Latest Library Links
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The Association of College and Research Libraries invites its committees, sections, interest groups, and individual members to submit program proposals for the 2021 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Program proposals will be submitted via a centralized submission site for all ALA divisions, round tables, committees, and offices. Proposals are due September 30.
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Though originating in the fields of health and social services, trauma-informed care is a framework that holds great promise for application to library work. Rebecca Tolley’s new book A Trauma-Informed Approach to Library Services, published by ALA Editions, puts these ideas into the library context. Empathetic service, positive patron encounters, and a more trusting workplace are only a few of the benefits that this approach offers.
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The American Association of School Librarians has released a document demonstrating the school librarian’s critical role in meeting the needs of learners in a constantly changing learning environment. “School Librarian Role in Pandemic Learning Conditions” is available as a standalone chart or together with supplemental resources.
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Return on investment measures how much value an organization, project, or service has generated for each monetary unit invested in it. This approach originates in the economics, and libraries have adopted (and adapted) this method to measure their own value and impact. ROI studies and reports from libraries across the globe have indicated impressive returns, detailed in a new report from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
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With everything from New Yorker covers to New York Times–bestselling graphic novels under his belt, cartoonist and illustrator Adrian Tomine has had a more than successful career. But his newest autobiographical book, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist (Drawn & Quarterly, July), traces a lifetime of humiliations: disastrous book signings, rude reviews, a meal ruined by diners at an adjacent table viciously dissecting his latest work. We spoke with him about COVID, craving loneliness, and libraries.
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Aliya Chaudhry writes: “On the day the Peters Township Public Library in McMurray, Pennsylvania, was supposed to unveil a superhero-themed escape room, the library had to close its doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. With no physical location to work with, librarian Sydney Krawiec started to devise an alternative: a digital escape room created in Google Forms.”
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Porter Anderson writes: “On the heels of its second-quarter report on the American book market, which we covered here on Monday, the NPD Group on July 21 has released new data showing that ebook unit sales in April rose by nearly a third over the previous month, a new indication of how consumers reached for digital retail under the constraints of COVID-19 mitigation efforts.”
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A survey of college-bound students in California has found that four in five have had to change their plans because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was initiated by the California Student Aid Commission and the California Education Lab at the University of California–Davis, funded by the College Futures Foundation. Impacts of the virus were immediate. The survey found that 71% had lost some or all of their income due to COVID-19, 46% had their living arrangements change, and 24% dropped courses during the spring college term.
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Alex Harrington writes: “As a medical school library, we already have students beginning a new academic year. Between nurse, PA, and MD programs, residents, and the nonstop functioning of a hospital we support, we knew we would be among the early returners—the guinea pigs, if you will. Some upsides: The majority of our user base is already accustomed to wearing surgical masks for long periods of time, so I imagine we’re correcting mask protocol less often than we would have to elsewhere.”
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Liz Hartnett and Allison Kaplan, cochairs of the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee, write: “Inclusiveness is a foundational idea of intellectual freedom, and it starts with knowledge about the challenges faced by people whose experience may be different from ours. Given that roughly only 12% of credentialed US librarians are Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC), it’s safe to say that most of us could learn a thing or two about the BIPOC experience in America. And considering the fact that as of 2018 less than half of children under 15 in the US are white, it seems clear the work of children’s librarians will benefit from better multicultural awareness.”
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US Copyright Office Senior Copyright Specialist Nicole Lamberson writes: “To be copyrightable, a work only needs to meet a few minimal standards: First, a human being must have created the work. Selfies taken by a very talented monkey or paintings by an artistic elephant aren’t eligible. Similarly, a work produced by a machine without any creative input or intervention from a human author doesn’t qualify.”
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