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For daily ALA and library news, check the American Libraries website or subscribe to our RSS feed.
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Phil Morehart writes: “ALA president-elect James G. ‘Jim’ Neal opened his segment of ‘Brave New World: The Future of Collections in Digital Times,’ a program at the IFLA 2016 World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, Ohio, on August 15 with a warning: Digital content is growing exponentially. A strategic, global approach is necessary to capture and care for it all. Dan Cohen (right), executive director of the Digital Public Library of America, detailed DPLA’s efforts to ease access to digital data. He stressed that DPLA was not a vendor but rather a service organization that serves as a hub for digital content.”...
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 18 |
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Terra Dankowski writes: “Health literacy was at the center of the research and case studies presented in ‘From Action to Impact: Health Information Professionals Connecting Communities,’ a session held August 17 at the IFLA conference. It focused on the librarian’s role in acting as a bridge to professional medical resources.” Other IFLA sessions were held on library marketing, removing barriers to indigenous knowledge, libraries and Wikipedia, immigrants, the US National Archives, library design, library theft and security, and disaster preparation....
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 16–19 |
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Dokk1 in Aarhus, Denmark, designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, was announced winner of the Public Library of the Year Award 2016 at an August 15 ceremony during the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, Ohio. The international panel of judges recognized Dokk1 as a true library of the future that embraces new digital developments, user demands, local culture, and a desire to accommodate diverse population groups within an open and functional architectural expression....
Walls and Ceilings, Aug. 16 |
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Patrick Abadie is the librarian at Baker (La.) High School near Baton Rouge. On August 17, he finally got into the building. Some students helped him pump a foot of water out of the library he’s overseen for a decade. Then health inspectors gave their assessment: Get out; it’s too toxic. Abadie not only lost the entire book collection: He lost 20 computers, valuable tools at a school where 90% of students qualify for reduced lunches. He’s not sure how he’ll find funds to get those resources back....
NPR: Morning Edition, Aug. 18 |
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Sarah Laskow writes: “Starting in May, several times a week, a 30-foot truck filled with rough wooden shelves of books has arrived early in the morning at the New York Public Library’s flagship research library. Each truckload contains thousands of books, which have been sitting for the past three years at a storage facility upstate. Now, 1.5 million books are migrating home. From the loading dock, the shelves are moved through the maze below the library, until they are two levels below the ground, underneath Bryant Park.”...
Atlas Obscura, Aug. 17 |
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The dozens of documents, computers, hard drives, and other materials FBI investigators seized from the Orange (N.J.) Public Library on July 21 were tied to an investigation into theft, fraud, extortion, and the misuse of government funds. The FBI warrant included demands for documents related to the library’s HVAC system, its Saturday literacy program, janitorial and maintenance services, and all of its financial dealings, including bank statements, cancelled checks, and receipts....
Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger, July 25, Aug. 17 |
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UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged his “100% support” to a national libraries demonstration that aims to highlight the “clear and present danger” to Britain’s public library service. The demonstration, backed by such as the PCS Cultural Union and Campaign for the Book, will take place November 5 and see campaigners come together to protest the crisis in the library service. The march will begin at the British Library and end outside the House of Commons. Organizers have called on library campaigners around the country to take part. The proportion of adults visiting public libraries in England has fallen by almost a third over the last decade, according to a new government report....
The Bookseller (UK), Aug. 18; The Guardian, Aug. 16; UK Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, July |
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Danielle Jones writes: “Recent current events have brought many social issues to the forefront. Teens (and adults) are trying to navigate many of these around racial equity, Islamophobia, and immigration. Often as library staff we try to help teens delve into these issues with bibliotherapy, but published books don’t always capture the immediacy. Here is a list of current podcasts with teen appeal that explore racial and social justice in the US, especially during a time where politics are front and center.”...
YALSA The Hub, Aug. 19 |
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Bill Gates writes: “Blanche Caffiere (right), a very kindly librarian and teacher I’ve never written about publicly before, had a huge influence on my life. Caffiere (kaff-ee-AIR) died in 2006, shortly after reaching her 100th birthday. Before she passed, I had an opportunity to thank her for the important role she played in my life, stoking my passion for learning at a time when I easily could have gotten turned off by school. She was the elegant and engaging school librarian at Seattle’s View Ridge Elementary, and I was a timid 4th grader.” Author Jack London also found inspiration from a public librarian in Oakland, California, Ina Coolbrith (1841–1928)....
Gates Notes, Aug. 16; Sonoma (Calif.) Index-Tribune, Aug. 18 |
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NASA is opening up its research to the public in the newly launched web database PubSpace, and it’s absolutely free. NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan (right) believes that this move will benefit fellow scientists and engineers and accelerate innovation. From here on out, any NASA-funded research articles in peer-reviewed journals must be uploaded to the portal within one year of publication so that they are freely accessible. PubSpace will be fully functional in the fall....
Futurism, Aug. 18; NASA, Aug. 16
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Library and Archives Canada has digitized the Bell Features Collection of Second World War–era comics and made them available online. The collection consists of 382 comic books published in the 1940s by the Canadian comic book publisher Bell Features. These comics showcase an astounding selection of Canadian heroes such as Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Johnny Canuck, and Dixon of the Mounted. The finding aid attached to the catalog record includes links to all of the digitized comics....
Library and Archives Canada Blog, Aug. 17
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Troy Lambert writes: “Much has been said about the battle between publishers and libraries. Libraries objected to high prices, especially for ebooks, and publishers moaned about decreasing profits. Discussions center around ownership models and digital preservation, but one variable is missing in all of these equations: the author. It used to work like this.”...
Public Libraries Online, Jan. 14, Aug. 18
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