What was the inspiration for Corduroy Takes a Bow? Was Corduroy an iconic character for you growing up? He was an iconic character for me, but more so for my daughter Genesis. I would read to her every single night, and that was the book that stuck. I had to read it over and over … Continue reading Newsmaker: Viola Davis
Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Canada La Biblioteca Móvil, Guatemala Suzhou Library, China Inner Mongolia Library, China The recipients were selected by a team of IRRT members in consultation with then–ALA President Jim Neal, who recognized them at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans during the IRRT International Librarians Reception … Continue reading 2018 Presidential Citations
Hickok is international outreach librarian at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). His initial role at the library was providing outreach and instruction to CSUF’s international student population. That led to an “aha” moment. “I realized for me to truly understand international students’ library experiences, I needed to see the libraries in their countries,” he says. … Continue reading Building Bridges to the East
The program offers daylong, immersive workshops in a variety of disciplines that can be brought to institutions around the world upon request. Led by experts in the field, these traveling workshops help academic librarians learn new skills and strengthen existing competencies to tackle the greatest issues facing the profession today. The program reaches hundreds of … Continue reading On the Road Again
Bethany Mitchell, technology assistant at Vestavia Hills (Ala.) Library in the Forest, peers through a jester cutout. From left: Aisha Conner-Gaten (instructional design librarian at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles), Tracy Drake (archivist at Chicago Public Library), and Aurelia Mandani (technology services librarian at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder Labs Library in … Continue reading Bookend: Midday Masquerade
What do you do to make literary criticism approachable? I try to pick books that I think people would enjoy reading, so that’s a start. I try to write about them with enthusiasm and clarity, and I do a few odd things to try and bring in people who are sick and tired of book … Continue reading Newsmaker: Ron Charles
What made you want to write this book? I had to write this book—libraries are hungry for information on how to better serve their homeless patrons. I provide training in libraries around the world, and everywhere I go, library staffers ask for tools to help. It is exciting to meet so many allies in the … Continue reading A Conversation with Author Ryan J. Dowd
This preview offers a small sample of what to expect. For a complete listing of events, visit 2018.alaannual.org. Conference highlights ALA welcomes former First Lady Michelle Obama as its Opening General Session speaker. 4–5:15 p.m. on Friday, June 22. The lawyer, philanthropist, and author of the forthcoming memoir Becoming will reflect on social and political … Continue reading 2018 Annual Conference Preview
As author of numerous travel guides, including Frommer’s Easy Guide to New Orleans, I’m here to help. My customized dining guide lists a spectrum of selections, focusing on those in proximity to the convention center and some choice spots a short distance away. There’s something for everyone, so dive in with forks ablaze and laissez … Continue reading Big Easy Eats
The Moderator ALA President Jim Neal Are libraries neutral? Have they ever been? Should they be? Can libraries be neutral as part of societies and systems that are not neutral? Are libraries, through their processes, their practices, their collections and technologies, able to be neutral? ALA has long advocated for certain principles, detailed in the … Continue reading Are Libraries Neutral?
Though his moniker is absent from modern headlines, there’s one harasser whose name is known to librarians everywhere: Melvil Dewey. In the #MeToo era, how should the library profession handle Dewey’s legacy, tainted as it is by sexism and racism? Dewey—who was, of course, a founder of the American Library Association (ALA) and the inventor … Continue reading Bringing Harassment Out of the History Books
Can you imagine what this would feel like? My imagination is unable to conjure such raw terror. Somehow, the police found her and her children and drove them to Hesed House in Aurora, Illinois—the second largest homeless shelter in the state and the largest outside of Chicago. I am executive director of Hesed House, but … Continue reading The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness
