Letting teens lead | American Libraries Magazine

This year isn’t the first time in recent history that teens have taken a visible role in public protests. Many of them marched in support of the DREAM Act and spoke out about immigration policy; advocated for gun control after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida; and followed environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s lead in organizing school strikes to bring attention to the climate crisis. Some librarians are using these galvanizing moments to engage teens around issues that matter to them.

American Libraries feature, Nov./Dec.

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Katherine Gregory writes: “Mississippi State University, where I work as an assistant professor and director of the Mississippi Political Collections, is part of a national network of universities that hold and steward congressional papers. But support for this stewardship is in jeopardy. With the White House’s proposed elimination of independent granting agencies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, it is unclear what money will be available for this work in the future.”

The Conversation, June 30
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Steve Tetrault writes: “In February 2024, I shared about the reintroduction of a physical library space into my middle school after five years without one. This past school year was the first September since 2018 that my middle school had a physical library space. That space came a longway in a year! In our first year of operation, our new library space increased circulation by more than 50%. It is incredible what a difference having physical access to books makes.”

Knowledge Quest, July 8; Feb. 8, 2024
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Aryssa Damron writes: “One of the joys of being a school librarian is the unsupervised fun you can get up to when given the chance, the partnerships you can make, and the adventures you can bring into your school through books. I had the unique pleasure in May of bringing author and illustrator Juana Medina in for an artist’s residency in partnership with An Open Book Foundation. After 12 classes over four days, my 2nd graders and I feel filled with adventure and creativity.”

ALSC Blog, July 6
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Kate Heston writes: “A federal grant that allowed the Flathead County (Mont.) Library to loan out internet hotspots dried up this week, and library trustees appear disinclined to continue the program. The hotspots first became available in 2020 via a Digital Competitive Grant from the National Telecommunication and Information Administration [which ended June 30]. Continuing the hotspot program struck Flathead County Library Board Trustee Doug Adams as inappropriate. ‘I am philosophically opposed to expanding welfare programs at any level of government,’ Adams said at the board’s June 26 meeting. ‘That’s exactly what this is.’”

Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, Mont.), July 1
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“On July 7, the Mellon Foundation announced the appointment of Carla Hayden as a senior fellow. Hayden will pursue scholarship, writing, and research projects while also serving as a strategic partner and counsel, working in collaboration with Foundation leadership and staff. She will advise on opportunities to support and advance libraries, archives, and other organizations in the public knowledge ecosystem. Hayden’s year-long appointment comes as libraries and public knowledge institutions navigating both historic challenges and transformative advances, including artificial intelligence and digital technologies, the need to ensure equitable access to information, decreasing federal funds for libraries, and escalating censorship efforts.”

Mellon Foundation, July 7
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Oguz Kayra writes: “An ancient marvel, unique in design and history, is being unearthed in the heart of southwest Türkiye. Archaeologists working in Stratonikeia, a vast ancient city located in Muğla Province and listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List, have uncovered significant portions of a rare Roman-era library, shedding light on the intellectual and architectural grandeur of the time. Nestled at the intersection of four major streets in the city center, the library was originally constructed during the Hellenistic period and later redesigned in the Roman era.”

Arkeonews, June 24
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Jessica K. Anderson and Yan Quan Liu write: “Public libraries are institutions that connect individuals with resources. However, not all patrons see themselves reflected in the selected books, and others struggle to discover relevant results in the catalog due to outdated or problematic search terms. Two emerging strategies to address these issues are diversity audits and critical cataloging. Although there is substantial literature on both individually, there is a lack of studies examining the relationship between the two. Our aim was to identify choices among libraries that have conducted collection audits to reveal patterns that can inform institutions with similar needs.”

Library Resources & Technical Services, vol. 69, no. 3, July

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