Archives

Day, Emily

March 11, 2020

November 4 Emily Day joined Conference Services as conference content manager.

Deutsch, Larry

March 11, 2020

Larry Deutsch, communications manager for the Public Library Association, left ALA January 15

Hunter, Donna

March 11, 2020

October 30 Conference Services promoted Donna Hunter to conference marketing specialist.

Kaiko, Megan

March 11, 2020

Megan Kaiko was promoted to conference planner in Conference Services October 30.

Murphy, Chris

March 11, 2020

ALA Editions/Neal-Schuman Publisher Chris Murphy retired January 3.

Barbus, Colleen

March 11, 2020

Colleen Barbus became ALA’s librarian and archivist December 2.

Simon, Lindsey

March 11, 2020

CMO promoted Lindsey Simon to content strategy manager November 4.

Stoll, Susana

March 11, 2020

Susana Stoll became associate director of the Office for Accreditation in December.

Chase, Nancy

March 11, 2020

Nancy “Nan” Ellen Chase, 72, a librarian at West Bend (Wis.) Public Library from 1997 until her 2012 retirement, died November 5. She had previously worked at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Sullivan, Michael

March 11, 2020

Michael E. Sullivan, 52, director of Weare (N.H.) Public Library, died December 10. During his tenure, the library filled the void left when the town’s only newspaper went out of business, creating Weare in the World, a weekly newsletter of local events and information. Sullivan was the author of the ALA Editions books Fundamentals of … Continue reading Sullivan, Michael →

Thomas, Felton

March 11, 2020

Cleveland Magazine named Cleveland Public Library Executive Director Felton Thomas Jr. its 2019 Community Leader of the Year.

Daniel, Evelyn

March 11, 2020

Evelyn Daniel, 86, dean and professor emerita at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School oflnformation and Library Science (SILS), died November 24. During her five-year tenure as dean, the school added two degrees and increased the amount of funded research. She received the SILS Award for Teaching Excellence in 1999 and 2009, the … Continue reading Daniel, Evelyn →

Latest Library Links

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Year-end “best of” lists are a common phenomenon, and many libraries have created lists of staff or patron picks of their favorite reads of the year. See staff picks from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Seattle Public Library, Kent (Mich.) District Library, Los Angeles Public Library, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Farmington (Conn.) Libraries, and King County (Wash.) Library System. Seattle Public Library and Kent (Mich.) District Library have also released lists of patron favorites

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Dec. 11; Seattle Public Library; Kent (Mich.) District Library, Nov. 20, Dec. 13; Los Angeles Public Library, Dec. 16; New York Public Library, Nov. 26; Chicago Public Library, Nov. 18; Farmington (Conn.) Libraries, Dec. 6; King County (Wash.) Library System; Seattle Times, Dec. 17
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The Library of Congress announced 25 additions to the National Film Registry December 17. The new selections date back nearly 130 years and include a diverse group of films, filmmakers, and Hollywood landmarks. The selections range from Annabelle Serpentine Dance, a silent film created to entice audiences at the dawn of cinema in 1895 to the 2010 film The Social Network. Films are selected for their cultural, historic, or aesthetic importance, and this year’s selections bring the number of films in the registry to 900.

Library of Congress, Dec. 17
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Douglas Soule writes: “To support some of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ most prominent and controversial K–12 education laws, Florida has agreed to spend millions of dollars on a service it says is a tool for transparency. But free expression advocates warn it could be a vehicle for censorship. In a contract signed this September, the Florida Department of Education agreed to pay up to $15.6 million over four years to Maryland-based education technology company Trinity Education Group. The company has been tapped to develop a ‘statewide, centralized, easily accessible’ system for people to review and even object to instructional materials and library books in Florida school districts.”

Tallahassee Democrat, Dec. 12
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Olivia Olander and Jeremy Gorner write: “Starting this year, public libraries in Illinois had a choice: Adopt principles against book banning or give up state grants. [About 40] school districts, many of them in deeply conservative areas of south and central Illinois, appear to have taken the latter option. Administrators at some of those districts acknowledged being concerned about giving up any measure of control on what books are allowed on their schools’ library shelves. Some 700 school districts statewide have regularly applied for state library grant funding in the last two years.”

Chicago Tribune, Dec. 8
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Despina Gerasimidou and Maela Rakočević Uvodić write: “Displaced persons are scattered all over the world looking for the safest place for them and their families to settle and when they move to a new country are faced with legal, cultural, educational, and economic challenges, while in need of information, guidance, and support. The new IFLA Guidelines for Libraries Supporting Displaced Persons showcase how libraries can champion their core mission for universal and equitable access to information, ideas, and works of imagination, aiming at social, educational, cultural, democratic, and economic well-being.”

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Dec. 16
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Rebecca Bryant writes: “In 2021, the University of Calgary Libraries in Alberta launched a multilingual reference chatbot by leveraging a commercial product that combines a large language model with retrieval-augmented generation technology. The chatbot is trained on the library’s own web content, including LibGuides and operating hours, and is accessed from the library’s website. Before launch, the implementation team estimated that the chatbot could answer 14%–24% of reference chat questions, but today the chatbot answers about 50% of all questions with a rating of at least 4/5.”

Hanging Together, Dec. 12
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Chase Ollis writes: “On December 16, ALA announced 10 recipients of the 2025 I Love My Librarian Award, nominated by library users for their expertise, dedication, and impact in their communities. Four academic librarians, three public librarians, and three school librarians were selected to receive the 2025 award. ALA received nearly 1,300 nominations from library users across the country. Nominations highlighted librarians’ outstanding service in expanding access to literacy and library services, outreach to their communities, and supporting the needs of the most vulnerable. Each honoree will receive a $5,000 cash prize and complimentary registration and a travel stipend to attend ALA’s LibLearnX conference in Phoenix.”

AL: The Scoop, Dec. 17

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