Contact

All addresses are:
American Libraries
225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60601
800-545-2433
fax: 312-440-0901
email: americanlibraries@ala.org

Sanhita SinhaRoy
Editor and Publisher
800-545-2433, ext. 4219
ssinharoy@ala.org

Terra Dankowski
Managing Editor
800-545-2433, ext. 5282
tdankowski@ala.org

Amy Carlton

Amy Carlton
Senior Editor
800-545-2433, ext. 5105
acarlton@ala.org

Megan Bennett

Megan Bennett
Associate Editor
800-545-2433, ext. 4213
mbennett@ala.org

Diana Panuncial
Associate Editor
800-545-2433, ext. 4218
dpanuncial@ala.org

Rebecca Lomax

Rebecca Lomax
Art Director
800-545-2433, ext. 4217
rlomax@ala.org

Carrie Smith

Carrie Smith
Editorial and Advertising Associate
800-545-2433, ext. 4216
casmith@ala.org

Headshot of Mel Carr

Melissa Carr
National Sales Manager
704-491-7789
melcarr@ala.org

Latest Library Links

3h

Ashley White writes: “Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has created an online tip line to report books found in libraries that residents think are inappropriate to stop the “taxpayer-subsided sexualization of children.” Landry, who is running for governor in 2023, announced the tip line in a Facebook post on Wednesday with few details. In the post, he said he met with residents in Slidell who “want to protect the children” in St. Tammany Parish.”

Lafayette Daily Advertiser, December 1; Facebook, November 29
4h

Leanne Ellis writes: “I still recall with a shudder the second school library I worked at in NYC: a small, cramped space that needed to be weeded, and worst of all, a collection organized by category like a bookstore. The problem wasn’t the intention of my predecessor; she arranged the books according to a system that made sense to her. But the result was the problem because it made sense only to her. And therein is the fault with genrifying our libraries on the shelves; a title one person might classify as a mystery might be considered romance to another.”

Knowledge Quest, November 29
6h

Ewa Wojciechowska writes: “For those looking to program with purpose, the entire process begins and ends with your community. Similarly to how we perform diversity audits on our collections, it’s important to also take a critical eye to the programs and services we offer. As professionals we understand that every community is different and has different needs, and that our offerings ought to be tailored to those needs. It can be easy to go on “auto-pilot” when it comes to programming, but we should remember to look at all programs from time to time to evaluate their effectiveness.”

ALSC Blog, December 3
7h

The American Library Association invites library workers to apply for the Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant, an annual award supporting innovative and meaningful community engagement efforts in libraries. Applications will be accepted between December 1, 2022, and February 1, 2023. View the full award guidelines and apply online at www.ala.org/LTCEG. The Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant recognizes, promotes and supports innovative and meaningful community engagement efforts in libraries. It will provide two grants of $2,000 for a school, public, academic, tribal or special library to expand its community engagement efforts.

ALA, December 1
9h

The work of medical librarians is essential and varied. They provide information and resources that can improve patient care, promote public health, and support medical education and research. And their responsibilities are constantly evolving with technology and the implementation of new programming. In Episode 77 of Call Number, we highlight two initiatives presented at the 2022 Medical Library Association Annual Conference: Virtual reality programs that teach health science concepts in a new and engaging way at Augusta University in Georgia, and a specialized book club for pediatric hospital staff at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

AL: The Scoop, November 30
5d

Khamosh Pathak writes: “Canva started out as a humble, online-accessible graphics tool. But slowly, it has morphed into so much more. It’s closer now to a digital publishing suite, constantly evolving based on the needs of its users. Every couple of weeks, there are both new features and new use cases added. You can even use Canva to create websites for free. Canva is filled with many small, interesting features that all have a huge impact on usability, but aren’t found in the most obvious of places. Here are eight such hidden features you need to know about.”

Lifehacker, November 15
5d

Chris Stokel-Walker writes: “Almost from the time the first tweet was posted in 2006, Twitter has played an important role in world events. The platform has been used to record everything from the Arab Spring to the ongoing war in Ukraine. It’s also captured our public conversations for years. But experts are worried that if Elon Musk tanks the company, these rich seams of media and conversation could be lost forever. Given his admission to employees in a November 10 call that Twitter could face bankruptcy, it’s a real and present risk.”

MIT Technology Review, November 11

View more Latest Library Links