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On November 15, ALA announced the six books shortlisted for the
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The awards recognize the previous year’s best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the United States. The two medal winners will be announced at 4:30 p.m. Central on January 29, 2023, at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards virtual event, to be held during
LibLearnX....
AL: The Scoop, Nov. 15
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Bill Furbee writes: “It’s not every day that patrons dodge prancing barnyard goats while navigating instructor-led yoga sessions, but goat yoga (exactly what it sounds like—yoga in the company of goats) is finding a surprisingly warm reception in the library world. The novel form of exercise, which was founded by Lainey Morse in 2016 with her Original Goat Yoga company and has since found loyal fans all over the country, gives new meaning to community engagement.”...
American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
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Taylor Hartz writes: “Librarians are making the most of the video-sharing social media app TikTok, recording and uploading 60-second clips (sometimes longer) of themselves and others talking about programs, cool things at their library, book reviews, and more. Many of these librarians help make up BookTok, a subcommunity of users on the app who upload and share content based on their favorite books, using hashtags such as #librariansoftiktok and #librarytiktok.”...
American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
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“Programming with Primary Sources: Women’s Suffrage” is a free resource guide to inspire and help library workers bring primary source inquiry into their book clubs, crafts, and other library programs. Created by librarians in collaboration with the ALA Public Programs Office, the guide sheds light on lesser-known histories from the women’s suffrage era and provides user-friendly resources so libraries can lead conversations about this important part of our nation’s past.
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Lara Ewen writes: “In 1971, reporter Nina Totenberg called then–law professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg for help making sense of a legal brief. That conversation launched a decades-spanning friendship and Totenberg’s career. The journalist joined NPR in 1975 and currently serves as the nonprofit media organization’s legal correspondent. Totenberg has written a memoir, Dinners with Ruth (Simon & Schuster, September), covering her own career and the relationships that helped shape it. She spoke with American Libraries about friendship, journalism, and covering SCOTUS in unprecedented times.”...
American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
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Linda W. Braun writes: “More and more, library staffers across the US are using an equity lens to evaluate and reimagine the programs and services they provide for and with their communities. Libraries have revamped everything from borrowing policies and building hours to job descriptions and outreach efforts to better meet the needs of marginalized groups. Targeted universalism, a
framework developed
by the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at University of California, Berkeley, can help us better connect with the people we seek to serve and learn what support they need.”...
American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.
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Andrew Albanese writes: “In a statement this week, the
Michigan Library Association defended a local library that has been defunded by voters over the library’s refusal to pull several LGBTQ-themed books from library shelves. Patmos Library in Jamestown Township, Michigan, lost its 10-year levy renewal vote after a group of citizens organized a ‘no’ campaign in the wake of the library’s refusal to censor books, a move that will almost certainly force the library to close its doors in the coming year. ‘A local tragedy with national implications, the Patmos Library is the only library in the country that has essentially been defunded by the vote of its citizens due to its refusal to comply with censorship,’ reads a November 14 statement from the Michigan Library Association.”...
Publishers Weekly, Nov. 15; Michigan Library Association, Nov. 14
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has created four complementary grant programs to promote the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a $14.2 billion benefit program that helps to ensure qualifying low-income households nationwide can afford the broadband internet they need. The outreach program seeks to enlist trusted community messengers to develop innovative outreach strategies to reach historically unserved and underserved communities, with the goal of increasing ACP enrollment.
Applications must be received by January 9, 2023....
FCC, Nov. 10
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Claire Woodcock writes: “Last week, one of the largest repositories of pirated books and articles available on the Internet went dark—seemingly for good.
As first reported by TorrentFreak, a series of Z-Library domain names were seized by the FBI and the main pages now have the stamped seals of the US Department of Justice to prove it. Z-Library was a shadow library project that offered file-sharing access to scholarly journal articles, academic texts, and trade books. The sites enabled access to otherwise paywalled content including more than 11 million books and over 80 million articles.”...
Vice: Motherboard, Nov. 11; TorrentFreak, Nov. 7
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Chelsey Roos writes: “Making your programs more inclusive of autistic families (and families with other sensory needs or disabilities) doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money. There are small, simple changes that you can make in an hour or less today that will help autistic families feel welcomed and supported at your library programs—not just storytimes. Here are four ways to get started. Once you try them, you might find that these changes support not just autistic families, but many other kinds of families.”...
ALSC Blog, Nov. 10
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Lettie Y. Conrad writes: “Library discovery services—web-scale search engines configured for institutional library holdings—first came onto the scholarly communications scene in the mid-2000s. Just as the indexing and relevancy engines found under the hood of commercial search engines are not easily understood, our industry quickly found that what goes into library discovery services is equally mysterious. Enter NISO, our sector’s best bet for tackling thorny topics like this. Initiated in 2011,
NISO’s Open Discovery Initiative offers standard terms of engagement for the creation and implementation of preindexed discovery tools for academic libraries.”...
The Scholarly Kitchen, Nov. 10
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“The work libraries do in helping people facing housing insecurity goes far beyond providing an open, welcoming space. Increasingly, people are turning to libraries for direction in times of crisis. When someone is overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to go to find help, they often start at their community library. As the scope of services people seek from libraries continues to expand, so does the need for more resources to support libraries and library staff. This collection of resources can help support your work as you support your community.”...
WebJunction, Nov. 10
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Brian O’Hare writes: “All cultures have hero myths—we mortals feel elevated by mere proximity to magic—but the American hero myth is unique, as if Hollywood remade the Homeric ideal, laced it with Wall Street capitalism and Biblical certainty, making sure it played to the cheap seats as well.” O’Hare recommends nine books that demythologize this idea and examine its impact, particularly on children....
Electric Lit, Nov. 8
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