Archives

Glimpse, Willie

June 1, 2018

Willie Glispie, development coordinator and Governance Office senior administrative assistant, left ALA April 5.

Julian, Jeff

June 1, 2018

Jeff Julian, director of the Public Awareness Office, left ALA April 6.

McGuigan, Amy

June 1, 2018

Conference Manager Amy McGuigan left ALA March 22.

Rosenberg, Gail

June 1, 2018

Gail L. Rosenberg, 81, inaugural director of Infolink Regional Library Cooperative, the first multitype regional cooperative in New Jersey, from 1985–1998, died August 12. She had previously served as director of Metuchen Public Library and as extension services librarian at Hunterdon County (N.J.) Library.

Norris, Doris

June 1, 2018

Doris Ann Norris, 77, director of Kaubsich Memorial Public Library in Fostoria, Ohio, until her 2002 retirement, died March 8.

Murfin, Marjorie

June 1, 2018

Marjorie Murfin, 87, reference librarian and professor at Ohio State University in Columbus until her 2002 retirement, died February 26.

Miller, Elizabeth

June 1, 2018

Elizabeth B. Miller, 71, a faculty member at the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science for 18 years, died January 31. Miller was the author of several editions of The Internet Resource Directory for K–12 Teachers and Librarians and served as a member of the Association of Library Service to Children’s Carnegie … Continue reading Miller, Elizabeth →

Margolis, Bernard

June 1, 2018

Bernard Margolis, 69, New York State librarian and assistant commissioner for libraries since 2009, died April 14. Remembered as an advocate for state and federal support for library programs and services, he had previously served as president of Boston Public Library from 1997–2008, director and CEO of Pikes Peak Library District in Colorado Springs, Colorado, … Continue reading Margolis, Bernard →

Biblo, Herbert

June 1, 2018

Herbert Biblo, 93, executive director of the Long Island (N.Y.) Library Resources Council (LILRC) for 35 years until retiring last year, died in March. Biblo was American Library Association (ALA) Treasurer from 1980–1984 and had been active in ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table since the 1970s. Biblo led the creation of legislative breakfasts in Nassau … Continue reading Biblo, Herbert →

Robinson, Alice

June 1, 2018

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.

Edwards, Mary

June 1, 2018

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.

Swader, Lorelle

June 1, 2018

Lorelle Swader was promoted to associate executive director, ALA Offices and Member Relations and ALA–Allied Professional Association March 26.

Latest Library Links

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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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