EDITOR'S NOTE
AL Direct is off for the next two weeks for the holidays. Look for our next issue in your inbox January 7. | | |
|
Carli Spina and Rebecca Albrecht Oling write: “Getting started with web accessibility improvements can feel overwhelming. The ultimate goal should be a website that maximizes accessibility and considers inclusive access in all decisions.
But even incremental improvements have real benefits.
A good approach is to look at the most high-impact changes you can make early in the process to improve accessibility for users, even if the entire site is not fully accessible.
The following sections outline several changes that can have a significant impact without requiring the wholesale redesign of a website.”...
American Libraries Online, Dec.
17
| |
|
Cass Balzer writes: “Worldwide, more than 15 million cyberattacks have been reported every year since 2020. At public institutions like libraries, these attacks often shut down core systems, compromise personal information of patrons and staff, and leave communities without access to certain services, all while demanding substantial resources to repair the damage.
For libraries that have suffered these attacks, recovery was long, complicated, and costly, but their experiences offer lessons in how libraries can respond and rebuild.”...
American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
| |
|
Anne Ford writes: “Everyone knows Cinderella, the story of the unfortunate young woman who, thanks to her fairy godmother, rides in a pumpkin, misplaces her glass slipper, and ends up marrying a prince.
But have you heard the version where she’s aided by a magical fish instead? Or the one where she loses her shoe to an eagle? These are just a couple of the 600-plus global variations of the Cinderella fable.
You’ll find many of them at Jonesborough, Tennessee’s Storytelling Resource Place, a repository of books, recordings, costumes, instruments, and other items related to the storytelling performance tradition.”...
American Libraries Online, Dec.
12
| |
|
|
|
American Libraries shares library news from around the world, including a plan to construct more than 100 school libraries in Indonesia; the daytime heist of Matisse artworks from an exhibition at a Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo, Brazil; and Russia’s censorship of an online anime and manga database due to its LGBTQ+ content....
American Libraries Online, Dec. 16
| |
|
Christine Juedes writes: “What makes a librarian a librarian? Certification, function, or both? Do the professionals within the field or patrons determine who a librarian is? Or both? If a library specialist is providing essential, daily library and patron services, could they be considered a librarian by merit of their function and work? What library work encompasses is indeed broad and continuously changing, varies widely depending on the context, and is often learned on the job rather than in the classroom.”...
College & Research Libraries News, vol.
86, no. 11, Dec.
| |
|
Ariel Barreras writes: “In October, the Association for Library Service to Children announced an exciting
partnership with The Pokémon Company International for youth services librarians to implement Pokémon Clubs at their own libraries.
I am one of the librarians that applied for and received a kit to start this program.
My program will start in the new year, and in this post, I will share with you what each kit includes and how I am preparing to run this club as a Pokémon novice.”...
ALSC Blog, Dec. 11, Oct. 13
| |
|
|
|
Santi Thompson et al.
write: “Assessing content use and reuse is a considerable challenge for digital library practitioners.
The
Digital Content Reuse Assessment Framework Toolkit (D-CRAFT) addresses some of these gaps by providing assessment methods, ethical considerations and guidelines, tutorials, and ‘how to’ templates to assist practitioners in understanding how digital objects are used and reused by various audiences.
This paper argues that D-CRAFT can play a critical role in assisting digital library practitioners in reuse assessment data collection.”...
Information Technology and Libraries, Dec.
15
| |
|
Cassie Abel writes: “A budget proposal to increase Stephentown (N.Y.) Memorial Library’s funding from $95,000 to $110,000 has been approved in a vote recount, 540–279, according to library officials.
The budget proposal failed to pass on Election Day.
However, the reported tallies—524 ‘no’ votes and 57 ‘yes’ votes—raised concerns that the vote count was inaccurate.
The library
began collecting signed affirmations of those who voted for the budget, and the county began
recounting all election votes. According to the library, the funding will ensure the library can continue services, programs, and resources while preventing hour reductions.”...
WTEN-TV (Albany, N.Y.), Dec. 10, Nov. 19; Stephentown (N.Y.) Memorial Library, Dec.
9
| |
|
Amy Diaz writes: “Randolph County (N.C.) Commissioners voted December 8 to dismiss the public library’s board of trustees. The move comes two months after trustees voted to keep a picture book, Call Me Max, about a transgender boy, in the children’s section. Nearly 200 people showed up to the public hearing on the future of the library board.
After two hours of public comments, the commissioners voted 3–2 to remove all of the trustees, and dissolve the existing bylaws that govern them.” The seven-library system
currently owns one copy of Call Me Max....
WFAE-FM (Charlotte, N.C.), Dec. 9; WFDD-FM (Winston-Salem, N.C.), Oct. 10
| |
|
|
|
Dan Vergano writes: “Never heard of the Journal of International Relief or the International Humanitarian Digital Repository? That’s because they don’t exist. But that’s not stopping some of the world’s most popular artificial intelligence models from sending users looking for records such as these, according to an
International Committee of the Red Cross statement. The Library of Virginia estimates that 15% of emailed reference questions it receives are now ChatGPT-generated, and some include hallucinated citations for both published works and unique primary source documents.”...
Scientific American, Dec.
8
| |
|
Jess Decourcy Hinds writes: “As a librarian, I’ve often felt like a part-time therapist. People confide in librarians the way they do with bartenders; we form bonds with our regular customers, listen to their troubles, and serve up more than just books.
After I learned the word bibliotherapist during library school 20 years ago, I became curious about both casual and serious uses of the word.
Was bibliotherapy any kind of soothing literary experience? Or did it require a licensed mental health practitioner?”...
Literary Hub, Dec. 16
| |
|
Ivy Buck writes: “Hungry? NPR is here to serve you just a few of our favorite cookbooks from 2025, recommended by our staffers and food writer T. Susan Chang. Recipes here hail from all over the world: St. Lucia, Italy, Pakistan, the American South. Whether you're craving something sweet, savory, spicy—or all of the above in one flavorful meal—we've got you covered.”...
NPR, Dec. 11
| | |
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.jpg){kind=spacer}
