Molly Shannon named National Library Week spokesperson

On January 20, the American Library Association (ALA) announced that actor, comedian, and former Saturday Night Live cast member Molly Shannon will be honorary chair of National Library Week (April 3–9, 2022). “My mom was a librarian. She encouraged kids to read. So the work of librarians and libraries has such a special place in my heart,” Shannon said in a statement. Shannon will appear at ALA’s LibLearnX conference on January 23 and will release her memoir, Hello, Molly!, in April.

ALA, Jan. 20

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Alex Cabrero writes: “Back to school means back to lessons for students at Mona Elementary in Juab County, Utah, who were able to see their new library for the first time. However, perhaps the biggest lesson students learned is why the library looks so new.” While a grant funded new safety doors for the library, there was no money to replace old shelves and furnishings. “Students wrote letters to local businesses and people in the community explaining why they needed the money,” and raised $41,900 to make improvements.

KSL-TV (Salt Lake City), Sept. 13
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Pankil Shah writes: “While Excel’s auto-formatting feature helps tidy up your data, it can also unintentionally alter your intended formatting. If you’re annoyed with Excel constantly changing your numbers to percentages or dates or applying unwanted formatting, here are a couple of ways to disable the auto-formatting feature.”

MakeUseOf, Sept. 11
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ALA’s Nominating Committee has announced a deadline extension for completing the Candidate Biographical Form necessary to become a candidate for the positions of president-elect, treasurer, or councilor at large in the spring 2025 ALA election. Any ALA members interested in being considered for candidacy for these positions now have until September 30 to complete the form. Elected candidates will serve for three years, from 2025–2028; the elected presidential candidate will serve one year each as president-elect, president, and immediate past president during that period.

ALA Governance Office, Sept. 17
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Douglas Soule writes: “Facing a federal lawsuit with accusations of unconstitutional censorship, a Florida school board has agreed to place books it banned back on library shelves as part of an out-of-court settlement. In total, 36 books will be returned in the Nassau County School District, according to a settlement agreement signed September 11. They range from classics like Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini to And Tango Makes Three, a children’s picture book about a same-sex penguin pair.”

Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat, Sept. 12, July 24
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Becky Siegel Spratford writes: “I am constantly correcting people—educated people, library users, readers—who think that when we buy a book for the library we get it in all formats for one price. They assume we pay slightly more [for electronic formats] than them, but they think for that price we get all those copies they see in our collections. We need to work on how we communicate this issue to our card holders. So how can we share this complex issue more easily?”

RA for All, Sept. 11
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Chris Lewis writes: “For my generation and generations before us, the public library was an equalizing force in every town, helping anyone move toward the American dream. A ruling in Hachette v. Internet Archive has just thrown that promise of equality into doubt by limiting libraries’ access to controlled digital lending (CDL). On September 4, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals [affirmed a lower court’s decision that CDL through the National Emergency Library was not fair use.] If the courts won’t recognize CDL-based library lending as fair use, then the next step falls to Congress.”

MIT Technology Review, Sept. 11
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“Hispanic Heritage Month honors the contributions and influence of Hispanic and Latine Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States, and is celebrated from September 15 to October 15 annually. Check out these recent releases from authors of Hispanic or Latine background!”

Seattle Public Library, September

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