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ALA and the International Interior Design Association are pleased to present the winners of the 2024 Library Interior Design Awards. Submissions, open to any library worldwide, are judged by industry professionals based on aesthetics, design, creativity, and function. Of the selected projects, one is named Best of Competition. The winners were recognized in June at ALA’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego....
American Libraries feature, Sept./Oct.
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Jasmine Shumaker and Joe Lee write: “Whether you are just starting out in the profession or are a mid-careerist with years of experience under your belt, mentorship is a vital component of librarianship, just as it is in other fields. For library workers who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color, creating successful mentorship relationships is more than a boon: It’s a necessity. The thought of implementing cross-status, cross-departmental mentorships may seem daunting, especially if they have never been tried at your institution before, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.”...
American Libraries column, Sept./Oct.
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Lucy Podmore writes: “While preparing for our yearly celebration of Banned Books Week, how many of us have been asked why we are celebrating banned books? Based on my experiences the past four years, I have come to the decision that it is time to reframe that celebration for my Texas high school campus. Central to this reimagined celebration has been the introduction of the Freedom Walk, an event designed to emphasize the fundamental rights of students to access a diverse range of information and literature in their school library.”...
Knowledge Quest, Sept. 30
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Danielle Costello writes: “Unsurprising to anyone who has ever known me, when I think about my favorite games, I have a very hard time deciding on a rank order. Favorites to me exist on a wide, joyful, and ever-increasing plane. Since I’m hoping to keep this list to a reasonable length, I’m sharing some of my favorite categories of games and some standout examples. Please enjoy!” The list includes examples of board games, role-playing games for groups and individuals, and video games in several genres....
ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, Sept. 30
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Catherine Hollerbach writes: “Library workers are finding the joy in library work they have missed over the past few years. What is more joyous than finding that book you read as a child and sharing it with your kids? Or finding just the right story that pulls on your heartstrings or takes you on an adventure? Sometimes, it’s a song in storytime that brings on a smile or a chance to learn about a fantastic wine or how to fix a car.”...
Public Libraries Online, Sept. 25
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“Rising awareness of the consequences of knowledge injustice, further technological advances, sharpening political polarization, and the pandemic are some of the factors that have impacted the information environment” since the original International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Trend Report was published in 2013.
A new edition,
published September 30, explores seven key trends in the information and knowledge landscape, from what we understand by knowledge itself, through technological, political, and environmental dimensions. The report also looks at what can happen when these trends meet and interact....
IFLA, Sept. 30
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Matthew Gault writes: “In a time of devastation and loss, some people in Asheville, North Carolina, are turning to the public library for comfort and communication [after Hurricane Helene]. Cell services have created a communications blackout in much of the state, but Asheville’s downtown library is offering something incredible: free WiFi.” ALA’s is accepting donations to its
Disaster Relief Fund; the Chapter Relations Office is collaborating with state chapters in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina to identify affected libraries and facilitate the distribution of money from that fund.”...
Gizmodo, Oct. 1; ALA Chapter Relations Office
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Taylor Inman writes: “After Flathead County (Mont.) Library Board of Trustees directed staff to no longer celebrate Banned Books Week, one longtime staff member took matters into her own hands, making a sign and displaying banned books outside the library during her days off. Sierra Benjamin said she’s tired of the drama surrounding Banned Books Week, noting that a protest of the board’s decision last year resulted in no change. [Board Chair David] Ingram said he didn’t know of Benjamin’s display outside the library this week, but that she is free to do whatever she likes in her off-time.”...
Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, Montana), Sept. 27
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Brian Stephens writes: “Lack of high-speed internet is a significant problem in almost 75% of communities served by the nation's K–12 schools, according to Funds For Learning's annual
E-Rate Applicant Survey. A key change to the E-rate program's rules aims to narrow the ‘homework gap’ by making Wi-Fi hotspots that schools and libraries loan to students and patrons eligible for E-Rate discounts. For funding year 2025, Wi-Fi hotspots are eligible for Category One discounts. However, schools and libraries must follow a slew of requirements in order to take advantage. Here's a closer look.”...
THE Journal, Sept. 24
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Elyse Graham writes: “In July 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed William Donovan, to start up a new intelligence agency, as it was growing more evident that the US might not be able to keep itself free of the war in Europe. His great innovation was a branch called Research and Analysis, in which analysts trained among library stacks read everything they could, from novels to newspapers to trash, and turned what they read into intelligence insights. US intelligence quickly discovered that libraries didn’t have the most basic information that the country needed in this crisis.”...
Time, Sept. 25
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Nick Dedeke writes: “In
an earlier article, I discussed a few of the flaws in Europe’s flagship data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Building on that critique, I would now like to go further, proposing specifications for developing a robust privacy protection regime in the US. If a country like the US developed a different privacy approach, it would bring choice and a new perspective into this important segment of protection of the privacy of data subjects.”...
Ars Technica, Sept. 28
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Florian Kastner writes: “JPG was developed to compress photos with lossy compression, which greatly reduced file sizes–a decisive advantage in the early days of the internet when storage space and bandwidth were still scarce resources. With the enormous progress in computer and software technology, the possibilities for image compression have also developed further. Today, modern image formats offer far better compression without compromising image quality. For many photographers, designers, and website operators, it’s becoming increasingly unattractive to rely on the outdated JPG format.” AVIF, JPEG XL, WebP, and HEIC/HEIF are likely to take its place....
PC World, Sept. 27
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