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Ted Quiballo and Sarah P. Lee write: “For nearly a decade, Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston, Illinois, and the Chicago office of the national nonprofit World Relief have worked together to offer free summer programming for families who are refugees or seeking asylum. In 2021, after the US military withdrew its final troops from Afghanistan, tens of thousands of Afghan families fled to the US. That’s when NU’s Seeley G. Mudd Library joined the partnership, hosting dozens of these families’ children in its makerspace each summer. The program encourages participants to gain new academic skills, leadership experience, and build connections in their new community.”...
American Libraries Trend, Sept./Oct.
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Dan Groberg writes: “In July 2023, on my 12th day as executive director of Kellogg-Hubbard Library (KHL) in Montpelier, Vermont, there was a massive flood. I had barely learned where to hang my coat, let alone how to process payroll, before I was dealt an unforeseeable crisis. Beyond the financial strain [of rebuilding], staffers at KHL and I still had much to do to pick up the pieces. The past year has taught us how to balance recovering from disaster while remaining a pillar for the community in a time of need.”...
American Libraries column, Sept./Oct.
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“Election news can be both overwhelming and insufficient—a veritable deluge of reports and opinion pieces, too focused on the issues of the hour, obscuring our understanding of the larger picture and deeper repercussions. True understanding takes breadth and depth. Often, it takes a book. For this election season, Booklist editors have selected two lists of books—fiction and nonfiction—for both adult and young adult readers. The recommendations explore the big questions that underlie elections: Who are we? Who do we want to be? What do we want the future to look like?”...
AL: The Scoop, Oct. 16
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Registration
for ALA’s 2025 LibLearnX Conference, to be held January 24–27 in Phoenix, is now open. Early-bird rates are available through December 6. Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier and cartoonist and comics theorist Scott McLeod, co-creators of the forthcoming book The Cartoonists Club, will present the
Opening Session. Technology reporter and novelist Vauhini Vara will discuss the power and danger of corporate-owned technologies, including artificial intelligence, at the
Close Out Session. Award-winning Anishinaabe journalist and writer Kyle Edwards will be the featured speaker at the
ALA President’s Program. See more
featured speakers and information at the
LibLearnX website....
ALA Conference Services, Oct. 16
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Ted Lewis writes: “This semester will likely be extra difficult for LGBTQ+ youth and particularly transgender youth, as their very identities are up for debate in the presidential election. Libraries and librarians can make the difference in the lives of their transgender students by being the safe place and affirming adults that these youth desperately need. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s
Project THRIVE [of which the American Association of School Librarians is a partner] has created the
2024 Back-to-School Checklist that features best practices and policies to support LGBTQ+ and particularly transgender students.”...
Knowledge Quest, Oct. 10
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Hailley Fargo writes: After chairing a
double search committee this spring, “I’m happy to report our two searches were successful and our new folks started this summer. Now that our new departmental colleagues are settled, I thought I would write a bit about how we approached onboarding and things I’ve learned in that process. In January, as we developed our departmental goals for the year, we decided to have an onboarding-specific goal. This meant everyone had a vested interest in creating this experience.”...
ACRLog, Oct. 10, Mar. 29
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Shannon Maughan writes: “On Saturday, October 19, libraries, bookstores, and other partners and advocates across the country will be holding community events and rallies against book banning as part of the inaugural Freedom to Read Day of Action. The effort has been spearheaded and organized by ALA, the Association for Rural and Small Libraries, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library, New York Public Library, Queens (N.Y.) Public Library, and ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans initiative. The
Unite Against Book Bans website provides additional information and resources for readers and event hosts.”...
Publishers Weekly, Oct. 15
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Jay Waagmeester writes: “Florida education policies targeting classroom discussion and materials related to sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and ethnic studies are being felt by educators and parents, a new study found.
The Limitation Effect: Experiences of State Policy-Driven Education Restriction in Florida’s Public Schools, was conducted by professors at New York University and the University of California San Diego. Results have included librarians refraining from purchasing books mentioning LGBTQ experiences, limits on discussions of Black experiences, denial of access to Advanced Placement courses, limits on professional development to support students with disabilities, and teachers ceasing use of literature not approved by the state.”...
Florida Phoenix, Oct. 9; New York University Institute of Human Development and Social Change, Oct. 9
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Kelly Jensen writes: “Thanks to a new proviso in the South Carolina state budget, at least one public library system in the state has made the decision to acquire no new books for those under the age of 18.
In a statement released across York County Public Library’s social media October 11, the library board chair announced the moratorium on new purchases until the State better clarifies what is and is not permitted in public libraries.”...
Book Riot, Oct. 14; York County (S.C.) Public Library, Oct. 11
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Ileana Garnand writes: “A Houston-area public library reclassified a nonfiction children’s book about Native American history as fiction, after the title was reviewed by citizens, not librarians. In September, Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs was challenged in Montgomery County (Tex.) Memorial Library System by an unknown person, according to
public records. Per
county policy, the book was reviewed by a group of five citizens who weren’t required to consult a librarian. Coombs is a Wampanoag Tribe historian who has worked in the field for 50 years, and the book is classified as nonfiction by the Library of Congress.”...
Lonestar Live, Oct. 14, Mar. 26; Texas Freedom to Read Project, Oct. 11
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Carrie M. Santo-Thomas writes: “Early this summer I was interviewed by Rose Horowitch, an editor for The Atlantic, for an
article that would explore the problem of reading stamina [among college students]. But while professors at elite universities sound the alarm over Gen Z undergrads not finishing Les Misérables because they are uninterested in reading a pompous French man drone on for chapters about the Paris sewer system, my colleagues and I have developed professional toolboxes with endless other ways to inspire our students to read about justice, compassion, and redemption.”...
Teaching & Learning, Oct. 4, The Atlantic, Oct. 1
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Nathan Hart writes: “‘These are the giant bugs.’ Those five words, repeated twice, propelled Hakim Kalokoh, a 36-year-old security guard at the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library, to viral TikTok fame. Columbus Metropolitan Library
posted a TikTok of Kalokoh telling library Digital Storyteller Specialist Grayson Kelly that he was not at a Chappell Roan concert and was, in fact, in front of the library’s giant bug exhibit on September 13. Since then, 1.1 million users have liked the video, and 6.4 million have seen it, far outpacing any of the library's previous TikToks.”...
Columbus Dispatch, Oct. 10
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