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Gretchen Keer and Andrew Carlos write: “As far back as the early 1900s, librarians have observed and commented on their public perceptions. Over the last 10–15 years, this interest in librarian stereotypes, especially those concerning fashion, sexuality, and subcultural membership, has only increased. But why are we so deeply interested in, invested in, and driven to change librarian stereotypes? The answers lie in understanding the history of stereotypes in our profession.”...
American Libraries feature, Nov./Dec. |
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Mary Mackay writes: “Around 300 librarians gathered at the Sharjah International Book Fair in the United Arab Emirates on November 10–12 for the second annual SIBF/ALA Library Conference, ALA’s most ambitious international professional development event. Librarians from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, India, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, UAE, and other countries participated in the three days of programs, training, and lively networking, in both Arabic and English with translation provided.”...
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 17 |
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A new episode of American Libraries Live—a one-hour discussion on “Landing Your Ideal Library Job”—will air live at 2 p.m. Eastern time on December 10. This free streaming video broadcast is brought to you by American Libraries. An expert panel will discuss the challenges that librarians face in their careers and strategies to navigate through them. Panelists will also discuss opportunities in the current library job market from public to academic libraries and traditional to nontraditional libraries....
American Libraries, Nov. 13
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Since 1994, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association has honored exceptional printed works by African-American authors with its BCALA Literary Award. Now, more than 20 years later, BCALA, along with BiblioBoard, is launching its inaugural SELF-e Literary Award to honor self-published fiction and poetry. BCALA President Kelvin Watson says this will be the first ebook award offered by an ALA affiliate....
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 16 |
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The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County owns one of the few intact copies of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Housed in its Cincinnati Room, one page of only one of the double elephant folio editions was turned each week. At that rate, it took over eight years to see every page. Now, thanks to the new cases the library unveiled during a November 16 ceremony, the exhibit also features a new computer touch screen allowing visitors to digitally flip through the books and zoom in on the artwork....
Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Nov. 16 |
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 In October, law libraries in New York State announced the availability of an open-access database, NYCRR Digital Archive, which contains pages from the New York Codes, Rules, and Regulations from 1945 to 2001 in full-text digital format. This free resource allows researchers, librarians, and lawyers to more easily research previous versions of New York regulations. Fifty users at one time can access the material....
Buffalo Law Journal, Nov. 16 |
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The US Government Publishing Office has launched an updated and redesigned version of Ben’s Guide to the US Government. The educational website is named after one of our nation’s most influential Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin. The site features new and enhanced content, a mobile device–friendly infrastructure, and a modernized look and feel that has been optimized for an intuitive learning experience. AASL partnered with GPO to ensure the content was age-appropriate....
Government Publishing Office, Nov. 17 |
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Alan S. Inouye writes: “Copyright policy is looking up for libraries. We’ve made some good progress in the last few years, with last month’s Google Books ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit as the latest installment. Long live fair use! The stimulus for this piece, however, is the copyright policy conference on November 17 hosted by the Re:Create coalition. This public event is a major milestone for heightened national advocacy for a balanced copyright regime in the digital era.”...
AL: E-Content, Nov. 16; District Dispatch, Oct. 16 |
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Rick Anderson writes: “I recently served as a reviewer of applicants for a conference scholarship. In that capacity, I reviewed 17 packages of application materials, including essays on the future of libraries. Most of the applicants were relatively young librarians. I was intrigued to see two themes arising repeatedly enough in their essays to be noteworthy: the just-in-case collection is dead, and the necessity of collaboration with vendors in order to bring about our desired future.”...
The Scholarly Kitchen, Nov. 17 |
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Lincoln Michel writes: “Luckily for adventurous readers, there have been many writers who’ve used their books as sledgehammers, knocking down the artificial walls between genres in the night. These writers slip through the holes, strolling through fantasy gardens in the morning and eating lunch at the murder mystery mall before retiring to their macabre abodes in the graveyard of horror. Here are 10 amazing books that simply won’t stay put in one genre district.”...
Publishers Weekly, Nov. 13 |
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Stephanie Mlot and Chloe Albanesius write: “Do you make terrible PowerPoint presentations? Microsoft can help. On November 13, Redmond announced two new ‘intelligent’ PowerPoint tools—Designer and Morph—which automate the creation of slides and presentations. With PowerPoint Designer, users drop in an image and the program serves up several template options. With Morph, PowerPoint can stitch together photos or text to give them motion.”...
PC Magazine, Nov. 13 |
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Jennifer Cummings writes: “Summer reading. We all spend so much energy, creativity, resources, and sanity on this one extraordinary time of year to promote the joy of reading and learning in our communities and to combat the summer slide. As we wrapped up summer reading this year, my team and I were wondering about what other libraries were up to during this crazy busy season. We sent out a survey and 59 libraries responded. Here is what they had to say.”...
ALSC Blog, Nov. 17 |
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Loren Klein writes: “What would you do if an employee requested to use a service animal at work? The Manatee County (Fla.) Public Library learned firsthand how to handle the situation when longtime library staffer Terri Simon (right) asked to bring her service dog Mister to work. Simon, who has a hearing impairment, relies on Mister to alert her to sounds of which she would otherwise be unaware. Simon knew a service dog would improve her work performance, but it also brought novel challenges for the library.”...
Public Libraries Online, Nov. 12 |
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Evan Mather writes: “What program on digital security would teens come to? Any program with ‘digital security’ or anything structured like a traditional class would be, as the kids would say, total snoozeville. And then it came to me: spies. Espionage and spying are all about keeping your information secure while stealing the information from your opponents. Everyone wants to be a spy. By emphasizing the security aspect of espionage, I’d make spycraft the cheese in which I’d hide the digital literacy pill.”...
Teen Services Underground, Nov. 17
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