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Ryan J. Dowd writes: “It was 3 a.m. A woman struggling to carry her three children—a newborn and twin toddlers in car seats—shuffled along an urban bicycle trail during the first thunderstorm of the season. Her days-old C-section incision was infected. Every flash of lightning must have thrown ghastly shadows. Every thunderclap and gust of wind probably made her feel like even the elements were conspiring against her. Somehow, the police found her and her children and drove them to Hesed House in Aurora, Illinois.”...
American Libraries feature, June |
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Timothy Inklebarger writes: “Backlash was swift when it was publicized in January that the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision had begun requiring that packages to prisoners come from a handful of state-approved vendors only. While the package contents were not limited to books, the proposed change hampered books-to-prisoners organizations in their mission to provide reading material to the incarcerated.”...
American Libraries Trend, June |
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Maryland prison officials have reversed a statewide policy that limited access to books for thousands of inmates as part of an effort to reduce drug smuggling. Prisoners can immediately begin receiving book shipments directly from relatives and online retailers, according to Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Stephen T. Moyer (right). The corrections department on June 11 also lifted its constraints on how often inmates can order through prison-approved vendors. The ACLU had characterized the earlier restrictions as unconstitutional....
Washington Post, June 11 |
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Marijke Visser and Nicky Rigg write: “The ALA Libraries Ready to Code initiative, sponsored by Google, is releasing the beta version of the Ready to Code Collection at the 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans. The release party will be held June 22 at the Morial Convention Center in the exhibit hall at Google booth #4029. The Libraries Ready to Code Collection is a cache of resources developed, tested, and curated by libraries, for libraries to create, implement, and enhance their computer science programming for youth.”...
AL: The Scoop, June 12 |
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The FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules took effect June 11. But as net neutrality supporters try to get the rules back in place, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai (right) is trying to convince internet users that they’re going to love the newly deregulated broadband industry. Pai claimed in a CNET op-ed that the repeal preserves the internet as “an open platform where you are free to go where you want” and that it “will protect consumers and promote better, faster internet access and more competition.” However, if internet service providers are allowed to control or manipulate the content of internet communications, then the work of libraries becomes that much harder....
Ars Technica, June 11; District Dispatch, June 11; CNET, June 10 |
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Tirzah Price writes: “In a small rural library, no one is ever hired into just one role, and I was expected to cover everything from acquisitions to cataloging, circulation, and teen programming. I had a semi-secret agenda to diversify our collection, but in those first weeks I was still getting a feel for the job, the patron community, and my fellow staff members. As June approached, it occurred to me that it would be cool to create a Pride display for GLBT Book Month in the teen section, but I worried how it would be received.” Here are some other ideas and resources for June LGBTQ+ programs....
Book Riot, June 11; Intellectual Freedom Blog, June 10 |
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Brigit Katz writes: “Within a decade of the Chicago Defender’s founding in 1905, Robert Sengstacke Abbott’s weekly had become the most influential black newspaper in the US. It helped fuel the Great Migration, campaigned for anti-lynching legislation, and offered vital coverage of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot. Now digital archivists for the black legacy press are teaming up with Google Arts and Culture to ensure that the Defender’s journalism is preserved for many years to come in the Obsidian Collection.”...
Smithsonian, June 11; Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, Feb. 10; Chicago magazine: Politics and City Life, June 4 |
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Joshua Kim writes: “Higher education offices are just another form of real estate, and the most valuable real estate on campus is in the library. For the last few years, I’ve had the extraordinarily good fortune of having my office in the library. Our center for teaching and learning, which at my institution is called the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning, is located in the main library. The reality is that there is only so much space in the library. I’m wondering how academic librarians feel about the newcomers to their buildings?”...
Inside Higher Ed: Technology and Learning, June 11 |
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Understanding library jargon can be difficult for anyone who is not a regular user of the library. The difficulty of understanding library terms is compounded for English as a second language speakers who must process these specialized terms in a language that is not their native one. This Multilingual Glossary is designed to assist ESL speakers and the librarians who work with them. It consists of commonly used terms in academic libraries. The glossary is divided into a Language Table and Definitions....
ACRL Instruction Section |
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Rebecca Rego Barry writes: “You’re pawing through a stack of old books at an estate sale and suddenly you spot a first edition of The Great Gatsby in its coveted dust jacket (worth upwards of $100,000) or a vintage Batman comic book (worth ten times the Gatsby). Think it couldn’t happen? It happens often enough to disprove the notion that all the great discoveries have been made. These eight vintage volumes have turned up recently, sending a shiver up the spines of all optimistic bibliophiles.”...
Literary Hub, June 11
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Jessica Leigh Hester writes: “Megan Heffernan, an English professor at DePaul University, was at the Folger Shakespeare Library studying a folio of John Donne’s sermons printed in 1640. When she opened it up, she found that the inside of the front and back covers were plastered with sheets taken from a book of English psalms. Suzanne Karr Schmidt, curator of rare books and manuscripts at the Newberry Library in Chicago, jokingly describes these as ‘turducken books’—books (or manuscripts) within a book within a book.”...
Atlas Obscura, June 11 |
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Kelly Jensen writes: “What better way to honor the Windy City than a roundup of great YA books set in Chicago? For readers who haven’t yet had the pleasure, Chicago is a city with history. From the World’s Fair, to the 77 distinct neighborhoods, to the Cubs White Sox, it’s easy to see why people love this city. These books include both fiction and nonfiction. Nearly all are set within the city itself, though I’ve allowed a couple of titles set in the suburbs to trickle in. That’s what we do here in the Midwest: We make exceptions when it feels right to.”...
Book Riot, June 11 |
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