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On September 28 the president signed legislation for fiscal year 2019 that includes level or increased funding for many library programs. Once again, #FundLibraries advocates have achieved resounding success. IMLS has an additional $2 million to improve administration of library state-formula grant programs and research, and grants funded through LSTA will continue to receive level funding, enabling libraries to continue offering a range of innovative services to their communities. See all the details. The same day, the Museum and Library Services Act, legislation to reauthorize IMLS, was introduced in both the Senate and House....
AL: The Scoop, Sept. 28, Oct. 1 |
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Alan S. Inouye writes: “Libraries had two great wins on the copyright front in late September—the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act and the Music Modernization Act. But we are also facing serious threats, including one focused on the US Copyright Office and Library of Congress. On September 26, the US Senate held a hearing on the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act (S. 1010), which passed the House of Representatives in March. The legislation would remove the hiring authority of the Register of Copyrights from the Librarian of Congress and make it an appointment of the president.”...
AL: The Scoop, Sept. 27, Oct. 1; R Street, Sept. 23; District Dispatch, Mar. 27, 2017 |
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Terra Dankowski writes: “Poet, educator, and activist E. Ethelbert Miller (right) has tasked librarians with finding our way. ‘We must construct a moral pathway to the future,’ he said. ‘It’s the library that pushes back. We must be truth protectors.’ Miller—who has written 12 books and two memoirs, and was director of Howard University’s African-American Resource Center for more than 40 years—was the keynote speaker at the Closing General Session of the JCLC in Albuquerque on September 30.” See American Libraries’ coverage for more events at JCLC 2018....
AL: The Scoop, Sept. 28–Oct. 1 |
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ALA and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine have partnered through the Libraries Transform public awareness campaign to create a free toolkit for Health Literacy Month, observed in October. The toolkit provides key messages, program ideas, and downloadable marketing materials, including bookmark templates and social media graphics, for libraries to use as they promote health literacy....
I Love Libraries, Oct. 2 |
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Jamie Campbell Naidoo writes: “The ALSC Institute in Cincinnati September 27–29 was filled with excitement, passion, and energy generated by more than 400 children’s librarians and others working to promote children’s literacy. The new ALSC logo (right) was unveiled. With the theme of ‘All Aboard!: Embracing Advocacy and Inclusion,’ many of the Big Ideas sessions, keynotes, and individual breakouts addressed equity, diversity, and inclusion work that is ongoing and needed both in the field and within ALSC.”...
ALSC Blog, Oct. 2 |
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Mark Graham writes: “As part of the Internet Archive’s aim to build a better web, we have been working to make the web more reliable—and 9 million formerly broken links on Wikipedia now work because they redirect to archived versions in the Wayback Machine. For more than five years, the Internet Archive has been archiving nearly every URL referenced in nearly 300 Wikipedia sites as soon as those links are added or changed, at the rate of about 20 million URLs per week.”...
Internet Archive Blogs, Sept. 20, Oct. 1 |
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After being closed to the public for more than 20 years, the top floors and rooftop of the Central Library in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, have opened to the public. The expansion includes a much-awaited 7,400-square-foot rooftop garden. Funding from the federal government, the city of Vancouver, and private donors contributed to the renovation of the new public space. When the building first opened in 1995, its top floors were leased to the provincial government for office use....
Vancouver (B.C.) Star, Sept. 29 |
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Red Nordland writes: “No book, it seems, is too substantive or too insignificant to be banned in Kuwait. Recent targets of the government’s literary censors include an encyclopedia with a picture of Michelangelo’s David and a Disney version of The Little Mermaid. David had no fig leaf, and the mermaid, alas, wore half a bikini. Kuwaitis like to think of their country as an enclave of intellectual freedom in the conservative Persian Gulf, a haven that once welcomed exiled Arab writers. But that self-image is becoming harder to sustain.”...
New York Times, Oct. 1 |
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Abigail Wickes and Erica Leeman write: “MLIS traditionally stands for Master of Library and Information Science, but we are metadata-loving librarians working in scholarly publishing who give this acronym a new meaning: Metadata Librarians In Scholarly publishing. We met giving early career lightning talks at the 2018 Society for Scholarly Publishing conference and bonded over the many things we have in common. We realized that our career experiences, the value of an MLIS degree across the industry, and the need for metadata expertise in publishing could be of interest to a wider audience.”...
The Scholarly Kitchen, Oct. 2; Society for Scholarly Publishing |
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Bobby Reed writes: “In my experience managing 3D-printing services, safety concerns like filament knowledge and responsible chemical use; intellectual property concerns and copyright infringement issues; and immediate physical dangers like the risk of burn, laceration, or shock are real immediate and present risks. All emerging-technology professionals need to be aware of these risks and how to mitigate them before they begin offering 3D-printing services. The good news is that they are manageable dangers.”...
LITA Blog, Oct. 1 |
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Kelly Jensen writes: “The best season of the year is here: Halloween season. Where many find themselves eager for the end-of-year holidays, it’s Halloween which holds that place in my heart. You can celebrate any way you want to, with an array of creatures and colors that reflect autumn itself. You can enjoy your ghosts and ghouls right alongside your black cats and pumpkins. It’s these creatures and more you’ll find on something of interest to book nerds: Halloween bookmarks.”...
Book Riot, Oct. 2 |
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Patrons of the Alexandria-Monroe (Ind.) Public Library are having some fun with stick-ons, but officials aren’t entirely amused. Someone recently pasted “googly eyes” on a copy of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. The addition created an image that is double-take worthy. It’s not clear if it’s happened to other titles among the library’s books. The incident has spawned a lively Facebook conversation and the post has been shared thousands of times....
WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, Sept. 29; Alexandria-Monroe (Ind.) Public Library Facebook page, Sept. 19 |
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