|
“Every year, ALA recognizes the achievements of more than 200 individuals and institutions with an array of awards honoring their service to librarians and librarianship. Winners are chosen by juries of their colleagues and peers and embody the best of the profession’s leadership, vision, and service as well as a continued commitment to outreach and equity, diversity, and inclusion. Award recipients were honored at a June 30 ceremony and reception during ALA’s 2024 Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego.”...
American Libraries feature, Sept./Oct.
| |
|
Cara S. Bertram writes: “The year 2023 was another record-breaker for book bans. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 1,247 attempts to censor library books and other materials—most of which were works by or about people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, or both. But attempts to limit access to literature in the US are as old as our nation itself. American Libraries travels through time to outline our country’s history of censorship—and the library workers, authors, and advocates who have defended the right to read.”...
American Libraries feature, Sept./Oct.
| |
|
Anne Ford writes: “From outside, Downtown Reno Library of Washoe County (Nev.) Library System looks like a big square brown box. ‘There’s no pizazz out front,’ says Branch Manager Kristen Ryan. So when people walk inside and find a lush central atrium with an abundance of philodendrons, spotted begonias, and other greenery; several towering trees; and a reflection pool, they tend to gasp the same thing: ‘Oh my god, look at all the plants!’”...
American Libraries column, Sept./Oct.
| |
|
|
|
Betsy Gomez writes: “Award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay has been named honorary chair for
Banned Books Week 2024, which takes place September 22–28. DuVernay will be joined by youth honorary chair Julia Garnett, a student activist who fought book bans in her home state of Tennessee. A staunch advocate for education and free expression, DuVernay directed two films inspired by frequently banned books: A Wrinkle in Time and Origin. Garnett has been honored for her advocacy for the freedom to read by First Lady Jill Biden and is a leader in the National Coalition Against Censorship’s
Student Advocates for Speech program, educating other students about advocacy.”...
Intellectual Freedom Blog, Sept. 6
| |
|
“Choice and LibTech Insights have published a
white paper that offers an innovative framework for artificial intelligence (AI) literacy, developed by Sandy Hervieux and Amanda Wheatley, two librarians from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, with extensive experience in AI and librarianship (long before the wave of generative AI). ‘Building an AI Literacy Framework: Perspectives from Instruction Librarians and Current Information Literacy Tools’ integrates interviews with many librarians on the ground who are teaching AI and AI literacy to highlight the shortcomings of current models and the needs a new one must address.”...
Choice 360 LibTech Insights, Sept. 4
| |
|
ALA’s Nominating Committee has announced a deadline extension for completing the
Candidate Biographical Form necessary to become a candidate for the positions of president-elect, treasurer, or councilor at large in the spring 2025 ALA election. Any ALA members interested in being considered for candidacy for these positions now have until September 30 to complete the form. Elected candidates will serve for three years, from 2025–2028; the elected presidential candidate will serve one year each as president-elect, president, and immediate past president during that period....
ALA Governance Office, Sept. 17
| |
|
|
|
Chris Lewis writes: “For my generation and generations before us, the public library was an equalizing force in every town, helping anyone move toward the American dream. A ruling in
Hachette v. Internet Archive has just thrown that promise of equality into doubt by limiting libraries’ access to controlled digital lending (CDL). On September 4, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals [affirmed
a lower court’s decision that CDL through the National Emergency Library was not fair use.] If the courts won’t recognize CDL-based library lending as fair use, then the next step falls to Congress.”...
MIT Technology Review, Sept. 11
| |
|
“Hispanic Heritage Month honors the contributions and influence of Hispanic and Latine Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States, and is celebrated from September 15 to October 15 annually. Check out these recent releases from authors of Hispanic or Latine background!”...
Seattle Public Library, Sept.
| |
|
Becky Siegel Spratford writes: “I am constantly correcting people—educated people, library users, readers—who think that when we buy a book for the library we get it in all formats for one price. They assume we pay slightly more [for electronic formats] than them, but they think for that price we get all those copies they see in our collections. We need to work on how we communicate this issue to our card holders. So how can we share this complex issue more easily?”...
RA for All, Sept. 11
| |
|
|
|
Douglas Soule writes: “Facing a federal lawsuit with accusations of unconstitutional censorship, a Florida school board has agreed to place books it banned back on library shelves as part of an
out-of-court settlement. In total, 36 books will be returned in the Nassau County School District, according to a settlement agreement signed September 11. They range from classics like Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini to And Tango Makes Three, a children's picture book about a same-sex penguin pair.”...
Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat, Sept. 12, July 24
| |
|
Pankil Shah writes: “While Excel's auto-formatting feature helps tidy up your data, it can also unintentionally alter your intended formatting. If you're annoyed with Excel constantly changing your numbers to percentages or dates or applying unwanted formatting, here are a couple of ways to disable the auto-formatting feature.”...
MakeUseOf, Sept. 11
| |
|
Alex Cabrero writes: “Back to school means back to lessons for students at Mona Elementary in Juab County, Utah, who were able to see their new library for the first time. However, perhaps the biggest lesson students learned is why the library looks so new.” While a grant funded new safety doors for the library, there was no money to replace old shelves and furnishings. “Students wrote letters to local businesses and people in the community explaining why they needed the money,” and raised $41,900 to make improvements....
KSL-TV (Salt Lake City), Sept. 13
| | |
|
|
|
American Libraries Direct is a free electronic newsletter emailed every Wednesday to personal members of ALA.
Editor, AL Direct: Greg Landgraf
Direct ad inquiries to: Melissa Carr
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, click here.
To unsubscribe from all ALA emails, click here.
American Library Association | 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1300 | Chicago, IL 60601
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
