|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
For daily ALA and library news, check the American Libraries website or subscribe to our RSS feed.
|
|
|
July is International Zine Month, a celebration of independently published and underground magazines and fanzines—a medium that is growing more and more popular in libraries. Zine culture has spanned science fiction, the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s, and the efforts of people of color and those in the LGBTQ+ community, tackling large-scale personal and political matters in small circulations. Here are some statistics on DIY zine culture....
American Libraries feature, July 2 |
|
ALA is now accepting applications for the 2020 class of Emerging Leaders. Details on the program criteria and a link to the application can be found on the Emerging Leaders web page. The deadline to apply is August 30. Emerging Leaders is a leadership development program that enables newer library workers from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity....
Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, July 2 |
|
The Mojave Desert town of Ridgecrest, California, where a state of emergency was declared July 4 after a 6.4 magnitude temblor hit the region, is looking for volunteers to clean up earthquake damage at its branch of the Kern County Library system. A photo album uploaded to the library’s Facebook page shows the books were in disarray after the large quake that was felt across Southern California. Branch Manager Curtis Sarad said the facility is seeking volunteers to reshelve them. The branch will remain closed until the cleanup is complete....
KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, July 4; Ridgecrest Branch Library Facebook page, July 4; KGET-TV, Bakersfield, Calif., July 4 |
|
President Trump told reporters on July 4 that he is considering an executive order to ensure a citizenship question is included on the US census. Trump said he has four or five options and is “thinking of” the executive order. He also said his administration could begin printing the 2020 census and later include the question as part of an addendum. The Supreme Court ruled 5–4 June 27 to temporarily block the citizenship question from appearing on the 2020 census, saying the administration’s argument that the question is needed to enforce a federal voting rights law didn’t line up with the evidence provided in the case. The high court directed the administration to come up with a new legal rationale. ALA has consistently opposed the addition of the question on the 2020 census form....
The Hill, June 27, July 5; AL: The Scoop, June 27 |
|
|
Attorneys for the city of Frontenac, Missouri, sued the St. Louis County Library District on July 3 in an effort to stop the planned construction of a $20 million administrative building and genealogy center that the city’s planning and zoning board unanimously rejected. The project has faced strong opposition from some area residents, who have complained about the potential impact on traffic and other issues. The lawsuit asks the St. Louis County Circuit Court to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction stopping the construction “because the district refuses to engage in meaningful discussion about the appropriate use” of the land in question....
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 4 |
|
On June 28, the Law Library of Congress held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a new secure storage facility that will be home for much of its rare book collection. The library currently stores some of its rare collection in a smaller vault as well as storing some of its rare materials in space borrowed from other divisions at the Library of Congress. Consolidating the collection improves collection security and access. The facility has more than 9,000 linear feet of shelving; modern compact shelving; and state-of-the-art cooling, humidification, fire retardation, and security systems....
In Custodia Legis, July 5 |
|
Liza Frenette writes: “Students may not need a coat when they leave school for summer break, but they will need book jackets. And it’s librarians who are making sure they have them. All throughout New York state, stacks of books were given to students to take home for summer reading. And—as the theme of diversity established by Read Across America this year continues to take root—at least some of the book jackets provided to students will depict kids who may have different faces than their own.”...
New York State United Teachers, June 22 |
|
Alyson Feldman-Piltch writes: “About a two months ago now, I left my job at the Boston Public Library and moved to Pennsylvania. One of my favorite things to do while working at the BPL—and one of my favorite things about being a librarian, actually—was readers’ advisory. When it comes to readers’ advisory, I’m like a Dr. Seuss book. I would do RA with a mouse, in a house, with a goat or on a boat. I am grateful that it is one of those things that has always come naturally to me. It’s also why I always loved purchasing books for my branches, because it allowed me to keep an eye out for books that could appeal to my most voracious yet picky readers.”...
ALSC Blog, July 5 |
|
|
ALCTS Publishing has released the first title in its new Sudden Position Guide series. Edited by Jeremy Myntti, the Sudden Position Guide to Cataloging and Metadata is geared toward librarians who have been given cataloging and metadata responsibilities without formal training, those who have experience in cataloging one specific type of resource but now have to catalog unfamiliar items, and those new to library cataloging. Throughout this guide, authors share a variety of resources and tools and provide a solid starting point for learning the principles and standards of resource description for cataloging and metadata....
ALCTS, July 2 |
|
In 1238, King Alfonso X of Castile published a volume called Libro de los Juegos, or The Book of Games. It consisted of 97 parchment pages, many with beautiful color illustrations, and contains the earliest descriptions of games such as chess, dice, and backgammon. Alfonso is the unofficial founder of a field of science known as ludology—the study of games, which has attracted much interest among mathematicians, computer scientists, and sociologists. Now Cameron Browne at Maastricht University in the Netherlands is pioneering a new area of archaeology focused purely on games and using machine vision, artificial intelligence, and data mining....
MIT Technology Review, June 20 |
|
|
Brian Barrett writes: “Microsoft announced in April that it would close the Microsoft Store’s books section for good. The company had made its foray into ebooks in 2017, as part of a Windows 10 Creators Update that sought to round out the software available to its Surface line. Relegated to Microsoft’s Edge browser, the digital bookstore never took off. As of April 2, it halted all ebook sales. Starting this week, it will remove all purchased books from the libraries of those who bought them. And because of digital rights management, you have no recourse. Microsoft will refund customers in full for what they paid, plus an extra $25 if they made annotations.”...
Wired, June 30; Microsoft Support, Apr. 2 |
|
Walter Glenn writes: “Windows 10 includes a bunch of personalization settings that let you change your desktop background, windows colors, and lock screen background. Here is what you need to know to get your computer looking exactly how you want it. We’re going to be talking about the Personalization settings Windows makes available, but there are other ways you can customize your computer’s look, though, such as configuring folder options, or customizing the Start menu, Taskbar, Action Center, and icons.”...
How-To Geek, Mar. 26, Apr. 12, 29, May 28, July 2; July 5, 2017 |
AL Direct is a free electronic newsletter emailed every Tuesday and Friday to personal members of the American Library Association.
Editor, AL Direct: George M. Eberhart, geberhart@ala.org
|
Send news and feedback: aldirect@ala.org
Direct ad inquiries to: Michael Stack, mstack@ala.org
AL Direct FAQ: americanlibrariesmagazine.org/al-direct
All links outside the ALA website
are provided for informational purposes only. Questions about the
content of any external site should be addressed to the administrator of
that site.
AL Direct will not sell your email to outside parties, but your email may be shared with advertisers in this newsletter should you express interest in their products by clicking on their ads or content. If the advertisers choose to communicate with you by email, they are obligated to provide you with an opportunity to opt-out from future emails in compliance with the CAN-SPAM act of 2003 and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation of 2018. Read the ALA privacy policy.
American Libraries
50 E. Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60611
800-545-2433, ext. 4216
ISSN 1559-369X
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
