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ALA recognizes the achievements of more than 200 individuals and institutions each year with a variety of awards. The 2016 award winners, chosen by juries of their colleagues and peers, are distinguished by their leadership and vision, as well as their continued commitment to diversity, equality, and intellectual freedom. This selection represents only a portion of those honored in 2016; see more award winners on the ALA awards and grants webpage....
American Libraries feature, Sept./Oct. |
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Carla D. Hayden (right) will be sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress in a historic ceremony in the Thomas Jefferson Building on September 14 at noon Eastern time. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the Library of Congress YouTube channel. Hayden will become the first woman and the first African American to serve as Librarian of Congress. She plans to take the oath using a book, drawn from LC collections, with historic connections of its own: the Lincoln Bible....
Library of Congress Blog, Sept. 2 |
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Keith Michael Fiels writes: “ALA’s new strategic directions and new advocacy plan chart a bold course to build support for libraries of all types. Last year we saw 144,001 page views of LibrariesTransform.org, 12,387 downloads of the library toolkit, 22,000 #LibrariesTransform mentions on Twitter, 65,000 views of Libraries Transform videos, and a post reach of nearly 4.2 million on Facebook. Advocacy training joins Libraries Transform on center stage this fall.”...
American Libraries feature, Sept./Oct. |
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Larra Clark writes: “As part of its modernization of the Lifeline program in March, the Federal Communications Commission charged its Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau with developing a digital inclusion plan that addresses broadband adoption issues. On September 1, ALA filed a letter with the FCC that included recommendations for the plan.”...
District Dispatch, Sept. 5; Office for Information Technology Policy, Mar. 31; FCC, Aug. 11 |
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Work started September 3 on a new mural on the south-facing outside wall at the Great Falls (Mont.) Public Library. The portrait is of community leader and civil rights advocate Alma Smith Jacobs (1916–1997, right), who was the chief librarian in Great Falls for 20 years before becoming the first African-American woman to be named Montana State Librarian in 1973. She started the bookmobile in 1956 and played a major role in the construction of the modern library in 1967....
KTVH-DT, Helena, Mont., Sept. 5 |
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The PostNL mail corporation in the Netherlands issued a sheet of stamps on September 2 at the opening of the Book Parade in Amsterdam to mark the Year of the Book 2016. Ten books from the National Library of the Netherlands are depicted on the sheet. The books were chosen for diversity of both genre and period, and include journals, children’s books, textbooks, picture books, and literature by such authors as Jan Wolkers, Anne Frank, Baruch Spinoza, and Max Euwe....
National Library of the Netherlands, Sept. 2 |
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Simon Parkin writes: “Had Shigetaka Kurita realized when he sat down to design the first emoji that he was creating what would become the world’s fastest-growing form of communication, he might have chosen his icons a little more carefully. Kurita’s original 176 designs, which launched in February 1999 for Japanese mobile phones, were weirdly specific, including no fewer than five phases of the moon, three timepieces, and two states of umbrella (open, closed). Today, there are more than 1,800 emojis.”...
The Guardian (UK), Sept. 6 |
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Leslie Albrecht Huber writes: “For many people, tracing immigrant ancestors across the ocean to their Old World origins feels a little like finding a needle in a haystack. Often, immigration records provide an important link, but locating those records can be a challenge of its own. Fortunately, a number of online resources can make your task easier. Here are five free ones to get you started, plus a few others that might help.”...
FamilySearch Blog, Sept. 2 |
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Jason Griffey writes: “In 2014 I wrote a Library Technology Report called 3D Printers for Libraries, one of the first long-form works that set out to explain 3D printing to librarians. Since that report was released, my favorite printers have become the Lulzbot Mini and Lulzbot Taz 6, which have a myriad of options for printer management, slicing, and control. One of those options is OctoPrint, an open source control program for 3D printers that runs on a variety of hardware, including a Raspberry Pi as a host.”...
Pattern Recognition, Sept. 5 |
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Rhett Allain writes: “It doesn’t matter if you call it an earphone or headphone jack—it’s still on just about every smartphone. With rumors that Apple will kill the the earphone jack on the iPhone 7 to make it thinner, I think this is a good time to look at this surprisingly simple piece of technology. At the most basic level, an earphone is a loop of wire with current running through it. This electric current in the loop then interacts with a permanent magnet which in turn pushes the air—that’s sound.”...
Wired, Sept. 6
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Tony Hoffman writes: “Finding the right scanner can be a challenge. Most can scan just about anything, but they come in a variety of types and sizes that are fine-tuned for different purposes. Here we list some of our favorite scanners, which represent a wide range of scanner types as well as manufacturers. We also explore the different kinds of scanners and their features. These are the key questions to ask to help make sure you pick the right scanner for your needs.”...
PC Magazine, Sept. 2
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Nicole Brinkley writes: “Fantasy needs more people of color. This is true for every bit of fantasy, of course, but especially true of fantasy for kids. In today’s world of #BlackLivesMatter and small black children routinely subjected to the terrors of institutionalized racism, fantasy needs more little black girls, superheroes and witches, magical and fierce, who go forth and save the day. Here are 10 middle grade fantasy titles with black girl leads to flesh out your wishlist.”...
Book Riot, Sept. 6
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