EDITOR'S NOTES
Fall Brings Political Talks, New Themes
by Kathy Dempsey
Fall is upon us, and the political
scene is really heating up this year as the U.S. prepares to elect a new president
in November. If you were at ALA this past summer, you probably heard the semipolitical
speech given by keynote speaker Richard Clarke. This former White House terrorism
czar was a great person to address librarians as they worry about the implications
of the USA PATRIOT Act. No matter what the political leanings of the attendees
were, all of them seemed to be moved by Clarke's rousing speech. To see Clarke
in action, and to see other selected pictures from the ALA Annual Conference
in Orlando, turn to the Newsline Report on page 55.
I'd also like to call your attention to a letter on page 60 that lists corrections
to the ILS comparison chart that we published in the Helping You Buy section
of our previous issue (July/August). You'll want to update your own chart to
ensure that you have the most accurate information.
Also in this issue are the always-anticipated themes for next year. Those
of us who are associated with CIL magazine work hard to choose themes
that will interest, excite, and teach its readers. We think you'll like what
we've chosen to focus on for 2005. And I personally invite each of you to consider
submitting an article idea! I always try to remind subscribers that anyone
can get published in Computers in Libraries. This is your magazine,
written by and for people just like you. Colleagues want to hear about your
tech projects, your success and failures, your trials and tribulations. Why
not share? The new list of themes appears on page 31 and is also on our Web
site. If you look online you can also find an FAQ and other documents that
detail what we need and how you can submit it.
Hopefully, the features in this issue will inspire you to write your own
articles. For this theme of Making the Most of What You Have, your peers show
how they stretched their budgets, used free or low-cost applications, and built
or customized software to do exactly what they needed. Share their lessons,
then share your own in 2005!
Kathy Dempsey, Editor
kdempsey@infotoday.com
 Kathleen L. Dempsey is the Editor
of Computers in Libraries. Her email address
is: kdempsey@infotoday.com |
