Anita Schiller, 94, librarian emerita at University of California, San Diego, and an ALA honorary member, died January 23. Schiller’s 1968 study “Characteristics of Professional Personnel in College and University Librar-ies” was an influential effort to document and address inequities between men and women in librarianship, which she continued through salary surveys, research, and speaking … Continue reading Schiller, Anita
Judy Yung, 74, a librarian for the Chinatown branch of San Francisco Public Library and the Asian branch of Oakland (Calif.) Public Library, died December 14. After her library career, she entered academia, establishing the Asian American Studies program at University of California, Santa Cruz. She wrote 10 books on Asian American history and studies … Continue reading Yung, Judy
Jessie M. Cottman Smith, 92, retired dean of the library at Maryland State College (now University of Maryland Eastern Shore [UMES]) in Princess Anne, died December 10. She joined Maryland State in 1966 and served as the first dean of the library at UMES until her retirement in 1998. She previously had been a teacher and … Continue reading Cottman Smith, Jessie
Donald B. Simpson, 77, president of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) in Chicago from 1980 until his 1999 retirement, died April 5, 2020. He had previously worked at the State Library of Ohio and the Bibliographical Center for Research in Aurora, Colorado. With CRL, he managed two major building construction projects and wrote and edited … Continue reading Simpson, Donald
Only a few minor acquisitions took place in this deeply consolidated industry last year. Unlike in 2019, none of these transactions altered the overall balance of power among competitors. Vendors made extraordinary efforts to help customer libraries cope with changed services while they continued product development agendas looking beyond current circumstances. Responses to the crisis … Continue reading 2021 Library Systems Report
Even before COVID-19 struck early last year, the LIS job market was a competitive one. Now, with the pandemic’s one-year anniversary behind us, the employment landscape for librarians has become even rockier and more unstable for entry-level candidates. At Syracuse (N.Y.) University School of Information Studies, for instance, the job placement rate for graduating LIS … Continue reading The Library Employment Landscape
After a particularly tough rejection, she reached out to a librarian friend for moral support. “She said, ‘You have it, but, by the way, there’s this job that opened up at the last minute in my district,’ which I didn’t know about,” Vela says. “So she put my name in.” It was Vela’s 35th job … Continue reading The Virtual Job Hunt
As we’ve seen during this pandemic, stay-at-home orders and a strained economy have led to one massive need in our communities: jobs. There’s probably no better time to hold a job fair. Yet this same pandemic means that events at which large groups of people rotate in and out present a major health hazard. This … Continue reading Employment Help? It’s in the Bag
DPL’s Cultural Inclusivity Department is tasked with developing programs that help connect the library with its immigrant community. The department’s mission is to “collaborat[e] with Denver’s multicultural community to create equitable opportunities for learning, discovery, and connection.” This is done through Plaza and other intentional multicultural programming. DPL’s Plaza program has existed for more than … Continue reading Serving the Community at All Times
What do you to hope to add to the conversation around feminism? The book tells my story, which is a very long story, so young women who read it will see what happened before them, and people my age will be able to see what’s happening now, which I think is important: to be open … Continue reading Newsmaker: Isabel Allende
Monique Sugimoto, an avid bicycle commuter—and archivist and librarian for Palos Verdes Library District’s (PVLD) Local History Center—enjoys pairing her expertise in the region’s past with her rides to work. “I’d give myself these little tours and thought it would be cool if we did an introduction to the peninsula.” Thus, Pedal PV—a series of … Continue reading Bookend: History Rolls On
May is National Bike Month. 2008 Year that Gabriel Levinson, often described as the founding father of the present-day book bike, began riding his custom-built Haley book tricycle around Chicago’s parks to hand out free materials. He later partnered with Chicago Public Library to continue distribution. 260 Pounds of cargo, the maximum that a standard-model … Continue reading By the Numbers: National Bike Month
