How librarians keep kids learning during the pandemic

Christopher Egusa writes: “Oakland Public Library is open for curbside pickup, but its doors remain shut. So what happens to families and kids who depend on libraries for more than books? In this installment of The Essentials, meet a children’s librarian who is working to preserve what makes the library so special.“

KALW-FM San Francisco, Sept. 17

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Tony Phillips writes: “Microsoft Excel has hundreds of tools and functions, meaning it’s quite easy to overlook some of the most useful ones. In this guide, I’ll share four lesser-known, hidden tricks that could transform how you use the popular spreadsheet software.” The explainer covers Goal Seek for long-term planning, the Camera tool for taking data snapshots, data groups for managing large datasets, and custom number formats for quick data visualization.

How-To Geek, May 28
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Brett Oppegaard, Talea Anderson, and Suzanne James-Bacon write: “A recent Department of Justice final ruling established that government agencies will be required to go beyond simple alt-text descriptions in the suddenly near future and to provide instead what the spirit of the law always has recommended, which was equivalent or comparable access to information. To proactively respond to this upcoming reckoning, we have documented one library’s process for incorporating audio description [the preferred remediation process] into a sample image collection.”

College and Research Libraries News, Vol 86, No. 6 (June)
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Jenni Diaz Garcia writes: “For weeks as a new library worker, I smiled through the fear of feeling constantly a few paces behind. Around the two-month mark, something shifted. I finally had enough context to stop feeling lost and enough confidence to start asking the important questions: Where is this position going? Can it evolve into something else? What does growth look like here, for me? Feeling steady didn’t mean I had all the answers, but it meant I had space to start shaping them.” After a year on the job, Diaz Garcia shares the top lessons she’s learned.

NMRT Notes, June 2
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Anne Ford writes: “Since founding the Internet Archive in 1996, Brewster Kahle has helped preserve nearly three decades of digital history—along with millions of books, audio recordings, videos, images, and software programs. But in 2023, four major publishers successfully sued the Archive, forcing it to remove their copyrighted books from its digital lending library. Now the Archive is under attack again, as a music industry copyright infringement lawsuit against it seeks nearly $700 million in damages related to the Archive’s Great 78 preservation initiative. We discuss with Kahle the lawsuit, the Archive’s future, and the developments making him feel ‘very encouraged.’”

AL Online, June 4
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Lisa Varga writes: “Spring may be over, but library lovers have sprung forward to support federal funding for libraries—and members of Congress are responding positively. Amid headline-grabbing chaos in the federal government, including President Trump’s efforts to wipe out federal funding for libraries, behind-the-scenes work is progressing in Congress to secure funding for libraries in fiscal year 2026. Here’s how the budget process works, how library supporters pitched in during April and May to help ALA achieve its goals, and what to do next to help the Association support libraries across the country.”

AL: The Scoop, June 3
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On June 3, ALA announced $10,000 Building Library Capacity Grants to 16 libraries across the country to serve new Americans. The grants are supported through a three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation. Each year has focused on helping add capacity to different segments of the library community. The grants are intended to bolster library operations and services including literacy and other skill development, developing collections, staffing, expanding outreach, and maintaining and amplifying existing service strategies or adding new ones to make an impact.

ALA Chapter Relations Office, June 3
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Tommaso Bardelli, Sindy Lopez, Tammy Ortiz, and Laura Brown write: “America’s prisons and jails are information deserts. Restrictions on internet access, combined with limited library services and widespread censorship of both print and digital materials, severely restrict incarcerated individuals’ connection to the outside world. Legal information is no exception. Although access to legal information is a constitutionally mandated right, incarcerated people face significant—and often insurmountable—barriers to exercising that right. In this project that was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, we examine the national landscape of legal access in prison.”

Ithaka S+R, May 29

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