September is National Library Card Signup Month. In celebration of this initiative and five Omaha (Neb.) Public Library branches reopening September 21, check out these staff-recommended books about libraries and librarians. Find them and more at omahalibrary.org.
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Escape rooms in libraries are popular activities for families, providing free, interactive entertainment for people of all ages. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has put most in-person library programs on hold. Some librarians have found creative ways to safely continue the fun during the pandemic. McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, has set up a no-touch, outdoor escape room that community members can enjoy while maintaining social distancing.
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Susan Shapiro writes: “Despite spiking coronavirus cases on university campuses across the country, everyone I knew hated remote learning. I could see why. It has certainly been my weirdest work experience in a quarter-century teaching college. I worked on a computer all day, so I’d taken the professorship to interact with live humans. What changed the tone was asking everyone to say where they were now and how they were holding up during the turmoil.”
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The National Coalition Against Censorship is urging the Burbank (Calif.) Unified School District to retain several books in its curriculum and allow teachers to teach the books while they are under review. The challenged books include Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Cay, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
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A new report from Project Information Literacy examines US media coverage about COVID-19 and its visual representation across time and digital space during the early months of 2020. The report includes interactive data visualizations showing the results of a computational analysis of 125,696 articles from 66 news websites; a content analysis of 532 randomly selected news images from the top 12 outlets; and teaching and learning resources for librarians, educators, students, and journalists.
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Burkely Hermann writes: “Two years ago, the animated series Hilda premiered on Netflix, and a minor character called ‘The Librarian’ (voiced by Kaisa Hammurlund) quickly became a fan sensation. Although she only appears in about three minutes of the show’s first season, this feisty librarian has been mentioned in 20 fanfiction stories on Archive of Our Own and has a Tumblr blog dedicated to her. She has also been a subject of a lot of chatter among the fanbase, from Twitter to Reddit. The official Hilda Twitter account has described her as a mysterious librarian who has an unmatched, and extensive, ‘knowledge of cemetery records and mystical items.’”
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In a first for IFLA, the 2021 World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) will be held online. Faced with continued uncertainty about the health, economic, and travel situation into 2021, it already seems clear that business-as-usual is not an option, the organization said in a September 22 statement.
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Rare books worth more than £2.5 million that were stolen from a warehouse in west London in a daring Mission Impossible-style heist have been found buried under the floor of a house in rural Romania. The recovery of the 200 books, which include first editions of significant works by Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton, is the culmination of a three-year police operation that involved raids on 45 addresses across three countries and led to charges against 13 people.
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Seattle historian and photographer Paul Dorpat has donated an extensive collection of historical artifacts to Seattle Public Library. Dorpat has written numerous books and cofounded Historylink, an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The donated artifacts include pictures, books, documents, newspapers, pamphlets, slides, even a box filled with Dorpat’s personal notes.
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Librarian Anna Gooding-Call writes: “The assumption that librarians are also babysitters is an old problem. While it’s hard for a librarian to refuse a parent who simply leaves their kid in the children’s room and hopes for the best, it’s not a librarian’s job to look after kids—not now, and not during normal times. I am here today to explain why librarians are not childcare.”
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Librarian’s Library columnist Araceli Méndez Hintermeister writes: “The library’s influence extends beyond its walls. These selections offer ways librarians can engage their community via volunteer efforts, collaborations, advocacy, and more.”
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Through Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries, up to 650 US libraries in small and rural communities will receive $3,000 to tackle issues ranging from media literacy to COVID-19 safety to unemployment. The initiative is part of ALA’s longtime commitment to preparing library workers for the expanding role of libraries. Library workers may apply online for grant funding from September 21 to December 2. Grants will be distributed over two funding rounds. Read the full project guidelines.
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