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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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Former US Secretary of State, Senator, and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the Closing Session speaker at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, June 22–27. The session will take place on Tuesday, June 27, 10–11:30 a.m. Clinton’s appearance at the conference is sponsored by Simon & Schuster, which will publish a picture book version of her bestselling It Takes a Village, illustrated by two-time Caldecott Honor recipient Marla Frazee, in September....
AL: The Scoop, May 19 |
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The FCC voted along party lines May 18 to begin the process of reviewing Obama-era net neutrality rules, which require internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon to treat all web traffic equally. ALA condemned the vote on May 18 in a statement by ALA President Julie Todaro, saying that no changes to the current rules are necessary or desired. The public will now be able to comment on the FCC proposal. When the comment period ends later this year, the agency will create a specific order and vote on it. “Libraries have a lot to lose if net neutrality goes away,” said Marshall Breeding, founder of Library Technology Guides. “Libraries can be disadvantaged, because we’re the ones who are least likely to pay premium fees that would ensure that our traffic is delivered in a good way.” The Brookings Institution argues that Congress may be the only entity that can offer a more permanent solution to a revolving door of FCC rulings....
AL: The Scoop, May 18; Politico, May 18; ALA Washington Office, May 18; TechCrunch, Apr. 27; Brookings Institution: Techtank, May 17 |
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Sponsored Content
The OCLC Library, Archive, and Museum isn’t just a list of items about OCLC—it’s a glimpse into half-a-century of library history. Keeper of that collection Kem Lang (OCLC’s library manager and corporate archivist) invites you to share your memories of the last 50 years with OCLC. What does 50 years of library cooperation look like? Email us a photo at fifty@oclc.org to let us know! Details available at OCLC Next. |
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ALA hailed the May 17 unveiling of the Corporate Committee for Library Investment, a group organized to advocate for federal library funding. Comprising CCLI are more than two dozen leading information, software, publishing, and other businesses as well as multiple national trade associations. On May 17, CCLI delivered a letter to all US senators asking them to sign Dear Appropriator letters calling for $186.6 million in FY2018 funding for programs under the Library Services and Technology Act and $27 million for the Innovative Approaches to Literacy program....
AL: The Scoop, May 17 |
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Register now to be heard for ALA’s Virtual Membership Meeting (VMM17) on June 8. Members who participate will gain an opportunity to share ideas and opinions about ALA’s strategic directions and budget priorities. VMM17 will share compelling reasons for participation in Fight for Libraries, covering topics related to the ALA Washington Office’s work, the Libraries Transform public awareness campaign, and information from the Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. See the ALA VMM17 webpage for more detailed information....
ALA Membership Office, May 17 |
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Following what’s been described as a “rash of suicides in southern Colorado,” the Mesa County Valley School District ordered librarians to temporarily remove the book Thirteen Reasons Why from its shelves. James LaRue, director of the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom, confirmed that the book has been challenged by at least one other school. However, he does not condone the decision to remove the books without due process, noting that “people have been writing about suicide because it happens. It doesn’t happen because people write about it.”...
HuffPost, May 16; KRDO-TV, Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 20 |
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Michael Sakas writes: “A visit to the library likely means checking out a book or movie. But the Denver Public Library says its central location has another job these days—it’s somewhat of a homeless shelter. ‘That is a role that we have not asked to play, but are playing,’ said Michelle Jeske, the city librarian for Denver. Elissa Hardy (right), one of DPL’s social workers, points out that the library is one of the few public bathrooms in the city and is basically serving as Denver’s largest day shelter.”...
Colorado Public Radio, May 17 |
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On May 15, Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, Illinois, officially unveiled its Dinosaur Giants interactive exhibit, timing it with the launch of the library’s summer reading program. The exhibit features four full-scale dinosaur skeletons, one dinosaur skull, and one full-scale flesh model of animals that once inhabited what is now part of Africa 110 to 135 million years ago. The centerpiece is the Jobaria skeleton, which stands at two stories tall, its head and neck fitting in between the library’s spiral staircase opening....
Elgin (Ill.) Courier-News, May 15 |
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Bethany Rayl writes: “Open educational resources are found in the public domain and can be used for free for teaching, learning, research, and other educational purposes. These materials can be retained, reused, revised, remixed, and redistributed. These ‘5R permissions’ of OER allow you to not only access the materials and resources free of charge, but also to make them even better. Sounds good, right? But what’s really out there, and why should you use these resources?”...
Edutopia, May 17
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The University of California Merced Library’s digital assets team has been asked to digitize about 127,000 pages from 49 archival collections related to the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the San Francisco Bay Area. The effort is part of the AIDS History Project, which is being funded by a two-year, $315,000 implementation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The pages include correspondence, notebooks, typed reports, agency records, magazines, photos, negatives, transparencies, and posters....
UC Merced, May 17
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At the same time America is graying, recent Pew Research Center surveys find that seniors are also moving towards more digitally connected lives. Around four-in-ten (42%) adults ages 65 and older now report owning smartphones. Yet despite these gains, many seniors remain largely disconnected from the digital revolution. One-third of adults ages 65 and older say they never use the internet, and roughly half say they do not have home broadband services. Meanwhile, even with their recent gains, the proportion of seniors who say they own smartphones is 42 percentage points lower than those ages 18 to 64....
Pew Research Center, May 17
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Michael Crider writes: “Whenever you plan a new purchase, you want to make sure you’re buying it at an ideal time. So is summer 2017 a good time to purchase one or more monitors for that perfect desktop setup? Short answer: Yes! There are many options right now, from small and serviceable to huge and high-resolution, with plenty of deals to be had in all segments. The next big leaps forward in monitor technology, 8K resolution and OLED panels, are still several years away from widespread adoption.”...
How-To Geek, May 18
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Neil J. Rubenking writes: “The typical password manager integrates with the browser and captures the username and password when you log in to a secure site. Occasionally, you’ll find one that doesn’t automate password capture and replay, but these may have other virtues, such as filling in passwords for secure applications. The potential hit, financial and otherwise, that could result from using weak passwords could cost you plenty. But you can get full-featured password management for a net outlay of exactly zero dollars.”...
PC Magazine, May 16
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