Latest Library Links
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Bill Furbee writes: “Early last year when Americans were advised to stay home to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, libraries had to consider new ways to connect with the communities they serve. Most libraries already had an online presence pre-pandemic, and many offered virtual programming, providing a vital lifeline to the library for patrons sheltering in place. With such attention devoted to digital engagement, however, a new problem emerged: how to reach and support those who don’t have access to Wi-Fi, the internet, or even a device that can connect online.”
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The Library of Congress has acquired audio diaries featuring more than 200 frontline healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19, a collection that provides first-hand testimonies from hospitals and communities across the country as the public health crisis unfolded. The audio library was donated by The Nocturnists, a San Francisco-based independent medical storytelling community and podcast. The majority of the recordings were originally collected for the “Stories from a Pandemic” series in the spring of 2020, of which only a small fraction was published on the podcast and accompanying online story map.
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Carrie Smith writes: “Gardening has become more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, with seed companies seeing unprecedented demand and some popular seed varieties selling out. Seed libraries have been popping up across the US since the early 2000s, and one Girl Scout, Alicia Serratos, has helped start more than 100 such libraries in the past year. Serratos, 14, is an environmental activist and founder of Three Sisters Seed Box, a program that mails free seed library starter kits with instructions, organic vegetable seed packets, label sticks, and envelopes to return new seeds at the end of the season. American Libraries talked with Serratos about her activism, environmental stewardship, and why libraries are a great place to share seeds.”
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Meredith Farkas writes: “When I started writing for American Libraries in 2007, my column was part of a newly redesigned magazine that had a goal of increasing its technology coverage. I worked in a small rural library in Vermont at the time, and my Technology in Practice column would focus on sharing simple, low-cost technology success stories that most libraries could replicate. I wrote a lot about using social media in libraries when these platforms were in their infancies, long before they became tools of polarization and disinformation. So much has changed since then.”
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Jessica Hilbun Schwartz writes: “The approach of Father’s Day has got me thinking about dads in literature. You’ve got your classics like Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, and Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. But what about dads in contemporary YA? Here’s a short list of some of my favorite fathers in teen literature.”
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In a June 6 statement, We Need Diverse Books announced it would no longer be using the term #OwnVoices to refer to children’s literature or its authors. WNDB will use specific descriptions that authors use for themselves and their characters whenever possible, such as “Korean American author” or “autistic protagonist.” #OwnVoices was created as a hashtag by author Corinne Duyvis in September 2015 as a shorthand book recommendation tool in a Twitter thread and was never intended to be used broadly, the statement said.
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Nathan Newman writes: “For many families and schools, ebooks were a lifeline to keep kids reading during lockdown. Total numbers of digital books borrowed from libraries hit 289 million in 2020—a 33% increase over 2019. That makes the feisty public library the main challenger to Amazon, which almost completely monopolizes private sales of ebooks and sold 487,000 in 2020. But there is a giant problem.”
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On June 2, a group of DC Public Schools librarians gathered outside the John A. Wilson building, where Mayor Muriel Bowser has an office, for a protest. At the “read in,” each librarian grabbed a book and read in silence. The protest had two main goals: to appeal to the DC Council to help improve the literacy rates of students by reducing class sizes and using collaborative teaching models, and to make sure every DCPS school has a full-time librarian.
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June 19 is the date when Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the US, is observed each year. The holiday is also sometimes called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. In our June issue’s By the Numbers feature, we have stats celebrating Juneteenth and the Black authors who uphold the tradition.
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Officials at a Louisiana jail reacted reasonably to the COVID-19 pandemic by taking away printed books and giving inmates tablets on which they could read books instead, a federal judge has ruled. Magistrate Judge Janis van Meerveld dismissed Terrebonne Parish jail inmate James Robert Pitre’s lawsuit claiming that his constitutional rights were violated when his Bible and other books were taken. The Bible was available on his tablet, and he got one of his printed Bibles back after one day, van Meerveld said. She also noted that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised using digital rather than printed materials if possible.
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Rebecca Rego Barry writes: “Marlon Brando’s personal library of 3,000+ books, headed to auction in Los Angeles on June 8, shows a broad-minded and attentive reader, in subjects spanning art, literature, psychology, politics, and more, with notes (“Horseshit!”) often scribbled in the margins. Most of Brando’s books will be offered in themed lots containing dozens or hundreds of books in each. As one would expect, his library boasts a fair amount of books inscribed to him by the author or presented to him by celebrity friends.”
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