For daily ALA and library news, check the American Libraries website or subscribe to our RSS feed.
|
|
|
ALA is participating in the internet-wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality on July 12. Title II of the Communications Act provides the legal foundation for net neutrality and prevents ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T from slowing down and blocking websites or charging apps and sites extra fees to reach an audience (which they then pass along to consumers). Battle for the Net is providing tools for everyone to make it super easy for your social media followers or website visitors to take action....
Battle for the Net |
|
The House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees library funding will meet and vote on July 13 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on a large spending bill that will save, trim, or totally wipe out funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Library Services and Technology Act, and Innovative Approaches to Literacy. If you live in one of the 13 congressional districts represented by a member of this subcommittee, send an email or tweet to your representative. Find out if you are in one of the districts here....
District Dispatch, July 10 |
|
Lisa Lindle writes: “In light of the threatened cuts to IMLS and federal library funding, we have seen an outpouring of support and an increase in advocacy efforts by librarians across the country. In April, Manchester-by-the-Sea (Mass.) Public Library decided to showcase how different types of funding help the library to provide valuable services for their patrons. The librarians tied balloons around objects and materials in the library, using different colored balloons to signify the different funding sources.”...
District Dispatch, July 7 |
|
Sponsored Content
The host of Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bill Nye, is also a New York Times–bestselling author. In Everything All at Once, Nye urges readers to become agents of change. Step by step, he demonstrates his everything-all-at-once approach: radical curiosity, a deep desire for a better future, and a willingness to take the actions needed to make this future real. Nye is also the author of Jack and the Geniuses: At the Bottom of the World, which launches a new series while taking middle-grade readers on a scientific adventure. |
|
|
|
The ALA Committee on Accreditation has announced the accreditation actions taken at the 2017 Annual Conference. Continued Accreditation status was granted to LIS programs at the University of Alabama, University of Michigan, Texas Woman’s University, University of South Carolina, and University of Toronto. A complete list of programs and degrees accredited by ALA can be found in the Directory of ALA-Accredited MLIS Programs....
Office for Accreditation, July 10 |
|
|
Denis Johnson, author of the critically acclaimed collection of short stories Jesus’ Son and the novel Tree of Smoke, will posthumously receive the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction during the 2017 National Book Festival, September 2. The prize ceremony will take place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The author’s widow, Cindy Johnson, will accept the prize. Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden had offered the prize to Johnson in March, but he died of cancer on May 24....
Library of Congress, July 11 |
|
Jeremy C. Fox writes: “If it seems that Corcoran Library at Boston College High School is set up more like a bookstore than a typical school library, that’s because it is. Students are greeted at the front by the latest additions to the collection, which is frequently updated, and at the back entrance by books on sports. Corcoran has abandoned the Dewey Decimal Classification for an arrangement based on how books are arranged in bookstores. The changes at BC High reflect a shift long visible in public libraries and now spreading to schools.”...
Boston Globe, July 9 |
|
In this webcast (58:15) titled “How Long, O Lord, Do We Roam in the Wilderness? A History of School Librarianship,” Wayne Wiegand (right) discusses his current research project—a history of the American public school library. This project incorporated five perspectives: the history of public school education, the history of American librarianship, the social history of reading (including the history of print culture), the history of childhood, and the history of cultural institutions as places....
Library of Congress webcast, Apr. 13 |
|
|
Angie Miller writes: “The premise of a library lies at the intersection of truth and justice. It is the heart of the school where all are welcome and safe, where needs are met and potentials challenged. I didn’t start to let students eat in the library because I didn’t feel like battling the food issue. Instead, I let kids eat in the library because that is the just thing to do. Some students like the quiet break to sit and read during their lunch. Others do not feel safe or comfortable in the cafeteria.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, July 10
|
|
Andrew Chaikivsky writes: “Every month, Matt Mitchell, a tech-security researcher in his early 40s and a former data journalist at the New York Times, walks through the upper reaches of Manhattan, stopping at barber shops and bodegas, hair salons and churches, to hand out dozens of fliers. ‘CryptoHarlem!’ the fliers read. ‘Free digital surveillance clinic. Learn which free apps can keep your phone secure and private.’ As concerns about digital security grow, workshops such as Mitchell’s have become popular. Some are taking place in public libraries.”...
Consumer Reports, June 28
|
|
Karen Coyle writes: “I’ve been on a committee that was tasked by the Program for Cooperative Cataloging folks to help them understand some of the issues around ‘works’ (as defined in FRBR, RDA, and BIBFRAME). There are huge complications, not the least being that we all are hard-pressed to define what a work is, much less how it should be addressed in some as-yes-unrealized future library system. There are at least four different meanings to the term as it is being discussed in library venues.”...
Coyle’s InFormation, July 9
|
|
Neil J. Rubenking writes: “A ransomware attack can silently render your most important documents inaccessible simply by encrypting them. In exchange for paying the ransom, you get a key to decrypt those documents. But recovery is iffy. The email account to pay the ransom for the recent Petya ransomware attack got shut down and victims couldn’t pay up even if they wanted to. While ransomware attacks are on the rise, so are techniques for fighting them. Here are 10 anti-ransomware tools you can use.”...
PC Magazine, June 28, July 5
|
|
Kate MacMillan writes: “I have written so many times about school libraries and the funding crisis that I feel like the proverbial voice in the wilderness. Bemoaning the lack of stable funding, staffing cuts, and doing more with less has become a broken record. Recently I was reminded by the book Librarians with Spines that librarianship is more than a job, it’s an avocation. Max Macias’s introductory phrase, ‘Libraries struggle with change,’ sent a tingle down my spine and reminded me that we are the agents of change.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, July 11
|
|
Terry Hong writes: “Once upon a time, I was wary of audiobooks; I didn’t think they were ‘real’ reading. How wrong I was! Then I quit my day job and started training for ultramarathons, and thousands of miles flew by with hundreds of audiobooks. Audiobook sales are growing by double digits. Couple that with low gas prices, and you’ve got the makings of a fabulous road trip. Ready to go? Here’s a baker’s dozen of chilling, thrilling, affecting audiobooks, all out this year, to send you on your merry way.”...
The Booklist Reader, June 7, July 5
|
AL Direct is a free electronic newsletter emailed every Tuesday and Friday to personal members of the American Library Association.
|
Send news and feedback: aldirect@ala.org
Direct ad inquiries to: mstack@ala.org
AL Direct FAQ: americanlibrariesmagazine.org/al-direct
All links outside the ALA website
are provided for informational purposes only. Questions about the
content of any external site should be addressed to the administrator of
that site.
AL Direct will not sell your email to outside parties, but your email may be shared with advertisers in this newsletter should you express interest in their products by clicking on their ads or content. If the advertisers choose to communicate with you by email, they are obligated to provide you with an opportunity to opt-out from future emails in compliance with the CAN-SPAM act of 2003. Read the ALA privacy policy.
American Libraries
50 E. Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60611
800-545-2433, ext. 4216
ISSN 1559-369X
|
