Cited

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George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida in Gainesville were recently awarded a $288,000 supplemental grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize more than 100,000 pages of historic newspapers in the Florida and Puerto Rico Digital Newspaper Project. The award follows a $325,000 grant for the project the libraries received in 2013.
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John Lehner, associate dean of personnel, planning, and systems at the University of Houston Libraries, was named the recipient of the libraries’ inaugural Ambassador Kenneth Franzheim II Endowed Library Professorship, which recognizes individuals who have advanced their discipline and are regarded for leadership. The professorship is effective April 1.
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Jay Turner, director of continuing education for Georgia Public Library Service, received the Georgia Library Association’s Nix-Jones Award for substantial contributions to the library profession October 2.
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Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, youth and special services consultant for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in Madison, was named 2014 Librarian of the Year by the Wisconsin Library Association.
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The Geoscience Information Society awarded Lura E. Joseph, content access and research services librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, its Mary B. Ansari Distinguished Service Award in October.
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Hartford (Conn.) Public Library received the US Small Business Association’s Eagle Award as an outstanding resource October 29.
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Mirah Dow, professor in the School of Library and Information Management at Emporia (Kans.) State University, received the Kansas Association of School Librarians Vision Award at its conference in October.
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June 21 Lorcan Dempsey, vice president and chief strategiest of OCLC Research in Dublin, Ohio, received an honorary doctorate from the Open University in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Andrea Francisco, librarian at Forest Avenue Elementary School in West Babylon, New York, received the Western Suffolk BOCES School Library System’s School Library Media Specialist of the Year Award in May.
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Frederick J. Stielow, vice president and dean emeritus of libraries, electronic course materials, and ePress for the American Public University System, has been inducted as a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists.
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Robert Newlen, assistant law librarian at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., received the Sons of the American Revolution Silver Good Citizenship Medal May 17.
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Kyla Johnson, librarian at Farmington (N.M.) High School, has been awarded a 2014–2015 Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Grant to conduct research in the United Kingdom.

Latest Library Links

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Robin Camille Davis writes: “So you want to hear from real people who use your library! There are many user research methods to choose from. Interviews let you get at the why and the how, not just the what. You could easily use surveys to ask a large number of your users which library services they use. But only an interview can tell you why your patrons seem to use virtual references services often but never the in-person information desk.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, Jan. 6
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Katherine Knox writes: “Linked data is a system of organizing information with the goal of making it easier to share and find new information, something which is very appealing to libraries. But methodologies for cataloging library materials are very slow to change. Converting libraries to a linked data system is complicated. Catalogers typically don’t have the capacity, authority, or software to test out new cataloging methods. Not all integrated library service discovery platforms used by public libraries have incorporated linked data into their search results. Nevertheless, libraries around the world are converting to linked data, especially archival repositories.”

Public Libraries Online, Jan. 6
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Chris Perez writes: “The Louisiana Supreme Court is allowing a defamation lawsuit filed by Amanda Jones, a Livingston Parish librarian accused of promoting pornography and ‘erotic contents’ to children, to be reheard, saying she has a right to have the ‘very specific allegations’ hurled against her two years ago proven in court by her accusers after the case was tossed out due to a late appeal. Jones sued Citizens for a New Louisiana, the group that brought the allegations forth, in 2022. Jones says she was attacked after speaking up at a public meeting about library censorship that year.”

Law & Crime, Dec. 30; American Libraries feature, Sept./Oct. 2023
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Andy Peters writes: “A recent trend in mixed-use developments is to center the project on a distinctive property to provide a sense of character and place, be it a sports stadium or a historic structure. One Texas town is taking a different page from that book. In the growing Austin suburb of Cedar Park, city leaders and their private development partner chose a new library as its central focus. Other cities are considering whether to make a library a central point in redevelopment efforts.”

CoStar News, Dec. 31
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The US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas declared Arkansas Act 372 unconstitutional December 23 in an opinion indicating that the law is overbroad and void for vagueness. The law would have subjected librarians and bookstore owners to criminal prosecution for making materials available on library and bookstore shelves that could be deemed harmful to younger minors, and mandated a procedure in public libraries whereby individuals may challenge books based on “appropriateness” (an undefined term). The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition that included Arkansas libraries, ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation, authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and readers. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said he will appeal the ruling.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, Dec. 23; Associated Press, Dec. 23
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Cindy Hohl writes: “A tradition of many Native American tribes is to observe the winter count—a visual record that depicts the important events of the year. An elder acts as a historian, chosen by the people to act as the recorder of the year’s activities as they select the top memory that will tell the story of their people. We as library workers may also recall the many special memories experienced by our staff members and patrons. What favorite memory—personal or professional—would you add to the list?”

American Libraries column, Jan./Feb.
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In Episode 99, the Call Number team presents exclusive clips from conversations with authors we interviewed this past year, including Hanif Abdurraqib, Kwame Alexander, Connie Chung, Kate DiCamillo, Max Greenfield, Vashti Harrison, Maggie Nichols, and Jesús Trejo. They each talked to us about the role that books, libraries, and library workers have played in their lives.

AL: The Scoop, Dec. 18

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