Leonard Kniffel sent this message to staff last week. I count at least three things I never thought I would see in an announcement about anything related to ALA.

"American Libraries will launch a year-long celebration of its 100th anniversary during the Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. The celebration will culminate in June during the Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., and editorial content will highlight the anniversary throughout the year.

At Midwinter:

1) The redesigned print magazine debuts. Free copies will be available in the Cognotes bins. The January issue contains a number of pieces of information about the 100th anniversary, and Will Manley offers the first of eleven 2007 columns that will look back at the history of American Libraries.

2) The 100th anniversary logo debuts on the cover and in related features. The logo is available for use by any ALA unit, with the tagline: "American Libraries Magazine--The First 100 Years" (thanks to James Vertovec in Conference Services, who won the tagline competition).

3) Cognotes will contain an announcement of the anniversary launch.

4) American Libraries will launch its CentenniAL blog, which will be open to all and feature reminiscences as well as predictions. Cognotes will also announce the blog launch.

5) ALA President Leslie Burger will offer congratulatory notes on the 100th anniversary in her welcoming speeches, including at the exhibit hall ribbon cutting.

6) The Development Office's Library Champion panels will include congratulatory messages on the 100th, as do the Champions pages in the January issue.

7) American Libraries will cosponsor the Arthur Curley Lecture by Joe Klein, senior writer for Time magazine, Saturday, January 20, 2-4 p.m. in the convention center, rooms 611-614.

8) A commemorative resolution will be presented to Council.

9) At the American Libraries/TechSource booth, visitors to the exhibit hall will be able to play "Dance Dance Revolution" and "Guitar Hero." Moo cards will be given away.

10) "American Libraries Direct" and "American Libraries Online" redesigns debut this month. "AL Direct" will celebrate its one-year anniversary with the January 10 mailing.

Stay tuned as plans for Annual Conference and the June-July commemorative issue unfold. Your ideas and participation are welcome. Among other anniversaries in 2007: YALSA, ALCTS, and LAMA are celebrating 50 years and we will be working with these divisions and other units to mark their milestones. The February issue of American Libraries will contain a look back at 10 years of the Spectrum Initiative."

It still kills me that all of the great content in the new (and old) AL is behind a member login so I can't point directly to any of it, but being on staff now, I understand why. All I have to do is look around at the people I work with to see why we need member perks, although I keep thinking there has to be a way to handle this. I'd hate to see the next 100 years of AL locked away in a walled garden.

More on AL happenings from Teresa Koltzenburg on the TechSource blog.