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The Scoop

President’s Budget Freeze Seems Oddly Familiar
February 1, 2010
Candidates for Lexington Director Position Made Public
February 1, 2010
Popular Columnist Will Manley Enters Blogosphere
January 29, 2010
Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award

New to the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards in 2010 is the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for lifetime achievement. In this video, award committee chair Barbara Clark discusses Virginia Hamilton's contributions to literature, the award itself, and the inaugural winner, Walter Dean Myers.
January 27, 2010
Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award

New to the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards in 2010 is the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for lifetime achievement. In this video, award committee chair Barbara Clark discusses Virginia Hamilton's contributions to literature, the award itself, and the inaugural winner, Walter Dean Myers. See more ALA videos at https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/al_focus/videos.
January 27, 2010

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AASL Reclaims Basic Terminology: School Librarian
January 26, 2010
Libraries Continue to Pitch in for Haiti
January 26, 2010
Alan Lomax’s Haitian music collection
January 26, 2010
Choose Privacy Week Kickoff

The first Choose Privacy Week will be held May 2-8, 2010. At the kickoff event, held at the American Library Association's 2010 Midwinter Meeting in Boston January 16, ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom Director Barbara Jones discusses Choose Privacy Week and how librarians can participate, and kickoff event speaker Hal Niedzviecki discusses the importance of a national conversation on privacy. For details about Choose Privacy Week, see www.privacyrevolution.org.
January 25, 2010
Niedzviecki on Privacy

At the Choose Privacy Week kick-off event at ALA's 2010 Midwinter Meeting in Boston, social critic Hal Niedzviecki, author of The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors, discusses peep culture, our increased appetite for surveillance, and the implications these attributes have on society. More ALA videos at americanlibrariesmagazine.org/al_focus/videos.
January 25, 2010
Al Gore at ALA Midwinter 2010, part 9

Al Gore presents the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture, discussing his book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston January 16, 2010. Part 9 of 9. Due to the end of tape, the final minute or so was filmed on a Flip camera. More ALA videos at alfocus.ala.org.
January 21, 2010
Al Gore at ALA Midwinter 2010, part 8

Al Gore presents the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture, discussing his book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston January 16, 2010. Part 8 of 9. More ALA videos at alfocus.ala.org.
January 21, 2010

Latest Library Links

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Jackie Jennings writes: “It feels like the debate over whether #BookTok is bad has been raging since the moment the term was first coined. I’m starting off with a strong stance: BookTok is indeed bad. However, the problem with BookTok is not crappy books or bogus influencers. The problem with BookTok is TikTok itself. BookTok isn’t actually a community driven by fans, writers, influencers, or even publishers: it’s part of a social media corporation, controlled by the most mysterious, fickle god of all, the algorithm.” Not surprisingly, librarian recommendations can overcome some of BookTok’s limitations.

Jezebel, Apr. 18; Book Riot, Apr. 22
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ALA announced the launch of its state Intellectual Freedom Helpline grant program April 22. Over the next two years, 10 pilot program sites will operate a confidential reporting system that will help connect those experiencing censorship attempts with professional support, in-state peers, or referral to ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, as appropriate. State or school library associations or agencies wishing to either establish an Intellectual Freedom Helpline in their state or expand existing efforts may apply for $10,000 grants through July 14.

ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, Apr. 22
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In celebration of the release of his latest nonfiction title, The Secret Lives of Booksellers & Librarians, bestselling author James Patterson is honoring select American Bookseller Association and American Library Association members with bonuses. He announced plans April 11 to give $200 each to 250 library workers across the country. The deadline for ALA members may nominate members to receive bonuses through April 30. Winners will be announced at ALA’s 2024 Annual Conference in San Diego.
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Catherine Hollerbach writes: “In early 2020, when the world shut down for COVID, many people got interested in houseplants. Anne Arundel County (Md.) Public Library’s Crofton Library embraced this trend and then some!” While preparing to reopen after the COVID shutdown, the library installed plants at the information desk to discourage patrons from sticking their heads through gaps in newly installed acrylic shields. They were well received and cared for, and the library gradually added more plants and built educational tools, programming, and partnerships around the plants.

Public Libraries Online, Apr. 18
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Rodney Freeman writes: “I am proud to be a librarian—and rare. Less than 7% of librarians in the US are Black. Libraries symbolize the literacy that was denied to so many of our ancestors. For our enslaved forebears, something as fundamental as learning to read was illegal and dangerous, but they did it anyway. Separate but ‘equal’ schools and ‘colored’ libraries filled with cast-offs from white libraries were key features of the Jim Crow era. Today we are seeing the same impulse to distort access to information into a tool to suppress and control, and to make some people ‘other.’”

Newsweek, Apr. 16
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Lori Birrell writes: “Staff want to feel valued, and they want their work to have an impact. A reorganization process can help leaders to surface such areas of impact and give staff a feeling of empowerment and value. Practitioners considering any sized reorganization are strongly encouraged to consider what models and resources will best support them as they plan and lead this work. Regardless of the model or resources, any reorganization process should be more than just moving boxes and reporting lines around on an organizational chart.”

Library Leadership and Management, Apr. 15
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Megan Bennett writes: “Two decades ago, while Daily Show Senior Correspondent Dulcé Sloan was doing summer shows at a community theater in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, the library was her main hangout spot. In the small town of 9,000 people, it was a place to gather with other young actors—and the only place with internet access. American Libraries spoke with Sloan before her closing session at the Public Library Association 2024 Conference in Columbus, Ohio, about her new book, her journey in stand-up comedy, and her memories of libraries.”

American Libraries Trend, Apr. 17

View more Latest Library Links