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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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Sharon Roney, Amelia Klein, and Andrew Hart write: “As makerspaces and fab labs increase in popularity, more and more libraries are adding 3D-printing capabilities. According to a 2015 ALA report, 428 public library branches have made this technology available. Some potential issues of 3D printing, such as the threat of printing weapons and copyrighted works, are often considered. However, discussion of the health hazards associated with 3D printing is rare.” Here is a roundup of concerns....
American Libraries feature, Oct. 11; ALA Office for Information Technology Policy, Dec. 2015 |
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The National Agenda for Continuing Education and Professional Development across Libraries, Archives, and Museums (PDF file) provides a broad planning and evaluation framework for the systematic strengthening of continuing education and professional development for funders, professional associations, program administrators, and trainers. Published by OCLC and the Coalition to Advance Learning (with the participation of ACRL, PLA, and YALSA) in July, this strategic planning framework is ready to be put into action....
Coalition to Advance Learning, Sept. 20 |
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Sylvia Vardell writes: “For nearly 20 years now, October has been the month for celebrating Teen Read Week, a time to ‘encourage teens to be regular readers and library users,’ according to YALSA. This year, Teen Read Week is October 9–15 and features a multilingual ‘Read for the fun of it!’ theme to ‘highlight all of the resources and services available to the 22% of the nation’s youth who speak a language other than English at home.’”...
School Library Connection, Oct. 10 |
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Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has opened the stately Ceremonial Room of the Jefferson Building to the public, a symbolic gesture that reveals her focus on connecting the library to everyday Americans. The room served as the office of the Librarian from 1897 to 1980. With its domed ceiling, murals, and ornate plasterwork, the room has hosted ceremonial events since the Librarian’s office moved to the Madison Building. Before this week, visitors required special permission to enter....
Washington Post, Oct. 10 |
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Sarah Laskow writes: “When New York Public Library branches were built about a century ago, they needed people to take care of them. Andrew Carnegie had given New York $5.2 million to create a city-wide system of library branches, and these buildings were heated by coal. Each had a custodian, who was tasked with keeping those fires burning and who lived in the library, often with his family. Today there are just 13 library apartments left in the NYPL system.” Here are a few of them....
Atlas Obscura, Oct. 7 |
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Librarians from across California met in San Diego on September 19–23 to learn how to spot warning signs of mental illness. The training, part of a $1 million mental health initiative from the California State Library, certified about 30 librarians as trainers, who will conduct training sessions of their own for local librarians. Staff were taught to assess the risk of self-harm, listen without judgment, and encourage patrons to seek help—either with a mental health professional or with some of the library’s books....
KPBS-FM, San Diego, Oct. 4; City of San Diego, Sept. 20; California State Library; Public Libraries Online, Jan. 5, 2015 |
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Rebecca Cruz writes: “On Thursday afternoons at the Pikes Peak Library District, when Programming Librarian Antonia Krupicka-Smith sets up her experiment, a crowd starts to gather. It’s time for Science Stop! The younger patrons come close to the table with excitement on their faces. They put forth hypotheses and you hear their reactions when the experiment plays out. The adults hang back at first, but you see them lean in as the science happens. Science provides a basis for understanding the world around us.”...
Public Libraries Online, Oct. 6 |
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The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is calling for proposals for its 2017 mini-grants. Approximately 60 grants of up to $500 each will be awarded to qualifying teachers and librarians at public schools and libraries in the US. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2017, and decisions will be emailed to all applicants in early May, allowing educators to plan for the next academic year. Since 1987, the foundation has provided nearly $880,000 in support of mini-grant programs....
Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, Oct. 7
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James Tanner writes: “Genealogists have a tendency to accumulate a lot of documents, photos, records of all kinds, and other items about their families. One of the major, tragic events in the genealogical community is when all of this accumulated research work, including priceless documents and photographs, sometimes obtained over a lifetime, is simply thrown in the trash and lost. To help preserve these records, I have decided to list 10 different options.”...
Genealogy’s Star, Oct. 7
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Annie Bostrom writes: “The main character in Alice Hoffman’s novel Faithful, out in November, receives encouraging postcards that help her through some seriously dark times. This got me searching for other instances of postcards-as-plot-devices in fiction. In fiction, as in life, postcards rely solely on the cooperation of the sender to reveal his or her identity, and they’re fair game for mail carriers, family members, and roommates. Postcards are used to spur characters and plots along in these 11 novels.”...
The Booklist Reader, Oct. 6
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Through an agreement with the Lake County (Ill.) Forest Preserves District, the Newberry Library in Chicago will become the new home of the Curt Teich Postcard Archives Collection, widely regarded as the largest public collection of postcards and related materials in the United States. The postcards, about 2.5 million in number, feature a range of subjects and genres: rural vistas and urban skylines, tourist attractions and emergent industries, domestic scenes and global conflicts. Standing at the intersection of American commerce and visual culture, they demonstrate the country’s evolving conception of itself—and its place in the world—during the late 19th and 20th centuries....
Newberry Library, Oct.
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Max Eddy writes: “Encryption is the technique by which the understandable is rendered unintelligible—to anyone not holding the key, that is. Spies use encryption to send secrets, generals use it to coordinate battles, and criminals use it to carry out nefarious activities. Encryption systems are also at work in nearly every facet of modern technology. We talked to several experts in the field to help us understand the many facets of encryption: its history, current state, and what it may become.”...
PC Magazine, Oct. 10
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