ALA Releases Statement on Helping Communities Affected by Hurricane Helene

‘We Have to Work Together’: Action Beyond Banned Books Week

Chair Ava DuVernay talks about fighting censorship

Official graphic for 2024's weeklong focus on fighting book challenges

ALA Releases Preliminary Data on 2024 Book Challenges

New data shows a slowdown in challenge reports

Call Number Podcast: Check Out Your Library

OverDrive initiative reintroduces communities to their local libraries

Nikole Hannah-Jones, holding the microphone as keynote speaker

‘We Are the Majority’

Intellectual Freedom Summit in D.C. reenergizes library advocates to fight censorship

Offsite library shelving in vanishing perspective

Elevate Your Library Storage

Maximize space with shelving that extends up to 35 feet high

Makerspace and Sense of Place
Academic library hosts summer program for asylum-seeking and refugee youth

Spirit in the Stacks
Libraries help patrons hunt down apparitions

Optimizing Reality
Bringing AR to academia

2024 ALA Award Winners
Honoring excellence and leadership in the profession

Censorship Throughout the Centuries
A timeline of US book bans and the fight for intellectual freedom

Dynamic Service Desks
5 design tips for creating a friendly and flexible front-of-house
Sponsored by Yakety Yak Furniture

Gearing Up for a Great Build
How predesign can set libraries up for success

Busy Intersections
Mentorship can—and should—be more than a two-way street

Latest Library Links

9h

Brian Stephens writes: “Lack of high-speed internet is a significant problem in almost 75% of communities served by the nation’s K–12 schools, according to Funds For Learning’s annual E-Rate Applicant Survey. A key change to the E-rate program’s rules aims to narrow the ‘homework gap’ by making Wi-Fi hotspots that schools and libraries loan to students and patrons eligible for E-Rate discounts. For funding year 2025, Wi-Fi hotspots are eligible for Category One discounts. However, schools and libraries must follow a slew of requirements in order to take advantage. Here’s a closer look.”

THE Journal, Sept. 24
15h

Danielle Costello writes: “Unsurprising to anyone who has ever known me, when I think about my favorite games, I have a very hard time deciding on a rank order. Favorites to me exist on a wide, joyful, and ever-increasing plane. Since I’m hoping to keep this list to a reasonable length, I’m sharing some of my favorite categories of games and some standout examples. Please enjoy!” The list includes examples of board games, role-playing games for groups and individuals, and video games in several genres.

ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, Sept. 30
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Catherine Hollerbach writes: “Library workers are finding the joy in library work they have missed over the past few years. What is more joyous than finding that book you read as a child and sharing it with your kids? Or finding just the right story that pulls on your heartstrings or takes you on an adventure? Sometimes, it’s a song in storytime that brings on a smile or a chance to learn about a fantastic wine or how to fix a car.”

Public Libraries Online, Sept. 25
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Matthew Gault writes: “In a time of devastation and loss, some people in Asheville, North Carolina, are turning to the public library for comfort and communication [after Hurricane Helene]. Cell services have created a communications blackout in much of the state, but Asheville’s downtown library is offering something incredible: free Wi-Fi.” ALA’s is accepting donations to its Disaster Relief Fund; the Chapter Relations Office is collaborating with state chapters in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina to identify affected libraries and facilitate the distribution of money from that fund.”

Gizmodo, Oct. 1; ALA Chapter Relations Office
2d

Lucy Podmore writes: “While preparing for our yearly celebration of Banned Books Week, how many of us have been asked why we are celebrating banned books? Based on my experiences the past four years, I have come to the decision that it is time to reframe that celebration for my Texas high school campus. Central to this reimagined celebration has been the introduction of the Freedom Walk, an event designed to emphasize the fundamental rights of students to access a diverse range of information and literature in their school library.”

Knowledge Quest, Sept. 30
3d

Elyse Graham writes: “In July 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed William Donovan, to start up a new intelligence agency, as it was growing more evident that the US might not be able to keep itself free of the war in Europe. His great innovation was a branch called Research and Analysis, in which analysts trained among library stacks read everything they could, from novels to newspapers to trash, and turned what they read into intelligence insights. US intelligence quickly discovered that libraries didn’t have the most basic information that the country needed in this crisis.”

Time, Sept. 25
3d

“Rising awareness of the consequences of knowledge injustice, further technological advances, sharpening political polarization, and the pandemic are some of the factors that have impacted the information environment” since the original International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Trend Report was published in 2013. A new edition, published September 30, explores seven key trends in the information and knowledge landscape, from what we understand by knowledge itself, through technological, political, and environmental dimensions. The report also looks at what can happen when these trends meet and interact.

IFLA, Sept. 30

View more Latest Library Links

ALA Releases Statement on Helping Communities Affected by Hurricane Helene

‘We Have to Work Together’: Action Beyond Banned Books Week

Chair Ava DuVernay talks about fighting censorship

ALA Releases Preliminary Data on 2024 Book Challenges

New data shows a slowdown in challenge reports

Call Number Podcast: Check Out Your Library

OverDrive initiative reintroduces communities to their local libraries

‘We Are the Majority’

Intellectual Freedom Summit in D.C. reenergizes library advocates to fight censorship

Elevate Your Library Storage

Maximize space with shelving that extends up to 35 feet high

Makerspace and Sense of Place
Academic library hosts summer program for asylum-seeking and refugee youth

Spirit in the Stacks
Libraries help patrons hunt down apparitions

Optimizing Reality
Bringing AR to academia

2024 ALA Award Winners
Honoring excellence and leadership in the profession

Censorship Throughout the Centuries
A timeline of US book bans and the fight for intellectual freedom

Dynamic Service Desks
5 design tips for creating a friendly and flexible front-of-house
Sponsored by Yakety Yak Furniture

Gearing Up for a Great Build
How predesign can set libraries up for success

Busy Intersections
Mentorship can—and should—be more than a two-way street

Filtering: The Man in the Middle

A Plan for More Meaningful Work and Professional Fulfillment

Diversity in Libraries

Chair Ava DuVernay talks about fighting censorship

New data shows a slowdown in challenge reports

OverDrive initiative reintroduces communities to their local libraries

Intellectual Freedom Summit in D.C. reenergizes library advocates to fight censorship

Maximize space with shelving that extends up to 35 feet high

Makerspace and Sense of PlaceAcademic library hosts summer program for asylum-seeking and refugee youth

Spirit in the Stacks Libraries help patrons hunt down apparitions

Optimizing RealityBringing AR to academia

2024 ALA Award WinnersHonoring excellence and leadership in the profession

Censorship Throughout the CenturiesA timeline of US book bans and the fight for intellectual freedom

Dynamic Service Desks5 design tips for creating a friendly and flexible front-of-houseSponsored by Yakety Yak Furniture

Gearing Up for a Great BuildHow predesign can set libraries up for success

Busy IntersectionsMentorship can—and should—be more than a two-way street

Makerspace and Sense of Place
Academic library hosts summer program for asylum-seeking and refugee youth

Spirit in the Stacks
Libraries help patrons hunt down apparitions

Optimizing Reality
Bringing AR to academia

2024 ALA Award Winners
Honoring excellence and leadership in the profession

Censorship Throughout the Centuries
A timeline of US book bans and the fight for intellectual freedom

Dynamic Service Desks
5 design tips for creating a friendly and flexible front-of-house
Sponsored by Yakety Yak Furniture

Gearing Up for a Great Build
How predesign can set libraries up for success

Busy Intersections
Mentorship can—and should—be more than a two-way street