Daily Scoop

Daily Scoop is American Libraries’ daily conference e-newsletter with coverage on speakers, sessions, and events during ALA Midwinter and Annual conferences. It is delivered to conference registrants and ALA members during conference, with a recap issue.

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Latest Library Links

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Maria Leon-Roman writes: “Día de los Muertos is a holiday observed on November 1–2 that is traditionally celebrated in Mexico and in parts of Latin America with the purpose of honoring our loved ones who have passed away with ofrendas (altars), food, music, prayer, and cemetery visits. It is more of a festive than a somber occasion. I knew when I became a children’s librarian that this would be a program that I would want to host at my branch. Here’s what I’ve done over the years.”

ALSC Blog, Oct. 20
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Hilary Turner writes: “The biggest challenge for me right now as a first-year academic librarian is: How do I become a familiar presence on campus and acquaint students, professors, and other constituents with the services I offer? How do I build social and professional capital? The most helpful way for me to begin answering this question has been to run mini experiments. Curiosity is a good friend in this. Here are four of the outreach strategies I’ve tested in my first two months on the job.”

ACRLog, Oct. 19
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Donna Seaman, Annie Bostrom and Susan Maguire write: “During American election seasons in the era of social media and artificial intelligence, it is easy to become inundated by information—some strictly factual, some biased, and some that’s just filling space in a shameless play for clicks and views. But deeper analysis and understanding are possible. Booklist editors have compiled a list of nonfiction titles that investigate both historical and recent forces that have shaped democracy and our electoral system. (And for children and young adults, see Booklist’s recommendations on understanding propaganda and surveillance states.)”

AL: The Scoop, Oct. 16
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Theadora Soter writes: “To begin bridging the gap between the public and University of Utah Marriott Library’s rare books collection, we reached out to Bookish SLC, a social reading group that participates in silent, group reading all around the city. Together, we decided that the Bookish October 2025 meeting would be held at the University of Utah. With logistics in place, we turned to the heart of the event—the books themselves. As a relatively new curator, I spent considerable time crafting a selection that would be both seasonally spooky and representative of the collection’s breadth.”

TPS Collective, Oct. 12
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nickb writes: “There are not many computer file formats I would trust to still be readable 50 years from now, but plain text is one of them. That may sound like faint praise. A text file cannot embed a spreadsheet, preserve elaborate page layouts, run a presentation, or provide many of the conveniences we expect from modern applications. What it does instead is store text in one of the simplest and most widely understood forms in computing, and that simplicity is a large part of why it has lasted.”

Dead Parrot BBS, Oct. 4
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Jill Lawless, Hillel Italie, and Kostya Manenkov write: “Canadian poet, essayist, and translator Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in literature October 8 for ‘bold and inventive’ works that fuse the classical and the modern and blur the boundaries of poetry and prose. The Toronto-born Carson, 76, has drawn on themes from classical Greek and Roman literature, modern influences, and personal experience for genre-blending titles that have ranged from translations of ancient Greek poets to collaborations with dancers and musicians, including Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed.”

Associated Press, Oct. 8
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Nathalie op de Beeck writes: “At a time when media consolidation is decimating local news organizations, journalist and civic strategist Terry Parris Jr. believes that libraries—and specifically, library patrons—may offer a solution. In 2024, Parris founded the Library Newsroom Project to combat the small-town media deserts he saw arising across the country. Now, he’s bringing LNP pilots to Miami-Dade Public Library, the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair (N.J.) State University, and Boston Public Library, with additional sites in development.”

Publishers Weekly, Oct. 2

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