International Supplement 2015

Features & Trends

2014 SIBF/ALA Library Conference presenters and staff reconvene at the 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago. Left to right: Lynn Silipigni Connaway, ALA Marketing Director Mary Mackay, ALA President Courtney Young, ALA International Relations Office Director Michael Dowling, Michael Levine-Clark, Sharjah Book Authority Chairman Ahmed Al-Ameri, Jon Malinowski, ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels, Magda El-Sherbini, Rick Anderson, Janet Fritsch

Looking to the Next SIBF/ALA Library Conference

The 2015 SIBF/ALA Library Conference will be held November 10–12. Attendees will be able to interact with an international roster of experts during 15 programs on topics related to all types of libraries that cover new trends and technologies, e-resources, innovative spaces and services, rebranding and proving the value of the library, staff and leadership … Continue reading Looking to the Next SIBF/ALA Library Conference →

The presentation of ALA Presidential Citations for Innovative International Library Projects at the International Relations Round Table (IRRT) International Librarians' Reception on June 29, 2015, in San Francisco. Photo: IRRT

ALA Honors International Innovators

Earlier this year, ALA President Courtney L. Young, with support from the International Relations Round Table Advisory Award Committee, honored four libraries with this special citation at the 2015 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco. They were recognized for designing and implementing a highly visible innovative library service that was unique or original … Continue reading ALA Honors International Innovators →

RDA’s New Governance Structure

In February, the Music Library Association’s Best Practices for Music Cataloging Using RDA and MARC21 was published on the Toolkit, followed by the publication of the Spanish translation of RDA in March. While these are important additions and represent significant steps in raising the profile of the standard, the most important news this year may … Continue reading RDA’s New Governance Structure →

Latest Library Links

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Ricardo Serrano Denis writes: “New York Public Library (NYPL) has put together a list of the best new comics of 2026 based on librarian input and feedback. It’s a special list as it offers a glimpse into the reading habits, intellectual leanings, and potential fandoms shared among New York’s book ambassadors. As such, it is an infectious selection of comics. Manga and young adult comics have always had a strong presence in NYPL’s best new comics lists, especially in recent years. This year, the selection is more varied, running the gamut of genres.”

The Beat, Oct. 1
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Eamon O’Connor writes: “Calling on public spaces to be the savior for our crisis of social connection can seem like a tall order. Can we really expect library- and park-goers to become fast friends just because they’re sharing the same space? Maybe with time—but the key is understanding that friendship is not the only goal. Indeed, many studies are showing the value in the weak ties, the casual encounters and loose acquaintances in our orbit that keep us connected to community.”

Reimagining the Civic Commons, Oct. 6
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Evie Cordell, Kate Lambaria, and Piper Martin write: “Springshare’s LibGuides platform is a widely used tool for sharing digital content, allowing librarians to curate resources about specific topics. However, at many libraries, the large number of guides and their inconsistent quality pose educational and practical challenges. Librarians at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library developed a systematic, multi-phase process to assess, update, and standardize LibGuides, balancing the importance of maintaining high-quality instructional content with the need for scalable, sustainable, and accessible LibGuides.”

Portal: Libraries and the Academy, vol. 26, no. 4, Oct.
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Chirag Shah writes: “Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has made production close to free. A report, a thread, a paper, a newsletter: one prompt and 30 seconds. So what changed? Everything on the supply side, and nothing at all on the demand side. Whatever generative AI has done to the supply of text, it’s done nothing to the thing that actually limits knowledge, which is a human being paying attention long enough to understand something. We automated the easy half of the loop and left the hard half exactly where it was.”

Information Matters, Sept. 30
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How many Bluesky posts has the Censorship Cases Bot made providing updates on legal cases related to book censorship? What percentage of 2025’s library censorship attempts were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, or decision makers rather than “concerned parents”? Find these statistics and more in a special edition of American Libraries’ By the Numbers.

American Libraries Online, Oct. 7
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“Book bans are pervasive and insidious threats to creative expression and intellectual freedom. Stories are an unparalleled tool for truth, and in the face of fear of misinformation, it is paramount that truth prevails.” Read quotes like this one from Tony Weaver Jr., Banned Books Week honorary cochair and author of the graphic novel Weirdo, on intellectual freedom and book-banning.

American Libraries Online, Oct. 7
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Phil Morehart writes: “This year’s Banned Books Week coincides with ALA’s official 150th anniversary on October 6. To mark the occasion, ALA has released a list of the 150 most challenged books documented from 1990 through 2025. The list spans contemporary titles such as Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and literary classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.” Also in recognition of ALA’s anniversary, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson officially proclaimed October 6, 2026, as American Library Association Day in Chicago.

I Love Libraries, Oct. 5; ALA150.org, Oct. 6