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Terra Dankowski writes: “The 82nd IFLA General Conference and Assembly wrapped August 18 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio, with awards, addresses, announcements, and a special invitation to join the delegation in Wroclaw, Poland, in 2017. ‘I’m happy to say I saw action at this meeting and a commitment to positive change,’ said IFLA President Donna Scheeder at the Closing Session.” Read about green libraries, inclusive school libraries, and the rest of AL’s IFLA coverage....
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 15–22 |
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The Greenwell Springs Road Regional branch of the East Baton Rouge (La.) Public Library remains the only branch closed, as it took on a fair amount of water during the recent floods. A man’s body had been found in front of the branch on August 15. The Tanglewood Elementary School library in Baton Rouge was flooded with two feet of water. The library in the Amite West Side Middle Magnet School was inundated August 13. The Cristo Rey Baton Rouge Franciscan High School library was soaked and its carpeting infested with worms. The library in Baker High School has lost much of its collection. All five branches of the Livingston Parish Library were spared flood damage; however, many library staff members are suffering from severely damaged homes. Public school libraries might be eligible for Beyond Words grants....
Washington Post, Aug. 21; Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate, Aug. 15, 22; School Library Journal, Aug. 22; Hammond (La.) Daily Star, Aug. 13; New Orleans Times-Picayune, Aug. 17; NPR: Morning Edition, Aug. 18; AASL |
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Using everything from hand-drawn maps and 911 reports to radar data and sophisticated mapping software, geographers at Louisiana State University have produced a preliminary atlas of the flood across two dozen parishes in the state. In some parishes with more resources, the maps show fine detail. In others, they are still rough....
New York Times, Aug. 22 |
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ACRL has announced its lineup of keynote speakers for its 2017 Conference, “At the Helm: Leading Transformation,” to be held March 22–25, in Baltimore. Be challenged and inspired by information designer David McCandless, author Roxane Gay, and Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden (right). Additional details about the ACRL 2017 Conference are on the conference website....
ACRL Insider, Aug. 23 |
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A school district near Jacksonville, Florida, has temporarily removed two frequently challenged books from the Yulee (Fla.) Middle School’s library after some complaints from parents. According to the parents, the book TTYL and its sequel TTFN—two novels in Lauren Myracle’s popular Internet Girls series—are inappropriate for their middle school children. The Nassau County School District has convened an Intellectual Freedom Committee to determine the fate of the books....
National Coalition Against Censorship, Aug. 22; WJAX-TV, Jacksonville, Aug. 16 |
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A. J. Robinson writes: “‘Some people don’t expect to see themselves in the library.’ This comment from Vivek Shraya, 2015 recipient of the South Asia Book Award, was a moment of clarity at the Conference on South Asia in Madison, Wisconsin. The conversation among book award authors addressed the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign. There has yet to be significant traction for this campaign in academic libraries, so as academic librarians we must ask ourselves: Do our users see themselves in the stacks?”...
ACRLog, Aug. 23 |
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Kareem Shaheen writes: “Islamic State. ISIS. ISIL. Daesh. It’s scary, and it’s always in the news. Part of my job as a reporter covering the Middle East for the Guardian is to report on the atrocities the group carries out on a regular basis. But the group is in retreat, losing the territory on which it has built its fictional state. To defeat it, we must understand its roots and how it came to exist. So here are seven books about ISIS that help shed some light on the birth and evolution of this nihilistic terror group.”...
Book Riot, Aug. 23 |
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The 74th World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II, announced the winners of the 2016 Hugo Awards at a ceremony in Kansas City, Missouri, on August 20. The Hugo Award is one of the major awards for speculative fiction novels, novellas, short stories, fanzines, movies and TV, and other works. The winner for Best Novel was The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (Orbit); and the winner for Best Graphic Story was The Sandman: Overture written by Neil Gaiman, with art by J. H. Williams III (Vertigo)....
The Verge, Aug. 20 |
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As she spends her days surrounded by more than 300,000 original cartoons, 45,000 books, and 2.5 million comic strip clippings and tear sheets, Caitlin McGurk (right) is living her dream. McGurk serves as associate curator for Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum—she’s also an assistant professor—a result of her lifelong passion for comics, coupled with hard work and perseverance....
Big Ten Network, Aug. 22 |
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Paul Darvasi writes: “As an educational tool, virtual reality might prove transformative. Google Expeditions allows students to take more than 100 virtual journeys from ancient Rome to the surface of Mars. VR might also have a big impact on social and emotional learning, as its unique ability to produce empathy recently led Wired magazine to explore its potential as ‘the ultimate empathy machine.’ However, it might be advisable to test the waters with our virtual toes, before hurling headlong into the digital ocean.”...
KQED News: Mind/Shift, Aug. 17; Sept. 20, 2012; Wired, Nov. 2015
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Richard Byrne writes: “myHistro is a free multimedia timeline creation tool. When you create a timeline on myHistro, each event that you add can be simultaneously displayed on a map on the same screen. Every event that you add to your myHistro timelines can include pictures and videos. On myHistro you can build a personal timeline or build a timeline about a theme or event in history. Timelines can be created online or you can use the free iOS app to create events on your timeline.”...
Free Technology for Teachers, Aug. 23
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Fiona Macdonald writes: “Beneath the streets of a suburb of Damascus, rows of shelves hold books that have been rescued from bombed-out buildings. Over the past four years, during the siege of Darayya, volunteers have collected 14,000 books from shell-damaged homes. They are held in a location kept secret amid fears that it would be targeted by government and pro-Assad forces. It’s been called Syria’s secret library, and many view it as a vital resource. Religious or political pressures have meant that books have been hidden at other times throughout history.”...
BBC: Culture, Aug. 19
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