Uncategorized Archives | Page 48 of 58 | American Libraries Magazine

Court Tosses “Wholesale” Ban of Registered Sex Offenders

By Beverly Goldberg | April 6, 2010

Citing an individual’s right to receive information as paramount, the U.S. District Court of New Mexico has overturned a two-year-old mayoral regulation that banned anyone who is a registered sex offender under federal or state law from visiting the 16-branch Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library. Albuquerque officials were considering their options in light of the ruling, according … Continue reading Court Tosses “Wholesale” Ban of Registered Sex Offenders →

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 →

Testing the Times

By Leonard Kniffel | March 31, 2010

In the midst of an economic slump that has libraries everywhere cutting to the bare bones, it’s a special pleasure to be able to present a showcase of new and renovated facilities that can hold its own against any other we’ve published since the annual American Libraries feature began in 1977 with a modest story … Continue reading Testing the Times →

West Virginia Governor Vetoes Current-Level Funding for Libraries

By Gordon Flagg | March 29, 2010

West Virginia library advocates suffered a blow March 26 when Gov. Joe Manchin used his line-item veto power to slash library funding in next year’s state budget by 5%. Library supporters had convinced the legislature to maintain funding at current levels despite the weak economy. Manchin cut the appropriation for grants-in-aid to public libraries from … Continue reading West Virginia Governor Vetoes Current-Level Funding for Libraries →

Charlotte Mecklenburg Branches Saved; Fundraising Aims to Rehire Staff

By Beverly Goldberg | March 24, 2010

In an emergency meeting on the morning of March 24, the board of the Charlotte Mecklenburg (N.C.) Library rescinded its controversial week-old order to close half the system branches and lay off 148 staff members. Instead, trustees unanimously approved an alternative plan that will keep all 24 branches in operation at a reduced schedule; lay … Continue reading Charlotte Mecklenburg Branches Saved; Fundraising Aims to Rehire Staff →

Harry Ransom Center to House Magnum Photo Archive

By Greg Landgraf | March 22, 2010

Magnum Photos, the photographic cooperative whose members snapped some of the most iconic images of the last half of the 20th century, has sold its archives of almost 200,000 original press prints to an investment firm that has partnered with the University of Texas at Austin’s Harry Ransom Center to preserve, catalog, and make accessible … Continue reading Harry Ransom Center to House Magnum Photo Archive →

$2 Million Sought by March 24 for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

By Beverly Goldberg | March 19, 2010

Frantic messages with hashtags of #cmlibrary and #2millioninoneweek are dotting the twitterverse about efforts to avert—or at least allay—sudden plans to close 12 branches of the Charlotte Mecklenburg (N.C.) Library and lay off 148 library workers April 3. The startling March 17 announcement was followed the next day by a library board meeting at which … Continue reading $2 Million Sought by March 24 for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library →

Our Conservative Ideals

by Andy Spackman | March 17, 2010

Although TV talking heads discuss trillion-dollar bailouts for broken industries as if you might trip over one on your way to the unemployment office, libraries—which aren’t broken—struggle to make our case. I sometimes worry that librarians’ language only addresses the left side of the political aisle, leaving the right’s opinions to be shaped by people … Continue reading Our Conservative Ideals →

Bostonians Deplore “Downloadables” as Branch Substitutes

By Gordon Flagg | March 16, 2010

[UPDATED March 17] “Not the computers, not the high-tech, not the downloadables,” said Boston resident Maria Rodriguez at a March 9 Boston Public Library board meeting. “Libraries are about books and librarians. I didn’t hear anything about that in your vision.” Rodriguez was one of nearly 400 people who came for details about the planned … Continue reading Bostonians Deplore “Downloadables” as Branch Substitutes →

Mirabile Visu

by Joseph Janes | March 15, 2010

Things I never thought I’d see: 1. The Saints winning the Super Bowl. 2. The Mariners making off-season moves that might actually help for this year. 3. A Google commercial. I couldn’t quite believe it at first; there it was in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, as it really began to look like … Continue reading Mirabile Visu →

Planning for a Mobile Site

By Cindi Trainor | March 11, 2010

This article was adapted from a blog post on ALA TechSource Blog. View the original article. Mobile, mobile, mobile. It’s all we hear these days. Mobile…it’s the new black. Mobile…you just GOTTA. At my library, mobile web browsers have only accounted for .3% of the total site traffic so far this semester. Taking all the public PCs … Continue reading Planning for a Mobile Site →

Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Targeted in New Jersey Challenge

By Beverly Goldberg | March 10, 2010

A reconsideration request regarding three anthologies in the collection of the Rancocas Valley Regional High School (RVRHS) library in Mount Holly, New Jersey, may be part of a national campaign supported by a Burlington County group to get a Department of Education official ousted from the Obama administration. And learning how to evaluate the validity … Continue reading Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Targeted in New Jersey Challenge →

Latest Library Links

14h

Steph Campbell writes: “From a combination of hype from Stranger Things, captivating performances on Critical Role, acceptance of ‘nerd culture,’ and so many other reasons, TTRPGs have greatly increased in popularity over the past few years, and youth activities are reflecting this. Running games is often seen as the core for facilitating this interest, but you can connect your library’s book collection to this too. By displaying books that focus on themes from your library’s game sessions, you can help players find other stories that they relate to.”

ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, July 11
18h

Share innovative strategies and resources with your peers by submitting an education program proposal for the 2025 LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience, taking place January 24–27, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona. The submission site is open now through August 12. The programmatic theme of LibLearnX 2025 is Reimagine, Refocus, Reset: Charting a Path for the Future. The LibLearnX Program Submission Guide provides detailed explanations of the learning formats and step-by-step instructions for submitting a proposal. Consult the Program Proposal Rubric for evaluation criteria and scoring and view a video on using the submission site to create and submit your proposal.

ALA Conference Services, July 15
20h

Summer is in full swing. This means getting outside, soaking up some sunshine, and listening to our favorite tunes—from oldies-but-goodies to today’s hits. In Episode 97, Call Number covers music. This episode includes conversations with librarians who have organized programs for local patrons who love Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and K-Pop, as well as librarian and Grammy Award–winning French horn player Joy Worland. Attendees of ALA’s 2024 Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego also share memories of the first concert they attended.

AL: The Scoop, July 15
2d

Sheila Craft-Morgan writes: “Citations are a key measure of the impact of a researcher’s work. However, research in a variety of disciplines has found that women are less likely to be cited than men; citations contain geographic bias; and the Matthew effect—in which those who begin with advantage continue to gain advantage—leads to more citations for prominent scholars in a specific discipline. These findings contribute to the notion that scholarly knowledge comes from a homogenous group of researchers, thereby overlooking the contributions of other groups.”

American Libraries column, June
2d

Mel Baldwin writes: “Regardless of why someone comes into a library, every patron should be free to interact with staff, browse materials, and use the internet without fear of harassment or worse. That freedom depends on libraries upholding patron privacy. With nearly 400 active anti-trans bills pending in state legislatures as of April 2024, it is a dangerous time in the US to be gender nonconforming, someone whose gender expression does not align with the traditional male or female binary. And for trans people of color, studies show the risk of discrimination and violence is higher.”

American Libraries column, June
2d

Greg Landgraf writes: “On a school morning last September, small groups of 5th-graders crowded around tools connected to scientific research—a microscope, a robotic camera, and even a snake named Morgan Freeman—clipboards and pencils in hand. They were at the Melrose branch of Roanoke (Va.) Public Libraries (RPL), judging graduate students from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on their research. The event was RPL’s second Flip the Fair, introduced in 2022 to help graduate students develop skills to effectively communicate their research while engaging local elementary students with STEM topics and the library.”

American Libraries Trend, June
5d

Aaryn Bierly writes: “Disability Pride Month is traditionally celebrated in July to celebrate the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The ADA regulates laws regarding service animals, requires employers to accommodate their employees’ physical and medical needs, stipulates the number and placement of accessible parking spaces and restrooms, and more. One in five Americans has some type of disability that makes working more difficult, and the ADA has made working conditions easier for a significant number of Americans. We’ve got several great lists of books for kids and teens of different ages featuring characters with a range of disabilities.”

Herrick District Library (Holland, Mich.), July 1

View more Latest Library Links