Your new book, Cold, is about two teenagers: the ghost of a boy and a girl who wants to solve his murder. What drew you to writing your first murder mystery? I’ve always loved reading mysteries, but the element of suspense wasn’t something I had ever focused on in prose. After a few years of … Continue reading Newsmaker: Mariko Tamaki
Gale Digital Scholar Lab User: Hillary Richardson, coordinator of undergraduate research and information literacy at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus What is Gale Digital Scholar Lab? It’s a way for us to engage with some of Gale’s digital primary collections through text analysis tools. How do you use Gale Digital Scholar Lab? I teach … Continue reading Digging Deeper
Launchpad User: Rebecca Colbert, head of collection and bibliographic services, Las Vegas–Clark County (Nev.) Library District What are Launchpads? Launchpads are tablets with preloaded educational apps and games, produced by Playaway. They enable digital learning without the need for Wi-Fi or internet access. Each tablet is for a different educational level and subject area, such … Continue reading Devices on the Go
Tamaki discussed her new novel, Cold (Roaring Brook Press, February), at the American Library Association’s (ALA) LibLearnX virtual conference on January 24. She said that as she read and researched the genre, she discovered that the mystery format “plays really well into the things that I’m interested in writing about,” she said in conversation with … Continue reading Wrapped in a Mystery
In “Raise Up Radio: Connecting Families, Libraries, and Radio for Educational Equity,” a January 23 session at the American Library Association’s LibLearnX virtual conference, Evans and Simpson, along with Lacy Molina, a UNT student and project assistant, shared details about the early stages of the Raise Up Radio project. The initiative aims to address some … Continue reading Reconnecting over the Airwaves
Fisher is now the principal investigator for “Trauma in the Library: Symptoms of PTSD Among Staff and Methods for Ensuring Trauma-Informed Care,” an Institute of Museum and Library Services–funded study of the effects of workplace trauma exposure on library workers. She and Lauren Alexa Gambrill, research manager of the study, presented their preliminary findings during … Continue reading The Trauma of Library Work
Clio User: Jennifer Sanders-Tutt, local history librarian at St. Joseph (Mo.) Public Library What is Clio? Clio is a local history platform made by historians that allows you to create entries for points of interest and link them together into tours. It’s web- and app-based, and anyone can open a free account. How do you … Continue reading In Your Neighborhood
Neatline User: Adam Strohm, director of University Archives and Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago What is Neatline? Neatline is an open source suite of plug-ins that adds geotemporal functionality to Omeka exhibits and allows users to situate exhibit items in space and time. Its SIMILE add-on provides an interactive … Continue reading On the Map
Harrison and Lauren Geiger, metadata librarian at MSU Libraries, shared their experiences in improving accessibility in the university’s digital archives and special collections at the on-demand session “Accessible, Not Just Discoverable: Ensuring Accessibility in Digital Collections,” part of the American Library Association’s 2021 Annual Conference and Exhibition Virtual. Users encounter the four principles of accessibility … Continue reading Planning for Accessibility
Access language—subject headings, naming terms, and search terms—reflect the values, priorities, and assumptions of their creators, and often demean or pathologize marginalized groups. The complexity of solving these issues—if they are solvable—was explored in “What’s in a name?: LGBTQ+ and Latinx perspectives on access terminology—challenges and solutions,” on Saturday, June 26, as part of the … Continue reading What’s in a Naming Term?
Ewing spoke to K. C. Boyd, school librarian in District of Columbia Public Schools, about her new middle-grade book on Friday, June 25 as part of the American Library Association’s 2021 Annual Conference and Exhibition Virtual, addressing themes of community, emotional learning, and life’s transitions. Ewing believes we form our identities as readers as young … Continue reading Lean on Community, Learn from Robots
As manager of knowledge services for a special library that is also open to the public, Zoe Magierek found herself in “a really in-between place.” Forefront, an association for Illinois grant makers and nonprofits, has a library that provides services to nonprofit professionals and volunteers. Magierek has found herself helping patrons learn skills from saving … Continue reading Information in the In-Between Spaces
