When researchers need to study these or other pieces of American ephemera created after 1876, they head to the Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University Libraries. Founded almost 50 years ago, the library holds one of the largest comics collections in the country, as well as … Continue reading Bookend: Pop Culture Paradise
In California, more than 565,000 Spanish-speaking adults cannot read or write in any language, according to the 2010–2012 American Community Survey. This affects their ability to learn English, to support their children’s education, and to advance in the workplace. It often leaves them feeling vulnerable and isolated. In 2015, the James Irvine Foundation funded an … Continue reading Learning Spanish First
Many libraries have turned to embedded librarianship as one solution to better serving patrons and demonstrating value to their communities. The term comes from the expression embedded journalism, which was first used at the start of the Iraq War in 2003 when journalists traveled with military units and reported from within the action itself. Similarly, … Continue reading Get Out of the Library
My mom was the first of many inspirations in my professional life. She took a job at our smallish public library when I was a kid. I started hanging around there, which led to helping out, shelving, and eventually working the desk, and I never really left. She and my dad worked very hard to … Continue reading The Last Story
This year’s theme for School Library Month is “Making Connections at Your School Library.” You’ve said reading the lyrics to Queen Latifah’s 1993 album Black Reign changed your life and inspired you to start writing poetry. When students connect with and see themselves in the music, multimedia, and books they read, it changes their relationship with reading completely. … Continue reading Newsmaker: Jason Reynolds
And every year since 2004, the American Library Association (ALA) has celebrated librarians, support staff, and others for their valuable contributions on National Library Workers Day (NLWD), which this year falls on Tuesday, April 10. The American Library Association–Allied Professional Association (ALA–APA) asked patrons throughout the US to nominate stellar library workers for their hard … Continue reading National Library Workers Day 2018
The American Library Association (ALA) and the American Book Publishers Council formed the National Book Committee (NBC) in 1954 to fight these trends. One of their ideas: a National Library Week (NLW). The concept wasn’t new. As Larry T. Nix’s Library History Buff blog notes, at the 1922 ALA Annual Conference ALA’s Publicity Committee had … Continue reading “Wake Up and Read” to “Libraries Lead”
To thrive, libraries and library workers need a strong and healthy professional association that advocates for us and for those who come to our facilities or who use our online resources, enabling them to benefit from the wide range of services we offer. Within our library community, we must have an association that is itself … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Peter Hepburn
Many of our funders and constituents do not understand the role of the modern library and the tremendous impact we have on the communities we serve. As members of a profession that has so much influence and shares in the dissemination of information, librarians and library workers need to demonstrate the value and relevance of … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Wanda Brown
We must all fight the closing of school libraries, the reductions in professional staffing, the erosion of budgets for resources and technology, and the consequent weakening of the librarian–teacher partnership in the classroom. We must advocate for the federal funding that supports network access in schools. We must continue to document and demonstrate the powerful … Continue reading Fight for School Libraries
In K–12 and academic libraries, this is becoming increasingly possible with learning analytics systems that aggregate student data to make trends visible. The systems also allow advisors, instructors, and other stakeholders to use the trend data to identify a student at risk based on specific characteristics or behaviors. They allow educators to intervene, often before … Continue reading We Can, But Should We?
Let me start then by expressing profound gratitude to the members of the search committee. I know several of them—fine, clearheaded, and experienced people all—and I also know they must have done yeoman’s work. These tasks are important, time-consuming, and often with little reward other than self-satisfaction because you can’t tell anybody what’s going on. … Continue reading Degree or Not Degree
