Archives

Bromley, Elizabeth

November 3, 2014

Elizabeth Bromley was promoted to director of Oconomowoc (Wis.) Public Library effective September 15.

Mols, Frank

November 3, 2014

Frank Mols, 64, director of the Vernon and Doris Bishop Library at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, died August 14. Prior to joining the college, he served in several roles at Binghamton (N.Y.) University over nearly 20 years; head of cataloging and database control at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia; processing director and … Continue reading Mols, Frank →

Cain, Vanessa

November 3, 2014

Vanessa Cain recently joined McIver's Grant Public Library in Dyersburg, Tennessee, as children's librarian.

Sirochman, Casey

November 3, 2014

Casey Sirochman left as director of Carnegie Free Library of Connellsville (Pa.) August 15 to become a librarian at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Ruffin, Ingrid

November 3, 2014

Ingrid Ruffin became student success librarian for first year programs at the University of Tennessee Libraries in Knoxville August 1.

Sandelli, Anna

November 3, 2014

August 1 Anna Sandelli joined the University of Tennessee Libraries in Knoxville as student success librarian for undergraduate user experience.

Farmer, Hannah

November 3, 2014

August 26 Hannah Farmer started as youth services librarian at Seguin (Tex.) Public Library.

Haley, Erin

November 3, 2014

Erin Haley became director of Payette (Idaho) Public Library August 25.

Caruso, Diane

November 3, 2014

Southwick (Mass.) Public Library promoted Diane Caruso to director August 28.

O’Connor, Mike

November 3, 2014

Mike O'Connor retired August 1 after 40 years as reference librarian at Marathon County (Wis.) Public Library.

Pfeifer, RuthAnn

November 3, 2014

RuthAnn F. Pfeifer, 87, leader of the Germanic Team of the History and Literature Cataloging Division at the Library of Congress, died July 29 after a heart ailment. She worked at the Library of Congress from 1966 until her 1992 retirement, and received many awards for her contributions to the Library's Shared Cataloging program.

Kirkland, Ann

November 3, 2014

Ann E. Kirkland, a state library consultant at the California State Library from 1967 to 1989, died in August. She had previously served as a branch librarian at San Diego Public Library and staff librarian for the 4th Air Force, the 15th Air Force, and the Army Library Service. Her library won the John Cotton … Continue reading Kirkland, Ann →

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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