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Actress, singer, and model Zoë Kravitz (right) stars in two new ALA video public service announcements, promoting the magical power of libraries. In the PSAs, Kravitz, who appears in the upcoming film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, urges the public to visit libraries to discover and experience new worlds through literature and resources such as ebooks, games, and 3D printers. The PSAs are free and are available for download to post on web pages and social media channels....
ALA Communications and Marketing Office, Oct. 29 |
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Tracy Strobel writes: “The 2020 US Census will be the first in its 230-year history that can be taken online, and libraries will need to be prepared and engaged to ensure an inclusive and complete count of our nation’s residents. In anticipation of this historical shift—and with 25% of housing units in the US without internet access—ALA is investigating what this will mean for public libraries across the country. On October 25 at the Chicago Public Library, ALA—alongside partners Forefront, Voices for Illinois Children, and the US Census Bureau—explored how to create the most inclusive count possible....
AL: The Scoop, Oct. 30 |
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Braaaaaaaains. That’s what it took to come up with the idea of the Zombie Pandemic Preparedness Workshop, held October 25 at Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Library’s Suwanee branch. The workshop taught attendees how to plan and prepare for a real-life pandemic. Participants learned crucial tips such as the importance of having an emergency supply kit at home and the fact that flu vaccines cannot cause the flu. The program was pegged to the 100th anniversary of the 1918 flu pandemic....
AL: The Scoop, Oct. 30 |
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Indiana University’s Lilly Library is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the 1938 The War of the Worlds radio broadcast by openly streaming its 2017 digitization of the infamous event taken directly from Orson Welles’s personal lacquer disc recordings. The Lilly Library’s collection features Welles’s radio scripts, production material for his theater work, and artifacts about his early films, in addition to the recordings of his radio programs. The radio show adapted H. G. Wells’s 1898 novel The War of the Worlds, setting the story in the United States....
News at IU Bloomington, Oct. 29; Oct. 26, 2017 |
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The name of a former University of Vermont president is being removed from its library because of his support of research into the eugenics movement in the 1920s and 1930s that helped lead to sterilizations. The board of trustees voted unanimously October 27 to drop Guy Bailey’s name from the Bailey/Howe Library. The move comes in response to concerns raised by some faculty and students....
Associated Press, Oct. 27 |
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Alan S. Inouye writes: “In advance of Computer Science Education Week (December 3–9), an annual event to get students excited about coding, ALA is calling for applications for $500 mini-grants to school and public libraries that will support libraries in creating programs using Google’s CS First Hour of Code curriculum and other resources. Libraries Ready to Code, an ALA initiative sponsored by Google, aims to ensure libraries have the resources to promote CT and CS among our nation’s youth. The application deadline is November 8.”...
AL: The Scoop, Oct. 26 |
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Kary Henry writes: “Walking into any library’s youth services department should be a welcoming, engaging, and fun experience. At the Deerfield (Ill.) Public Library, we have two large glass cases that house displays of our own making and artwork from our community. Our in-house displays promote just about every aspect of youth services, from books to programs and summer reading. Displays from the community send the strong message that our library is a proud partner with many local organizations.”...
ALSC Blog, Oct. 28 |
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“Radical collaborations” was the theme on day two of the 2018 OCLC Americas Regional Council Conference in Chicago. Brian Bannon (right), commissioner and CEO of Chicago Public Library, and Louise Bernard, museum director of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), spoke on October 26 of their partnership to create deeper engagement between the two institutions. In May, CPL announced it would embed a branch on the OPC campus marking the first time a public library will be part of a presidential library....
AL: The Scoop, Oct. 26; Chicago Tribune, May 1 |
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Oya Y. Rieger writes: “Digital information is in dire need of preservation. What does that landscape look like today? I recently interviewed 21 experts and thought leaders to understand their perspectives. Now Ithaka S+R is publishing the results of that research: The State of Digital Preservation in 2018: A Snapshot of Challenges and Gaps. The paper also seeks to identify research and policy questions that will contribute to the advancement of strategies in support of future scholarship.”...
Ithaka S+R, Oct. 29 |
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Scotland in Books is a photographic survey of second-hand bookshops, libraries, and private collections across Scotland by photographer Celeste Noche. In an increasingly digital age, the photos document the importance of the physical book—how people continue to make space for books and, conversely, how books create space for people. Shown here are volunteers Julie (left) and Houida (right), with volunteer coordinator Gabrielle Macbeth (center) at the Glasgow Women’s Library, which specializes in books, music, and art by and about women....
BBC News, Oct. 22 |
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The scary season is upon us, and with it comes the perfect excuse to raise from the dead a few works of contemporary horror fiction. Whatever your literary poison, we have 10 spine-tingling contemporary novels for you; so why not take a walk with us, past the “Keep Out” sign and underneath the velvet rope, to the forbidden section of the library, where the evil books dwell....
Literary Hub: Book Marks, Oct. 30 |
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Steve Tetreault writes: “I think we can all agree that book clubs are great. They encourage a sense of community and collaboration as the group reads and discusses their reactions to the texts. But book clubs can also come with some difficulties for the creators and organizers of the clubs—which is often us, the school librarians and teachers. Fortunately, there are a growing number of digital solutions to the analog problems created by book clubs.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, Oct. 30 |
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