Archives

Cole, John

February 16, 2022

John Y. Cole, historian of the Library of Congress, retired in September.

Davis, Kevin

February 16, 2022

Kevin Davis retired as administrator of Messenger Public Library in North Aurora, Illinois, in December.

Levasseur, Stephanie

February 16, 2022

Stephanie Levasseur retired as director of Baltimore County Circuit Court Library in April.

Stone, Shelley

February 16, 2022

Shelley Stone retired as Illinois Heartland Library System’s bibliographic services manager October 31.

Welburn, Janice

February 16, 2022

Janice Welburn, dean of Marquette University Libraries in Milwaukee, retired October 22.

Kambitsch, Tim

February 16, 2022

In October the Ohio Library Council named recently retired Dayton Metro Library Executive Director Tim Kambitsch its Hall of Fame Librarian of the Year.

Kapoor, Kanta

February 16, 2022

Milton (Ont.) Public Library Manager of Support Services Kanta Kapoor received the Internet Archive Hero Award in October.

King County Library System

February 16, 2022

In October King County (Wash.) Library System received the 2021 Government Technology Special Districts Award for Technology Innovation in the Citizens Category.

Pius XII Memorial Library

February 16, 2022

St. Louis University’s Pius XII Memorial Library was named 2021 Missouri Library of the Year by the Missouri Library Association September 29. Other awardees at the event include the following: Taylor Bequette, young adult and adult services librarian at Little Dixie Regional Libraries in Moberly, was named Outstanding New Librarian; Rachel Brekhus, research and instructional … Continue reading Pius XII Memorial Library →

Allen, Scott

February 16, 2022

Scott Allen, deputy director of operations for the Public Library Association, left ALA October 1.

Carr, Melissa

February 16, 2022

Booklist Marketing Director Melissa Carr left ALA November 2.

Stoch, Ronald

February 16, 2022

Ronald V. Stoch, 70, director of Eisenhower Public Library District in Harwood Heights, Illinois, for 34 years until retiring in 2014, died October 6. Under his leadership, the library was one of the first in Illinois to automate its catalog and circulation processes, and it pioneered instituting patron-driven acquisition. After retirement, Stoch remained active in … Continue reading Stoch, Ronald →

Latest Library Links

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Betsy Gomez writes: “ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has released two reports providing additional detailed insights from 2025, the year with the highest level of library censorship ever documented in the US The reports are derived from additional analysis of the 2025 data that was announced during this year’s National Library Week. One report focuses on censorship activities that took place at public libraries, and the other examines censorship at school libraries. Each report includes an overview of significant changes and trends, data on threats to intellectual freedom at public libraries or schools, and details on the censorship of books.”

Intellectual Freedom Blog, Aug. 5
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Comic-Con International announced the winners of the 38th annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards July 24. Topping this year’s winners is Absolute Martian Manhunter (DC) by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez, which won Best Limited Series and Best Penciller/Inker and shared the prizes for Best Cover Artist (Rodriguez) and Best Lettering for Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. The only other title with multiple wins was This Place Kills Me (Abrams Fanfare), by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux, which received awards for Best Publication for Teens and Best Writer.

San Diego Comic-Con International, July 24
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Slone Williams writes: “In April 2025, I presented a proposal to the Cobb (Ga.) Library Foundation to turn library brand loyalty into a sustainable funding mechanism. The result was the Cobb Library Shop, a permanent, virtual storefront designed to move beyond traditional fundraising and into the realm of modern e-commerce. Today, the shop features over 100 products with price ranges designed for broad community accessibility, maintaining a profit margin of 20% to 60% depending on the item. The shop achieved a full return on investment within the first 14 days. Every dollar earned in net revenue flows directly back into the community.”

Georgia Library Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 3, Summer
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Larissa Kennedy writes: “Closures? Canceled. Reduced opening hours? Backtracked. £500,000 in job cuts? Blocked. These are the concrete wins of the Save Newham (England) Libraries campaign. Yes, there were petitions, banner-making workshops and town halls—hallmarks of countless campaigns. But what I’m truly interested in lies beneath that. The Newham community met the perfect storm of cuts and elections with their own cocktail of classic campaign techniques and novel ways to tap into shared memory, creativity, and duality.”

Shado, July 22
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Peter Derk writes: “If you haven’t already, I can just about guarantee you that you’ll get an offer to add an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant to your website or catalog within the next couple years. I’m begging you to not utilize one. The person trying to sell you on the AI assistant is going to tell you that 90% of the calls, emails, and messages you get are very simple. But while 90% of your questions might be simple, that doesn’t mean they will be adequately answered by the AI assistant.”
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Trevor A. Dawes writes: “One of the great achievements of academic libraries over the past two decades has been making access to information feel effortless. The challenge with seamlessness, though, is that it can shade into invisibility. Invisibility has consequences. When budget conversations happen, the loudest voices in the room tend to belong to those who have most recently felt a loss, not those who have been benefiting all along without quite noticing.”

Trevor A. Dawes, July 28
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David Lankes writes: “We are living in the early stages of an information shock caused by generative artificial intelligence (AI). Information shocks are rare, but historically transformative. We are currently living in the result of the last one at the end of World War II, when the sheer amount of information in the form of scientific and research data exploded, enabled by the introduction of the digital computer. One key result of such disruptions is the redefinition in the identity of what we now call information science and the tools information scientists and professionals develop and study.”

R. David Lankes, July 31; Information Matters, July 31

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