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To coincide with the conclusion of Banned Books Week, episode six of the Dewey Decibel podcast looks at book bans, challenges, and censorship. Join American Libraries Associate Editor and Dewey Decibel host Phil Morehart as he chats with three individuals at the forefront of the conversation: OIF Director James LaRue, school librarian Sara Stevenson, and Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi....
AL: The Scoop, Oct. 5 |
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Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif., right) introduced the Don’t Block LGBTQ Act, H.R. 6254, which would ensure that LGBTQ online resources are not blocked at public schools and libraries, on September 28. Currently, schools and libraries that get internet service subsidies through the E-Rate program must filter content, including “content harmful to minors.” The bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission to protect useful LGBTQ resources without modifying other filters....
Bay Area Reporter, Sept. 29 |
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After a student protest that earned national attention helped save her job in 2015, a Chicago librarian learned October 3 that her position had once again been cut in the most recent round of layoffs at Chicago Public Schools. Sara Sayigh (right), a 60-year-old librarian on the historic DuSable High School campus, was one of nearly 250 educators and support staff CPS laid off in early October because of shrinking budgets and declining enrollment....
Chicago Tonight, Oct. 3–4; Washington Post, Dec. 17, 2015 |
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The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies have begun a project to examine, evaluate, and map the landscape of public library data collection in the US. The Measures That Matter project will develop a Library Data and Outcomes Action Plan for a coordinated approach to the collection of public library data nationally. The project’s goal is to create a framework for consistent and effective outcomes, outputs, and indicators....
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Oct. 7 |
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New York Public Library is digitizing its collection of New York City Directories, 1786 through 1923, serving them free through the NYPL Digital Collections portal. The whole collection will be going online over the coming months. Staff are currently teaching computers to interpret the strange abbreviations and the slightly less than geometric layout of the directories to make the old print machine-readable. The goal is to build data that will aid research in New York City history and genealogy....
New York Public Library, Oct. 5 |
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On October 5, William S. Hein & Co. released its newest online collection, Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture, and Law, making it free to all. The crisis revolving around race relations in America and the recent events surrounding this crisis has made the Hein Company rethink the idea of financially profiting from the sale of a collection on slavery. Hein has decided to provide it free to anyone with an interest in the subject: libraries, institutions, students, and researchers....
Hein Online, Oct. 5 |
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Troy Espe writes: “Don’t expect librarians at the University of Wisconsin–Stout to shush revelers at the homecoming parade in Menomonie on October 8. Instead, they will rattle book carts while blaring rap music. While spinning the carts along city streets, six staff members will perform synchronized maneuvers to the hip-hop jam ‘So What’cha Want.’ UW-Stout is celebrating its 125th anniversary; drill team members will decorate book carts with vintage library photos.”...
Volume One (Eau Claire), Oct. 5 |
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The Bossard Memorial Library in Gallipolis, Ohio, is hosting “Bodies Revealed,” an exhibition featuring whole and partial bodies and organs treated with a plastic silicone polymer to retain their startlingly natural appearance. The popular displays have been viewed by millions worldwide, yet never before at a community library, said Library Director Debbie Saunders. From now through December 31, students, families, and the general public in this rural county will have rare access to the exhibit....
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Sept. 30
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Addressing citywide racial equity, helping adults earn a high school diploma, partnering with small businesses to provide training to help them succeed—these are just a few of the initiatives being led by some of most creative and innovative public libraries in North America. The Urban Libraries Council recently recognized 20 public libraries as innovators for programs, services, and operating practices that have made a significant impact on their communities....
Urban Libraries Council, Oct. 7
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Liberty Hardy writes: “When I was a little kid, my favorite book was a biography of Nellie Bly, the journalist, that I found when I was eight years old. Nowadays, we have the whole world and all its history right at our fingertips, which makes it easier to learn about important women from the past who have been forgotten for decades or even centuries. But even then, some of them deserve even more time in the spotlight. So here are 11 great books that give props to some of the most fascinating, important women in history.”...
Book Riot, Oct. 6
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Joseph Berger writes: “In a thousand-year-old language like Yiddish, with many of its words rooted in the ancient Bible, how would you say ‘email’? Or ‘transgender’? Or ‘designated driver’? Or ‘binge watch’? Those terms came into popular usage long after the language’s heyday. So two of its conservationists have produced the first full-fledged English-to-Yiddish dictionary in 50 years, and it is designed to carry Yiddish into the 21st century and just maybe beyond.”...
New York Times, Oct. 4
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Jill Duffy writes: “Note-taking apps are not all created equal. In fact, the deeper you dig into them, the more you realize how different they offer in both concept and abilities. Evernote and Microsoft OneNote aim to do it all, offering rich features, support for multimedia notes, and tools that blur the lines between apps for personal use and those intended for work. There are alternatives, of course, and hopefully some of them will get better in time. Zoho Notebook is a fine example.”...
PC Magazine, Sept. 21
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