Latest Library Links
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Just a few years ago the Madison (Wis.) Public Library was collection-focused, with high circulation but a low capacity for making connections with its community. Michael Spelman, library manager at the MPL’s Central Library, and with community engagement librarians Laura Damon-Moore and Kylee Stoor, explained one key initiative in the process of reorienting the library toward community-led initiatives.
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An impromptu musical performance took place at the “Out and Proud: LGBTQ Literature” program on Saturday, prompting one panelist to declare the gathering an “extreme gay act.” During their talk at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference, the four authors on the panel—Joseph Cassara, Sophie Yanow, Rakesh Satyal, and Eileen Myles—talked about protest, AIDS during the 1980s, and culture.
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LLAMA’s Technology Committee of Practice held a session on Sunday morning that addressed the overdue question: “To Fine, or Not to Fine?” Four panelists of varying backgrounds explained how their libraries ultimately chose to do away with fines for overdue materials and how the policy was put into place. Kara Kohn of the Plainfield (Ill.) Public Library District described the fine-free initiative that some libraries in Illinois have adopted.
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“Why not low tech?” asked Tiffany Baglier, education librarian at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She was speaking about gaming and library instruction on Sunday. Baglier and her colleague, associate university librarian Michelle Leonard, have developed a simple card game called Keywords to Mastery to help their students connect the right keywords to topics and find appropriate library resources. This interactive session, sponsored by the ALA Games and Gaming Round Table, introduced Keywords to Mastery to attendees, who were broken up into groups of six to play. -
Dover (Del.) Public Library’s path to constructing a new building was a winding one. “Our project actually began in 1998,” says Director Margery Cyr. Instead of expanding its original facility, the library determined in 2003 that it would be “wiser” to build a new structure in a different area of Delaware’s capital. What followed was a failed referendum, the process of getting city advocates on board, narrowing location options from a list of 26 to one final city-owned site, shelving a joint-use concept in favor of moving to a county library system, and securing mixed methods of funding.
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Differentiating between a legitimate news story and one that has been generated to mislead and contains biases or errors can be difficult, especially in an era where social media and news outlets inundate readers with content at ever-increasing rates. What can be trusted, and how can we be responsible news consumers? Joanna Burkhardt began the session “Helping Library Users Navigate Fake News” by documenting infamous instances of fake news from the past.
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Athina Livanos-Propst writes: “There are days when all the plans work. I love those days. This was pointedly not one of them. I had carefully planned out sessions that I wanted to get to today. It was a lovely mix of things that would have been helpful for my own particular niche library. However, when I went to check the meeting room for my first session of the day, I learned that it was not at the conference center, but one of the satellite hotels instead.”
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LITA’s annual Top Technology Trends panel presents the current and future technology that will be affecting library services for years to come. This year’s session included perspectives from resource sharing (Veronda Pitchford), public libraries (Emily Almond), library consultants (Marshall Breeding), European libraries (Vanessa Hannesschläger), and academic libraries (Tara Radniecki). Here are some helpful tips Radniecki shared regarding managing makerspaces.
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Author Gavriel Savit, narrator Allan Corduner, and producer Orli Moscowitz spoke at the Chapter One Stage about the 2017 Odyssey Award Winner Anna and the Swallow Man. The Odyssey Award is presented each year by YALSA to the producer of the best audiobook available in English in the US and produced for children or young adults. When asked about the origin of Anna, Savit recalled a conversation between his niece and his brother-in-law.
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Rebecca Stavick, executive director of Do Space, shared her philosophy on how to run a successful tech space. Do Space is a community technology library in Omaha, Nebraska, that believes in empowering the community through access to technology and innovative learning experiences. She began with a focus on leadership and communication.
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ALA President Julie B. Todaro called the first Council meeting to order at 8:30 Sunday morning. ALA Past President Courtney Young provided an update on the ALA Executive Director Search Committee. An ALA Statement on Global Climate Change and a Call for Support from Libraries and Librarians (CD#41) passed as amended.
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How do the principles of intellectual freedom and open access intersect? That was the topic of the “Intellectual Freedom and Open Access: Working Toward a Common Goal?” panel discussion, sponsored by the Intellectual Freedom Round Table, which addressed the relationship from several different perspectives. Marguerite Avery, senior acquisitions editor at Trinity University Press in San Antonio, Texas, spoke from a publisher’s point of view.
