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September 3, 2015 400 × 312 ginasheldon

St. Louis County librarian Gina Sheridan shared 200 of her favorite books. Photo: Alex Heuer

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Robin Camille Davis writes: “A decade ago, user experience practitioners were regularly creating something called personas, detailed, fictional user profiles intended to represent the characteristics and needs of real users. It was a widely accepted convention, including in libraries, and it purported to help center the design process on people. But recently, personas have fallen out of favor. Rather than creating a bio and choosing a name and a photo, UX practitioners now often leave out these details and create realistic archetypes. These focus on needs, goals, behaviors, and tasks.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, July 1
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Andrew Lapin writes: “The superintendent of Mission Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas recently agreed within minutes to a conservative group’s demands to remove 676 books, including some seminal texts about the Holocaust and antisemitism. Conservative activists, led by a local pastor and outspoken Israel advocate, pushed the district, Mission CISD, to excise books mostly about gender, sexuality and race. Five minutes after receiving the demands, [Superindendent Carol] Perez agreed to them.” [Perez has since separated from the district, apparently over a contract dispute and not connected to the book removals.]

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 26; Progress Times, June 13, May 28
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Dani Carmack and Jessica Quarles write: “Are staffers at your university aware of the library’s services? At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University–Prescott in Arizona, we discovered that many faculty members were hesitant to enter what they perceived as student-only library spaces. This made us realize: We weren’t marketing our resources and services to a core population, a group that is essential to helping us advocate for the library on campus and beyond. But first, staffers had to understand what we offered.”

American Libraries column, June
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The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) introduced a new website with specialized tools and resources designed for library and museum professionals to engage diverse communities in developing critical information literacy skills June 27 at the ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego. InformationLiteracy.gov is one product of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, which directed IMLS to explore ways to improve information literacy within communities. It focuses on disseminating training and technical assistance resources for professionals in libraries, museums, zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens, arboretums, nature and science centers, archives, and other community-serving institutions.

IMLS, June 27
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Ed Finkel writes: “Last year, when states were introducing a raft of legislation that would effectively take books off the shelves, librarians at Harris County (Tex.) Public Library (HCPL) knew they wanted to take a stand. Texas House Bill 900, which would have restricted materials in school libraries and required vendors to assign book ratings based on so-called appropriateness before selling them to schools, had been signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in June. On September 19, the same day H.B. 900 was temporarily blocked [in US District Court], Harris County Commissioners Court passed a resolution declaring HCPL a book sanctuary.”

American Libraries feature, June
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Mark Prussin writes: “Funding for New York City libraries is being fully restored in the 2025 fiscal year budget. That means libraries will return to being open seven days a week. Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Thursday that $58.3 million will be restored to the three city public library systems, along with $53 million to cultural institutions.” The libraries, and other city agencies, had their budgets cut in November 2023, which the city blamed on costs related to housing and feeding asylum seekers.

CBS New York, June 27; Spectrum News NY1, Nov. 17, 2023
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Jennifer Schuessler writes: “Today, figures like [Arturo Alfonso] Schomburg and the historian and activist W.E.B. Du Bois (another collector and compiler of Black books) are hailed as the founders of the 20th-century Black intellectual tradition. But increasingly, scholars are also uncovering the important role of the women who often ran the libraries [such as New York Public Library’s 135^th Street Branch, now known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture], where they built collections and—just as important—communities of readers. Many were among the first Black women to attend library school.”

New York Times, June 19

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