Michigan schools without librarians risk state aid

Brian Reattoir, Brimley Area Schools superintendent

School districts in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are reeling after the state sent them a memo that means some schools have to close their libraries. The Department of Education memo sent to school districts on February 8, says school libraries operating without fully certified librarians could lose out on school aid. The school in unincorporated Brimley, Michigan, said the memo came as a complete surprise and it might be a while before they can figure out what to do next.

WWTV, Cadillac, Michigan, Feb. 12

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Melissa Breyer writes: “With so many of the planet’s amazing organisms falling victim to extinction—thanks, humans!—it’s heartening to see that new species continue to be discovered. It is these previously unknown-to-science species that star in each year’s Top 10 New Species list created by the College of Environmental Science and Forestry. This year marks the 11th for the list, which is compiled by ESF’s International Institute for Species Exploration.”

TreeHugger, May 23
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The ALCTS board of directors has endorsed “Core Competencies for Acquisitions Professionals,” developed by the Education Committee of the ALCTS Acquisitions Section. The document outlines competencies that are needed across the span of an individual’s professional career to perform acquisitions functions. The intended audience includes students and new practitioners as well as managers and administrators who specialize or manage acquisitions functions in any library setting.

ALCTS, May 23
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Brian Boone and Jenny Nelson write: “Books are very important to comedy, and historically they’ve been the one medium that takes comedy as importantly as it should be taken, in terms of its history, execution, theory, and practice. Here then are 90 comedy and comedy-related titles—memoirs, fiction, essay collections, interviews, and TV tie-ins—that a student of comedy simply must include.”

Vulture, May 22
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Allison Marsh writes: “During the 1870s and 1880s, inventors filed more than a dozen patent applications in the US for electrical improvements to letter boxes. But why did mailboxes and letter slots, surely among the simplest mechanical devices, have to be electrified? It was primarily a matter of convenience, for people who wanted to know exactly when the mail had arrived and didn’t want to waste time checking. Many of the electric letter boxes worked by closing a battery-powered circuit when the postman deposited letters in the box.”

IEEE Spectrum, May 23
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Olga Tokarczuk has become the first Polish writer to win the £50,000 Man Booker International Prize, which goes to the best work of translated fiction from anywhere in the world. It will be shared equally with her English translator Jennifer Croft. In her novel Flights, Tokarczuk meditates on travel and human anatomy, moving between stories about the Dutch anatomist who discovered the Achilles tendon when dissecting his own amputated leg, and the tale of Chopin’s heart as his sister transported it from Paris to Warsaw.

The Guardian (UK), May 22
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Rebecca Slocum writes: “Recently, Oregon Battle of the Books released its reading list for the 2018–2019 school year. On this list is the award-winning middle grade novel George by Alex Gino. The story centers around a young transgender child, George, who was born a boy but knows she is a girl. Many parents in Oregon have taken issue with this selection, saying that the book is not appropriate for the grade level for which it was chosen. Let’s first take a look at the battle of the books competition.”

Intellectual Freedom Blog, May 22
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Carrie Russell writes: “On May 22, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted unanimously to send the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (S.2559) to the full Senate for a vote. If passed by two-thirds of the Senate, the legislation will go to the president for final signature. For more than 10 years, the Library Copyright Alliance and other associations representing the print disabled have worked to increase the availability of accessible reading materials for people with print disabilities.”

District Dispatch, May 22

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