends had filed a class-action suit against their school board for banishing nine books from the school library. By a 5-4 majority the Supreme Court upheld an appeals court decision that the students could sue the school board for removing the books. ALA, the New York Library Association, and the Freedom to Read Foundation had filed an 11-page amicus curiae brief for the case. (p. 494)

July 11 (EA) Library services to older adults. The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies and the Reference and Adult Services Division cosponsor a program to address the problems of library services to older adults. (p. 325)

July (EA) ALA Council amended and adopted an Intellectual Freedom Committee policy statement, "Diversity in Collection Development: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights." Council accepted the Asian-Pacific American Librarians Association as an affiliate. Council deleted remaining sexist connotations from the Constitution and Bylaws. (1982, p. 511)
Adopted resolution on the Prisoners Right to Read endorsing California Penal Code Sec. 2601(c) for all states to work to achieve. (1983, p. 243)

July (EA) "Research and Reality: Library Services to Rural Populations."
"Help! Libraries & the Hard of Hearing." "Trash in the Library."
Workshops presented at ALA Annual Conference.

July (DD) "Computers! Libraries! Learning!" Workshop presented at ALA Annual Conference.

October (EA) ALA tells Congress and Supreme Court that most off-air taping is "fair use." "The concept of fair use is basic to the right of access to information, " said the chair of the ALA copyright committee before a Congressional subcommittee. "The ALA has gone to the wall on this issue in the past and we won't give it up without a bloody battle." (p. 563)

October (EA) A Sign System for Libraries was published by ALA. Uniformity of signs could equalize patron access across the country if the signs are adequately introduced. (p. 597)

October (EA) AL article: Video-teleconferencing for libraries and librarians. Librarians are given encouragement and information on how to participate in teleconferencing. (p. 599-600)

1983

February (EA) ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee initiates "a questionnaire on availability, to citizens, of state legislative materials. The questionnaire will go to state legislative offices, libraries, and other bodies¡¦" (p. 88)

March (EA) First PLA National Conference presents programs on "Elements & Techniques for Establishing a Job Information Center in the Public Library" (to be repeated at ALA Annual Conference) and "Almost There: The Impact of Technology and Demographic Changes on Library Service."

April (EA) "Hot off the presses." ALA published The Mainstreamed Library.

May (EA) "Hot off the Presses." ALA published Communicate! A Librarian's Guide to Interpersonal Relations and Programming for Multicultural Experience. (p. 318)

May (DD) ALA published Introduction to Automation for Librarians. "¡¦provides librarians and information specialists with a survey of available computer technology in an accessible, nontechnical manner."

May 1 (EA) "Selected Films for Young Adults, 1983" from the Young Adult Services Division, and "Notable Children's Films, Filmstrips and Recordings, 1983" from the Association for Library Services to Children published in Booklist (p. 234)

June (EA) ALA-TV Conference '83. More than 90 sites around the nation will offer the teleconference through the services of the Public Services Satellite Consortium. The two-part teleconference is sponsored by ALA and the Resources and Technical Services Division Cataloging and Classification Section.
This would be a valuable service for those who could not attend the annual conference.

June (EA) ALA published Research and Reality: Library Services to Rural Populations. This included proceedings from the PLA Small and Medium-sized Libraries Section Rural Library Services Committee, ALA Annual Conference 1982.

June (EA) ALA's Ethnic Materials Information Exchange Round Table forms and presents conference program to address services to minority interests. (p. 484)

September (DD) AL article: School-library computervan. "A computer van carrying 10 Apple computers has been making stops this summer at two libraries in the Mid-Hudson Library System (N.Y.) to serve as a classroom for several hundred Dutchess County students¡¦ranging in age from 6 to 13."

September (DD) The Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) first national conference was held to "concentrate on library technology and how it affects librarians, media people, and information specialists." A preconference tutorial was offered for librarians who needed a briefing on the basic terminology and concepts of such technologies as computers, telecommunications, cable, micrographics, facsimile, or videotex/teletext. (p. 419, 672-675)

October (EA) At a Department of Energy public hearing the Chair of ALA's Government Documents Round Table voiced concerns over a planned increase in restrictions on nuclear information. Figures were given for the large number of technical reports received by academic libraries and difficulty in restricting access was explained. (p. 580-581)

October (DD) AL article: "The ALL-OUT library: A design for computer-powered multidimensional services." Details a simple scheme for a multidimensional database.

January 2, 1984 ALA launched ALANET electronic info service. Subscribers could communicate with ALA Headquarters, the ALA Washington Office, and participating libraries, associations and suppliers. Subscribers could also have access to ALA databases for current information on legislation, conferences and publications. (1983 p. 511)

*The annual ALA Yearbook could provide valuable information for this timeline project.