|
On November 17 ALA announced the six books shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The award recognizes the best books written for adult readers and published in the United States during the previous year. The two medal winners will be announced online on Thursday, February 4, at the
Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards at 3 p.m. Central....
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 17
| |
 |
|
|
|
Kathi Kromer, associate executive director of ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office, writes: “The November 3 elections will have an impact on public policy and advocacy for libraries at the federal, state, and local level. Based on campaign pledges, the Biden-Harris administration will be more favorable to education investment and the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion. President-Elect Joe Biden’s cabinet selections will likely indicate a significant shift in policy around education, telecommunications, workforce issues, and many other areas. However, the change of leadership in the White House does not automatically translate into wins for libraries.”...
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 13
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Librarian and professor Rebecca Tolley writes: “As librarians, we are affected by our work. We’re often directly exposed to traumatic events or feeling the indirect results of natural disasters, terrorist events, or rioting. We experience secondary exposure by hearing patrons speak out about their traumas and even by helping them find the resources they need to realign their lives. Although stereotypes about cold, harsh, robotic librarians persist, those of us who work with the public must display emotional intelligence for our patrons’ sakes—and our own.”...
American Libraries feature, Nov./Dec.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In summer 2019, teens at San Francisco Public Library filed into a room and sat in chairs strategically marked with dots. Depending on the color of their dot, they were categorized into one of three social classes—lower, middle, or upper. In turn, each player’s social class determined their stakes in Life in SF: Luck, Loss, Gain, a Monopoly-esque game that simulates poverty and inequity in San Francisco, complete with properties and transit lines familiar to the group....
American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
| |
|
This year has seen an increase in activism and community engagement from people across the country—especially teens. Whether working in-person or virtually because of the pandemic, today’s youth are energized to change the world. And librarians are helping. In Episode 56, our Call Number podcast looks at library efforts to support and engage teen activism....
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 13
| |
|
Librarian’s Library columnist Allison Escoto writes: “Recent years have seen a resurgence in widespread activism throughout the country. These titles are helpful resources for librarians seeking to understand—in both theory and practice—the role of libraries in a time of increased social activism.”...
American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jennifer Davis writes: “The Law Library collects and preserves legal materials for American law, foreign law, and sovereign Indigenous nations. Many governments, including Indigenous national, tribal, and community governments, are transitioning from print to solely digital formats for publishing their laws. To further these collection and preservation aims, the library has created the
Indigenous Law Web Archive, a collection of constitutions, codes, executive orders, and court forms and information of sovereign Indigenous governments and courts of 578 federally recognized nations, communities, and tribes in the United States, as well as some Indigenous legal information from Canada.”...
In Custodia Legis, Nov. 18
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is making a play for Simon & Schuster. The powerhouse publisher was put up for sale by its owner, ViacomCBS, in March, and the company has since fielded more than half a dozen inquiries, according to three people familiar with the process who declined to be named because the matter remains confidential. In addition to News Corp, which already owns HarperCollins, the other leading bidder is Penguin Random House, according to the sources. Penguin Random House, the largest book publisher in the United States, is owned by German media giant Bertelsmann....
New York Times, March 4, Nov. 17
| |
|
|
|
|
|
More than 2,500 UK university staff members have called for an investigation into the “scandal” of excessive pricing of academic ebooks. “Price rises are common, sudden, and appear arbitrary” with some digital books increasing by 200%, they say
in a letter to Education Committee MPs. Organizer Johanna Anderson said some e-texts can cost 10 times print copies, with taxpayers and students the losers. Publishers say the costs are due to the different formats and shared use....
BBC News, Nov. 14
| |
|
The British Library is making available 40,000 maps dating 1500–1824, which will be freely available online for the first time. They are part of the Topographical Collection of King George III, and included maps, atlases, architectural drawings, cartoons, and watercolors. The first batch of 18,000 images are now available via the British Library’s
Flickr Commons collection....
Medievalists.net, Nov. 3
| |
|
The librarians of Morgantown (W. Va.) Public Library System teamed with Homeward Bound WV and the Marion County Humane Society to create the
2021 “Wild
and Weird” calendar. Each month features a portrait of an MPLS librarian holding an adoptable cat, and proceeds from calendar sales benefit the library and the two no-kill shelters....
WV News, Oct. 30
| | |
|
|
|
American Libraries Direct is a free electronic
newsletter emailed every Wednesday to personal members of the American Library Association.
Editor, AL Direct: Amy Carlton
Direct ad inquiries
to: Michael Stack
Send news and feedback: 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 FAQ.
American Libraries 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 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.
To manage your American Libraries email preferences, please click here.
To unsubscribe from all American Library Association communications, click here.
American Library Association, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60601
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
![“A new Map of the whole World, by H. Moll. [In hemispheres, on the stereographic projection]” – British Library shelfmark: Maps K.Top.4.25.](./111820_files/oldmap2.jpg)
