The Great Kindle Fire

THE AMERICAN LIBRARY Association is, as its name suggests, a professional organization for librarians and, increasingly, for the computer network administrators, social media gurus, and all-around efficiency mavens who bolster the staffs of American public and academic libraries. It is the largest and oldest group of its type, and is, to all appearances, a thoroughgoingly ordinary assembly. Members receive copies of a monthly magazine called American Libraries and are invited to purchase discounted auto and homeowners’ insurance from Geico, partake of discounted shipping rates from FedEx and discounted office supplies from OfficeMax, and rent cars at discounted rates from Avis. There is even an American Library Association Visa® Platinum Rewards Card, newly available from UMB. (The ALA credit card comes with what sound like standard Visa® Platinum benefits but across the top reads either “ALA” or “The Library Card: Get It. Use It,” whichever the cardholder prefers.) The one thing that an ALA membership does not secure for its members is a free spot at the Association’s annual conference. To receive that, one must, like yours truly, be an accredited member of the national press.