The event was RPL’s second Flip the Fair, introduced in 2022 to help graduate students develop skills to effectively communicate their research while engaging local elementary students with STEM topics and the library. It’s an example of how libraries are seeking innovative ways to share science and research with new audiences. “We wanted to give … Continue reading Shaking Up Science
Drew Evans, a retired law librarian who has previously worked at Kansas State University in Manhattan and Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, took up the sport about seven years ago. “I was hooked from the first hit,” he says. “You’re about 14 feet from your opponent, and that allows for a lot of social interaction … Continue reading Bookend: Holding Court
Hylton spent years doing archival research and building relationships with former patients and staff members at Crownsville, one of the last segregated psychiatric hospitals with surviving records. During that time, she learned more about the history of the facility, which operated from 1911 to 2004, and of psychiatry more generally, particularly from the perspective of … Continue reading Newsmaker: Antonia Hylton
“We’re located on a busy Main Street in the heart of Patchogue village, with loads of vehicle and foot traffic, so we are seen,” said Karen McCahey, promotions library assistant. “But one of the challenges that’s ongoing is to get people in the front door.” McCahey, along with Community Engagement Librarian Emily Spizzirri, Head of … Continue reading A Whopper of a Campaign
Flores described how she incorporated microcourses into professional development in “Reimagining an Instruction Librarian Retreat with Microcourses,” a January 21 ShopTalk session at the American Library Association’s LibLearnX conference in Baltimore on January 21. The retreat had traditionally been an intensive, day-long, off-campus affair. “The pandemic changed everything,” she said. “People were using Zoom, and … Continue reading Bite-Sized Professional Development
In her Main Stage Panel on January 21, titled “It’s All Happening at the Library!” Drabinski spoke with three other librarians about the ways their libraries serve as community connectors. Eboni M. Henry, school media specialist for District of Columbia Public Schools, said that finding out who makes up her library’s broad community is as … Continue reading In Celebration of Librarians
Over 11 years, Hylton built relationships with and interviewed former Crownsville patients and staff members and examined records at the Maryland State Archives. Her new book, Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum (Legacy Lit), to be released January 23, traces Crownsville’s nearly 100-year history. Milton Kent, journalism professor at Morgan State University … Continue reading Breaking the Stigma
Jasmine Shumaker, reference and instruction librarian, and Joe Lee, interlibrary loan specialist, both at University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, shared their experiences at “Steering the ‘Ship: Navigating a Cross-Departmental, Cross-Status Mentorship in an Academic Library,” a January 20 ShopTalk program at the American Library Association’s 2024 LibLearnX conference in … Continue reading Breaking Down Silos
She started the Race Card Project with 200 postcards—printed at Kinko’s on her way to taking her kids to soccer practice—inviting whoever picked them up to share their thoughts on race, in exactly six words. She dropped them at a variety of venues while on a book tour. More than 500,000 personal narratives later, the … Continue reading Six Words, Countless Conversations
Libraries and schools nationwide are working overtime to repel an unprecedented level of attacks on the freedom to read. Vigorous debate, advocacy, and coalition-building remain the backbone of the fight against book banning. But some libraries, groups, and individuals have recently taken innovative approaches to ensure information access for all. Books Unbanned is one of … Continue reading Unbanned
The 2023 Banned Books Week youth honorary chair spoke with American Libraries about the power of young activists, the importance of expressing identity authentically, and what gives him hope in challenging times. What does it mean to you to be chosen as the youth honorary chair of Banned Books Week, especially as the US is … Continue reading Newsmaker: Da’Taeveyon Daniels
At the “Cloud Watching for NASA” session at the American Library Association’s 2023 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, Jessica Taylor, atmospheric scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center demonstrated GLOBE Observer, a citizen science mobile app created by NASA’s Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program. She was one of three … Continue reading Watching Clouds for NASA
