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Nancy Down, head librarian of the Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies at Bowling Green (Ohio) State University Libraries.

Pop Culture Paradise

December 18, 2018

When researchers need to study these or other pieces of American ephemera created after 1876, they head to the Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University Libraries. Founded almost 50 years ago, the library holds one of the largest comics collections in the country, as well as … Continue reading Pop Culture Paradise →

Alisun DeKock stands beside the species identification iPad in the Shedd Aquarium’s Amazon Rising habitat, as two South American tambaqui fish swim by.

A Friend to the Fishes

December 18, 2018

The Shedd’s library of some 7,000 books is primarily for aquarium staff, interns, and volunteers and is not open to the public. The most popular materials in the collection are the field guides to various fish, plants, insects, aquatic invertebrates, and marine mammals. DeKock says that “staff members take them out on field trips because … Continue reading A Friend to the Fishes →

Tribal Heritage

December 18, 2018

As both the academic library for Oglala Lakota Tribal College and the public library for the reservation, the Woksape Tipi Library oversees 13 branch libraries scattered over nearly 3,500 square miles. “We’re all about local access,” says archivist Tawa Ducheneaux (pictured), one of six library employees. If a staff member isn’t present at a branch … Continue reading Tribal Heritage →

Latest Library Links

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Twitter, #shelfie
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ACRL has announced the recipients of its 2019 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award: Swarthmore (Pa.) College Libraries, the College of Western Idaho Library in Nampa, and Case Western Reserve University’s Kelvin Smith Library in Cleveland. Sponsored by ACRL and GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO, the award recognizes the staff of a college, community college, and university library for programs that deliver exemplary services and resources to further the educational mission of the institution.

ACRL Insider, Jan. 23
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Heather Thomas writes: “Theodosia Burr Alston, the beloved daughter of disgraced Vice President Aaron Burr, left the port of Georgetown, South Carolina, on the schooner Patriot in 1812 and was never seen again. Throughout the 19th century, newspapers titillated readers with lurid stories of her alleged fate, including captivity, murder, and deathbed confessions of former pirates. Yet her tragic disappearance has remained a mystery for over 200 years. Theodosia was one of America’s first great women of learning and achievement. Her disappearance remains one of early America’s greatest unsolved mysteries.”

Library of Congress: Headlines and Heroes, Jan. 22
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Karin Greenberg writes: “This past weekend I read an outstanding essay in The New York Times Book Review section by Brian Morton, the director of the writing program at Sarah Lawrence College. In it, he describes an encounter with a college student who had been reading The House of Mirth. Upon seeing a description in which one of Edith Wharton’s characters describes another in an anti-Semitic way, the student threw the book in the garbage. The current psychological environment in our world is volatile, with people’s emotions often clouding their ability to think critically about important issues. One of the main benefits of reading is that it expands people’s views.”

Knowledge Quest blog, Jan. 23
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ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions will host a new four-week facilitated eCourse in collaboration with the Office for Intellectual Freedom, “The First Amendment and Library Services” with Theresa Chmara as the instructor, starting on March 4. Chmara will introduce you to the legal principles behind the First Amendment, their practical implications in daily life, and how those principles affect library work. You will learn basic legal concepts, your rights as library employees, the rights of library patrons, and what the First Amendment does and does not obligate the library to provide. Registration is through the ALA Store.

eLearning Solutions, Jan. 23
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Timothy Inklebarger writes: “The partial federal government shutdown has entered its second month, with no end in sight. Some librarians on furlough expect to be compensated for the paychecks that stopped arriving when the shutdown began on December 22, 2018. But others, working on contract, may never get paid for the lost hours. Virginia Sanchez, librarian at Yosemite National Park in California, has spent four years working to modernize the park’s research library. Now she’s applying for unemployment.”

AL: The Scoop, Jan. 23
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Ross Sempek writes: “The Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library was recently criticized by Trans advocates for hosting a talk by Meghan Murphy, founder of Feminist Current and unabashed independent thinker. Some of the anger behind Murphy’s appearance is based in the belief that by hosting her, the library is endorsing her point-of-view, and thus alienating the Trans community. However, libraries do not endorse or support any of the speech within its buildings. This does seem odd, as their collections and programming are lovingly curated to serve the needs of their communities.”

Intellectual Freedom Blog, Jan. 23

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