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Rosie Newmark writes: “On January 7, as local officials issued fire warnings for the area, Altadena (Calif.) Library District (ALD) closed early to let staff evacuate. About an hour later, at 6:18 p.m., the Eaton Fire erupted in the nearby Los Angeles County foothills. While many of the buildings and houses surrounding the library were destroyed,
Altadena Main Library was not damaged. Still, the Main Library required cleanup from debris and smoke, and the building was without power, water, and internet for weeks. On March 4, ALD’s Main Library reopened its doors.”...
AL: The Scoop, Apr. 22, Jan. 22
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Alison Marcotte writes: “In the upcoming documentary Free for All: The Public Library, which premieres April 29 on PBS’s Independent Lens, Logsdon and codirector Lucie Faulknor trace the public library’s history, starting with the Free Library Movement of the late 19th century. American Libraries spoke with the duo about libraries in today’s sociopolitical climate and the unsung heroes in library history.”...
American Libraries Trend, Apr. 23
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Marjorie Henderson and Taren Urquhart write: “Over the past few decades, the decline in bee populations worldwide from human activity and climate change has led to efforts to mitigate the threat. West Vancouver (B.C.) Memorial Library is making a beeline toward innovation with its unique Mason Bee House Lending Program. Since 2022, patrons have been able to support the health of the local ecosystem by borrowing colonies to care for at home.”...
American Libraries Trend, Mar./Apr.
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“Lisa Varga became associate executive director of ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office in Washington, D.C., on April 21. Before joining ALA, she spent 15 years as executive director of the Virginia Library Association. Varga has been an ALA member for 20 years and has served on the ALA Policy Corps, Intellectual Freedom Committee, Intellectual Freedom Summit steering committee, ALA Leadership Institute, and Chapter Relations Committee. She answered our 11 Questions to introduce herself to ALA members.”...
AL: The Scoop, Apr. 21
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Applications are now being accepted for two ALA Endowment Trustee positions. All applicants must submit an
electronic application,
including a CV and three references. Applications will be reviewed by the current ALA Endowment Trustees, who will make recommendations to the ALA Executive Board, which will make final selections at ALA’s 2025 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. The selected applicants will immediately begin a three-year term, which will expire after ALA’s 2028 Annual Conference. The deadline is April 30....
ALA Governance Office, Apr. 4
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ALA and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) organized the inaugural ALA School Librarians Conference in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, April 15–16. The event brought together a lineup of school librarians and education experts from around the world, with the goal of fostering a reading culture and enhancing school library systems across the region. It was planned in conjunction with the Sharjah Book Authority, the Emirates Library and Information Association, and the Combined Book Exhibit. AASL President Becky Calzada delivered the keynote address....
Sharjah 24 (United Arab Emirates), Apr. 15
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ALA’s Games & Gaming Round Table (GameRT) has announced the second cohort of classic titles to be included in its Platinum Play Award Hall of Fame. These titles were selected by GameRT’s Awards Committee based on their historic and ongoing excellence for library use, whether in collections or programs. Classic titles are over 10years old, and many are evergreen selections whether at home or in a library context. Honorees include Uno, Zork, Ticket to Ride, and others....
ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, Apr. 16
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Rebecca Kheel writes: “A dozen students at Defense Department grade schools across the globe are suing the department after books were removed from libraries, school yearbooks were allegedly censored, and class curriculums were sanitized to implement President Donald Trump's anti-diversity and anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders.
Alleging First Amendment violations, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a
federal
lawsuit April 15 against the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) and the Pentagon on behalf of 12 students in pre-K through 11th grade from six military families who attend schools on bases in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy, and Japan. Trump administration book bans at Pentagon institutions have not been isolated to the DoDEA. The
Naval Academy recently pulled nearly 400 books from its libraries, and the Associated Press reported that the
libraries at West Point and the Air Force Academy have also been directed to review their collections for any books to remove....
Military.com, Apr. 16, Apr. 5; ACLU, Apr. 15; Associated Press, Apr. 15
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After President Trump’s
executive order to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), states are grappling with how the cuts will affect their services. While South Dakota has not received formal notification of the elimination of IMLS funding, it has suspended its
interlibrary loan courier program funded by IMLS grants. The Philadelphia School District has seen the
cancellation of a $150,000 IMLS grant that would help it develop a model to reopen school libraries with certified school librarians. The Alabama Senate, meanwhile, has implemented a plan to use state money to
replace up to $3 million in cancelled federal funds. See additional updates from
Kentucky,
Wisconsin,
Arizona,
Missouri,
Idaho, and
Washington....
South Dakota Searchlight, Apr. 15; AL: The Scoop, Mar. 16; Philadelphia Inquirer, Apr. 22; Alabama Political Reporter, Apr. 22; Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, Apr. 22; Wisconsin Examiner, Apr. 21; Queen Creek Tribune (Tempe, Ariz.), Apr. 22; KCUR-FM (Kansas City, Mo.), Apr. 21; Idaho Capital Sun, Apr. 16; KUOW-FM (Seattle), Apr. 11
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Danielle James writes: “In keeping with a lower court ruling, the Michigan Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to ban 14 ‘sexually explicit’ books from Rockford Public Schools’ libraries. The three members of the Court of Appeals’ Third District unanimously affirmed the lower court’s decision, writing that state laws regarding criminal dissemination of harmful content to minors contain ‘no express language providing a right of private action to enforce the statute.’” The ruling also said the plaintiffs “could not prove they were detrimentally affected by the books as non-current students, among other things.”...
MLive, Apr. 15
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Jennifer Chapman writes: “Government information continues to be removed or altered; Executive Orders targeting law firms, non-profits, higher education, and other institutions and individuals are chilling speech; and now the dismantling of agencies like the IMLS is directly targeting archives and libraries. As librarians we pride ourselves on finding the unfindable, but finding the unfindable is becoming harder or impossible. What do we do? With this post I hope to provide some practical, concrete ways to support the dissemination of knowledge and help prevent the further erosion of information access.”...
RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Apr. 16
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Minyoung Kim writes: “In the summer of 2024, I spent eight weeks at the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) for my first paper conservation internship. Under the guidance of Chief Conservator Babette Gehnrich—who has dedicated over 35 years to stewarding this remarkable collection—I had the privilege of engaging in various conservation projects. Through this internship, I came to appreciate how AAS’s vast collection, comprising over four million items, embodies American history not only through its texts and imagery but also through traces of use, repair, and past conservation efforts.”...
Past is Present, Apr. 22
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