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For daily ALA and library news, check the American Libraries website or subscribe to our RSS feed.
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ALA President Loida Garcia-Febo and other library advocates from across the country will celebrate the triumphant finish of Libraries = Strong Communities, a presidential advocacy effort aimed at highlighting the value of academic, public, and school libraries. The tour will culminate with a rally and celebration on June 22 at the 2019 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. The tour launched in New Orleans during the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in support of ALA’s Strategic Directions, which include advocacy; information policy; professional and leadership development; and equity, diversity, and inclusion....
ALA Communications and Marketing Office, May 30; AL: The Scoop, May 21 |
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On May 23, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions launched the 2019 edition of its Development and Access to Information report. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed to by all member states in 2015, sets out a roadmap toward a richer, more sustainable world that includes access to information. To ensure these goals are achieved, the performance of member states and regions must be monitored, with good ideas for implementation shared with others. This is the objective of the report, produced by IFLA in partnership with the Technology and Social Change Group at the University of Washington....
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, May 23 |
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The Tulsa City–County (Okla.) Library has been selected to receive the 2019 Library of the Future Award, sponsored by ALA and Information Today. The library was selected for implementing its creator-focused digital training and work space, the Digital Literacy Lab. Working with community members, the library crafted a vision of a 21st-century library that was used to guide the $55 million renovation of the downtown central library in 2016—ultimately creating the Digital Literacy Lab, a space where individuals from the community come together to experiment with new and emerging technologies and learn digital literacy skills....
Office of ALA Governance, May 28 |
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The Spokane (Wash.) Public Library is investigating after an unauthorized video of an altercation between a guard and a library patron was posted on Facebook. The 90-second video, which shows a man body-slamming a guard into the library floor after a scuffle between the two, was posted by mayoral candidate Nadine Woodward. Woodward identified the man who had fought with the security guard as homeless. SPL Deputy Director Caris O’Malley said the guard in the video is an employee of a security company, and the library asked the company to move the guard to a different location because he had violated library rules by accessing the footage. Library staff told KREM-TV that incidents like this are extremely rare....
Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review, May 30; KREM-TV, Spokane, May 29 |
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Because of “veiled threats,” the Delaware County (Ohio) District Library has decided to cancel an event aimed at teens interested in drag. The library was set to host Drag 101, a class taught by former Miss Gay Ohio America and local drag queen Selena T. West (right). Her goal with the class was to give teens an outlet they may otherwise not have had. Library Communications Manager Nicole Fowles said the library had received hundreds of calls, a small number of which were hostile. “A smaller number were veiled threats,” she added. The class, scheduled for June 5 at the Orange branch library, will now be held at Secret Identity Comics....
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, May 29; WCMH-TV, Columbus, May 28; AL: The Scoop, Sept. 20, 2018 |
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Erin Wilkey Oh writes: “Without question, some of the most important members of the school community are the school librarians. Also known as library media specialists, school librarians play a unique role in our schools. Often asked to take on a wide range of duties, these passionate and savvy educators deserve more than only a week of praise. And in case you need a reminder of all that school librarians do for our students and our schools, we’ve put together a list of 10 reasons.”...
eSchool News, May 30 |
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Becca Munson writes: “It’s the time of year for usage reports and analysis of databases and collaborative projects. Each semester, we create a library usage report highlighting the activities in the school library. We know our administrators are busy people, so we make a quick infographic that they can easily read in a few minutes. I feel like we are bragging in the report because it highlights positive information. My principal is already supportive, but we send the report to not only our building’s administrative team but also to the district office administrators.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, May 31 |
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Alexandra Guzeva writes: “The Russian State Library in Moscow, known to Russians affectionately as the ‘Leninka,’ is not just a mecca for scholars and bookworms. Besides being a reading sanctuary, it doubles up as a dating spot for intellectuals and a place for doing crosswords and even gymnastics. The moment we show up with our photographic gear, the library supervisors, like hawks, swoop on us from all sides, demanding to see our permission to take photos (thankfully, we have it on us). With custodians such as these, the largest book collection in Russia need never fear for its security. The library houses more than 47 million volumes in 367 languages.”...
Russia Beyond, Apr. 5 |
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Sara Barnard has won The Bookseller’s YA Book Prize in its fifth year for her “unflinching” and “utterly riveting” contemporary novel about the impact of a teacher-student relationship, Goodbye, Perfect (Macmillan Children’s Books). Barnard won out over nine other authors, including inaugural YA Book Prize winner Louise O’Neill, to claim the £2,000 award, which was presented in a ceremony held at the Hay Festival on May 30. Goodbye, Perfect tells the story of Eden McKinley, a teenager forced to question everything when her steady, straight-A best friend, Bonnie, runs away with a teacher....
The Bookseller (UK), May 30 |
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Enobong Essien writes: “I am delighted with the influx of diverse fiction feeding into mainstream culture. We live in a climate where the way you look does not signify where you come from. Thankfully, our culture is beginning to reflect this. My question is, are we pushing our culture so hard to catch up that we are actually further marginalizing those who we are trying to bring into the mainstream? In February, Booklist released its ‘Spotlight on Diversity’ issue and the editor’s note from the youth fiction editor, Sarah Hunter, articulates some of my thoughts.”...
Book Riot, May 30; Booklist Read Alert, Jan. 24 |
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Ibram X. Kendi writes: “No one becomes ‘not racist,’ despite a tendency by Americans to identify themselves that way. We can only strive to be antiracist on a daily basis, to continually rededicate ourselves to the lifelong task of overcoming our country’s racist heritage. We need to read books that force us to confront our self-serving beliefs and make us aware that ‘I’m not racist’ is a slogan of denial. This reading list is a combination of classics, relatively obscure works, and a few of recent vintage. Think of it as a stepladder to antiracism, each step addressing a different stage of the journey toward destroying racism’s insidious hold on all of us.”...
New York Times Book Review, May 29 |
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Barbara Fister writes: “As the year finishes and the library becomes quiet, I find myself thinking about how I became a librarian. I walked across campus to what was then called the School of Library Science, signed some documents to make the divorce official, and retraced my steps to tell my English advisor it was over. Leaning forward on his tweed elbows, he told me solemnly, ‘working in a library isn’t like working in a library.“ He warned me I was signing up for a life of drudgery, pushing book carts around the stacks like the nameless women pushing laundry carts he passed in hotel hallways when he traveled to exotic locations.”...
Inside Higher Ed: Library Babel Fish, May 30 |
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