Features Archives | Page 93 of 97 | American Libraries Magazine

Award Winning Author Katherine Paterson Is Ambassador for Children’s Reading

April 16, 2010

Katherine Paterson, two-time winner of both the National Book Award (The Great Gilly Hopkins and The Master Puppeteer) and Newbery Medal (Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I loved), is the second person to be named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. She takes over for children’s author … Continue reading Award Winning Author Katherine Paterson Is Ambassador for Children’s Reading →

A Literature of Risk

By Michael Cart | April 15, 2010

Risky behaviors remain very real factors in the daily lives of 21st-century teens. Ranging from physical and emotional violence to drug and alcohol abuse, from risky sexual practices resulting in STDs and unintended pregnancies to driving recklessly and carrying weapons to school, these behaviors make up the main threat to adolescents’ health, according to the … Continue reading A Literature of Risk →

Gates Foundation, IMLS Research Proves Value of Online Access

By Jill Nishi | April 14, 2010

The economic downturn has led to dramatic increases in library visitation across the nation, including unprecedented demand for free computer and internet access. Over the last year, Americans have flocked to libraries to get online and find help from trained staff to conduct job searches, complete online coursework, apply for government services, and learn new … Continue reading Gates Foundation, IMLS Research Proves Value of Online Access →

Remodeling on a Budget

By Paul Signorelli | April 12, 2010

A review of recent plans and completed projects at a variety of California libraries instills a sense of excitement about the possibilities inherent in taking a low-cost approach to the remodeling of libraries. Interviews with sources involved with recent projects throughout the state reveal much of the thinking that has guided successful fiscally frugal remodeling … Continue reading Remodeling on a Budget →

Everyday Existence

By Dave Isay | April 11, 2010

A confession: I am a library freak. I believe deeply in the importance of libraries and think of librarians as some of the most amazing, committed, brilliant, and radical professionals I’ve ever been lucky enough to meet and work with. I believe that the future of the organization I founded, StoryCorps, will be tightly entwined … Continue reading Everyday Existence →

A Circulation Renovation Cuts Expenses

By Sally Anglemyer | April 8, 2010

With public funding becoming less available throughout the country, libraries are looking for ways to trim their current and future budgets. One library is using popular new technology to reduce staff costs, one of the biggest items in any library’s budget: The St. Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, Indiana, recently renovated the circulation … Continue reading A Circulation Renovation Cuts Expenses →

Grow Your Own Librarian

By Kathy Anderson | April 6, 2010

In 2004, in response to the difficulties of recruiting professionals to work in public libraries in the state, the Mississippi Library Commission (MLC) embarked on an innovative program to improve public library services and “grow their own” librarians. Their solution was to create an intensive Librarianship Institute that not only immerses participants in the principles … Continue reading Grow Your Own Librarian →

Librarians, Self-Preservation, and Construction Budgets

By Jeannette Woodward | April 2, 2010

Money, money, money! Of course, money is a subject that occupies many of a librarian’s waking thoughts and occasional nightmares. However, money issues on a construction project can become so numerous and so stress-producing that you may feel tempted to sign up for the Foreign Legion or flee to Timbuktu. If you’re embarking on your … Continue reading Librarians, Self-Preservation, and Construction Budgets →

Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore on the Environment and the Eternal Role of Libraries

March 31, 2010

Nobel Prize and Oscar winner, former vice president and, in his own words, the man who “used to be the next president of the United States,” Al Gore delivered the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture January 16 at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting in Boston. His message: The environmental threat facing the planet as a … Continue reading Nobel Prize Winner Al Gore on the Environment and the Eternal Role of Libraries →

Libraries, Hospitals Join Forces to Promote Wellness

By Ellyn Ruhlmann | March 22, 2010

Waiting is never easy for a child. For a child in a hospital, though, it’s really a tough go. The looming surgery, the unfamiliar setting, even just the break in routine all pile on anxiety and make minutes seem like hours. Now many libraries are partnering with hospitals to help ease that anxiety as well … Continue reading Libraries, Hospitals Join Forces to Promote Wellness →

Canadian Library Serves Community as Olympics Host

By Shelley Civkin | March 22, 2010

The 2010 Olympic Winter Games are over and the Richmond O Zone celebration site here in British Columbia is being dismantled, but Richmond Public Library (RPL) staff are still reflecting on what it means to host the world. But let me shatter all your illusions right up front: We started out being a library, thinking … Continue reading Canadian Library Serves Community as Olympics Host →

Invest in Yourself

By Catherine Hakala-Ausperk | March 22, 2010

Crazy times, right? Whether you are new to libraries or you’ve been around for a while, you would probably agree that our world has been spinning in a lot of different directions lately. With budget cuts, layoffs, reductions in hours, and new technology around every corner, no one has the time or money to devote … Continue reading Invest in Yourself →

Latest Library Links

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Jennifer A. Keach, Jenne M. Klotz, and Galen J. Talis write: “Library leaders at all levels are well-placed to create opportunities for joy in their organizations and to model how to do so with nuance and balance. Toward that end, we explored the multidisciplinary literature and compiled an annotated bibliography for leaders who wish to support joy within groups, organizational change agents who want to create equitable conditions for joy in the workplace, and readers seeking to develop their personal practice of joy. We provide a guide exploring five themes: defining joy, finding individual joy, work and organizational joy, empowering change with joy, and joy-adjacent emotions.”

Library Leadership and Management, June 30
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David Vickers Loertscher and Michelle Young write: “This tutorial introduces school librarians to the use of data visualization tools for documenting and communicating their impact on teaching and learning. By leveraging accessible platforms like Google Forms and Google Sheets, the authors demonstrate how librarians can build dashboards and real-time visual reports to showcase co-teaching, instructional collaboration, and student engagement. The tutorial features real-world examples, highlights common data sources already available to librarians, and argues that dynamic visual storytelling is a powerful alternative to traditional library statistics.”

Learning Hub, June 25
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Robin Camille Davis writes: “It wasn’t until seven years into my career as a user experience librarian that I realized I’d been accidentally excluding a sizable segment of users from my user research. Interviews, surveys, and usability studies favor people who are gifted at oral and written communication. What about people who are more gifted at visual communication? In the context of user research, this participatory design invites participants to design their own response to a given prompt.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, June 30
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Stories from communities nationwide come to life on ALA’s new Show Up for Our Libraries interactive site map. The stories illustrate the real-life consequences of potential funding cuts to rural, research, city, state, and university library programs and, in turn, to the hundreds of millions of library users across the country. Services such as summer reading programs, telehealth resources, interlibrary loan, and ebooks have all been affected. ALA collected the stories in conversation with patrons, library professionals, and advocates across the country to better understand the impact of federal funding cuts since the President’s executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, June 25
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On June 27, the Supreme Court upheld the Universal Service Fund, which funds the E-Rate program. ALA issued a statement regarding the ruling that reads, in part, “The ALA applauds the Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision to uphold the Universal Service Fund. The system of telecommunications subsidies administered by the Federal Communications Commission includes the E-Rate program, which provides libraries and schools billions of dollars each year for broadband access and connectivity. More than half of all public libraries apply for funding to subsidize the cost of internet connectivity through E-Rate each year.”

AL: The Scoop, June 27
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On June 27, ALA announced its new executive director, Daniel J. Montgomery. ALA’s announcement read, in part, “Montgomery has worked on behalf of public education and the rights of workers for more than two decades. He was elected to a three-year term as president of the 103,000-member Illinois Federation of Teachers in October 2010 and has been unanimously reelected every three years since then. He will start at ALA on November 10. The steering committee chose Montgomery because of his commitment to public institutions, his comfort working across diverse and difficult political situations, his service to both cities and rural areas, and his experience managing a complex, member-driven organization.”
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Oliver Moody writes: “In the €100 million Oodi library, which looms over central Helsinki like a cruise ship from the future, robots called Tatu, Patu, and Veera trundle back and forth between the shelves and the reading rooms. Against this backdrop, foreign visitors might be surprised to see how many children and teenagers are engaged in an almost unsettlingly archaic activity: reading and borrowing books. In the age of TikTok, Netflix, and Candy Crush, it is not just Finland’s public libraries that are booming, but also demand for their physical paperbacks and hardbacks.”

The Times (London), June 20

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