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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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New Orleans—jewel of the Mississippi River known for its colorful Carnival seasons, inimitable food, and confluence of cultures—celebrates its tricentennial in 2018 with a yearlong birthday party. But perhaps no celebration is more anticipated than the return of the ALA Annual Conference. Taking place June 21–26, the conference will offer a host of professional development opportunities, new ideas to help shape the future of libraries, and a full slate of author programs and fascinating speakers....
American Libraries feature, June |
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ALA President Jim Neal writes: “My service as ALA president will end at the close of the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. Perhaps the most pressing arena has been federal funding for libraries and a wide range of legislative and legal battles in areas like intellectual freedom, privacy, net neutrality, copyright, and government information. Other priorities have been the recruitment and appointment of a new ALA executive director and the future financial and organizational health of the Association.”...
American Libraries column, June |
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YALSA has released a new report, Transforming Library Services for and with Teens through Continuing Education. Authored by Linda W. Braun, Nicole A. Cooke, Denise Lyons, Sara Ryan, and Beth Yoke, the report is the result of a year-long national forum that took place from June 1, 2017, to May 31, 2018, and was hosted in partnership with the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies. It discusses the challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for improving CE for library staff to aid them in transforming teen services. Braun offers a summary of its recommendations....
YALSA, May 31; YALSA Blog, May 31 |
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Jay Bansbach and Kathy Mansfield write: “Why did the school librarian cross the road? To align library standards to other disciplines. Karen Gross, in a blog post for the US Department of Education, describes ‘crosswalk’ in the context of education as ‘converting skills or content from one discipline to another.’ Aligning school library standards to those for other disciplines is critical. An AASL Standards Crosswalk Task Force is finalizing work on the first set of crosswalks between the National School Library Standards and other standards.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, May 31; Office of the Under Secretary of Education, May 1, 2012 |
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Stephen Dark writes: “Men and women in 35 prisons and jails in 13 states nationwide depend on Toby Lafferty (right) and her Millcreek, Utah–based nonprofit, Books Inside, for a monthly supply of books to expand often decrepit libraries. In 2017, Books Inside mailed 23,000 books to incarceration facilities. In Utah alone, she supplies seven jails and created libraries from nothing in the Tooele County and Kane County jails. Lafferty’s experience reveals the impact books can have on both the inmates and the staff who watch over them.”...
I Love Libraries, May 31; Salt Lake City Deseret News, Jan. 12 |
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Christina Orlando writes: “We are still celebrating Pride in June, and part of Pride is carrying the weight of the queer past, knowing that LGBTQ+ folks have fought to find joy and love over the years and how exciting it is that we can find joy and love today. If you’re interested in learning more about queer history, these 50 books are a good place to start. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but feeling connected to our past helps us connect to each other now. We celebrate both the freedom we have found and the work it took to get there.” Here are 20 pioneering novels that paved the way for modern LGBTQ fiction. Take this LGBTQ books quiz to find out if you know your literature....
Book Riot, May 30, June 1; AbeBooks’ Reading Copy, May 29 |
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Jessi Loerch writes: “Le Button and Aydin Kwan (right), both University of Washington iSchool students, have combined their academic knowledge with their personal interests in LGBTQ representation and comic books for their Capstone project. Together, they have created a database and website that will help readers, librarians, and booksellers discover comics that tell a wide range of LGBTQ stories. The Capstone project originally started as an assignment in their LIS 536 class, Metadata for Interactive Media.”...
University of Washington iSchool, May 16 |
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Before Game of Thrones and Big Little Lies were award-winning television series, they were books. And HBO is hoping viewers will use the TV off-season to reacquaint themselves with their shows’ source material. The network has partnered with the New York Public Library to launch #ReadingIsLIT, a national campaign to encourage people to sign up for a library card and pick up a book. In NYPL’s 88 branches, #ReadingIsLIT displays will be set up to showcase the books that served as the inspiration behind HBO’s series and movies....
Adweek, May 30; New York Public Library |
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Until recently, Facebook had dominated the social media landscape among America’s youth—but is no longer the most popular online platform among teens, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Today, roughly half (51%) of US teens ages 13–17 say they use Facebook, notably lower than the shares who use YouTube, Instagram, or Snapchat. The survey also finds there is no clear consensus among teens about the effect that social media has on the lives of young people today....
Pew Research Center, May 31 |
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This year’s Audie Award winners were announced May 31 at the 2018 Audies Gala, hosted by Audie-winning narrator Simon Vance, at the New-York Historical Society in New York City. Lincoln in the Bardo—a production that involved a record 166 narrators—took home the award for Audiobook of the Year. Trombone Shorty, by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, read by Dion Graham, and published by Live Oak Media won the Audie for young listeners. All the other awardees are listed here....
The Booklist Reader, June 1
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Jeffrey Meyer writes: “Librarians regularly make expensive decisions about the computers in their facilities, but it is easy to get tongue-tied by the acronyms and technical names for the hardware in these machines. A basic grasp of components has the potential to greatly enhance awareness of our information systems. Libraries can also save money by making informed technology decisions. It’s time we met our motherboards.”...
Public Libraries Online, May 29 |
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Lydia Pyne writes: “Although historically ubiquitous and seemingly omnipresent, ink is anything but simple. Inks are inexorably bound to their times, geographies, and utilities; every type of ink is the result of decisions about purpose, cost, usability, and accessibility. Neolithic Chinese ink had different cultural requirements from medieval manuscript ink; printing ink is most certainly different from that found in modern fountain pens. The value of each ink is seen in the sum of the choices about how it is made and why.”...
History Today, May 16 |
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