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September is National Preparedness Month, to encourage individuals to have an emergency supply kit, make a family emergency plan, and get involved in preparing their communities for emergencies. Visit the FAQ at USA.gov for more.

Calling all California librarians! Please join us November 12-15 in Sacramento for the inaugural joint conference of the California Library Association and the California School Library Association. We appreciate your anticipation and are pleased to announce registration is now open.

• Register Online


• Download Registration Brochure

Librarians and library supporters from all over California will gather in Sacramento during this joint conference to discuss current trends, business strategies and share with each other the tools they are using to keep their libraries moving forward in a constantly changing economic and social environment.

Our education sessions cover a wide range of tracks including management, information literacy, tech tools and future trend to name a few. Presented by peers and industry experts, this is your opportunity to attend the largest library conference for California librarians.

Conference highlights:

• Keynote Speaker Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All.


• Career Center


• The Cookbook Corner @ CLA/CSLA


• Daily Autographing Opportunities


• Drill Cart Competition


• Unconference


• Tours and many more highlights can be found in the registration brochure.

Don't delay, register for the most comprehensive, can't-miss conference of the year.

Legislative Update provided by CLA Lobbyists Michael F. Dillon and Christina DiCaro

Over the last two weeks, the Senate and Assembly processed almost one thousand pieces of legislation, in an attempt to meet their Tuesday, August 31st midnight deadline to adjourn for the 2009-10 session.  As bills headed to the Senate and Assembly Floors, legislators debated high profile issues such as a ban on plastic bags, mandatory spay/neuter of dogs, a controversial horse racing measure that would allow Californians to bet on the losing horse in a race, and a package of bills addressing the recent corruption found in the City of Bell's compensation structure for their public officials.  Despite all of this productivity, one thing that was sorely lacking, was the adoption of a State Budget, that is now over two months late. The legislature did, however, engage in what they term a "Budget drill" on the final day of session, presenting the Democrats' version of the Budget and the Republicans' version of the Budget, in order to publicly air their major areas of disagreement. Neither Budget bill was expected to receive sufficient votes for passage, yet the debate consumed over two critical hours in each house.

In the Senate, Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg presented the Democrat Budget, and among other things, he challenged the apparent refusal by Republicans to delay the $2.1 billion in scheduled business tax breaks for one year - while, at the same time, proposing to cut education by $2.1 billion.  Meanwhile, in the other house, Assembly Speaker John Perez complained of the deep cuts or elimination of essential services and programs such as CalWORKS and child care that were contained in the Republican Budget plan.  Said Speaker Perez, "Your leaders have said this Budget is their final answer.  I sincerely hope that is not the case."  He later added, "You can't continue to loudly insist that 'no' is the only answer.  It's not worthy of you.  It's not worth of this body."  Republicans countered that the Democrat Budget spends more money than the state has and rolls back important tax incentives for business.  Assembly Budget Committee Vice Chair (and author of CLA's 1982 Public Library Foundation legislation), Republican Jim Nielsen, said, "The calling for all of us, is to sit down with dispatch and find issues of agreement."  He offered, "There is an opportunity in our Budget to get some long-term reform, such as pension reform.  It would be very helpful for our future.  The worst thing we can do is delay this into late September and October.  A pox on our house if we do." 

As mentioned, neither Budget bill in either house passed, sending legislators back to the drawing board.

In an interesting move of gamesmanship, Senate Republicans abruptly called a for a sudden caucus meeting late in the afternoon, during a contentious debate on a bill to ban plastic bags in California.   While the caucus dragged on, a savvy Capitol reporter uncovered that the Senate Republicans had huddled so that they could drag the clock out on the session.  As a rule, the final day of session concludes at midnight, with only bills requiring two-thirds votes allowed to be taken up after the midnight deadline.  Thus, the Republicans figured that they could impose some power of their minority party on the final night in order to slow the business of the house and intentionally jeopardize some of the more controversial measures, which they did not support.  Interestingly, the strategy may have worked as several major bills died as the clock ran down at midnight in the Senate, in an exciting flurry of procedural moves and rulings. The Senate closed down the house at approximately 12:15 a.m. and the Assembly followed behind at 12:30 a.m.  The Governor will now have 30 days to sign or veto bills sent to him at the close of session.  We will submit a report in the coming days regarding the final disposition of some of the bills that CLA followed this year.

GOVERNOR ADDRESSES MEDIA AFTER CLOSE OF SESSION

Since the legislature has not been able to agree to the terms of a Budget, and because the regular session has officially concluded, there has been some question as to whether or not the Governor would call a "Special Session" to continue negotiations on the Budget.  Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger appeared before the media and chided the legislature for their Budget "drill" on Tuesday, calling it "Budget kabuki that did not get us closer to a solution."  The Governor said that he would not be calling a "Special Session" because there is already a current "Special Session" that is active, and beyond that, the legislature has the authority to act on any bill requiring a two-thirds vote up to mid November.   He told the press that he wanted to clear up some of the current misconceptions over the status of the negotiations, including media reports that so-called meetings of the "Big 5" legislative leaders have not been occurring. He said that he personally had been having individual meetings with legislative leaders and that he would be calling the legislative leaders after the press conference.  Said the Governor, "We are very close.  It takes the will to get over the hump.  They (legislative leaders) answer to an outside force and this is an election year and they explained that to me.  I have to have patience."  The Governor did appear quite frustrated, however, as he spoke of the legislature's unwillingness to address his largest priority - pension reform.  The Governor said, "This is the first year where pensions and retirement benefits are larger than the whole higher education budget."

The Governor is scheduled to head to China and South Korea on a brief trade mission next week.  He says that he will leave the legislature to continue their work while he promotes California trade on a worldwide stage.

REVENUE AND TAXATION COMMITTEE DEBATES GOVERNOR'S NEW TAX REFORM PACKAGE

For the last two weeks, rumors have circulated that the Governor would be introducing a new tax reform proposal that he hoped would be a cornerstone to the ultimate Budget agreement with legislative leaders.  We earlier learned from our sources that the Governor's plan would lower the current 7 brackets for income tax purposes down to 2, which would include reducing the highest bracket from 9 1/2% to 6 1/2 %, and lower the Corporation Tax rate from 8.84% to 6 1/2%.  Additionally, the current state share of the sales tax would be reduced from 5% to 3.59% and it would be applied to all services.  Extending the sales tax to all services is intended to generate $21 billion, which would pay for the tax reductions mentioned above. 

The Chairman of the 2009 Governor's Commission on the 21st Century Economy, Gerry Parsky, presented the Governor's plan on Wednesday to a special joint hearing of the Assembly and Senate Revenue and Taxation Committees (which we attended).  The hearing, chaired jointly by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino and Senator Lois Wolk, met specifically to vet the Governor's new tax reform package, but they were concerned that details, particularly as they apply to implementation of such a wide-sweeping change, were lacking from the Governor's proposal. The Department of Finance, the Legislative Analyst and a representative from the Board of Equalization were also in attendance to offer analysis of the Governor's proposal. One Senator called massive tax reform of this complexity, "impossible to do before the Governor retires.  This is an enormous undertaking."  The Committee will meet again in two weeks to discuss current tax breaks offered to corporations, etc.

This week’s hardcover fiction list offers plenty of armchair travel to exotic locales, including Eliza Griswold’s “Tenth Parallel.”

Rankings are based on August figures.

Rankings are based on August figures.

Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE ADVENTURES OF OOK AND GLUK, by George Beard and Harold Hutchins
2. LOCKE AND KEY: CROWN OF SHADOWS, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
3. DARK TOWER: THE BATTLE OF JERICHO HILL, by Peter David, Robin Furth and Jae Lee
4. KICK-ASS, by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
5. BLACKEST NIGHT, by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis

Top 5 at a Glance
1. LEGO STAR WARS, by Simon Beecroft
2. HEADS, written and illustrated by Matthew Van Fleet
3. IT'S A BOOK, written and illustrated by Lane Smith
4. STAR WARS, written and illustrated by Rufus Butler Seder
5. HOW ROCKET LEARNED TO READ, written and illustrated by Tad Hills

Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES, by Gary Chapman
2. WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING, by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
3. THE BELLY FAT CURE, by Jorge Cruise
4. RADICAL, by David Platt
5. FOOD RULES, by Michael Pollan

Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE POWER, by Rhonda Byrne
2. WOMEN FOOD AND GOD, by Geneen Roth
3. DELIVERING HAPPINESS, by Tony Hsieh
4. THE CARB LOVERS DIET, by Ellen Kunes and Frances Largeman-Roth
5. THE SECRET, by Rhonda Byrne

Top 5 at a Glance
1. EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
3. WHERE MEN WIN GLORY, by Jon Krakauer
4. THE GLASS CASTLE, by Jeannette Walls
5. MY HORIZONTAL LIFE, by Chelsea Handler

Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, by Stieg Larsson
2. FORD COUNTY, by John Grisham
3. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, by Stieg Larsson
4. TRUE BLUE, by David Baldacci
5. DEMON FROM THE DARK, by Kresley Cole

Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, by Stieg Larsson
2. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, by Stieg Larsson
3. LITTLE BEE, by Chris Cleave
4. CUTTING FOR STONE, by Abraham Verghese
5. FORD COUNTY, by John Grisham

Top 5 at a Glance
1. CRIMES AGAINST LIBERTY, by David Limbaugh
2. _____ MY DAD SAYS, by Justin Halpern
3. OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell
4. THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, by Rebecca Skloot
5. EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON, by S. C. Gwynne

Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, by Stieg Larsson
2. THE POSTCARD KILLERS, by James Patterson and Liza Marklund
3. SPIDER BONES, by Kathy Reichs
4. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
5. BEARERS OF THE BLACK STAFF (LEGENDS OF SHANNARA), by Terry Brooks

September is both National Prostate Cancer Awareness and National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. For information, see the links under "Health Observances" in the FAQ at USA.gov.

As Hurricane Earl approaches, check weather reports and get prepared!

Top 5 at a Glance
1. THE POSTCARD KILLERS, by James Patterson and Liza Marklund
2. THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, by Stieg Larsson
3. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett
4. THE COBRA, by Frederick Forsyth
5. STAR ISLAND, by Carl Hiaasen

The U.S. Census Bureau must submit state population totals to the president by December 31, 2010. Among other uses, the data are used to allocate congressional seats to states. For more, visit the FAQ at USA.gov.

by Beth Wrenn-Estes

I hope you will support me in my efforts to be elected to the California Library Association (CLA) board of directors. I want to share my leadership and organizational skills and to keep CLA a viable organization representing our member's needs. In order for the organization to weather the current economic storms in our profession a strong leadership team needs to be in place. CLA must remain responsive to the changing times if they are to keep our membership community working on common challenges and goals.

CLA has professional lobbyists representing our issues to the state legislature but even more important are the efforts to continuously work to provide training and tools to grassroots advocates throughout the state. In order for the organization to weather the current changes and economic storms in our profession a strong leadership team needs to be in place. CLA must remain responsive to the changing times if they are to keep our library community together working for common goals.

Providing quality membership services and programs is a critical area that CLA has and must continue to concentrate on. The annual conference serves as a centerpiece for quality professional development programs and networking opportunities for attendees.
CLA leadership must continue to look for the most efficient and effective ways to manage the day-to-day operations of the organization (staff). My experience in management gives me skills and knowledge to use in this area of leadership as well.

I am the new kid on the block having only moved to Northern CA from Colorado in November of 2008 but being the new kid gives me the advantage of looking at issues with "new" eyes.

I was deeply involved in my state library association in Colorado (Colorado Association of Libraries - CAL) and know the power that a state library association can have with strong leadership and solid membership base. While I was a member of CAL I served as President, Vice-President, and Past President. I was involved with the annual conference on many levels including serving as the conference Chair, Co-Chair and Program Chair on different occasions. I was the Chair of the Publications Committee for five years and Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and the Chair of the Library Association's Foundation board. I hold memberships in ALA, YALSA, NCTE, CLA and the Freedom to Read Foundation.

I hope you will support me and allow me to serve the California library community through service to the CLA board. I want to help create an even stronger and sustainable organization. I want to give time and service to CLA.

Beth Wrenn-Estes
(Instructor in the School of Library and Information Science, San Jose State University)