Author Archive: Nancy Gravatt

Fairfax County (Va.) Public Library staff members gather in the atrium of the Fairfax County Government Center.

Serving the Patrons of the Future

By Nancy Gravatt | September 14, 2016

“Expand your vision. Drop, for a moment, the restraints on your thinking imposed by budgets and other resource caps. Think boldly. Coalesce around a strong idea; then work backwards and figure out the steps to get there. In the midst of rapidly shifting demographics and at a time when we cannot remain static, what active … Continue reading Serving the Patrons of the Future →

Linda Lord, former Maine state librarian, accepts the inaugural Access to Opportunity award from Senator Angus King (I-Maine) on behalf of Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

Celebrating 20 Years of the Telecommunications Act

By Nancy Gravatt | February 12, 2016

All week leading up to the event, this diverse group of stakeholders flooded the web with celebratory tweets using the hashtag #96×20, thanking the Telecom Act for connecting libraries and schools, enabling innovation, and fostering competition. To further highlight the library message about how the Telecom Act, especially the E-Rate Program, has fueled the services … Continue reading Celebrating 20 Years of the Telecommunications Act →

Miguel Figueroa, ALA director of the Center for the Future of Libraries (center) responds to a question by moderator Justin Peters, correspondent with Slate. At left is fellow panelist Elizabeth Merritt, founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums at the American Association of Museums.

Will Libraries Outlive Books?

By Nancy Gravatt | November 17, 2015

Those questions and more were examined by two panels of library experts mulling over what libraries might look like in our lifetimes and beyond in a November 11 program sponsored by Future Tense, a partnership of Arizona State University, the New America Foundation, and Slate Magazine. All agreed on one point: Libraries are in the … Continue reading Will Libraries Outlive Books? →

Detail from Section 215 by Hasan Elahi. The mural incorporates pigment images of the rooftop of a National Security Agency building with Section 215 overlaid in Morse code.

MLK Library’s Tribute to Banned Books Week

By Nancy Gravatt | September 28, 2015

Hosting a tour of the installations showcased on the first and second floors of the library, Matthew Mann, MLK library associate and curator of the exhibit, says the exhibit was organized to underscore the library’s commitment to the rights of freedom of speech and expression. Several artists focused on potential threats to personal privacy posed … Continue reading MLK Library’s Tribute to Banned Books Week →

Latest Library Links

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John Sharp writes: “Athens and Fairhope are two fast-growing cities in the fastest-growing areas of Alabama, and there is no mistaking their conservative bona fides. But according to early statistics about library card applications, their libraries appear to be bucking a trend embraced by conservative-leaning groups and the Alabama GOP: Their patrons appear to be trusting the libraries. More than 60% of parents at Fairhope Public Library and Athens-Limestone County Public Library have signed off on all-access passes for their children with no restrictions on library usage.”

AL.com, Nov. 17
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Katie Gaddini writes: “Book bans may have mushroomed in the Trump era of reactionary politics, but they have a well-established history in America. One woman in particular, Norma Gabler, redefined the current strategy and logic behind modern book bans. Called ‘education’s public enemy number one,’ by critics in 1980, Gabler led the crusade against the so-called secular trend in school textbooks throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Even though Norma and her husband Mel worked together, Norma was the public face of their efforts for decades.”

Time: Made By History, Nov. 13
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Many members know Bill Ladewski as executive director of the Reference and User Services Association, an ALA position he has held since 2019. In early September, Ladewski added another title to his CV: director of Member Relations and Services. In this role, he and his team are charged with providing service and information to the Association’s nearly 50,000 members. Ladewski answered our 11 Questions to reintroduce himself to the ALA community.

AL: The Scoop, Nov. 19
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John Warner writes: “I understand what people mean when they invoke the term ‘institutional neutrality,’ but I don’t know how it’s workable in today’s world. Higher education institutions are built upon a foundation of actual values, values that are, by definition, not neutral. The Kalven report, the Rosetta Stone of institutional neutrality produced by a faculty committee at the University of Chicago in 1967, is not a call to make all work emanating from an institution ‘neutral,’ but is instead a call to make the atmosphere for scholarly inquiry and debate as free as possible.”

Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 15
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Angela Hursh writes: “Ever wondered how your library’s email performance compares to others? Benchmarks help you understand how well your emails perform in key areas and identify opportunities for improvement. They also allow you to compare your email marketing performance, set goals, and stay on top of trends. However, the lack of industry benchmarks for email marketing metrics specific to libraries has been bugging me. Metrics from similar industries don’t fully capture the unique aspects of promoting a library. To help libraries accurately measure their email effectiveness, we’ve created the first-ever library email benchmark report.”

NoveList, Oct. 22
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Rachel Hendrick writes: “Students and library vendors are pushing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in higher education, but there are very few resources that help librarians and scholars separate the wheat from the chaff. Luckily, we here at Choice love a good assessment rubric. (In fact, we made a PDF of our assessment rubric.) Even the least tech-savvy of us can use a very simple AI literacy framework to think critically about whether an AI application is worth your time.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, Nov. 13
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Rowana Miller writes: “In my experience, many young library-goers identify as storytellers but not writers. These are the kids who draw Captain-Underpants-style cartoons, who craft meticulous Minecraft universes, and who plot elaborate Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, but who believe that ‘writing’ is limited to five-paragraph essays. But when children draw the connections between their natural storytelling proclivities and the written word, they can become self-motivated to develop the communication skills that will help them for the rest of their lives. Libraries, I believe, are uniquely positioned to help children make this connection.”

ALSC Blog, Nov. 15

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