Latest Library Links
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You know the value of your library, but elected officials, donors, community leaders, funders, and other important stakeholders may not. How can you make the library a priority for these groups, who may have preconceived notions about what the library does, as you compete with other important community organizations for funding? Proving Your Library’s Value: Persuasive, Organized, and Memorable Messaging, published by ALA Editions in collaboration with United for Libraries, will show you how to succeed.
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This year’s ASGCLA/Keystone Library Automation System/National Organization on Disability Award goes to Moline (Ill.) Public Library/ARTability for its efforts to expand and enhance art-related programming for people with disabilities in its community and their advocacy and passion in providing equal access to library programs and services through ARTability and Beyond. Working with Blackhawk Area Education Center serving 14 local school districts, the library created ARTability, offering 13 uniquely tailored art and music programs for BAEC students.
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New research published in AASL’s peer-reviewed online journal School Library Research analyzes the use of school libraries by students who receive free school meals. The research team’s findings are detailed in their article “Exploring the Literacy-Related Behaviors and Feelings of Pupils Eligible for Free School Meals in Relation to Their Use of and Access to School Libraries.” Findings indicated effective school libraries can be a significant resource in supporting engagement with self-motivated literacy practices in children from low-income families.
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Registration for the 2020 ALSC Virtual Institute, “Dive In: Engage, Amplify, Activate,” is now open. This year’s Virtual Institute will convene October 2-3, in lieu of the originally planned in-person event in Minneapolis. Registration for this year’s Institute will be $50 for ALSC members and $75 for nonmembers. General session panels will include authors Minh Lê, Carole Lindstrom, Bao Phi, Kao Kalia Yang, and 2020 Stonewall Children’s and Youth Adult Literature winner Kyle Lukoff, as well as illustrator Michaela Goade.
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Documentation is important to continuity and sustainability of processes in library work, but it’s an easy thing to write off as too hard or to mentally set aside for a “slow period” that never comes. Lessons from the field of technical writing can help us prioritize these important tasks. Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures will present “How Do We Do That Again? Documenting Library Work,” on September 2, at 1 p.m. Central. Register at bit.ly/3igr4Yf.
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ALA has chosen Nicole Lewis, lead cataloger at J. W. Marriott Library at University of Utah, as the 2020 Tom and Roberta Drewes Scholarship recipient. The $3,000 scholarship is awarded to a library support staff worker who is pursuing an MLIS. Lewis has been working in the library field for nearly 15 years. She says she enjoys giving back to the profession through presentations and her work on committees.
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Nancy Faget, of the Army Research Laboratory, has received the 2020 ASGCLA Federal Achievement Award. She created Careers in Federal Libraries programming for library professionals. These challenging and rewarding careers afford librarians the opportunity to work around the globe in all types of libraries. Through her years serving in ALA FAFLRT (now ASGCLA), Careers in Federal Libraries events were held for over a decade at a variety of venues including the Library of Congress, library schools, and professional association conferences.
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Karl Debus-López has worked at the National Library of Medicine, National Agricultural Library, the Executive Office of the President, and the Library of Congress, serving in managerial positions. As chief of the US Programs, Law, and Literature Division at the Library of Congress, he oversees national and international programs, including the Cataloging in Publication Program, International Standard Serial Number Program, Dewey Decimal Classification Program, and the Children’s and Young Adults’ Cataloging Program. Debus-López served twice as president of the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table. He was instrumental in the merger of FAFLRT and ASCLA to form the new Association of Specialized, Government and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASGCLA), and he is a founding member of the Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Interest Group.
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This year’s winner of the ASGCLA Exceptional Service Award is Nili Ness. She has streamlined and strengthened Queens (N.Y.) Public Library’s lending library and reference services at two local jail facilities at Rikers Island and has more than doubled the number of patrons served since she first started as an outreach assistant in 2017. She created the procedures and policies surrounding the service, and designed the system to track circulation and statistics. She maintains relationships with leadership and staff within NYC Department of Corrections, the library system, and the two sister library systems in the city to ensure that every avenue is taken to provide the best service to patrons who are incarcerated. She also initiated and acts as a liaison for the interlibrary loans between the library and Queensboro Correctional Facility.
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ALA has selected Sara R. Kennedy, deputy director of Green Hills Public Library District in Palos Hills, Illinois, as the 2020 Miriam L. Hornback Scholarship recipient. She commented that “libraries have the ability to improve lives in a dynamically changing world.” She contends that “libraries are making a difference in our society.” The award is given to an ALA or library support staff member to help finance the pursuit of an MLIS. The scholarship was named in memory of Miriam L. Hornback, a longtime ALA staff member, who was secretariat to the ALA Council and Executive Board.
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ALA has selected Abbie M. McLean of Ajax, Ontario, as the 2020 Century Scholarship recipient. She says that she has “never even entertained the prospect of another career.” McLean believes that libraries are a vital part of communities. When confronted by those who tell her that libraries are dying, she boldly proclaims that “libraries are our last havens of unbiased information and equitable access to education and resources.” The $2,500 scholarship funds services or accommodation for a library school student with disabilities admitted to an ALA-accredited library program.
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Wendy Cornelisen, assistant state librarian at Georgia Public Library Service, has led efforts to celebrate accomplishments and build capacity at every level. Building a state-wide ebook service for kids is the most recent example of her inclusive, systematic approach to solving the big problems that libraries face. She is recognized for her many years of accomplished service to the libraries of Tennessee and Georgia.
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