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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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Julius C. Jefferson Jr. (left), section head of the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and Lance Werner (right), executive director of Kent District Library in Comstock Park, Michigan, are the candidates for 2020–2021 ALA president. An active member of ALA for 15 years, Jefferson currently serves on and has been a member of the ALA Council since 2011. Werner has been an ALA member for 10 years and is an active member of PLA and LLAMA, as well as a member of the new ALA Policy Corps. Andrew K. Pace, executive director for technical research at OCLC in Dublin, Ohio, is the candidate for ALA treasurer for 2019–2022....
Office of ALA Governance, Aug. 27–28 |
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WLIC 2018 closed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on August 29. IFLA President Glòria Pérez-Salmerón reflected on her year as president, saying that she found that librarians all speak the same language: ‘We speak the language of access to information.’ IFLA honors and awards were presented, then Alexandra Papazoglou, president of the Association of Greek Librarians and Information Scientists, welcomed delegates to Athens for WLIC 2019, and New Zealanders welcomed delegates to Auckland for WLIC 2020. View more IFLA activities at #wlic2018....
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 30 |
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The Advocate editorial team writes: “Libraries provide a forum for a huge number of ideas, and not all of them are going to please everyone. These public institutions are meant to inspire debate and discussion, not silence it. By that measure, the Lafayette (La.) Public Library is fulfilling its mission. The reaction to its drag queen story hour has, after all, been anything but silent. Is drag queen storytime our cup of tea? Maybe not. But such questions involve choices best left to parents, not politicians.”...
Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate, Aug. 30 |
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A rare books dealer thought he had gotten lucky in 2013 when he managed to acquire a 1787 French first edition inscribed by Thomas Jefferson when he was ambassador to France. He had no idea that his seeming good fortune was a byproduct of one of the most expansive rare book thefts in history. The dealer at a book fair who sold it to him, John Schulman, is now accused of conspiring with a library archivist, Gregory Priore (right), to steal and sell rare items from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh....
New York Times, July 21, Aug. 28 |
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Maria Trivisonno writes: “Three years ago the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library developed a learning garden in a plot of land adjacent to the children’s room. We have grown corn, beans, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, squash, and many herbs, which are often a huge hit with the children. Many do not realize that mint is a plant and have never even heard of thyme, oregano, and basil. We developed quite a following among the local kids, who started to view the garden as their own backyard.”...
ALSC Blog, Aug. 31 |
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Kristen Arnett writes: “Tale as old as time: A librarian spends weeks putting together an event, scrounging around for cutlery and paper plates and maybe even the good cookies (the Publix ones, rainbow sprinkles and chocolate chip), posts fliers on every available surface, emails everyone in the greater local area 25 times to save the date, spends hours of her life promoting it, and when the doors open, what do we find? Three people showed up, and one of them was an accident because he was looking for the bathroom.”...
Literary Hub, Aug. 29 |
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Eleanor Jackson writes: “The exhibition ‘Spellbound: Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft’ is now open at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England. Among the other exhibits, it features a selection of spellbinding manuscripts on loan from the British Library, revealing attitudes to magic in the Middle Ages. This 15th-century manuscript explains how to summon heavenly intermediaries to do your bidding, accompanied by illustrations of the red angels of Mars, Samahel, Satyhel, Ylurahyhel, and Amabyhel.” Need a bit more hands-on magic? Try these Harry Potter–related coloring pages....
British Library: Medieval Manuscripts Blog, Aug. 31; Book Riot, Aug. 31 |
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Cuica Montoya knows first-hand how a drug addiction can turn your life upside down. She lost her career and her house and experienced homelessness for three years. Following a stint in jail, she knew things had to change. She found herself at Denver’s Central Public Library, where staff host a peer navigator program, offering a hand and a home to those affected by drugs and homelessness. Today, as a peer support, she’s using her own “Cuica Magic,” helping guide others back to the lives they were meant to live....
Great Big Story, Aug. 28 |
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When Indiana University’s Bloomington Librarian Professional Council was looking for a way to give back in 2017, the partner organization that rose to the top of its list was Bloomington staple The Rise—Middle Way House’s transitional housing program for domestic violence survivors. As it turned out, The Rise had a community room that offered services similar to a library—computers, books, meeting space—and was in desperate need of upgrading. The council’s mission became obvious....
News at IU Bloomington, Aug. 15 |
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Penn State University Libraries have launched a free computer programming workshop called “Code for Her,” a nine-week program geared toward female and gender-diverse faculty and staff. It’s a coding class for beginners that teaches the basics of web development and programming in three languages. College of Information Sciences and Technology research consultant and librarian Carmen Cole was inspired to launch the program after hearing Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani speak at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference....
Onward State, Aug. 29 |
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Mark Lantz writes: “Studies show that the amount of data being recorded is increasing at 30%–40% per year. At the same time, the capacity of modern hard drives that store most of this data is increasing at less than half that rate. Fortunately, much of this information doesn’t need to be accessed instantly. And for such things, magnetic tape is the perfect solution. Tape has been around for a long while, but the technology hasn’t been frozen in time. Like the hard disk and the transistor, magnetic tape has advanced enormously over the decades.”...
IEEE Spectrum, Aug. 28; IDC Country Brief, Feb. 2013 |
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Evan Dashevsky and Rob Marvin write: “Google Maps has changed the way we navigate the world. Its desktop and mobile apps have become not just a way to get from point A to B via car, public transportation, or on foot; the service is also a geospatial search engine for the world around us. There are many customizable tools and hidden functions already baked into Google Maps that you may not know about. Check out these 33 tips for maximizing your Google Maps power.”...
PC Magazine, Aug. 30 |
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