The Scoop

ALA Virtual Fall Council Meeting

Finances discussed, new pivot strategy introduced
By Amy Carlton | September 18, 2020
Teaming Up for Teaching

Public libraries and local schools build relationships to aid remote learning
By Timothy Inklebarger | September 18, 2020
Dewey Decibel Podcast: Small and Rural Libraries

Episode 54 looks at issues affecting remote communities
September 15, 2020
The Great Outdoors

Libraries turn to drone delivery, outdoor browsing, and other alfresco services
By Anne Ford | September 14, 2020
Pushing for Action on LSFA

Library advocates press for COVID-19 relief funding
By Kevin Maher and Shawnda Hines | September 14, 2020

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REALM Project Announces Test 4 Results

Study shows how long COVID-19 virus lives on common library materials
By Alison Marcotte | September 4, 2020
Remembering Art Plotnik

ALA colleagues share stories of former American Libraries editor
September 1, 2020
Dewey Decibel Podcast: Library Architecture and Design

Conversations about new buildings and renovations
August 17, 2020
“Libraries Are Holding Space for Their Communities”

ALA president’s cross-country tour wraps up
By Julius C. Jefferson Jr. | August 12, 2020
Community and Cooperation

United for Libraries’ virtual event (August 4–6) calls for change and collaboration
By Deborah Doyle | August 11, 2020
Libraries Transform Book Pick: Lauren Francis-Sharma

New novel investigates race and gender through historical fiction
By Vanessa Bush | August 10, 2020
ALA Announces 2021 Midwinter Meeting Will Be Virtual
August 6, 2020

Latest Library Links

16h

Come holiday or hurricane, one thing you can count on is that The New York Times’s best-seller lists will be published online every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern. And those lists will be dated for the print Book Review, where they will appear 11 days later. In a look behind the scenes, the best-seller lists staff members explain their jobs, how sales data is collected and analyzed, and how they keep themselves entertained and stable under pressure.

New York Times, Sept. 23
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Librarian Kimberly Francisco writes: “When the COVID-19 crisis was in its infancy, publishers and individuals acted pretty quickly to put out ebooks about the virus or to help children understand and cope with the changes it brought to their lives. Now that it’s been over half a year that we’ve been living this way, though, physical books have started to make their way to the marketplace, including a handful of fiction.”

Stacked, Sept. 23
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Escape rooms in libraries are popular activities for families, providing free, interactive entertainment for people of all ages. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has put most in-person library programs on hold. Some librarians have found creative ways to safely continue the fun during the pandemic. McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, has set up a no-touch, outdoor escape room that community members can enjoy while maintaining social distancing.

I Love Libraries, Sept. 18
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Susan Shapiro writes: “Despite spiking coronavirus cases on university campuses across the country, everyone I knew hated remote learning. I could see why. It has certainly been my weirdest work experience in a quarter-century teaching college. I worked on a computer all day, so I’d taken the professorship to interact with live humans. What changed the tone was asking everyone to say where they were now and how they were holding up during the turmoil.”

Wired, Sept. 22
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The National Coalition Against Censorship is urging the Burbank (Calif.) Unified School District to retain several books in its curriculum and allow teachers to teach the books while they are under review. The challenged books include Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Cay, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

National Coalition against Censorship, Sept. 17
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A new report from Project Information Literacy examines US media coverage about COVID-19 and its visual representation across time and digital space during the early months of 2020. The report includes interactive data visualizations showing the results of a computational analysis of 125,696 articles from 66 news websites; a content analysis of 532 randomly selected news images from the top 12 outlets; and teaching and learning resources for librarians, educators, students, and journalists.

Project Information Literacy, Sept. 15
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Burkely Hermann writes: “Two years ago, the animated series Hilda premiered on Netflix, and a minor character called ‘The Librarian’ (voiced by Kaisa Hammurlund) quickly became a fan sensation. Although she only appears in about three minutes of the show’s first season, this feisty librarian has been mentioned in 20 fanfiction stories on Archive of Our Own and has a Tumblr blog dedicated to her. She has also been a subject of a lot of chatter among the fanbase, from Twitter to Reddit. The official Hilda Twitter account has described her as a mysterious librarian who has an unmatched, and extensive, ‘knowledge of cemetery records and mystical items.’”

I Love Libraries, Sept. 21