Archives

Thomas, Dorothy Anne

January 29, 2023

Dorothy “Dottie” Anne Thomas, 70, retired director at Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling, West Virginia, where she served for 25 years, died August 26.

Rettig, Jim

January 29, 2023

Jim Rettig, 71, 2008–2009 ALA president, died August 17. Rettig worked in libraries in six states, including as assistant dean of university libraries at Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and most recently as dean of libraries at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where … Continue reading Rettig, Jim →

Marco, Guy

January 29, 2023

Guy A. Marco, 94, who previously served as dean of Kent (Ohio) State University’s library school from 1966 to 1977, died April 5. Marco also worked as chief of general reference and bibliography at the Library of Congress and chief of library services for the US Army at Fort Dix in New Jersey. He published … Continue reading Marco, Guy →

Henderson, Kathryn Luther

January 29, 2023

Kathryn Luther Henderson, 99, professor emerita at University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) School of Information Sciences, died August 18. She joined the faculty in 1965 after holding positions at the UIUC library and at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. She received UIUC’s Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching in 1991, ALA’s 1993 Beta Phi … Continue reading Henderson, Kathryn Luther →

Delgadillo, Roberto Carlos

January 29, 2023

Roberto Carlos Delgadillo, student services librarian at University of California, Davis, died October 30. Delgadillo received ALA’s I Love My Librarian Award in 2012, partially in recognition of his support for students from historically underserved communities. He created a program of embedded librarianship with UC Davis’ Center for Latinx and Chicanx Academic Student Success in … Continue reading Delgadillo, Roberto Carlos →

Blackman, Betty Joan

January 29, 2023

Betty Joan Blackman, 90, a founder of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) and former ALA councilor, died October 4. Blackman served as dean of libraries at California State University, Dominguez Hills, from 1986 until her 1999 retirement. She had previously worked at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and California State … Continue reading Blackman, Betty Joan →

Erickson, Miriam

January 29, 2023

Miriam Erickson, school library media specialist at Gibraltar Secondary School in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, for 30 years until retiring in 1999, was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame November 3.

Ward, Kerry

January 29, 2023

Kerry Ward, executive director of Core and interim director of the Communications and Marketing Office, left ALA September 23.

Takeshita, Jim

January 29, 2023

October 24 Jim Takeshita joined the Public Policy and Advocacy Office as public policy associate.

Hubbard, Angela

January 29, 2023

Angela Hubbard, program officer for projects and partnerships for the Association for Library Service to Children, left ALA August 31.

Headrick, Rebecca

January 29, 2023

September 26 Rebecca Headrick started as chief information technology officer.

Bennett, Megan

January 29, 2023

Latest Library Links

1d

Genevieve Trainor writes: “The Guinness World Record holder for Most Prolific Book Thief is Ottumwa (Iowa’s) Stephen Blumberg. The 23,600 volumes he accumulated between the 1970s and his arrest in March of 1990 were all stashed in his 17-room home. Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, got involved with Blumberg as part of the FBI’s efforts to return the stolen manuscripts and rare books to their museums and libraries. Referred to as the Omaha Project, the information science proving ground involved four weeks, 44 catalogers and reference librarians and 600 volunteer hours to determine who might be the rightful owners.”

Little Village (Dubuque, Iowa), Dec. 4
1d

Casey Newton writes: “At the moment, no one knows for sure whether the large language models that are now under development will achieve superintelligence and transform the world. And in that uncertainty, two primary camps of criticism have emerged. The first camp, which I associate with the external critics, holds that artificial intelligence (AI) is fake and sucks. The second camp, which I associate more with the internal critics, believes that AI is real and dangerous. Today I want to lay out why I believe AI is real and dangerous.”

Platformer, Dec. 5
2d

Latia Ward writes: “One way to keep current with what students think of the library and its services is through Student Library Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are a way to gather feedback and reinforce the library as a welcoming place. How do librarians create a welcoming environment within Student Library Advisory Committee meetings? Librarians create a welcoming environment through community, purpose, and dedicated space.” Also see part 1 of this blog post.

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 13, Dec. 5
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Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
3d

Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
3d

Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
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Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9

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