For daily ALA and library news, check the American Libraries website or subscribe to our RSS feed.
|
|
|
A panel created by President Trump to help prevent future school shootings called December 18 for getting rid of Obama administration guidance aimed at making sure nonwhite students aren’t disciplined more harshly than their peers. In its report, the Federal Commission on School Safety also encouraged schools to “seriously consider” arming certain school staff members, in partnership with local law enforcement to ensure proper training. But it did not suggest that arming school staff—a measure supported by Trump—become a federal mandate....
Education Week, Dec. 18; CNN, Dec. 18 |
|
Bryan J. McCormick (right), director of Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, Wisconsin, writes in a letter to the editor: “Dear Speaker Paul Ryan, I am asking for you to please hear bill S. 3530 in the House, reauthorizing funding for the Museum and Library Services Act. In Wisconsin, funding has been used to set up our statewide delivery of library materials, strengthen our broadband networks, provide access to databases for research, and digitize historical documents, as well as many other worthwhile projects. I feel that the return on investment for this program is one of the highest that receives federal funding.”...
Janesburg (Wis.) Gazette, Dec. 17 |
|
April Glaser writes: “Congress has one last chance to undo the FCC’s 2017 repeal of net neutrality protections—but it only has until December 21 to do it. The open-internet rules officially went off the books in June, but Democrats in Congress have been organizing since the end of last year to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution to undo the repeal. It’s a long shot, but if advocates fighting to restore net neutrality are able to gin up the votes in the next week, there’s a chance to block FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s (right) vision of the internet.”...
Slate, June 11, Dec. 14; Free Press, Dec. 14 |
|
The ALA Intellectual Freedom Manual Review Working Group, which reviewed all documents in preparation for the next edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual, recommended consideration of updating the Library Bill of Rights in a narrow manner to add an Article VII focused on the concept of ensuring privacy and confidentiality for library users. The Intellectual Freedom Committee would appreciate feedback on this article draft by December 21. Comments can be posted on the Google Doc draft itself....
ACRL Insider, Dec. 14 |
|
|
On the morning of September 2, the world woke to the news that Brazil’s National Museum in Rio de Janeiro had caught fire, destroying one of Latin America’s oldest and most important scientific and cultural institutions. Princeton University’s newly established Brazil LAB (Luso-Afro-Brazilian studies), along with Princeton University Library and Princeton University Press, is partnering with the Postgraduate Program in Social Anthropology based at the National Museum to replace damaged or lost books and materials in Francisca Keller Library, the principal anthropology library in Brazil....
Princeton University, Dec. 17; Engadget, Dec. 13 |
|
Three illuminated Byzantine-era manuscripts that are more than 1,000 years old have for decades been part of a heralded collection at Princeton University. The college received the items as a gift in 1942 from a trustee and alumnus who had bought them from a German auction house nearly 20 years earlier. But in a lawsuit filed December 13, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church said the manuscripts were stolen and demanded their return, asserting that they had been taken during World War I from a monastery in Kormista, a village in northeastern Greece....
New York Times, Dec. 14 |
|
US Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo., right) made a special trip December 17 to donate books to the Bonne Terre (Mo.) Memorial Library. The donation, which included history, fiction, sports, and children’s books, were all obtained through the Library of Congress. Smith said he is passionate about small-town Missouri and believes that it’s important to have high-quality books available to the public. Smith then visited with the library staff, talking about the donated books....
Park Hills (Mo.) Daily Journal, Dec. 18 |
|
|
Genee Bright writes: “Most often used as a verb, the word ‘adulting’ is a colloquialism millennials use to describe behaviors that involve anything an adult or grown-up would do in everyday life. This can range from doing laundry to paying bills or cooking a meal. Adulting topics such as budgeting and investing are not taught with the same emphasis that math, reading, or writing skills are taught in schools. One way to further financial understanding and growth is to teach teens about money and the skills they will need as an adult.”...
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Dec. 7 |
|
Georgina Trebbe writes: “I recently became curious about how the word ‘literacy’ has been paired with other words to create terms all librarians use within their practice. Curiosity surfaced when I read the term ‘innovation literacy.’ Thinking I had hit upon a new concept, I was eager to share. I quickly added innovation literacy to my list of literacies offered within the courses I teach. But something gnawed at me. Did I really understand how the word literacy was consistently being used when defining a specific term? I needed to gain a better understanding of the word.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, Dec. 18 |
|
|
Katie Scherrer writes: “We all know the analogy: We’ve got to put on our own oxygen mask before assisting others. But how often do we actually do that? ALSC members and others in our profession should not feel pressure to practice self-care in any one specific way but to find realistic strategies to take good care. Let there be some space that you create in your life that’s for you, fully. Those voices telling you ‘I’m too busy’ or ‘this is selfish’ will be there for you to deal with calmly later—if you’ve put on your own oxygen mask first.”...
ALSC Blog, Dec. 18 |
|
Libraries across Canada are running into barriers in accessing both ebooks and digital audiobooks for their patrons. Sharon Day, who chairs an e-content working group for the Canadian Urban Library Council, says major ebook publishers are charging unfair prices and Audible—the company that owns the rights to many digital audiobooks—is declining to share them at all. In the case of ebooks, there are restrictive library licensing models in place that are set by the publishers; however, the problem isn’t necessarily the model but the price....
CTV News, Dec. 17 |
|
Katherine Martinko writes: “Visiting libraries wherever you go is a wonderful way to get to know a city. But not all libraries are created equal. They can be big, small, public, private, academic, national, kid-oriented, quiet, or lively. So how does one go about finding the best libraries to visit that suit one’s interests and company? A new blog called Library Planet, launched at the beginning of December by two Danish library lovers, Christian Lauersen and Marie Engberg Eiriksson, allows travelers to share descriptions and photos of the libraries they visit all around the world.”...
TreeHugger, Dec. 14 |
AL Direct is a free electronic newsletter emailed every Tuesday and Friday to personal members of the American Library Association.
Editor, AL Direct: George M. Eberhart, geberhart@ala.org
|
Send news and feedback: aldirect@ala.org
Direct ad inquiries to: Michael Stack, 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 and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation of 2018. Read the ALA privacy policy.
American Libraries
50 E. Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60611
800-545-2433, ext. 4216
ISSN 1559-369X
|
