In February, I led the first official delegation of American librarians and library supporters to Cuba for the Havana International Book Fair. I learned that the country had a longstanding commitment to literacy, and I began my visit with a meeting of renowned Cuban library leaders, including the remarkable Marta Terry González, and our own … Continue reading Connecting with Cuba
It has been a unique and interesting experience living abroad and witnessing firsthand the ways in which information access, technology policy, and digital privacy are closely intertwined with the political process. Following the completion of my fellowship in August 2014, I departed the US for Budapest, Hungary, where I took master’s courses in public policy … Continue reading Around the World in 80 Weeks
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
With advanced technology and the ability to connect globally, the Indianapolis Public Library (IPL) formed partnerships with the eight international cities that are part of Indianapolis’s Sister City Program. IPL has made connections so far with Campinas, Brazil; Hangzhou, China; Cologne, Germany; and Piran, Slovenia. The first meetings involved a collection exchange between each city. … Continue reading The Indianapolis Public Library Goes Global
While teaching enabled me to learn new things and explore aspects of topics I thought I already knew, teaching overseas provided an opportunity to see those topics from a different perspective. For example, using an excellent book about ebooks in libraries as a textbook, I realized how North American–centric this text was. The vendors mentioned … Continue reading Teaching in the Land of Fields
The opening session on August 16 began with a dynamic performance by South African actor, poet, and author Gcina Mhlophe, one of the few women storytellers in the country. Against a backdrop of images of African scenery and wildlife, Mhlophe described how creativity and musical rhythm were born long ago on the continent, and people … Continue reading Strong Libraries, Heritage, and Crises: IFLA in Africa
Canada hosted the Ninth International Indigenous Librarians’ Forum (IILF2015) on August 4–7 on the campus of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, and on the surrounding land of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people. The theme of IILF2015 was Anikoo Gaagige Ganawendaasowin, a phrase in the Ojibwe language of Anishinaabemowin that expresses the importance of LAM workers … Continue reading Celebrating Indigenous Cultures
Rebecca Miller, library director at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, and Leila Gibradze, an instructor librarian at Florida State University who hails from Georgia, shared their experiences living and working outside of the United States, detailing the issues, challenges, and needs affecting librarians and libraries, as well as everyday people, in Afghanistan and … Continue reading Serving Abroad
It’s not at all what she envisioned herself doing while in library school in Arizona, but she’s thrilled at this new slant on librarianship. Sanchez is among the growing group of MLIS grads using their degrees as passports to an array of fascinating jobs available outside the traditional library setting. They’re flying to exotic places … Continue reading The Bohemian Librarian
Muto interviewed, packed up, and flew out anyway. She had worked at LexisNexis for 10 years after finishing an MLIS at Kent State University and a JD at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Ohio. She was a ready for a change, and she got it. “I walked off the plane and it was a cacophony … Continue reading An Unconventional Librarian
What I did not realize was how happily my passion for librarianship would collide with what my mother taught me—to be a citizen of the world. My first connection was as an LIS student at Simmons College, when I took an international and comparative librarianship course from professor Patricia Oyler. Years later, the lessons my mother … Continue reading We Are Global
Information is an important tool in fighting the outbreak. Alison Blaine, a master’s student at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science and a research assistant in the UNC Davis Library’s Research Hub, is part of an interdisciplinary team that developed ebolainliberia.org, a website that provides data and news about the … Continue reading Tracking Ebola in Liberia
