People

Appointments & Retirements

Adams, Paula

Paula Adams became director of the Reference and Instruction Unit at Kennesaw (Ga.) State University in May.
Bellard, Lauren

In April, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries appointed Lauren Bellard North Carolina Historic Newspapers Project librarian.
Conrad, Suzanna

Suzanna Conrad was appointed associate dean for digital technologies and resource management at the University Library of California State University, Sacramento, in June.
Dames, Matthew

July 1 K. Matthew Dames began as university librarian at Boston University.
Fratta, Megan

Megan Fratta joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries as community outreach and global health librarian June 4.

At ALA

Hayes, Amber

Amber Hayes joined the Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services as outreach and communications program officer May 29.
Oakley, Samantha

The Public Programs Office promoted Samantha Oakley to program officer June 4.
Parsons-Diamond, Gena

May 14 Gena Parsons-Diamond became program coordinator for member services for the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Roth, Jeffrey

Assistant Director of Development Jeffrey Roth left ALA May 18.
Torres, Remigio

Remigio Torres joined ALA’s Development Office as development operations associate on June 18.

Cited

Athens Regional Library System

Georgia Public Library Service has named Athens Regional Library System as Georgia’s Public Library of the Year.
Edwards, Mary

Mary Edwards, assistant university librarian at the University of Florida’s Health Science Center Libraries in Gainesville, received the Medical Library Association’s Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award.
Robinson, Alice

Alice Robinson, school librarian for the West Babylon (N.Y.) Union Free School District, was selected as 2018 Western Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services School Librarian of the Year and received the 2018 Follett Conference Scholarship to attend the 2018 New York Library Association Section of School Librarians Conference.
Hunter, Ben

Ben Hunter, associate dean of libraries at the University of Idaho in Moscow, was named the Idaho Library Association’s 2017 Librarian of the Year.
Polanka, Sue

Sue Polanka, associate university librarian for public services at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, received the Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award from the Academic Library Association of Ohio October 27.

Obituaries

Kayden, Mimi

Mimi Kayden, 84, a book marketing director for Dutton and Penguin Young Readers for 28 years, as well as at HarperCollins and North-South, died April 16. In 2006, she received the Association for Library Service to Children’s Distinguished Service Award.
Derner, Carol

Carol Derner, 83, director of Lake County (Ind.) Public Library from 1985 until her 1999 retirement, died April 20. She had stints at several public libraries in Indiana and Illinois throughout her career, which began in 1958. She was named Woman of the Year by Merrillville (Ind.) Business and Professional Women in 1990, and the Indiana Library Federation named her its Outstanding Librarian in 1997.
Gibson, Theresa

Theresa “Terry” Lynn Gibson, 71, a librarian at Wellsville (Ohio) Carnegie Public Library for 20 years until retiring in 2016, died April 26.
Leamon, David

David Leamon, 78, director of Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library for 13 years, died April 23. Before joining the library in 1992, he led public libraries in San Antonio, Texas, and Jackson, Michigan.
Nicholson, Eric

Eric Nicholson, 67, senior library specialist at Governors State University in University Park, Illinois, died December 12, 2017.

Latest Library Links

15h

Shay Castle writes: “You may have seen them in the New York Times, or on your favorite guilty pleasure website for softer news. But now, thanks to Boulder (Colo.) Public Library, you might actually get to wear the internet-famous sweaters of Sam Barsky. Special Boulder- and Colorado-themed sweaters, created just for the exhibit, will be available to check out, for up to 24 hours at a time on a first-come, first-served basis. A library card is required to borrow a sweater.”

Denver Post, Aug. 17; New York Times, April 3
18h

Voting for the 2018 Teens’ Top Ten official titles is now open through October 13. The voting page, hosted by DOGObooks, showcases all 25 nominees with their respective book covers and summaries, as well as the opportunity for teens to leave comments about their favorite titles. The top ten titles will be announced following Teen Read Week, which takes place October 7–13. All teens aged 12–18 are eligible to vote for up to three of their favorite titles.

YALSA, Aug. 15
18h

Eric Ravenscraft writes: “When you buy a console, it usually comes with a single controller, no games, and some amount of internal storage, with the option to upgrade. But you usually want to get at least one extra controller (and maybe more). We also tend to recommend a charging station so you don’t end up spending a fortune on batteries. Finally, each console has a subscription for online game play that includes free games. With all that in mind, here’s what it costs to get up and running with the basics on every version of the current major consoles.”

Review Geek, Aug. 17
20h

Daniel Oberhaus writes: “Over the past year, German journalist Svea Eckert and a small team of journalists went undercover to investigate a massive underground network of fake science journals and conferences. In the course of the investigation, which was chronicled in the documentary Inside the Fake Science Factory, the team analyzed over 175,000 articles published in predatory journals and found hundreds of papers from academics at leading institutions, as well as substantial amounts of research pushed by pharmaceutical corporations, tobacco companies, and others.”

Motherboard, Aug. 14
20h

Mary Schreiber writes: “The #MeToo movement has sparked people, usually women but not always, to come forward and name names of creators of children’s books whose behavior is unacceptable. So, like me, you may be wondering, what can I do professionally to make a difference? How can I let publishers know that I’m not okay with this behavior from the authors and illustrators of children’s books?”

ALSC Blog, Aug. 13
20h

Eugenia Williamson writes: “Aretha Franklin has died. In her lifetime, the musical giant inspired a trove of books about or inspired by her outsized legacy. In tribute, we offer this bibliography of recommended titles linked to their excerpted Booklist reviews—a small fraction of the books in which Franklin appears as a key figure in Black history, Civil Rights history, rock music, soul music, and gospel.”

Booklist Reader, Aug. 16; New York Times, Aug. 16
2d

A traveling installation by Iraqi-American artist Wafaa Bilal at Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum seeks to refill the empty shelves at the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad, which lost 70,000 books when it was looted and burned during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The exhibit, 168:01, features thousands of blank white books arranged on bookshelves, and visitors are encouraged to donate money to replace a fake book with a real one from an Amazon wishlist compiled by the university.

The Art Newspaper, Aug. 7