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Larra Clark and Gavin Baker write: “The White House announced on July 11 that it would abandon efforts to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census, removing a major distraction from preparations for this constitutionally mandated head count. But the achievement is only one milestone in advocates’ work to support a complete count. Ensuring that people have accurate information about the 2020 Census will be critical in the wake of concerns about a possible citizenship question. Library staffers and other trusted voices in our communities can help make sure people know that filling out the census form is important and safe.”...
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 1; Associated Press, July 11 |
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) announced August 1 that NYC Census 2020, the city’s first-of-its-kind census outreach and engagement campaign, is investing more than $1.4 million in an unprecedented partnership with New York City’s three public library systems—New York, Brooklyn, and Queens—to count every New Yorker in the upcoming 2020 Census. Funding libraries to conduct census outreach and provide internet access will be a critical component of NYC Census 2020’s campaign to combat the fear and disinformation resulting from the specter of the now-defeated citizenship question....
City of New York, Aug. 1 |
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ALA has released a white paper exploring how US public libraries can provide better services to new Americans. The report, “Library Programs and New Americans: A White Paper,” is the result of a six-month research project conducted by the Public Programs Office and a team of public library workers and partner organizations. Through the New Americans Library Project, ALA worked with social science think tank New Knowledge Organization to study offerings for new Americans, identify gaps in service, and develop a set of recommendations. The research team conducted site visits in public libraries....
ALA Public Programs Office, July 30 |
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As host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast—a weekly roundtable discussion of film, TV, and music—Linda Holmes (right) has her finger on the pulse of emerging talent. This summer she enters the canon of creators with her debut novel Evvie Drake Starts Over (Ballantine, June). The slow-burning romance at the center of the book, set in coastal Maine, pairs a washed-up baseball player and a young widow who rents him a room. Holmes recently spoke with American Libraries about her fiction favorites, the breadth of the romance genre, and why librarians are the original influencers....
American Libraries: Newsmaker, Aug. 1 |
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On June 17, 2015, Cynthia Graham Hurd (right), the sister of former North Carolina State Sen. Malcolm Graham, became one of nine people murdered during a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Graham said he still thinks of his sister—a beloved librarian at Charleston County Public Library—all the time. He is committed to finding ways to honor her memory. That commitment has brought a new tennis tournament to Charlotte, North Carolina. The Charlotte Amateur Tennis Championship will be held August 16–18, with proceeds benefiting the Cynthia Graham Hurd Foundation, which supports reading and civic engagement....
Charlottte (N.C.) Observer, Aug. 1; AL: The Scoop, June 18, 2015 |
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Adam Hughes and Stefan Wojcik write: “Today, millions of Americans use Twitter to break and comment on news, disseminate official pronouncements, organize campaigns and protests, or just let their friends know what’s on their minds. Here are 10 facts about Americans and Twitter, based on recent Pew Research Center surveys and other studies. For example, Twitter stands out as one of the social media sites with the most news-focused users.”...
Pew Research Center: FactTank, Aug. 2 |
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Eliza Mackintosh writes: “On a recent afternoon in Helsinki, a group of students gathered to hear a lecture on a subject that is far from a staple in most community college curricula. Standing in front of the classroom at Espoo Adult Education Centre, Jussi Toivanen worked his way through his PowerPoint presentation. A slide titled ‘Have you been hit by the Russian troll army?’ included a checklist of methods used to deceive readers on social media: image and video manipulations, half-truths, intimidation, and false profiles. The course is part of an anti–fake news initiative launched by Finland’s government in 2014.”...
CNN, May 17 |
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Chelsea Price writes: “Have you read my recent post on job burnout yet? After I wrote it, a lot of you reached out to me to learn more about the resources I use to relight the fire of my passion for programming. There are so many amazing blogs, websites, and webinars out there that it can be hard to know where to start. Without further ado, here are a few of my favorites (aside from Programming Librarian, of course).”...
Programming Librarian, July 13, 31 |
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Lorraine Allen writes: “For single older adults today, some libraries offer far more than books as windows into the soul. To meet the needs and demands of boomers nationwide who are looking to make actual soul connections, some librarians are now moonlighting as matchmakers. An increasing number of local libraries serve as portals to the dating world, both in-person and virtually, through online dating workshops and ongoing personal and tech support. ‘Our program started out of popular demand,’ explains Tina Williams, outreach services manager of the White Oak Library District in suburban Chicago.”...
Next Avenue, July 19 |
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Barbara Orbach Natanson writes: “The month of August was a busy time for Abraham Lincoln. He won a seat in the Illinois Assembly in August 1834 and was reelected three times in August elections. His son Robert Todd Lincoln was born on August 1, 1843, and in August 1858 he embarked on the first of a series of seven three-hour debates with Stephen Douglas. In support of what could become a lifelong study of Lincoln imagery, the Library of Congress recently combined and expanded two earlier reference aids—one having to do with images of Lincoln and his family, and one having to do with his assassination—into one research guide.”...
Library of Congress Prints and Photos: Picture This, Aug. 1 |
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Emily Polson writes: “Half of Americans have listened to an audiobook and the same percentage have listened to a podcast, according to a 2019 survey conducted by Edison Research and Triton Digital. This was the first year that the audience for both podcasts and audiobooks reached 50% listenership. There is a clear crossover audience between the two. But how else do the two industries intersect, feeding one into the other? I’ve rounded up 10 ways in which podcasts, audiobooks, and oral storytelling at large are interconnected, particularly now that more and more print books have an accompanying audio version published simultaneously.”...
Book Riot, Aug. 2; Edison Research, Mar. 6 |
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Sarah Turner writes: “At the Standard Hotel in London, Carrie Maclennan has a singular job. She sources 1970s and 1980s books for its ground-floor library. The hotel’s designer Shawn Hausman was adamant that the hotel—the first in the Standard chain to open outside the US—had to reference its history. This Brutalist building, with a distinctive egg-box exterior, once housed a public library. Each book spine has a label with an authentic-looking but randomly created Dewey Decimal number. Within the stacks of books there’s a clearly signposted subversion at play, with Environmental Science next to Despair and Politics shelved with Tragedy.”...
Forbes, July 31 |
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