People's Network: New Opportunities Fund announces its £20 m programme for IT training of public library staff.
Appointments: Dr Bob McKee named as the LA's new Chief Executive and Matthew Evans set to head the new Museums, Libraries and Archives Commission.
Archives: grant boost for the Black Cultural Archives. Access: RNIB fights for automatic copyright exemption for visually impaired people.
Public library news: DCMS/Wolfson award winners announced. Plus Tower Hamlets gives green light to its first two 'Idea Stores'.
Encyclopaedia Britannica: rumours of the print version's demise are scotched as the biggest-ever edition is announced.
Reading: libraries gain from BT Reading Challenge funding.
International: Malawi's Rodrick Mabomba wins the International Librarian of the Year award.
IT News: National Library for the Blind pilots new scheme with Online Originals. Plus National Grid for Learning Managed Services offers help buying networked IT systems.
Academic libraries: the Research Support Libraries Programme announces its first 40 grants.
Cataloguing: cross-sector support grows for 'virtual union' national digitised catalogue of library and archive material.
Columns
Q&A: Phil Bradley introduces his new Internet column with answers to queries about meta tags, search engines, URLs and film Web sites.
National Year of Reading: Liz Attenborough reflects on the National Year of Reading as it metamorphoses into Read On, the National Reading Campaign.
Broadcast News: Fiona O'Brien rounds up the latest BBC initiatives, including The Nation's Favourite Song Lyric for National Poetry Day.
President: Verna Taylor enjoys UmbrelLA and the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway awards.
Libraryland: Edward Dudley on love, sex, paedophilia, Christianity and censorship.
Mediawatching: Laura Swaffield offers a rich choice of professional images: intrepid, anarchic, eccentric, or agent of a 'vast judging machine'.