Bookend: The World on a String | American Libraries Magazine

When Greg Hall and Morgan Matens met and fell in love as graduate students over a dozen years ago (he was studying library science; she was studying set design), they had no idea they’d wind up working together. Hall is now children’s librarian at Nashville Public Library (NPL), where Matens is a puppeteer with Wishing Chair Productions, NPL’s in-house puppetry troupe. Sheltering in place together, the couple has collaborated on weekly Facebook videos that bring NPL’s puppets to families across the country. The runaway hit so far is the music video “Curbside Baby,” set to Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” and featuring a DJ mouse who raps instructions for curbside library services.

American Libraries Bookend, Sept./Oct.

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Free for All: The Public Library, a new documentary “the evolution of public libraries from their revolutionary beginnings to their role today as essential pillars of democracy, education, and community support,” will premiere on Independent Lens on PBS April 29. PBS Books is hosting an in-depth discussion with filmmakers Dawn Logsdon and Lucie Faulknor, and ALA President Cindy Hohl, on Facebook, YouTube, and the PBS app today, April 23, at 8 p.m. Eastern.

PBS Books
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Rosie Newmark writes: “On January 7, as local officials issued fire warnings for the area, Altadena (Calif.) Library District (ALD) closed early to let staff evacuate. About an hour later, at 6:18 p.m., the Eaton Fire erupted in the nearby Los Angeles County foothills. While many of the buildings and houses surrounding the library were destroyed, Altadena Main Library was not damaged. Still, the Main Library required cleanup from debris and smoke, and the building was without power, water, and internet for weeks. On March 4, ALD’s Main Library reopened its doors.”

AL: The Scoop, Apr. 22, Jan. 22
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ALA’s Games & Gaming Round Table (GameRT) has announced the second cohort of classic titles to be included in its Platinum Play Award Hall of Fame. These titles were selected by GameRT’s Awards Committee based on their historic and ongoing excellence for library use, whether in collections or programs. Classic titles are over 10 years old, and many are evergreen selections whether at home or in a library context. Honorees include Uno, Zork, Ticket to Ride, and others.

ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, Apr. 16
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Applications are now being accepted for two ALA Endowment Trustee positions. All applicants must submit an electronic application, as well as upload a CV and three references. Applications will be reviewed by the current ALA Endowment Trustees, who will make recommendations to the ALA Executive Board, which will make final selections at ALA’s 2025 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. The selected applicants will immediately begin a three-year term, which will expire after the ALA’s 2028 Annual Conference. The deadline is April 30.

ALA Governance Office, Apr. 4
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“Lisa Varga became associate executive director of ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office in Washington, D.C., on April 21. Before joining ALA, she spent 15 years as executive director of the Virginia Library Association. Varga has been an ALA member for 20 years and has served on the ALA Policy Corps, Intellectual Freedom Committee, Intellectual Freedom Summit steering committee, ALA Leadership Institute, and Chapter Relations Committee. She answered our 11 Questions to introduce herself to ALA members.”

AL: The Scoop, Apr. 21
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Rebecca Kheel writes: “A dozen students at Defense Department grade schools across the globe are suing the department after books were removed from libraries, school yearbooks were allegedly censored, and class curriculums were sanitized to implement President Donald Trump’s anti-diversity and anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders. Alleging First Amendment violations, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit April 15 against the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) and the Pentagon on behalf of 12 students in pre-K through 11th grade from six military families who attend schools on bases in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan. Trump administration book bans at Pentagon institutions have not been isolated to the DoDEA. The Naval Academy recently pulled nearly 400 books from its libraries, and the Associated Press reported that the libraries at West Point and the Air Force Academy have also been directed to review their collections for any books to remove.
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Marjorie Henderson and Taren Urquhart write: “Over the past few decades, the decline in bee populations worldwide from human activity and climate change has led to efforts to mitigate the threat. West Vancouver (B.C.) Memorial Library is making a beeline toward innovation with its unique Mason Bee House Lending Program. Since 2022, patrons have been able to support the health of the local ecosystem by borrowing colonies to care for at home.”

American Libraries Trend, Mar./Apr.

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