Libraries as a safe space for transgender youth in an election year

Project Thrive logo Ted Lewis writes: “This semester will likely be extra difficult for LGBTQ+ youth and particularly transgender youth, as their very identities are up for debate in the presidential election. Libraries and librarians can make the difference in the lives of their transgender students by being the safe place and affirming adults that these youth desperately need. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Project THRIVE [of which the American Association of School Librarians is a partner] has created the 2024 Back-to-School Checklist that features best practices and policies to support LGBTQ+ and particularly transgender students.”

Knowledge Quest, Oct. 10

Latest Library Links

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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) of the American Library Association is pleased to announce its second cohort of classic titles to be included in the Hall of Fame for its Platinum Play Award (the “Platy”). 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 ten 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 the 2025 ALA Annual Conference in Philadelphia. The selected applicants will begin serving a three-year term, which will expire after the 2028 ALA Annual Conference, immediately upon notification of their selection. The deadline for submission of applications has been extended until Wednesday, 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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Ada EZach Knippen writes: “In honor of National Library Week, teachers and staff [at Ada (Ohio) Exempted Village Schools] cooperated on a fun event for their students. Teachers volunteered to be a ‘Masked Reader’ and picked a book to read in their mask, and just like the show The Masked Singer, their voices were modified so the students couldn’t easily guess them. ‘I’ve heard kids of all ages, I’m saying kindergarten through 12th grade, who have just been chattering this week about the videos that they saw and guessing who they were,’ said District Librarian Chanda Smith.”

WLIO-TV (Lima, Ohio), Apr. 10

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