Educational sessions provide food for thought

From left: ALA Executive Director Dan Montgomery, ALA Past President Sam Helmick, OIF Executive Director Sarah Lamdan, and ALA President Maria McCauley ALA leaders discussed the current state of intellectual freedom, where it’s headed, and how to connect it to our other freedoms and to democracy in the Closing General Session of ALA’s Annual Conference. The session provided a capstone to a full slate of educational sessions, covering topics such as artificial intelligence, age discrimination, career preparation for teens, strategies for recommending games, addressing harassing reference callers, and Pokémon clubs. See our full coverage of Annual sessions.

AL: The Scoop, June 26–29

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Renee Kitson writes: “In early childhood library programming, we expect adults and children to participate together. Caregivers sing during storytime, bounce babies on their knees, help toddlers with activities, and sit beside preschoolers as they explore. But when children reach school age, programs increasingly become for the child. Adults become the people who drive children to the library and watch from the sidelines. As children become more independent, we naturally begin to give them more space. But I’ve started to wonder: What if school-age children don’t have to age out of shared experiences with the adults in their lives?”

ALSC Blog, Aug. 14
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Radu Tyrsina writes: “In recent years, Google has made significant changes that have particularly impacted publishers and other content creators. At the same time, we’ve witnessed the rise of alternative search engines. Although Google continues to dominate the market, there are many reasons you might consider exploring other options. We’ve compiled and tested a list of alternatives in our environment.”

Search Engine Watch, Aug. 9
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Savannah Long writes: “Regardless of your individual experience with animals coming into your library, all libraries—law libraries included—should have an animal policy. For some libraries, that may simply be a policy explicitly stating that only service animals are permitted, in accordance with federal law; however, I believe that a more in-depth policy is beneficial, and this post will discuss various elements to consider when drafting your own policy. To further assist in this process, I have written a sample animal policy for law libraries to use as a template.”

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Aug. 5
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Michael Cairns writes: “For more than a decade, trade publishers pushed a consistent narrative: Library patrons are freeloading on ebooks, and unrestricted digital lending has/can/will cannibalize consumer sales. It’s a tidy disaster scenario, but not supported by data. Consumer ebook revenue has been declining for structural reasons that have nothing to do with library circulation since 2014. Meanwhile, the prevailing digital licensing architecture effectively taxes library patrons for accessing a public service and pushes library budgets past the breaking point.”

Personanondata, Aug. 4
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“The Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation (PALCI) has published the PALCI Guide to Interoperability and System Selection, a resource to help academic and research libraries evaluate whether new systems will support open standards and effective collaboration before contracts are signed. The guide walks readers through what interoperability means in practice; why it matters for cost, flexibility, and long-term access; and what open standards, as opposed to closed proprietary interfaces, allow libraries to do that closed systems don’t.”

Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation, Aug. 4
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“It’s one of the realities of the profession. On any given day, we wear all kinds of hats. We often move from one role to the next without even thinking about it. Wearing different hats is one of the reasons that many of us love library work. Every day brings something different, new challenges, and opportunities to make a difference in our communities. Finding balance isn’t only about discovering the work that brings you joy. It’s also about recognizing that you don’t have to carry everything by yourself.”

Compassionate Librarian, Aug. 7
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Courtney Pentland writes: “Every school in the country should be equipped with a specially trained, built-in literacy partner. If you do not have the benefit of a certified school librarian, the following information may inspire you to advocate on behalf of your school community to include this indispensable educator as part of your teaching faculty. If you are lucky enough to have a school librarian just down the hall from you, then these ideas may help them help you support the literacy goals for your learners.”

Knowledge Quest, Aug. 11

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