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November 13, 2017 600 × 600 Anonymous Donor to Match ALA Annual Fund Contributions

Latest Library Links

11h

An ALA report released July 23, Investing in Prison Libraries: A Cost-Effective Path to Safer Communities and Second Chances, explores the essential role of prison libraries in lowering recidivism by better preparing incarcerated people for their release. According to the report, full funding of prison libraries leads to safer and healthier communities and reduced prison costs. Co-authors Erin Boyington, Amelia Bryne, and Emily Durkin will discuss their findings at ALA’s Annual Conference in Philadelphia in “The Work of Prison Libraries and Why Further Investment is Needed” on Saturday, June 28, at 9 a.m.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, June 23
16h

Keith Curry Lance and Caitlin Gerrity write: “This study found that students were more likely to meet or exceed English Language Arts and Literacy (ELA) standards when their schools had credentialed teacher librarians (TLs), TLs serving a single school, and school library staff who engaged in certain specific activities, including managing their library collections and supporting literacy teaching. With rare exceptions, relationships between library staffing levels and staff activities and ELA performance levels persisted regardless of the gender, race/ethnicity, or socio-economic status of students.”

Learning Hub, June 13
18h

Terra Dankowski writes: “It’s Thursday morning, and the fourth floor of Parkway Central Library is alive with bubbling jollof rice, crisping empanadas, and stir-frying japchae. Welcome to Edible Alphabet, the flagship series of Free Library of Philadelphia’s Culinary Literacy Center. Since 2015, the program has convened those learning English as a second language—many from the Caribbean, Central America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia—to practice conversation and cook a recipe under the direction of an ESL teacher and chef instructor.

American Libraries Trend, June
1d

David Quick and Benjamin Stokes write: “Public art that ‘talks’ to passersby. Scavenger hunts that scamper through community landmarks. Through the power of play—and mobile media—programs like these can help public libraries connect with patrons and share local stories. Over the past five years, DC Public Library has partnered with Playful City Lab, a game design initiative from American University in Washington, D.C. Together, we developed a project called Engaging Beyond Our Walls, which has yielded a budget-friendly platform and toolkit that facilitates storytelling through text messages and audio.”

American Libraries column, June
2d

Rosie Newmark writes: “At Hewitt (Tex.) Public Library, teens enthusiastically shared slideshows on the history of roads and the comparative merits of doors and wheels. None of this was schoolwork. PowerPoint is finding new life among young people as a tool to share humorous, creative, and niche slideshows with friends on TikTok and other social media platforms. Now libraries across the country are hosting their own PowerPoint Parties, using the events to engage a younger crowd.”

American Libraries Trend, June
2d

Reid Bramblett writes: “Philadelphians knew we had good food, but we figured the rest of the country had long since written us off as the land of soft pretzels, cheesesteaks, and some mystery meat disturbingly known as scrapple. As an Annual Conference attendee, you’re doubly lucky to be stationed at the convention center. Across the street to the south is the Reading Terminal Market with its three-dozen food stands. And across the street to the east is Philly’s Chinatown, home to loads of inexpensive eateries serving great dim sum and other Asian delectables. Here are the best of Philadelphia’s best.”

American Libraries feature, June
5d

Emanuel Maiberg writes: “AI bots that scrape the internet for training data are hammering the servers of libraries, archives, museums, and galleries, and are in some cases knocking their collections offline, according to a new survey from the GLAM-E Lab. The survey is the first attempt at measuring the problem, which in the worst cases can make valuable, public resources unavailable to humans because the servers they’re hosted on are being swamped by bots scraping the internet for AI training data.” The University of North Carolina Libraries in Chapel Hill recently shared its experience with AI bots attempting to scrape its catalog.

404 Media, June 17; GLAM-E Lab, June 17; University of North Carolina Libraries, June 9

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