Author Archive: Amy Carlton

Michigan State Capitol Building (Photo: Shutterstock/Dmitriy Bryndin)

Librarians Nationwide Protest Michigan Bill

By Amy Carlton | December 22, 2015

“While the intent of the Michigan legislature may be to ensure that government employees are proper stewards of public funding, in actuality this broad-sweeping bill prohibits one of their public bodies—the library—from doing one of its main jobs: providing the voters of Michigan unbiased access to information, including factual information about local campaigns and ballot … Continue reading Librarians Nationwide Protest Michigan Bill →

Sonia Manzano played Mariam on Sesame Street for nearly 45 years. (Photo: Edward Pagan)

Newsmaker: Sonia Manzano

By Amy Carlton | September 9, 2015

You once mentioned the importance of seeing West Side Story as a child. Could you talk about what it was like seeing representations of yourself in entertainment and what that meant to you? SONIA MANZANO: When I was a kid, there were no people of color on television or in books. And so I grew … Continue reading Newsmaker: Sonia Manzano →

2015 ALA Award Winners

By Amy Carlton | September 2, 2015

Sidney E. Berger ABC-CLIO AWARD FOR THE BEST BOOK IN LIBRARY LITERATURE award of $2,500 recognizes those who improve management principles and the practice, understanding, and application of new techniques, or who further the education of librarians or other information specialists. Donor: ABC-CLIO Rare Books and Special Collections, published by ALA Neal-Schuman, provides a broad … Continue reading 2015 ALA Award Winners →

Panelists Lydia Collins, Carrie Banks, Christian Minter, and Anita Kinney

Public Health and Public Libraries

By Amy Carlton | July 1, 2015

Unfortunately, according to Christian Minter, NLM Associate Fellow at Welch Library, Johns Hopkins University, 36% of adults in the US (87 million people) have basic or below basic health literacy. Low health literacy leads to $106 to $236 billion in health care costs annually because of higher use of emergency rooms, longer hospitalizations, and other … Continue reading Public Health and Public Libraries →

The Long Now Foundation's Rosetta Project

Library of the Future: Learning with the Long Now Foundation

By Amy Carlton | July 1, 2015

Danielle Engelman, director of programs, began her presentation at ALA Annual with an explanation of Long Now’s signature project, the 10,000 Year Clock. The clock is an icon for long-term thinking, envisioned as a way to get people to think in very long terms about the consequences of their choices. Of significant interest to attendees … Continue reading Library of the Future: Learning with the Long Now Foundation →

Ignite Session: Outreach, Yik Yak, and Reality TV

By Amy Carlton | July 1, 2015

Mary Abler, project manager of the Southern California Library Cooperative, says when it comes to outreach, “Keep it simple, stupid.” Librarians need to think about outreach differently. Outreach traditionally takes money, time, materials, and permission. And even though it’s important to do, most librarians have maybe one hour a week to devote to it. So … Continue reading Ignite Session: Outreach, Yik Yak, and Reality TV →

Robbie Robertson at ALA Annual Closing Session

Closing Session: Robbie Robertson and David Shannon

By Amy Carlton | July 1, 2015

Robertson recalled hearing the story of Hiawatha and his spiritual guide, the Peacemaker, when he was 9 years old on the Six Nations Indian Reserve in Ontario, Canada, where his mother was born and raised. Hiawatha was a strong and articulate Mohawk chosen to translate the Peacemaker’s message of unity for the five warring Iroquois … Continue reading Closing Session: Robbie Robertson and David Shannon →

From Maker to Make-HER: STEM Exploration for Girls

By Amy Carlton | June 29, 2015

Nancy Andrus, youth services librarian at Sunnyvale, found a way to reverse this trend: #LadyMakers. She described her experiences in a Sunday Conversation Starter session. Andrus recruited five ladymakers to help lead the library’s Make-HER program from nearby museum and education programs and told them that it was as much about them as individuals as … Continue reading From Maker to Make-HER: STEM Exploration for Girls →

Sonia Manzano: Becoming Maria

By Amy Carlton | June 29, 2015

Manzano said the character of Maria has paralleled her life—her pregnancy was written into the show, and her daughter played Maria’s daughter, for example—so she thinks of Sesame Street as the “first reality show.” But as a writer on the show, she had a little more control over Maria’s reality than she did over her … Continue reading Sonia Manzano: Becoming Maria →

Patrick Farley's Game of Thrones entry for Maureen Johnson's Coverflip challenge

Fart Jokes and Feelings

By Amy Carlton | June 29, 2015

Panelist Hannah Gomez, a librarian at an all-girl school, has found that there’s a tiny stack of “authorized” books about boys that her students are willing to read. “If it’s about a boy and not by John Green, they’re not interested.” With young adult books, girl books are expected to have romance, boy books have action … Continue reading Fart Jokes and Feelings →

Council II Honors Charleston Victim

By Amy Carlton | June 29, 2015

The second meeting of the ALA Council in San Francisco opened with a moment of silence for Cynthia Hurd, a victim of the June 17 shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Hurd was the manager of the John L. Dart branch of the Charleston County Public Library. The resolution … Continue reading Council II Honors Charleston Victim →

Best Apps for Teaching and Learning

By Amy Carlton | June 28, 2015

The apps were evaluated on numerous criteria, including innovation, engagement, user-friendliness, cost-effectiveness, minimal (or no) advertising, a clear connection to education, and being geared to the individual learner. Apps were also divided into categories—a book app has different qualities and requirements from a STEM app, for example. The panel acknowledged that the categories may evolve … Continue reading Best Apps for Teaching and Learning →

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Joe Árvai writes: “As artificial intelligence (AI) creeps further into people’s daily lives, so do worries about it. At the most alarmist are concerns about AI going rogue and terminating its human masters. But my own research as a psychologist who studies how people make decisions leads me to believe that all these risks are overshadowed by an even more corrupting, though largely invisible, threat. That is, AI is mere keystrokes away from making people even less disciplined and skilled when it comes to thoughtful decisions.”

The Conversation, Apr. 12
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Tess Prendergast writes: “As someone who teaches contemporary children’s literature, I have been following the surge of picture books about climate and environment topics for several years. While there has been some great scholarly research about such books, I have devised a simple framework for grouping these kinds of books. This four-tiered categorization may help you decided what to read, suggest, or display in various scenarios and for different audiences.”

ALSC Blog, Apr. 11
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Max Eddy writes: “It’s a nightmare scenario: You’ve protected all of your online accounts with two-factor authentication (2FA), but then your phone is broken, lost, or stolen, and you’re locked out of everything. Past You’s effort to protect Future You has made Present You’s life a living hell. 2FA is supposed to keep attackers and scammers out of your online accounts, but what if something happens to your second factor? With a little planning, you can reduce that risk and still keep your accounts safe.”

New York Times Wirecutter, Apr. 12
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Nik Altenberg writes: “About 100 librarians and their supporters rallied outside San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library on April 9 to demand the city hire security guards for every branch. Workers decried a lack of security at most of the city’s branches and said they are often forced to de-escalate volatile situations and step into the role of providing security themselves. The rally is the latest in a series of union actions [from 10 unions representing more than 25,000 city workers across city departments] seeking to draw attention to what they say is a pervasive understaffing crisis.”

KQED-TV (San Francisco), Apr. 9
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“Two years after Brooklyn Public Libraries’ (BPL) launch of Books Unbanned, an initiative to protect the freedom to read for young people, In Their Own Words: Youth Voices on Books Unbanned gives new insight into the impact of censorship on teen and young adults across the US and how restrictions and other barriers to access build upon and reinforce each other. The new report, published April 11 by BPL and Seattle Public Library, analyzes 855 stories shared by young people who signed up for a free Books Unbanned ecard from April 2022 through December 2023.”

Seattle Public Library, Apr. 11
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Samantha Guss, Sojourna Cunningham, and Jennifer Stout write: “Recruitment and retention are both critical to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in academic libraries, and failing to improve retention has and will continue to derail these initiatives. Research that addresses retention tends to focus on proposed strategies, such as stay interviews (structured interviews aimed at strengthening employee and employer relationships) and mentorship programs. But there is no agreed-upon definition of retention that would allow us to assess these strategies. We should recognize that involuntary staying can be just as negative an outcome for the individual and the organization as leaving, setting the stage for legacy toxicity.”

In The Library With The Lead Pipe, Apr. 10
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Jackie Edwards writes: “As spring rolls around, seasonal allergies can flare up among library workers, resulting in symptoms like sneezing; runny or stuffy nose; itchy eyes, ears, and nose; coughing; and asthma. Not only are these symptoms detrimental to well-being and productivity, but they can also mean you’re less able to provide excellent customer service to library users. Fortunately, by purifying the air, preventing mold, and keeping your work area clean, you can improve indoor air quality and combat allergies in your library.”

Library Worklife, Apr.

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