:: Dec 9 2012 ::

Celebrated Author Stuart Dybek to Keynote Polish American Librarians Meeting

Award-winning Polish-American author Stuart Dybek is scheduled to keynote the 3rd Annual Meeting and Open House of the Polish American Librarians Association, scheduled for February 24, 2013, noon to 4 p.m., at the Polish Museum of America, 984 North Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. Dybek is the author of two story collections, Childhood and Other Neighborhoods and The Coast of Chicago; a novel, I Sailed with Magellan; and two collections of poetry, Brass Knuckles and Streets in Their Own Ink.

One of the most widely praised and authentically American literary voices of his generation, Dybek was born in Chicago and grew up in the Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods in the 1950s and ‘60s. “I was a first generation kid growing up in a port- of-entry, working-class neighborhood, in an extended Polish family that was trying to assimilate," he says, and libraries were an important rite of passage.

"Libraries --especially branch libraries-- were essential way stations where my library card was like a passport that would be stamped over and over in my personal journey to becoming Polish-American", Dybek says. "One thinks of libraries, and rightly so, as an intellectual refuge, but for me they were an affair of the heart. I didn’t go to libraries because I had to, the way I went to school or for that matter to church; they were elective. I went because I wanted to be there, because I needed to be there. Before I knew what yearning was, I yearned for what they offered--an inner life, a glimpse of the universe in all its varied stories and histories. I would be sailing with Odysseus or Magellan or Jack London or Huck and Jim, and when I walked back out onto 26th Street I'd know, although I had not yet read Emily Dickinson, that indeed there was no frigate, coracle, raft, or lifeboat like a book."

Stuart Dybek graduated from St. Rita of Cascia High School and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa and has an MA in literature from Loyola University Chicago. In 2004, The Coast of Chicago was the “One Book, One Chicago” selection and was widely read in libraries and high schools throughout the city. He currently teaches at Northwestern University, after more than 30 years teaching at Western Michigan University, where he remains an adjunct professor of English and a member of the permanent faculty of the renowned Prague Summer Program.

The mission of the Polish American Librarians Association is to positively impact services provided to library patrons of Polish descent and individuals interested in Polish culture and to enhance professional knowledge by developing forums for discussion and networks of communication among library staff. Annual membership dues for librarians are $25. Library support staff, students, retirees, and others are eligible for a $15 special rate. Membership in PALA includes admission to the Annual Meeting and Open House; attendees can join on the PALA website or at the door on the day of the program. Visit PALAlib.org for more details.

:: Nov 15 2012 ::

Illinois Governor, Chicago Mayor Help Launch Karski Educational Foundation

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn was one of some 100 special guests and supporters who helped launch the Jan Karski Educational Foundation on November 12 at the Chicago law offices of Baker & McKenzie. Governor Quinn was a student of Karski’s at Georgetown University, which has been instrumental in the Jan Karski Centennial Campaign, a successful effort to garner a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for Karski. The Polish American Librarians Association supported the Karski nomination, and PALA board member Leonard Kniffel served on the campaign steering committee. He and PALA president Elizabeth Marszalik represented PALA at the launch
more here ».

Quinn remembered Karski as “a very modest man, a man of great humor, who never took himself too seriously,” and he enumerated the achievements that earned Karski the Medal of Freedom, namely being one of the first people to infiltrate the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War and risking his life to alert the Allies to what was happening in the Nazi concentration camps. Quinn said he hoped the new foundation would spread Karski’s message of “tolerance and service” to new generations of Americans. "Karski’s mission was courageous and perilous, and his testimony in his book Story of a Secret State, published in the U.S. in 1944, set the record straight about what the Allies knew about the Holocaust when there was still time to act", Quinn said.

Foundation President Wanda Urbanska said the Jan Karski Educational Foundation grew out of the Centennial Campaign (established to honor Karski and celebrate in 2014 the centennial of his birth) after President Barack Obama awarded Karski the Medal of Freedom on May 29 at the White House. “The foundation seeks to honor the Karski legacy by perpetuating his values: courage in the face of adversity, tolerance toward all people, and speaking truth to power", Urbanska said. The foundation board of directors plans to focus on educating Americans–especially youth–by promoting Story of a Secret State as a must-read in Holocaust, world and European history curriculums at the middle school, high school, and college levels.

In a letter to the foundation, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised its mission and said, “The foundation will also serve to educate young and old about the Holocaust, and will continue as long as people seek inspiration about how to act with courage when conditions are at their worst and how to become voices for truth and humanity.”

The foundation will also work with other organizations–among them the Polish History Museum in Warsaw, Loyola University, the Anti- Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Polish Museum of America, the Kosciuszko Foundation, and PALA–to preserve Karski’s legacy and to advance interfaith cooperation and exchange, especially between Catholic and Jewish communities. Representatives from a number of Jewish organizations participated in the launch, including David Harris of the American Jewish Committee, who described Karski with the Yiddish word “mensch,” that is, “an entirely good human being,” and Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka of the Polish Embassy in New York noted that Karski taught the world “what it means to be a human being.”

At its November 13 meeting, the PALA board discussed the alignment of the association’s mission with the goals of the foundation, especially with regard to promoting Story of a Secret State as required reading in American schools. A definitive edition of the book is due next year from Georgetown University Press.

For more information about how to support the Jan Karski Educational Foundation, visit www.jankarski.net.

:: Oct 5 2012 ::

Helena Modjeska Historic House and Gardens Visit

Rafal Kasprowski, a PALA Director-at-Large, visited Arden, the Helena Modjeska Historic House and Gardens, last July during the Annual Meeting of the American Library Association.

Celebrated Polish actress, Helena Modrzejewska (1840-1909), lived on this estate from 1888 to 1906, when she was not performing under the stage name of Modjeska across the Unites States and Europe, accompanied by her husband and manager Count Bozenta Chlapowski. The couple originally purchased the ranch, which they named after the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare's play "As You Like It", in 1876 after moving to America to start on a new course when Modrzejewska was already established as Poland's leading stage actress. Following an unsuccessful attempt as farmers, they resumed life in the theater and spent the next ten years prospering from Modrzejewska's performances and increasing fame before returning to the estate to build the present house, designed by the architect Stanford White. Modrzejewska's life was also closely tied to that of other well-known compatriots of hers. The author and future Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz accompanied her on her initial trip to Southern California. Ignacy Jan Paderewski – renowned pianist and eventual prime minister of Poland – visited Modrzejewska at Arden and organized a benefit concert for her in 1905, which led to a farewell tour by the actress the following year. Incidentally, Ralph Modjeski, Modrzejewska's son from an earlier union, became one of America's pre-eminent bridge engineers.

Tours available by advance appointment only. For reservations email Heritage Hill Historical Park at heritagehill@ocparks.com or call (949) 923-2230.

References:
Araneo, Margaret. "Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America." Cosmopolitan Review. the cosmopolitan review, 15 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Aug. 2012. .

"Arden: Helena Modjeska Historic House and Gardens." ocgov.com. County of Orange, n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2012. .

"Helena Modjeska." Orange County Memories. Clear Digital Media, Inc., 9 Oct. 2006. Web. 16 Aug. 2012. .

Rasmussen, Cecilia. "Beauty of Star's Bucolic Retreat Belies Its Bloodstained History." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2002. Web. 16 Aug. 2012. .

:: July 27 2012 ::

PALA Benefits Survey Results

Join us and become a PALA active member. Annual membership dues for librarians are $25. Library support staff, students, retirees, and others are eligible for a $15 special rate.

:: Nov 5 2012 ::

The Vera May Barnes Zubrzycki Scholarship 2013

Applications are now being sought for the Vera May Barnes Zubrzycki Scholarship to the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. The scholarship is a collaborative project between the Polish American Librarians Association & Dominican University GSLIS. It is made possible through a gift from Michael & Christine Zubrzycki in honor of Mr. Zubrzycki's mother.

One $2,300 scholarship will be awarded to a library school student specializing in service to children, with emphasis on incorporating multiculturalism, particularly the Polish-American experience, into their practice of librarianship.

The application deadline is November 15, 2012. The recipient will be announced on February 24, 2013 at the PALA Annual Meeting / Open House at the Polish Museum of America in Chicago.

Application guidelines are available at the Dominican University website.

:: July 27 2012 ::

Polish American Librarians Association Meeting

Please join us for the next PALA General meeting, which will be held on Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 10 a.m. at the Polish Museum of America in Chicago.

Address:
The Polish Museum of America
984 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60642
Telephone: (773) 384-3352

We look forward to meeting you all.
If you have any questions prior to the meeting, feel free to contact us.

PALA Executive Board

Become a Polish American Librarians Association Active Member

Headquartered in Chicago but with a nationwide membership, the group's objectives are: to enhance professional knowledge by developing discussion forums and networks of communication among library staff working with Polish collections and patrons of Polish origin; to promote understanding and respect among all cultures by expanding the means for accessing reliable, current information about Polish and Polish American culture; to promote Polish American librarianship; and to provide opportunities for cooperation with other library associations and related organizations.

Join us today , and please consider active participation in one of our committees: Financial, Membership and Recruitment, Publicity (PR), Programming, Library Collections, or Website Development

Annual membership dues for librarians are $25. Library support staff, students, retirees, and unemployed library workers are eligible for a $15 special rate.

:: May 29 2012 ::

Dr. Jan Karski Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Washington, DC – President Barack Obama awarded today the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dr. Jan Karski. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America’s highest civilian honor.

Since Dr. Karski passed away in 2000, Poland’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs Adam Daniel Rotfeld accepted the award on behalf of Karski. The ceremony – held in the East Room of the White House – was attended by Poland’s Ambassador to the United States Robert Kupiecki, Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign Director Wanda Urbanska, and Campaign Steering Committee members Robert Billingsley, Andrzej Rojek and Sigmund Rolat.

In the midst of the Second World War, Jan Karski was sent by Poland’s Resistance Movement, the largest underground organization in Nazi-occupied Europe, to inform the West about the atrocities being committed by the Nazis in occupied Poland, including the slaughter of the Jewish population, as well as millions of others. Karski talked with British and U.S. officials, including President Roosevelt, giving his eyewitness reports. He later became a professor at Georgetown University, educating generations of students about the dangers of not speaking up in the face of cruelty, oppression and genocide.

Jan Karski was born in Lodz, Poland, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1954. He was the recipient of the Order of the White Eagle, the Republic of Poland’s highest civilian honor, along with its highest military decoration, Virtuti Militari. In 1994, he was made an honorary citizen of Israel, recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem and named as a “Savior” by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. Dr. Karski earned a Ph.D. from Georgetown University, and was the recipient of six honorary degrees from around the world.

After the White House ceremony, a reception at the Poland’s Ambassador’s Residence for invited guests was held as part of the celebration. Hundreds of guests joined Ambassador Kupiecki in a toast to the achievements of Poles past and present, as well as those of all ethnicities who value freedom, courage and tolerance.

With this honor, Dr. Karski joins the distinguished company of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Aung San Suu Kyi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elie Wiesel, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and Lech Wałęsa, who have also been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their contributions.

The Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign was established in 2011 as part of a worldwide effort initiated by the Polish History Museum in Warsaw. Ewa Wierzynska, senior advisor for international cooperation at the Museum, has worked with groups in several countries to educate them about Karski’s legacy.

Polish Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka of New York has been an instrumental partner in the Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign initiative, having hosted the inaugural dinner on May 31, 2011 at the Polish Consulate in New York City, as well as the first annual Jan Karski Day celebration there on April 24, 2012, Karski’s birthday. The Karski Day celebration was held the day after President Obama announced that he would award Karski the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year.

For more information about Dr. Karski or about the Campaign, consult the Jan Karski U.S. Centennial Campaign website

:: April 21 2012 ::

Tony & Janina’s American Wedding Documentary

Tony & Janina’s American Wedding Documentary to Be Screened at ALA in Anaheim.

Polish American Library Association members and supporters attending this year’s American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, June 21-26, mark your calendar for the Saturday morning screening of the documentary film Tony & Janina’s American Wedding. The film will be shown as part of the ongoing "Now Showing @ ALA" film series that has become a popular feature of ALA conferences.

Tony & Janina’s American Wedding follows a Chicago Polish family through decades of red tape navigating the U.S. immigration system. Breaking out of negative media stereotypes, the film tells the human-rights story of post-9/11 America that every undocumented immigrant in the U.S. encounters today. Directed by Ruth Leitman and produced by Steve Dixon, the film became a powerful agent for reform and a national news story when the Wasilewski family was reunited in Chicago in August 2011. It has to be a rare thing when a documentary film actually helps reverse a deportation decision of United States immigration enforcement, but that is what the film appears to have done. The U.S. granted Janina Wasilewski a waiver that allowed her to return.

The film will be screened at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 23, in room 304C of the Anaheim Convention Center. Polish American Library Association members are encouraged to attend and to facilitate discussion of this important and topical film. The fact that the director chose to focus on a Polish and not a Latino family is no coincidence, and her choice helps the viewer understand how humane immigration policies are essential for all Americans.

Reviewing the film on his PolishSon.com website, ALA publisher and PALA member Leonard Kniffel noted that the film motivated him to write to President Obama and urge him to support the lifting of the visa requirement for Poles who wish to visit the United States. "It’s a powerful film," Kniffel says, "that shows how an ordinary family can be ripped apart by unreasonable bureaucratic insensitivity."

Information about registering for the ALA Annual Conference is available on the web. Need to make the case for attending the conference? Use these resources. Visit the film’s website for information about screening the documentary or purchasing a DVD for your library.

:: April 28 2012 ::

Jan Karski to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Obama Announces Posthumous Honor at U.S. Holocaust Museum

President Barack Obama announced this week that he will award a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski. The surprise announcement came during a speech April 23 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In December last year, the Polish American Librarians Association endorsed the efforts of the Jan Karski U.S. Centennial Campaign to garner the honor.

Polish American author and journalist Wanda Urbanska, head of the Campaign, said she received a call the day before the announcement informing her that the decision had been made, and she jumped on a train to be present during the ceremony. Urbanska has worked tirelessly to raise public awareness of Karski’s heroism. "This highest of civilian honors in our great land validates the principles that Jan Karski stood for: tolerance and understanding among people of all faiths and the courage to speak the truth in the worst of times," she said.

Then-PALA President Aldona Salska wrote last December that the Association "recognizes the value of this important effort to focus national and international attention on the extraordinary efforts of this Polish-American hero, who risked his life to tell the truth about the Holocaust. Jan Karski’s story of heroism remains largely unrecognized by the public, even as we are about to celebrate the centennial of his birth. Part of the mission of the Polish American Librarians Association is to positively impact services provided to library patrons of Polish descent and individuals interested in Polish culture. The Karski Campaign dovetails perfectly with the Association’s vision."

Karski served as an officer in the Polish Underground during World War II and carried among the first eye-witness accounts of the Holocaust to the world. He worked as a courier, entering the Warsaw ghetto and the Nazi Izbica transit camp, where he saw first-hand the atrocities occurring under Nazi occupation. Karski later traveled to London to meet with the Polish government-in-exile and with British government officials. He subsequently traveled to the United States and met with President Roosevelt. Karski published Story of a Secret State, earned a Ph.D at Georgetown University, and became a professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Born in 1914, Karski became a U.S. citizen in 1954 and died in 2000.

President Obama said, "We must tell our children about how this evil was allowed to happen— because so many people succumbed to their darkest instincts; because so many others stood silent. But let us also tell our children about the Righteous Among the Nations. Among them was Jan Karski—a young Polish Catholic—who witnessed Jews being put on cattle cars, who saw the killings, and who told the truth, all the way to President Roosevelt himself. Jan Karski passed away more than a decade ago. But today, I’m proud to announce that this spring I will honor him with America’s highest civilian honor—the Presidential Medal of Freedom."

After the speech, the President personally commented to Urbanska, "We got it done!"

For more information, watch a video interview with Wanda Urbanska, visit the White House press room online, or visit the Jan Karski U.S. Centennial Campaign website.

:: April 12 2012 ::

Polish Museum in Chicago Offers Books, Assorted Attic Items for Sale

Librarians in the Chicago area July 21-22 won’t want to miss the sale going on at the Polish Museum of America, where the offerings include a wide selection of books, paintings, pottery, and assorted art objects from the museum’s attic.

The Polish Museum of America Library is selling duplicate books in English and Polish on various Polish topics, as well as a variety of books on non-Polish subjects. "If you love books, this is the place to purchase them at discount prices," says Malgorzata Kot, head of the library and co-creator of the sale. "Give a book a home—maybe even in your library!"

"The funds raised by the sale will help finance necessary improvements to the 97-year-old library and ensure its continued functioning," says Kot. "The books and art items we sell consist primarily of donations that cannot be added to the museum’s collection. We care greatly about all our books and we want to find new homes for them."

Hours for the sale are: Saturday, July 21, 10 a.m.--4 p.m., and Sunday, July 22, 11 a.m.--3 p.m., in the Social Hall on the first floor--entrance from the free parking lot. For more information, visit the PMA website or call 773-384-3352 ext. 101.The museum is located at 984 North Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago.

Books not sold during the July 21-22 event will be available for purchase at discounted prices in the library through August 10, during regular work hours. The library is open Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friend the library on Facebook and print out a coupon to receive a gift at the sale!

:: March 25 2012 ::

Polish American Librarians Association Meeting on April 15, 2012

Please join us for the next PALA General meeting, which will be held on Sunday, April 15, 2012 at 10 a.m. at the Polish Museum of America Library (984 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60642 www.polishmuseumofamerica.org).

Light refreshments and time for networking will be provided.
Topics for discussion will include:

PALA calendar 2012
2nd Annual Meeting / Open House evaluation
PALA meeting at ALA
Membership directory
Goals and objectives for 2012
Members survey
Re-activating PALA’s committees.

We look forward to meeting you all.
If you have any questions prior to the meeting, feel free to contact us.

:: December 14 2011 ::

Dominican University Offers Scholarship in Partnership with PALA

One $2,300 scholarship will be awarded annually for the next three years to a library school student specializing in service to children, with emphasis on incorporating multiculturalism, particularly the Polish-American experience, into their practice of librarianship... Read more >>

:: January 6 2012 ::

Author Brigid Pasulka to Keynote Polish American Librarians Annual Meeting

Polish-American author Brigid Pasulka is scheduled to keynote the 2nd Annual Meeting and Open House of the Polish American Librarians Association, February 19, 2012, noon to 4 p.m., at the Polish Museum of America, 984 North Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. She is the author of A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True, which Publishers Weekly called a "delightful debut" that "braids together two tales of old and new Poland," saying, "Pasulka creates a world that's magical despite the absence of magical happenings, and where Poland's history is bound up in one family's story." Read more >>

:: Dec 13 2011 ::

Ballots have been send to all current PALA Members

Dear PALA Members,

The Nominating Committee wants to thank all of you who have responded to our earlier e-mails asking for your nominations. We are now ready to put before you the final slate of candidates for PALA's officers and its Executive Board. If only one candidate has been nominated for a position, then that candidate has been automatically elected.

Please return your votes by e-mail to election@palalib.org by Saturday January 14. We will tally the results and announce the officers and Directors-at-Large at least two weeks before the Annual Meeting.

Attached is the list of candidates for the posts of PALA's Board of Directors. Please, notice that the only post for which we have two candidates is the post of vice-president/president elect. This is the only vote you need to cast.

The ballots have been mailed to all current PALA members.
Deadline: January 14. 2012
Contact: election@palalib.org

Thank you

Nominating Committee

ELECTION CANDIDATES LIST

PROCEDURE FOR NOMINATION

:: November 11, 2011 ::

Polish American Librarians Forge Connections with Colleagues in Poland

Aldona Salska and Elizabeth Marszalik, president and vice president respectively of the Polish American Librarians Association, are negotiating with librarians in Poland to forge a working relationship that will lead to the formation of an international network of library professionals who work with Polish collections or in libraries that serve patrons of Polish heritage.

“Our objective is to promote understanding and respect among all cultures by expanding the means for accessing reliable, current information about Polish and Polish American culture,” said Salska. “A strong connection to the Polish Librarians Association will help us promote Polish American librarianship by drawing on the resources and knowledge base of professionals in Poland, who are also responsible for maintaining collections and archives that will foster the study of Polish history and the Diaspora.”

To that end, Salska and Marszalik traveled to Wrocław, Poland, to present a program at the “Wrocławskie Spotkanie Bibliotekarzy,” June 30 through July 1, the third installment of an international librarians’ conference. Titled “The Polish American Librarians Association and Other Library Associations in the United States,” their presentation focused on the need and inspiration for the formation of PALA. “We discussed how American library associations play an extremely important role in the ongoing development of librarianship and libraries in the United States and the real need for ethnic library associations like Reforma: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, and the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association,” said Marszalik.

Sponsored by the Wrocław University of Technology Library, the conference also featured presentations by John Michalski of the Library of Congress, Łucja Abrams of the University of Western Ontario, and Stefan Władysiuk from the Polish Institute and Library at McGill University in Montreal. Other presenters hailed from Hungary, Germany, Macedonia, and Sweden.

“Overall, it was a unique experience to attend a library conference in Poland and have the opportunity to network with librarians from Poland and also Polish librarians living and working now in many different countries and cultures,” said Marszalik. “We met with Elzbieta Stefanczyk, president of the Polish Librarians Association, and she is very enthusiastic about organizing an international network. We will continue to work with her as we plan the future activities and services of PALA.”

:: December 7 2010 ::

Polish American Librarians Association Launches Membership Drive

The newly formed Polish American Librarians Association is launching a membership recruitment campaign in support of its mission to have a positive impact on services provided to library patrons of Polish descent and individuals interested in Polish history and culture.
Headquartered in Chicago, the group's objectives are: to enhance professional knowledge by developing forums for discussion and networks of communication among library staff working with Polish collections and patrons of Polish origin; to promote understanding and respect among all cultures by expanding the means to access reliable, current information about Polish and Polish American culture; to promote Polish American librarianship; and to provide opportunities for cooperation with other library associations and related organizations.

"We want to develop a bank of reliable, thorough information about books and other media, programming ideas, and networking opportunities," says PALA President Aldona Salska. "Most of all we want to create a national forum for Polish American librarians, where they can play a prominent role in fostering a better understanding of Polish history and the Polish Diaspora."

Annual membership dues for librarians are $25. Library support staff, students, retirees, and unemployed library workers are eligible for a $15 special rate. Join us today!

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