The Scoop

20 Years of the MLK Sunrise Celebration
By Sanhita SinhaRoy | January 28, 2019
Virginia Moore, past chair of ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Task Force, talked about the origins of the annual Midwinter celebration. “Libraries lead the way,” she said. “Keep the dream alive.” Satia Orange, former director of ALA’s Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, reminded the more than 200 attendees … Continue reading 20 Years of the MLK Sunrise Celebration →
Council II: Resolutions and Organizational Effectiveness
By Amy Carlton | January 28, 2019
Policy Monitoring Committee (PMC) Chair Gladys Smiley Bell presented the PMC report (CD#17) with three action items. Motions to insert a new interpretation of Library-Initiated Programs as a Resource into B.2.1.11 of Library Bill of Rights, a new interpretation on Services to People with Disabilities into B.2.1.21 of the Library Bill of Rights, and the … Continue reading Council II: Resolutions and Organizational Effectiveness →
Midwinter 2019 Top 10 Tweets—Day 3
By Crystal Carrazco | January 28, 2019
We started the day with Rick Steves and a refreshing perspective on travel. By far @RickSteves talk @alamwis the BEST talk I’ve ever heard in Year and by far in this conference! Waw #alamw19 — Essraa Nawar (@EssraaNawar) January 27, 2019 It turns out @RickSteves is pretty good at standup #comedy! Pretty cool to see … Continue reading Midwinter 2019 Top 10 Tweets—Day 3 →
How Technology Helps Foster Research Connections
By Lindsay Gypin | January 28, 2019
Ngoc-Yen Tran, research impact librarian, and Emily Chan, interim associate dean for research and scholarship, both from San Jose State University, presented a plethora of data from various studies indicating that collaborating on research is up, and single author publication is down. In the first five years of College & Research Libraries’ existence, less than … Continue reading How Technology Helps Foster Research Connections →
2019 Youth Media Award Winners
January 28, 2019
A list of all the 2019 award winners follows: John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature: Merci Suárez Changes Gears, written by Meg Medina, is the 2019 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Candlewick Press. Two Newbery honor books also were named: The Night Diary, written by Veera Hiranandani … Continue reading 2019 Youth Media Award Winners →

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Travel As a Political Act
By Terra Dankowski | January 28, 2019
“The book that beats mine [in sales] all the time is the guidebook to Disney World,” Steves told attendees of his Auditorium Speaker Series talk at the American Library Association’s 2019 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Seattle on January 27. “That’s la la land—I’m into gaining a better understanding of humanity.” Steves, who recently released … Continue reading Travel As a Political Act →
Getting Real Again
By Terra Dankowski | January 28, 2019
“These are the new shiny things for [teens and 20-somethings],” Betha Gutsche, WebJunction program manager at OCLC, told attendees at “Return to the Real: The Library As Social Connector,” a Symposium on the Future of Libraries session at the American Library Association’s 2019 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Seattle on January 26. Analog objects give … Continue reading Getting Real Again →
Robin DiAngelo Gets Real on Racism
By Amy Carlton | January 28, 2019
Garcia-Febo then discussed the libraries she visited on her Libraries = Strong Communities tour over the past several months and invited members of her diversity advisory team to join her onstage. ALA is creating a series of videos to help libraries with equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives; the first video should be available in March. … Continue reading Robin DiAngelo Gets Real on Racism →
Always Use the Microphone
By Carrie Smith | January 28, 2019
Kate Deibel opened her session, “Pushing on the Frontier: Disability Access and the Future of Libraries” on Saturday, January 26, at the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Seattle, with this all-too-common question to make a point: “Always use the microphone. It’s one of the most important and easiest things you can do.” It helps … Continue reading Always Use the Microphone →
2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners Announced
January 27, 2019
The selections were announced January 27 at the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Book and Media Awards, sponsored by NoveList, during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Makkai’s novel explores the complexities of friendship, family, art, fear, and love in WWI-era and present-day Paris and 1980s Chicago while … Continue reading 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners Announced →
The Moment of Lift
By Phil Morehart | January 27, 2019
Melinda Gates opened her talk at the 2019 American Library Association’s (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in Seattle January 25 with effusive praise for her hosts. Her admiration for libraries is well documented: As cochair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she has been at the forefront of philanthropic funding for libraries. The Gates Library Foundation, … Continue reading The Moment of Lift →
Council I Votes on Sustainability
By Amy Carlton | January 27, 2019
The minutes from the 2018 ALA Annual Conference (CD#2) were adopted. ALA Past President Courtney L. Young gave the report of the ALA Executive Director Search Committee (CD#34), which will begin its work in February. Candidates for Chapter Councilor to the committee are Susan Jennings, Samantha C. Helmick, Matt Beckstrom, and David Dahl. Councilor-at-large Round … Continue reading Council I Votes on Sustainability →

Latest Library Links

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Amanda Pagan writes: “The modern romance novel has its origins in the romantic fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries. In novels such as Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, the gothic romances of Ann Radcliffe, and the works of Jane Austen, readers were introduced to a new form of fiction, one that primarily focused on the lives and struggles of female protagonists. Although modern romance novels have expanded to include both authors and protagonists of different genders, races, sexualities, and abilities, historically, romance novels separate themselves from other genres by being primarily written by women, for women, and about women.”

New York Public Library blogs, Feb. 15
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A New Mexico teenager convicted of opening fire and killing two people at Clovis-Carver Public Library on August 28, 2017, will spend decades in prison before being eligible for parole under a sentence imposed February 15 by a state district judge. Judge James Hudson made his decision after hearing emotional testimony during a three-day proceeding. He sentenced Nathaniel Jouett as an adult to two life sentences that will run concurrently plus 40 years in prison for carrying out the shooting. Jouett pleaded guilty to 30 felony counts, including two first-degree murder charges for the deaths of library employees Wanda Walters and Krissie Carter. He seriously wounded four other people.

Associated Press, Feb. 15
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Planning to attend the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Athens, Greece, this year? With generous support from a variety of sources, grants and awards are available every year to help delegates attend the conference, providing financial support to cover registration and other costs (travel, accommodation, daily expenses). While some grants focus on certain regions or career stages, others are open to all. Be sure to read through the descriptions, check the eligibility criteria for each of the grants, and apply for the most suitable one for better success.

International Relations Round Table Blog, Feb. 18
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In November 2018, the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France launched a joint project, putting “800 manuscripts decorated before the year 1200 available freely” online on two websites. Both institutions provided 400 manuscripts each for digitization. One website, “France-England: Medieval Manuscripts between 700 and 1200,” has been created by the Bibliothèque nationale de France based on the Gallica marque blanche infrastructure. The other, “Medieval England and France, 700–1200,” is aimed at a wider public audience and was developed by the British Library to showcase a selection of manuscripts, as well as articles, essays, and video clips.

Open Culture, Feb. 15
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Douglas Fraser writes: “A group of financiers set up a gem of a library in 2013, dedicated to learning from financial fiascos and failures. The Library of Mistakes opened in Edinburgh five years after Royal Bank of Scotland experienced a record £24.1 billion loss for 2008. Its mission: to learn how things went wrong in the past and, in particular, how things went badly wrong with money. Its motto is Mundum mutatu errore singillatim—changing the world one mistake at a time. I’d expected something academic and dry. Far from it. This venture is at risk of celebrating failure rather than examining it, and the more spectacular the better.”

BBC News, Feb. 16
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The Egyptian National Library in Cairo has been restored to its former glory with financial support from the United Arab Emirates backed by Egyptian resolve to defy terrorism. The library was devastated in January 2014 by a car bomb explosion that targeted the adjacent Cairo Security Directorate. The bombing damaged the library’s façade, windows, furniture, and shelves. “We were fortunate that most of the ancient manuscripts and books of the library were not ruined,” said Aida Abdel Ghani, the library’s director-general. “The manuscripts that were damaged were rushed to the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Antiquities for repair.”

Arab Weekly, Feb. 17
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Gothenburg City Library in Sweden currently has two mobile libraries in operation, visiting about 70 mobile library stops and 110 preschools. In 2019, the city library decided to invest in more modern and environmentally friendly vehicles by purchasing two new all-electric Volvo buses. They are scheduled to replace the existing mobile libraries in July 2020. The vehicles could keep going for more hours than the current bookmobiles. The new electric buses will operate all around the city, accessing even the Gothenburg inner-city green zone.

The Mayor EU, Feb. 18

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