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On November 8, ALA announced the six titles shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The awards recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the United States during the previous year. The two medal winners will be announced online at 5 p.m. Central on January 23 during the
RUSA Book and Media Awards virtual event held during LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience....
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 8
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Tess Wilson writes: “After taking its conference virtual in 2020, YALSA turned to a hybrid symposium this year, featuring practical approaches, expert findings, and extensive resources for youth-serving library staffers. The 2021 YALSA Symposium (November 5–7) offered both online learning opportunities and an in-person experience in Reno, Nevada, with sessions covering such topics as teen mental health and teen-led podcasts. Focused on the theme ‘Biggest Little Safe Spaces,’ this year’s sessions were full of insight and innovation.”...
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 9
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ALA Public Policy Associate Jazzy Celindro writes: “The ALA
Policy Corps aims to increase and sustain ALA’s capacity to advocate on library policy issues. Since the Policy Corps’ founding in 2018, members have been active on a range of issues that have increased their expertise and networks while expanding ALA’s policy advocacy reach.
As ALA begins to accept applications for its fourth cohort, here’s an update on members’ recent activities.”...
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 10
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Terra Dankowski writes: “Model, author, and television host and producer Padma Lakshmi is having a productive year: The 18th season of her reality competition show Top Chef concluded this summer, snagging five Emmy nominations; she released a children’s book, Tomatoes for Neela, with illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal; and her travelogue series Taste the Nation returned to Hulu on November 4. American Libraries talked with Lakshmi about the intersection of cooking and family, how we can save the restaurant industry, and the value of creating space for everyone’s food story.”...
American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
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Phil Morehart writes: “In September 2020, ALA’s Public Programs Office announced it would provide nearly $2 million in grants to small and rural libraries of all types to help them address pressing concerns in their communities. Through this Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries grant program, more than 600 libraries have been awarded $3,000 each to use in innovative ways to meet local needs. Here, American Libraries takes a closer look at six libraries that received grants during the program’s first round.”...
American Libraries feature, Nov./Dec.
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On November 4 Follett Corporation announced that its Baker & Taylor division will now operate as an independent, privately-owned entity after a divestiture to a private investment group led by president and CEO Aman Kochar. The sale of Baker & Taylor—distributor of physical and digital books and services to public and academic libraries—also includes the related businesses Baker & Taylor Publisher Services, collectionHQ, Baker & Taylor UK, and James Bennett. In September,
Follett Corporation sold its Follett School Solutions division to Francisco Partners, a private equity investment firm....
Business Wire, Nov. 4; AL: The Scoop, Sept. 8
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A new report from PEN America,
“Educational Gag Orders: Legislative Restrictions on the Freedom to Read, Learn, and Teach,” says that in the first nine months of 2021, 24 state legislatures introduced 54 bills that would restrict the teaching and training of subjects including race in K–12 schools, higher education, or state agencies and institutions. Eleven of those bills are now law in nine states; three apply to colleges and universities. According to PEN America’s analysis, 18 of these bills are now pending in the current legislative session, and six have been prefiled for 2022....
Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 9, June 9
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If you’ve tuned in to teacher Instagram or Twitter, you might have noticed educators and librarians posting the banned books that have made a difference in their lives, using the hashtags
#freadom and
#txlege. They’re doing it to protest
a recent investigation in the Texas state legislature in which districts were asked to review a list of more than 850 books, many of which deal with race, gender, and sexuality, and share how many copies of each book they own and where they store the books, among other questions.
Here’s just a sampling of some of the books educators are defending, and their reasons for doing so....
We Are Teachers, Nov. 4; Texas Tribune, Oct. 26
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Jake Sheridan writes: “As readers hurl claims of hidden bias towards outlets on all parts of the political spectrum, bias charts have emerged as a tool to reveal pernicious partiality. Charts that use transparent methodologies to score political bias—particularly the AllSides chart and another from news literacy company Ad Fontes Media—are increasing in popularity and spreading across the internet. But just because something is widely shared doesn’t mean it’s accurate. Are media bias charts reliable?”...
Poynter, Nov. 2
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Julie Tedjeske writes: “I previously reviewed
two programs
on LibGuides and UX principles. Although these programs were helpful, they didn’t answer some basic questions I had about creating LibGuides. After doing some follow-up research, I came up with my own list of best practices. I don’t intend for this list to be comprehensive. Think of this list as a few key ideas that I found helpful enough to share.”...
RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 9, Sept. 22
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Alex Gino’s award-winning youth novel about a trans girl is being renamed Melissa, after Gino and publisher Scholastic said they made a mistake in titling it with a name “the main character does not like or want to use for herself.” Published in 2015, the novel follows the story of Melissa, who is seen by everyone as a boy named George, but who decides to reveal who she really is by playing the role of Charlotte in her class play, Charlotte’s Web....
The Guardian (UK), Nov. 2
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Vax is Oxford Languages’ 2021 Word of the Year. When lexicographers began digging into Oxford’s English language corpus data, it quickly became apparent that vax was a particularly striking term. A relatively rare word until this year, by September it was over 72 times more frequent than at the same time last year. It has generated numerous derivatives that we are now seeing in a wide range of informal contexts, from vax sites and vax cards to getting vaxxed and being fully vaxxed, no word better captures the atmosphere of the past year than vax.
Download the report to explore the evidence-based approach Oxford Languages has taken to tracking and analyzing the rapid development of the language of vaccines in 2021....
Oxford University Press, Nov. 1
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