With the unprecedented number of book challenges in the United States this past year, “the rubber meets the road on advocacy when we’re working at the local and community levels,” said moderator Kent Oliver, retired Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library director and senior policy fellow in ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office. Oliver and a panel … Continue reading Louder Together
Murphy, product management director at Gale, moderated “All Together Now: Changing Lives through Library Adult Education and Learning Resources,” a January 29 session sponsored by Gale at the American Library Association’s 2023 LibLearnX conference in New Orleans. Joining her to discuss why adult learning programs are critical and how libraries can help serve these patrons … Continue reading Life-Changing Learning
An estimated 200 people attended the 6:30 a.m. celebration Sunday, January 29, at ALA’s 2023 LibLearnX conference. Twenty library leaders from across the profession took the stage to read passages from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr., focusing on the civil rights leader’s time in Chicago in 1966, when he shifted the movement’s efforts … Continue reading ‘A Lens of Care’
He began his talk discussing influential books and artists throughout his life. Among them was The Borrowers, by Mary Norton, which he checked out often from the school library. The story—about a family of tiny people who live secretly in floorboards of a kid’s house—was so magical and real for Selznick, that he made little … Continue reading A Page-Turner
American Libraries spoke with three members of the library community who have rallied in support of Ukraine through efforts to preserve cultural information, raise funds for its libraries and affected population, and help its refugees settle in new places: Kristin Parker, lead curator and manager of the arts at Boston Public Library (BPL); Michael Dowling, … Continue reading A Helping Hand
Patrons and students need guidance to navigate what can feel like an overwhelmingly complex financial landscape. And if the nation is to address its wealth inequality, libraries can help. Moderator Kenneth McDonnell, financial education program analyst at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, gave an overview of a pilot project the US federal agency created to … Continue reading Money Know-How
Oxley, along with fellow PGCMLS librarian Teresa Miller, co-presented “Queering the Library: Strategically Creating Space for the LGBTQ+ Community” on Sunday, June 26, at the American Library Association’s 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. Throughout the country, a spate of high-profile challenges and attempts to ban or destroy LGBTQ+ books, including in bookstores … Continue reading ‘We Are Not Okay’
And comic book author Kevin Eastman—cocreator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) series—was at the American Library Association’s 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition on June 26 to talk about the final installment of TMNT, The Last Ronin (IDW Publishing, July 2022), and how the original series came to be. “It was a dream come … Continue reading The Lean, Mean, Green Dream
The critically acclaimed author spoke with librarian and author Nancy Pearl at the American Library Association’s 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition on Sunday, June 26, about the new novel, Our Missing Hearts. In the story, anti–Asian American sentiments have taken over the country, and children of parents who are deemed un-American are removed from their … Continue reading Part of Something Bigger
The celebration’s theme this year focused on King’s 1957 speech “Give Us the Ballot—We Will Transform the South,” which he delivered to 25,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., during the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom demonstration. The event was organized to urge the federal government to fulfill the three-year-old Brown v. Board of … Continue reading Voting Rights Are Equal Rights
“None of us saw this coming,” said Woodson. “One day we walked into our classrooms, we walked into our libraries, we walked into our jobs, and the next day we didn’t.” This abrupt and significant change exposed what we’ve taken for granted. “We had just expected the next day to be there—just as the previous … Continue reading Making Sense of Our Collective Grief
In her 15-minute Shop Talk session, “3 Reasons Your DEI Programs Are Not Working,” Elaina Norlin presented research and anecdotes from consulting on DEI issues to attendees of ALA’s LibLearnX virtual conference on January 23. Norlin, author of The Six-Step Guide to Library Worker Engagement (ALA Editions, 2021) and professional development and DEI program coordinator … Continue reading Why Your DEI Programs Are Not Working
