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ALA has selected 50 people to participate in its 2018 Class of Emerging Leaders. The program is designed to enable library staff and information workers to participate in project planning work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity early in their careers. The program kicks off with a day-long session during the ALA 2018 Midwinter Meeting in Denver. The complete list of participants is on the program website....
Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Dec. 1 |
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Twenty public libraries and five independent bookstores have been selected to participate in the new Carnegie Coast-to-Coast Project, created to celebrate and raise awareness of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist, while also engaging communities nationwide with these six titles. A box of Carnegie promotional materials was distributed to selected libraries across the country in late November. There is still one box up for grabs; visit the website for details....
RUSA, Dec. 1 |
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Created in 2003, the ALA Cultural Communities Fund is an endowment to support humanities, civics, and STEM programming in libraries of all types. With help from individual and corporate donors, CCF has grown into an endowment of $1.9 million, crucial funding that supports professional development opportunities, grants and awards, and resources like Programming Librarian. Through December 31, all gifts to CCF will be matched three to one. That means that your $20 will become $60....
Programming Librarian, Nov. 30 |
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Explore resources and read an essay on discoveries made by a professor and his students using FBI files on the Black Panther Party. |
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Andrew Kreighbaum writes: “The US Senate early on December 2 narrowly approved major tax legislation roundly opposed by higher education leaders and student groups. The bill, like the House of Representatives tax plan passed in November, got no public hearings, and senators themselves complained they had no opportunity to read the legislation even as last-minute amendments were offered affecting issues like private college endowments and education savings plans. Both bills would create significant potential new tax burdens for higher education institutions.”...
Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 4 |
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The Twitterverse lit up in fury November 30 after the Mississippi-based writer Angie Thomas said online that her popular young adult novel, The Hate U Give, had been removed from library shelves for review by the Katy (Tex.) Independent School District because of parent complaints about inappropriate language. The book, published in February, tells the story of a black high school student who witnesses her unarmed friend being shot and killed by a police officer during a routine traffic stop....
Boston Globe, Dec. 2; Book Riot, Dec. 1; Bustle, Dec. 5 |
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Valerie Nye writes: “I interviewed John Harer about a faculty member’s request to remove Holocaust denial books from a large academic library’s circulating collection. The incident happened in the mid-1990s, but has lasting ramifications today. Harer is currently at East Carolina University. In 1995 he worked at an academic library in the Southwest where a journalism faculty member met with the dean of library services to object to the inclusion of seven Holocaust denial books that were in the collection.”...
Intellectual Freedom Blog, Dec. 4 |
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Con Lehane writes: “In my most recent book, Murder in the Manuscript Room, one of the characters, a librarian, says after discovering she’d been under surveillance in the library and elsewhere, ‘Everybody’s spying on everybody.’ ALA, founded in 1876 to promote and protect libraries and the profession of librarianship, also sees its job as protecting the right of citizens to get information. I, for one, appreciate that our public libraries cherish their long-established policy and practice of protecting my rights to privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual freedom.”...
HuffPost, Dec. 4 |
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Libraries across Michigan are signing on to help the Kent District (Mich.) Library’s “Books for Texas” program that is working to get donations of more than 50,000 books to help the Port Arthur (Tex.) Public Library that was nearly wiped out by Hurricane Harvey in August. Brian Mortimore, KDL director of human resources, said since a news story was published in November, more than 15,000 books have been donated, and several other Michigan libraries have signed on to help collect books....
Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press, Nov. 10, Dec. 4 |
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More than 10 weeks after the Alameda County (Calif.) Library was hacked, officials say they’re still not sure how much information has been compromised. While the library system is certain the names and addresses of at least 35 people have been exposed to hackers, the total number of library cardholders affected could be as high as 400,000. It’s also unclear whether additional personal information was taken. County Librarian Cindy Chadwick said she received an email on September 11 from the perpetrators.....
Walnut Creek (Calif.) East Bay Times, Dec. 1
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Helen Adams writes: “School librarians encourage reading and protect their students’ right to read. But what if one of the students is blind, partially sighted, is unable to turn the pages of books, or has a reading disability that prevents reading print normally? The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) at the Library of Congress, is an excellent source for special-format books, magazines, and music materials. Here is an overview of NLS resources, services, and operations.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, Dec. 4 |
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The Law Library of Congress and the LC Web Archiving team launched the Federal Courts Web Archive in September. If you visit the new browse page, you will find the federal courts arranged in a list. If you click on a court in the table of contents at the top of the screen, it will take you to a link to the archive for that court. If you are searching for a US district or bankruptcy court, you can use the clickable map or drop-down menu to choose a state or territory to link to the archive for that court....
In Custodia Legis, Dec. 4 |
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The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is offering a new special membership for teachers and librarians. This annual membership of $40 entitles you to full access to Forsooth! The Folger Teacher Community, a new online source for practical teaching tools and multimedia; interaction with scholars, artists, and mentor teachers; and rich discussion with like-minded teaching colleagues. To join, complete a brief online form....
Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Justin Pot writes: “The internet is down, but you know what to do: Unplug your router or modem, wait 10 seconds, then plug it back in. It’s second nature at this point, but why does it actually work? And is there some magic to the 10-second number? And the even bigger question: Is there some way you can stop doing this? Routers can feel mysterious, but they’re not. And if you know what’s going wrong, you can usually solve the problem.”...
How-To Geek, Dec. 4 |
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A new exhibit at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia explores the science underpinning Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, two gothic novels that share a connection to the notorious “year without a summer” that followed Mount Tambora’s 1815 eruption. Showcasing handwritten notes from the original manuscripts, “Frankenstein and Dracula: Gothic Monsters, Modern Science” relates the scientific and ethical dilemmas explored in 19th century gothic horror to some of society’s most pressing problems today....
Earther, Dec. 1
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Tobias Carroll writes: “Not every novel finds its audience right away; in some cases, the ideal reader for a book may not have been born at the time that a book was first published. Here is a list of 10 novels released in new editions or new translations over the last few years. They range in style from comic to tragic, from realistic to uncanny, and their settings cover everything from the familiar confines of suburbia to a surreal Arctic landscape.”...
Signature, Nov. 14
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