Chicago Is Among Five Library Medalists Named by IMLS

By Beverly Goldberg | April 24, 2014

Chicago Public Library (CPL) is among five libraries nationwide to receive a 2014 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, it was announced April 24. Awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Service, the medal is the nation’s highest honor given to libraries and museums for service to their communities.

CPL’s distinction is the culmination of several particularly innovative years for the 80-branch system. In fall 2012 the system opened a joint public–high school library facility that made the cover of American Libraries’ September/October 2012 issue. In that same issue, CPL’s prototype Innovation Lab received a shout out. Since then, freelance AL blogger Timothy Inklebarger has taken note of CPL’s new interactive website, powered by BiblioCommons, and will be covering the international NEXT Conference, to be held at CPL just prior to the ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, as well as the library’s citywide 2014 summer learning program.

IMLS cited CPL for:

the development of its Maker Lab, which offers patrons of all ages free access to 21st-century tools such as 3D printers and 3D design software;
reinvention of the summer reading club into the 2013 Summer Learning Challenge, in which a record-breaking 71,000 children participated;
expansion of the innovative teen YOUmedia digital-learning center, which has grown from a central-library space to a five-branch program and has been replicated in approximately 30 cities. The dedicated YOUmedia spaces enable young adults to experiment with media-creation tools such as turntables, laptops, desktops, software, and of course, books, and will expand this summer into six more branches.

In an April 24 statement, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said: “This honor is a ringing endorsement of the new chapter that we are writing in the great story of the Chicago Public Library, and it is another confirmation of a recent study that named Chicago home to the best library system in America.” He congratulated CPL Commissioner Brian Bannon and library staff and volunteers “for making Chicago’s libraries not just a place where students and the community can share knowledge of the past, but where they can shape the future.”

Bannon will travel to Washington, D.C., for a May 8 ceremony to accept the medal. He will be accompanied by Alarm Press founder and Editor-in-Chief Chris Force, who says he used the library as his business incubator. “The staff at Chicago Public Library is fantastic. Along with being knowledgeable, they’re very supportive.” Force insists that his new hires obtain a library card.

Other winning libraries

The four other libraries receiving medals are:

Las Vegas–Clark County (Nev.) Library District. IMLS is recognizing the library district for its efforts to serve a community struggling with the ravages of the Great Recession, including foreclosure, unemployment, and bankruptcy.
Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Missouri. The library was honored for its major emphasis on early literacy as well as providing the community with materials for lifelong learning and recreational reading.
Octavia Fellin Public Library in Gallup, New Mexico. The medal was bestowed to praise the library’s success in reaching out to a culturally diverse population that extends to the surrounding county and includes the Navajo Nation.
Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. The 30-year-old center is being honored for its influence in establishing and strengthening Yiddish collections at 600 academic and research libraries internationally and creating a 12,000-title Yiddish literature library online.

Five museums received medals as well.

Watch IMLS’s video (6:37) about all the winners.

Tagged Under

Public hearing addresses needs and reforms

Iowa Restores School Librarians’ Value

Latest Library Links

17h

Megan Bennett writes: “From the iconic to the incendiary, political messages like these have emblazoned buttons and pins since the start of US elections. Since 2012, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been archiving political buttons. The collection now spans thousands of items over a century’s worth of campaigns and causes. The collection has approximately 4,800 buttons and pins and 200 stickers. Most fit into one of three categories: campaigns (local and national), sociopolitical movements, and community organizations like unions.”

American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.
21h

Cindy Hohl writes: “Recognizing all of humanity in libraries requires a thoughtful approach and a humble spirit. I believe that we, as information professionals, have been called to this work because of our shared values. Every day, library workers provide a vital public function. We are entrusted to serve our communities, and we know that the best way to serve the public good is to welcome everyone into libraries to access accurate information.”

American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.
1d

Anne Ford writes: “For Susan Brown, December 17, 2004, was a perfectly normal day—until she saw the elevator doors open. Brown, director of Transylvania University’s J. Douglas Gay Jr./Frances Carrick Thomas Library in Lexington, Kentucky, was walking past the staff elevator on the library’s main level when the doors parted and she reflexively glanced inside. Her gaze locked on the great red books held by two young men inside. On the 20th anniversary of what became known as the Transy book heist, American Libraries looks back at one of the most brazen and puzzling thefts ever to take place in an academic library.

American Libraries feature, Nov./Dec.
4d

Chase Hunter writes: “Chabot College Library and Learning Center in Hayward, California, held a ceremonial opening last week, but students have already gone so often that it’s quickly become a campus cornerstone. More than 35,000 Chabot College students have visited the new library and learning center—the tallest building on campus—this semester, already surpassing last year’s total. The new building’s geometric clean lines and splashes of orange—the school’s color—over a chrome exterior is attracting students in a way that Chabot College hasn’t experienced since the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Mercury News (San Jose, California), Oct. 28
4d

Michelle Ehrhardt writes: “Like the Metaverse and NFTs before it, it feels near impossible to follow tech news right now without hearing about Artificial Intelligence (AI). I understand it can get annoying: The tech is still in development, and everyone’s still figuring out the ethics of generating AI Art, or how to make it not suck. It’s tempting to write AI off entirely. There are a few key use cases I’ve found where AI shines better than pretty much any other alternative. As an AI skeptic, here’s where I think AI is most useful.”

Lifehacker, Oct. 28
5d

Katherine Klosek writes: “The Librarian of Congress—based on recommendations by the register of copyrights—issued an expansion to the 2021 Digital Millennium Copyright Act regulation that permits researchers to circumvent technological protection measures to conduct text and data mining research. The updated regulation clarifies that academic researchers can securely access research collections of literary works or motion pictures hosted by other institutions of higher education for purposes of collaboration, or to facilitate their own independent research projects.”

Association of Research Libraries News, Oct. 28
5d

Michele Gile and Matthew Rodriguez write: “A group of Huntington Beach (Calif.) residents known as ‘Protect HB’ said they’ve gathered enough valid signatures to try repealing a new ordinance that could impact which books are put on public library shelves. More than 15,000 people have signed a petition that’s headed to the city clerk. If valid, voters will decide whether the city council majority’s community parent-garden review board [which has relocated books on puberty and potty training to the adult section] will exist.”

KCAL-TV (Los Angeles), Oct. 28