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Terra Dankowski writes: “August 29 marks 10 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast and became the costliest—and one of the deadliest—natural disasters in US history. Over recent weeks, stories have been recounting the damage to structures, institutions, families, and communities; offering tribute to the people lost; and showing how far we’ve come and how far we have left to go toward recovering local economies and populations, improving government services, and healing.”...
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 25 |
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Terra Dankowski writes: “Librarian Marylyn Haddican wrote the American Library Association (ALA) a letter in 2011. It was the year ALA hosted its Annual Conference in New Orleans for the second time since Hurricane Katrina, but it was actually a belated thank-you note to express gratitude to ALA for being the first major group to hold a conference in New Orleans in 2006, following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It was a time when the city’s future was uncertain and other professional organizations were canceling their commitments in the area.”...
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 25 |
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 Terra Dankowski writes: “When Louisiana State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton was appointed to her position in July 2005, she became the youngest member of Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA). She entered an agency that hadn’t updated job descriptions in 20 years and kept its backup server on the Gulf Coast, in a more vulnerable location than inland Baton Rouge. She had big ideas for improving operations starting in the fall. And then, less than two months on the job, Katrina happened.”...
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 25 |
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Alison Marcotte writes: “When a group of community members gather every month at Woods Hole (Mass.) Public Library, they try to stay within the lines—quite literally. ‘We purchase a couple of coloring books and I print out some free coloring pages that are available online, and we just get together and color,’ says librarian Kellie Porter, who started the library’s Coloring Club in May. The club has seen about 15–20 members a month, ranging from tweens to 70 year olds.”...
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 24 |
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Alison Marcotte writes: “Almost a year after Columbus (Wis.) Public Library developed its “Root for Columbus” campaign in October 2014, the city is sitting on the bench—art benches, that is. Stemming from a Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) initiative, the library began a pilot art bench project, buying seven benches and distributing them to local artists, who painted them to either reflect Columbus in general or to reflect a bench’s location (such as a pool-themed bench near a community pool).”...
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 24 |
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Are you new on the job? Going from completing classwork to being on the job is a big shift. Much of what is expected and the politics of schools are not covered in library school. Moving from one school to another means you need to start from scratch to build your reputation. This ALA publishing e-course gives you the tools and techniques to be successful from day one—and continue to build on that success. School librarians are often alone in their buildings and assumed to know everything about the job; yet as noted earlier, much of it is not covered in library school. This course with Hilda Weisburg will cover all topics in her popular book New on the Job 2nd edition, allowing you to interact with the text, each other, and Weisburg....
ALA Publishing |
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Laurel White writes: “According to the founder of the Little Free Libraries movement, Madison (Wis.) is the city that made it all possible—and, this weekend, Madison will receive the organization’s first ‘City of Distinction’ award in recognition of that. ‘When I started this, I thought to myself, ‘Where in this country would you test this to see if it’s viable?’ said Todd Bol, creator of the movement that now spans the globe. ‘I thought it had to be a fairly innovative, progressive place that would embrace literacy and family and community and I thought: ‘Madison.’’”...
The Capital Times, Aug. 22 |
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Patrick Dehahn writes: “When people think of libraries, they think of books. But for homeless individuals, they’re often a place of refuge. Here’s how the American Library Association has helped enable that mission around the country.”...
Associations Now, Aug. 21
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The University of Arkansas University Libraries and Special Collections Department have opened the digital Ozark Folksong Collection. Collected between 1949 and 1965, it is the largest and most complete collection of traditional music and associated materials from Arkansas and the Ozarks in the nation. Now available online, the collection contains recordings of songs, tales, instrumentals, and conversations from over 700 performers....
The University of Arkansas, Aug. 24 |
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Glen Tickle writes: “MIT’s Glass Lab has created a process for 3D printing with molten glass. They call the process G3DP for ‘Glass 3D Printing,’ and it operates with 1900° fahrenheit ‘kiln cartridges’ as it prints the glass into computer-controlled shapes.”...
Liquid Squid, Aug. 24 |
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 From answering reference questions to planning programs, working with 3D printers to dancing with Stormtroopers, librarians have their fingers in a lot of pies. In a new video on the ALA YouTube channel, ALA asked librarians “What do you do at your library?” and got some fabulous answers!...
YouTube, Aug. 18 |
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