This type of unsettling interaction was the subject of “‘That Guy’: Addressing Patron Sexual Harassment in Reference Services,” a session of the American Library Association’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 29. “‘That guy’ is someone who is weird for sexual purposes but not necessarily sexually explicit,” explained Jennifer Goodland, technical services … Continue reading The Creepy Caller Problem
A panel of librarians and a game café owner shared suggestions for the emerging practice of players’ advisory at “For Every Player Their Game: Winning Strategies for Recommending Games,” a June 29 session of the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. “Players’ advisory is simply connecting people with games they … Continue reading Players’ Advisory
In conversation with American Library Association (ALA) President Sam Helmick during the ALA President’s Program at ALA’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 28, Biden spoke about her time in the White House and her new book, View from the East Wing (Gallery Books). “I know there was a lot of press … Continue reading Balancing It All
Embracing your individual creativity is central theme in her forthcoming children’s book, Cat and Lola: School Picture Day (Gloo Books, September), which she introduced as a featured speaker June 28 at the American Library Association’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. “This is the first day I’m seeing this, touching it, and smelling it, … Continue reading Creativity That Lights the Soul
Neal shared the story of the initiative in the June 27 “Breaking Barriers, Building Brands: Supporting Beauty Entrepreneurs in Libraries” session at the American Library Association’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. “I’m now the beauty librarian,” Neal declared. “I just made that my thing.” The multi-pronged program included a LibGuide that Neal developed … Continue reading Library Programming Gets a Glow-up
Moderator Amanda Gray Perry, web and digital user experience librarian at Hesbergh Libraries at University of Notre Dame (Ind.), grounded the panel’s discussions of AI in lived experience. “The more time I spend with technology, the more I am aware of the importance of including humanity in the process,” she said, also citing Notre Dame’s … Continue reading Coexisting with the Machine
At the “Pokémon Club @ Your Library: Engaging Young Learners Through Play and Community” session, held June 26 at ALA’s 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, TPCi representatives and librarians who offer the clubs in their libraries discussed the first nine months of the partnership—TPCi’s first of this kind—and what the clubs can offer … Continue reading Catch ’Em All
Uncertainty may be the most notable overarching theme of federal policy in the past year. Legal challenges and other acts of resistance by librarians have prevented, overturned, or at least delayed some of the administration’s most notable attacks on libraries from taking effect. In other cases, policy changes have been announced that may affect libraries … Continue reading One Year of the Trump Administration
“The only way to reach out to the world was through this very cool gaming setup that the hospital would bring into the room,” he recalled. An in-game friend “became my solace in a place where every day they were hurting me and I was scared.” Spohn, director of the Mount Sinai Back to Life … Continue reading Adaptive Arcade
Her efforts drew significant attention, and this past May she received an honorable mention from the Miami Herald Silver Knight Awards, which recognizes local high school seniors for service projects. This summer, she participated in the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Student Advocates for Speech (SAS) Leadership Program, joining a nationwide network of young people fighting … Continue reading Newsmaker: Iris Mogul
The Librarians (2025) Director: Kim A. Snyder thelibrariansfilm.com Running time: 92 minutes About: The Librarians follows librarians in Florida and Texas as they work to protect children’s rights to access books from challenges like Texas’s Krause List, which targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQ+ stories and has triggered book bans across the … Continue reading The Stacks on Screen
To come up with the funds for the vacation, you might take on a side hustle, redeem travel miles, or even sit through a timeshare presentation in exchange for covering part of the trip. For libraries, options exist beyond their tax revenue funding, including capital campaigns, public-private partnerships, new market tax credits, or mixed-usage agreements. … Continue reading Think Creatively
