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Keith Michael Fiels (right) will retire as ALA executive director on July 31 after 15 years at the helm. He sat down with American Libraries Editor and Publisher Laurie Borman on July 27 to talk about his future plans, how he got into librarianship, and how he would like to be remembered. “My game plan is to get a studio and do some painting,” Fiels said....
American Libraries feature, July 28 |
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Amie Wright writes: “For the second year, San Diego Comic-Con has hosted the Comic Conference for Educators and Librarians (#SDCCEL), a partnership with San Diego (Calif.) Public Library, complete with commemorative library cards. The aim of the conference, held July 19–23, is to ‘promote the adoption of comics in the classroom and participate in a lively discourse on the latest in teaching pedagogy.’ The event is open to all SDCC participants plus librarians and educators.”...
AL: The Scoop, July 28 |
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The Congressional App Challenge is an annual initiative to encourage student engagement in coding and computer science through local events hosted by members of the US Congress. Between now and November 1, high school students from across the country will be busy creating an app for mobile, tablet, or computer devices. This year, there are more than 165 lawmakers signed up to participate in the launch. Check to see if your district is participating. If not, call your representatives to make sure they sign up....
District Dispatch, July 27 |
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Gavin Baker writes: “ALA applauds the introduction of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act. Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Kevin Yoder (R-Kans.), and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) introduced the bipartisan legislation as H.R. 3427 on July 26. FASTR would ensure that when taxpayers fund scientific research, they are able to freely access the results of that research. Every federal agency that funds research would have to adopt a policy to provide for free, online public access to research articles.”...
District Dispatch, July 27 |
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Three weeks after a fire was set on July 2 at the historic Eckhart Public Library in Auburn, Indiana, it’s still hard for its staff to believe. The library sustained heavy damage to its basement and first floor. Library Director Janelle Graber said books, materials, furnishings, and computers all were damaged, and its entire collection of DVDs and audio books was lost. The fire was started by a firework that had been lit and placed in the book return chute. There are two ways you can help....
WANE-TV, Fort Wayne, Ind., July 2, 22 |
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The Oregon Elections Division determined that two former Douglas County Library employees violated elections law during the campaign for a library district ballot measure in 2016. Former Library Director Harold Hayes and former Reference Librarian Jeannine Cook were notified of the division’s finding July 10. Cook is disputing the finding, claiming mitigating circumstances. Voters shot down the library district measure in November, and the library system shut down this spring for lack of funds....
Roseburg (Oreg.) News-Review, July 26 |
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The Sprague branch of the Salt Lake City Public Library will be closed for several months after a heavy rain flooded the library building in the early morning of July 26, triggering an alarm in the building. Maintenance staff arrived to find “several feet of standing water” in the lower level of the building. In addition to damage to the building, furniture, computers, and library collections were caught in the unwanted water....
KJZZ-TV, Salt Lake City, July 26 |
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Heather Acerro writes: “Late in 2016, the Rochester (Minn.) Public Library administrative team worked with a consultant from Wilder Research to develop a logic model. I know what you are thinking: What is that and who even cares? But if you stay with me for a minute, maybe I can sell you on this wonderful tool for tracking outcomes. Yes, outcomes! Those nebulous, seemingly impossible-to-track things that prove what the library does changes or benefits the community. It all starts with inputs.”...
ALSC Blog, July 28
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Angela Moscaritolo writes: “On July 25, Adobe announced plans to officially terminate Flash Player; it will cease to update and distribute Flash at the end of 2020. The news is probably music to the ears of IT security pros everywhere. In 2015, the plugin was deemed the ‘most frequently exploited product’ by security firm Recorded Future, which said it provided ‘eight of the top 10 vulnerabilities leveraged by exploit kits.’”...
PC Magazine, July 25; Adobe News, July 25; Recorded Future Blog, Nov. 9, 2015 |
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Jennifer Goodman writes: “Even with a printed textbook, a highlighting marker can’t do this: A free online program that allows students to annotate digitized content is helping learners analyze and debate the meaning of humanities topics and write more in-depth papers. Developed at Stanford University, the Lacuna Stories platform lets users highlight key passages and create notes to record questions, comments, and reactions to the text.”...
Inside Higher Ed, July 26
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Matthew Humphries writes: “Anker is offering a new range of portable projectors under its Nebula brand. The first of these projectors is called the Nebula Mars. Anker is touting it as the ‘world’s first portable cinema with theater-grade picture and sound.’ It measures just 5-by-7-by-5 inches, weighs 4.2 pounds, and can project a screen size of between 40 and 300 inches with a 10,000:1 contrast ratio and automatic focus. The Nebula Mars runs on Android 4.4 and includes both YouTube and TED apps.”...
PC Magazine, July 26
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Briana Shemroske writes: “One year after the Defense Department’s landmark decision to lift its military ban on transgender people, President Trump took to Twitter to announce that he is prohibiting transgender individuals from serving in the military. As transgender individuals face brutality both on and off the battlefield, one thing’s for sure: We must fight by their sides. The books here variously feature trans authors, protagonists, and subjects.”...
The Booklist Reader, July 26; US Department of Defense, June 30, 2016
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