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ALA’s 2023 Annual Conference and Exhibition will take place in its hometown: Chicago! In
Episode 84 of Call Number with American Libraries, find out where to go, what to see, and what to eat during your visit to the Second City. The podcast team talks to Steve Dolinsky, food reporter and author of The Ultimate Chicago Pizza Guide: A History of Squares and Slices in the Windy City; Suzanne Karr Schmidt, curator of rare books and manuscripts at Newberry Library; and Liz Mason, manager of Quimby’s Bookstore, a longstanding institution specializing in independent and small press books, comics, and zines....
AL: The Scoop, June 12
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Elisabet Kennedy writes: “School libraries come in many forms. They may be book sanctuaries, hangout spots for learners during noninstructional time, technologically advanced media centers full of activity tubs and work tables, or a combination of these. Whatever your school’s library is like, the opportunity to bring in culturally responsive principles exists. If you are a school librarian, time is not always on your side. But with intentional steps, the culturally responsive practices that you decide to implement in your library can be structured into feasible tasks.”...
American Libraries feature, June
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Megan Bennett writes: “The pandemic exacerbated food insecurity throughout the country, with an estimated 3 million more US residents facing food insecurity in 2020 than in 2019. In 2021, with support from local service organizations, Charleston County (S.C.) Public Library installed Free and Fresh Fridges within three of its 18 branches. At any given time, an assortment of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other fresh produce is available free of charge. While dry goods pantries have become somewhat common at many library facilities, community fridges are a more recent trend and enable access to fresh and perishable foods.”...
American Libraries Trend, June
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Rosie Newmark writes: “Last summer, Taylor Arnold, media and reference librarian at Billings (Mont.) Public Library (BPL), pedaled a bike library around the city. From an outfitted tricycle, he distributed books, taught yoga classes, and provided outreach services to the community. ‘I had multiple interactions with folks who were like, “Do you have any period products? Do you have soap?”’ Arnold remembers. Learning about individuals’ transitional living situations motivated him to create BPL’s Community Cabinet. The library installed the cabinet in its lobby in January, stocking it with free toiletries and hygiene products that anyone can discreetly take.”...
American Libraries Trend, June
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Alejandro Marquez writes: “For some people experiencing burnout, the solution has been quiet quitting, the phenomenon of employees doing the absolute bare minimum. The quitting part is a misnomer. Individuals aren’t quitting their jobs; they are setting clear boundaries. Quiet quitting is about self-preservation. The phenomenon’s popularity is a sign that workers have higher expectations of their employers and workplaces. My suggestions here are meant to help create a more sustainable work model for libraries and those who work in them, as well as other organizations.”...
American Libraries column, June
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Amy Lappin, deputy director of Lebanon (N.H.) Public Libraries, and Karen Schneider, dean of the library and interim executive director of the School of Extended and International Education at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California, have been appointed to fill two newly created seats on the ALA Executive Board. The vacant seats were formed upon adoption of the recently
revised ALA Bylaws, which allows the Executive Board to consist of 15 members (previously 13) as stipulated in bylaws Article V, Section 1. Lappin and Schneider will each serve two-year terms beginning July 2023....
AL: The Scoop, June 7
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On June 8, ALA applauded
actions announced by
the White House to address the rise in book bans and other attacks on LGBTQIA+ Americans. The White House stated that the Department of Education will appoint a new coordinator to address the growing threat that book bans pose for the civil rights of students, among other steps. In a statement, ALA President Lessa Kanani‘opua Pelayo-Lozada responded: “We are heartened by the Biden-Harris administration’s leadership to address the alarming rise in book bans. Everyone deserves the opportunity to see themselves and their family reflected in the books in their library’s collection.”...
ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, June 8
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After decades of being celebrated at mostly the local level, Juneteenth—the longstanding holiday that commemorates the arrival of
news of emancipation
and freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865—became a federal
holiday in 2021. In honor of this year’s Juneteenth, The Conversation reached out to Corey D. B. Walker, humanities professor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, for a list of readings that can help people better understand the history and meaning of the observance....
The Conversation, June 9
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T. Keung Hui writes: “Moms for Liberty, the group at the forefront of a national effort to get some books removed from schools, filed nearly 200 challenges in the past week for about 20 books it says are too explicit for Wake County school libraries. The school system rejected all the challenges, meaning the books will stay. Wake County (N.C.) Public School System says the challenges are invalid because they weren’t filed by parents at the individual schools where the books are.”...
News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), June 9
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Robert Brammer writes: “The Library of Congress (LC) is sponsoring a challenge to help improve public knowledge of civics—that is, the rights and responsibilities of citizens—by asking videogame developers to create fun, lightweight videogames related to civics that incorporate LC resources. LC will award a cash prize of $20,000 for the winning entry, $10,000 for the second-place entry, and $5,000 for the third-place entry. The winning games will be hosted on the LC site for use by the American public, and the winners will be honored in a public ceremony.”...
Library of Congress, June 6
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Benj Edwards writes: “At a time when it’s hard to know what information to trust, I felt delight when I recently learned that
World Book still prints an up-to-date
encyclopedia in 2023. I know it may seem weird to prefer the print edition since you can get the same content in the online version in a space-saving and portable format. But with the paper version, the World Book will always be yours. It can’t be edited stealthily or taken down if the company needs the server space or goes out of business. So I took the plunge.”...
Ars Technica, June 9
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