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ALA President Sari Feldman (right) writes: “Because my grandchildren will use technologies I cannot even imagine, libraries transform. Because solving for X doesn’t always give us the ‘why,’ libraries transform. Welcome to ALA’s new, multiyear public awareness campaign, ‘Libraries Transform.’ Its ultimate goal is to increase funding support for libraries and advance information policy issues in alignment with ALA’s advocacy goals. It demonstrates how libraries of all types support individual opportunity and community progress.”...
American Libraries column, July-Aug. |
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Susan H. Hildreth (left), executive director of the Califa Group, Pacific Library Partnership, Peninsula Library System, and administrator of the NorthNet Library System in San Mateo, California; and Patricia M. (Patty) Wong, county librarian and chief archivist of the Yolo County Library in Woodland, California, are the candidates for ALA treasurer for 2016–2019. The two will engage in a candidates’ forum on January 9, during the 2016 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston....
Office of ALA Governance, July 28 |
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The ALA Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion was created in the spring of 2014 by then–ALA President Barbara Stripling. The task force recognizes that incidents of racial bias and injustice continue to occur across the country on a regular basis. This brief survey focuses on planned Annual Conference attendance in Orlando in 2016 and seeks your thoughts regarding conference locations. Responses will be collected through August 15....
Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services, July 7 |
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Jeremy Johannesen and his son Jack plan to visit 50 New York libraries in 10 days. It’s not exactly the top vacation trip for most families, but it is the perfect adventure for Johannesen, executive director of the New York Library Association in Guilderland. They left from the Bethlehem (N.Y.) Public Library in Johannesen’s 1978 Volkswagen camper on July 20 and will return on July 30. Johannesen said this is an opportunity to see the day-to-day realities for the association’s libraries....
Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union, July 24 |
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In the past 10 years, the number of librarians or full-time equivalents in Ohio public schools has dropped by 43%, from 1,628 in the 2004–2005 school year to 923 in the 2013–2014 year, according to the Ohio Department of Education. Many school districts are replacing licensed librarians with aides, volunteers, or substitute teachers. Those replacements often aren’t qualified to teach subjects such as media literacy and database research, or aren’t licensed to teach at all....
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, July 27 |
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Adam Eisgrau writes: “In 2014, ALA sounded the alarm about privacy-hostile cybersecurity or information sharing legislation. Again dubbed a zombie for its ability to rise from the legislative dead, the current version of the bill (S. 754) goes by the innocuous name of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, but CISA is anything but. Not only will it not be as effective as advertised in thwarting cyberattacks, but it grants broad new data collection powers to many federal, state, and even local government agencies.”...
District Dispatch, July 27; June 26, 2014 |
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John Hubbard writes: “A library should only collect, retain, and disclose users’ personal information so that it can provide or improve services. The law prevents us from selling demographic details and reading lists for commercial gain, or even giving away identifying data about use of the library to the public. But it’s clear that commercial entities are not consumer advocates when it comes to privacy. So what can libraries do?”...
The Medium, July 25
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Parker Higgins writes: “The Librarian of Congress has come under fire in recent years for, among other things, failing to ensure that the Copyright Office has the resources and organization it needs to carry out its mission in the modern world. But an independent Copyright Office is not the right solution. Given the purpose of copyright itself—to promote the progress of science and the useful arts—that should be the Copyright Office’s mission as well. Librarians agree.”...
Electronic Frontier Foundation, July 23
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Justin Lynch writes: “In the Chicago area, there’s a replica of a 10-year-old boy’s skull with a cranial defect. A team of doctors at the Loyola University Medical Center wanted to make a model of his skull before performing craniofacial surgery, but it would have taken three weeks and cost $4,000. Instead, they went to the Chicago Public Library as part of a trial study and printed out a replica of the boy’s skull using a 3D printer. The model took just 12 hours to make. It cost $20 and the surgery was successful.”...
Pacific Standard, July 27; Journal of Craniofacial Surgery 26 (2015): 1584–1586 |
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Max Eddy writes: “With nearly 1.5 million apps bouncing around inside Google Play, finding a good app to refresh your phone or fill out a brand new Android can be daunting. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the best Android apps. Here, you’ll find a little bit of everything: finance, storage, photo editing, and digital security. For example, Photoshop Express (right) is a svelte app, with powerful tools to make the most of your mobile snapshots. We put games in a separate list.”...
PC Magazine, July 23; Apr. 24 |
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Richard Freed writes: “Video game developer Marc Prensky has suggested that kids (digital natives) gain expertise with tech simply by growing up surrounded by the latest gadgets, and that adults’ (digital immigrants) proper role is to load kids up with devices and essentially stand back and watch. Kids’ wired-for-amusement lives clearly interfere with librarians’ goals of advancing reading and academic success. Librarians can take some actions to advance youths’ success and help them use technology productively.”...
ALSC Blog, July 27 |
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The National Library of Israel and the British Library have signed an agreement providing for the digitization of at least 860 Hebrew manuscripts from the British Library’s collection, in addition to 1,250 already being digitized and made available through an earlier project funded by the Polonsky Foundation. Through these two projects, all 3,200 manuscripts in the British Library’s collection will be fully cataloged, and digitized images of at least 2,110 will appear online....
British Library, July 23 |
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Janna Tanner writes: “DCPL’s Summer Reading Club 2015 has begun and this year’s theme is ‘Every Hero Has a Story!’ In honor of this theme, the library is having a number of programs about all types of heroes, both real and super. There are many great superhero comics, but there are also a number of wonderful books about comics that you should check out. Here are some of my favorites. One is Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe by Tim Leong, a perfect introduction for a novice seeking an engaging introduction to comic book history.”...
District of Columbia Public Library, July 21 |
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