Quick! You have 5 minutes to tell your colleagues about a great reference program, resource, service, or idea (maybe even about what you think will be the future of reference).

We’re looking for ideas that inspire and engage our students and patrons and make their lives easier and better. Maybe you'll tell us about a new technology that will change the way we do business. Or one that just makes it easier for users to reach professional help at the library.

Since time is short, lightning talks are fast and fun and require little effort beyond the expertise and experience you already have. And, of course, by including photos or videos you can pack even more information into your presentation. Lightning talks will give more people a chance to participate and will allow many more ideas to be thrown into our two-day discussion about the future of reference.

A Reference Renaissance 2010: Inventing the Future will be August 8-10, 2010 in Denver, CO, so when you register for the conference, click the lightning talk participation box and submit a title (or two or four). We want to hear what’s new and cool with reference services at your library. What do you worry about when you think about our future? What do you hope for? Are you working on a project that you believe represents some of what the future has to offer us? We're looking for a nice mixture of practical, visionary, funny, dire, and inventive. Wherever you are in the library or your career - from library director to library student - you have something to add to this discussion.

Your early submission will help us plan a better conference, but you will also have a chance at the conference to sign up to do a lightning talk.

http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance/index.html

Book Sale Manager is proud to announce their campaign to create awareness about library book sales in the U.S. has been selected to compete in the Pepsi Refresh Everything contest. Refresh everything is a campaign Pepsi started to help fund philanthropic causes. Each month, over 1000 different ideas are picked from thousands of applications to compete for votes. The cause with the highest votes is awarded a donation.

“We are really excited to be selected for this contest,” said Jessica, Co-founder of Book Sale Manager. “We are passionate about helping libraries and other nonprofit organizations spread the word about book sales. These book sales help raise money for charities, spread literacy, and provide steeply discounted books. It’s really just a win-win for all involved and we are proud to be a resource for the community.”

Book Sale Manager is a new site that launched within the last year with the aim of giving libraries a free place to list their book sales to increase attendance. “We really wanted to create a forum where libraries could quickly and easily list their sales and users could just as easily find book sales,” said Jessica. “After talking with several libraries we just saw this gap. There really wasn’t a solution out there that utilized the latest technology in databases, web 2.0, and web design. So we decided to introduce one.”

Book Sale Manager features an impressive set of search and management tools. Users can search for book sales by simply clicking on a state or entering a zip code and finding sales within a preselected radius. Once a user finds a sale there is a host of information they can use to help plan their trip. “We provide sale descriptions, contact information, Google maps and one click directions, plus the ability to save the sale to your Google, iCal, or Outlook calendar. We also give users the option to share book sales on Facebook, Twitter, and over 250 other social media sites – we want these listings to go viral,” stated Jessica when asked about the features.

The team at Book Sale Manager is proud of the work they are doing, and they hope campaigns like Refresh Everything help create even more awareness for nonprofit book sales and used book stores. When asked about the contest, Jessica said, “Obviously winning would be nice, but we are just thrilled that we have the opportunity to reach more people. Hopefully someone will read our campaign and think to themselves – wow book sales, what a great idea!”

You can vote for Book Sale Manager every day during the month of May at: http://www.refresheverything.com/booksalemanager

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOOMTOWN D.A. - CRIMES, TRIALS, AND THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE

HOUSTON, Texas (May 5, 2010) - Whitecaps Media announces the May 17 release of Boomtown D.A., the exciting memoir of Carol Vance, former district attorney of Harris County (Houston), Texas. From his first misdemeanor jury trial, tried in a barn, to his final trial - the Corll-Henley mass murder case - Carol Vance chronicles his years as top prosecutor in the fourth largest city in the United States. During his eight years as an assistant D.A. and nearly fourteen years as the elected district attorney in Houston, Texas, Vance was on a quest for justice for “the least, the last, and the left out.” He worked hard to reform the law, and introduced many innovations to address a multitude of crimes and better serve the public. All the while, Vance vigorously pursued convictions, and found time to try more cases than perhaps any elected prosecutor in a large city in America.

Boomtown D.A. has it all. The delicate case of bringing charges against a sitting justice of the Texas Supreme Court - and sending him to jail. Grizzly details of high profile murder cases. Touching stories of human drama. Vance’s book covers the turbulent sixties and seventies - a time when Houston doubled in population. Vance oversaw or personally tried some of Texas’ most famous cases - the infamous Joan Robinson Hill and John Hill murder cases; the Texas Southern University riot and the resulting trials; as well as a United States Supreme Court case which bears his name. In one of the most moving stories he recounts the story of a professor who engineered an armed robbery to finance a radical press with ties to a left-leaning Caribbean island nation. Vance secured her conviction but later, when her life turned around inside prison walls, he went to bat for her for a full pardon.

Boomtown D.A. is a great read. It is an excellent study of just exactly what district attorneys do and illustrates their tremendous influence on the criminal justice system in America. This deftly penned account is a wonderful contribution to the history of Houston, and to the legacy of the great prosecutorial tradition that is so important to the rule of law in the United States.

Carol Vance has been a leader among district attorneys in the state of Texas and across the nation. He has been called the the “father” of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association (TDCAA), having worked to turn it into a professional organization and secure its funding. On the national level, Carol was a cofounder of the National College for District Attorneys. While in office Vance served as president of the TDCAA and the National District Attorneys Association and received the highest award each of those associations bestows.

Vance is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. After two decades as a prosecutor, he joined the national law firm of Bracewell and Giuliani, where he became a Senior Partner. Even in private life, he could not escape working for justice. As chairman of the Texas Prison Board he led the fight for many reforms. Teaming with Governor George W. Bush and Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson, the first faith-based ministry in the U.S. was started at the Carol S. Vance prison where Vance serves as a volunteer today. He has recently received the coveted Fifty Year Lawyer Award from the State Bar of Texas.

Contact:
Kit Sublett, Publisher
Whitecaps Media
www.whitecapsmedia.com
whitecapsmedia@earthlink.net
281-798-0038

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