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ALA praised the July 2 introduction of the Library Stabilization Fund Act, introduced in both chambers by Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Representative Andy Levin (D-Mich.), respectively. The legislation would establish a $2 billion fund, administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, to address financial losses and bolster library services, with priority to the hardest-hit communities (view ALA summary).
In votes on Tuesday, June 23, and Saturday, June 27, the ALA Council voted to approve Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures as a new ALA division beginning September 1, 2020, and to dissolve the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, the Library Information Technology Association, and the Library Leadership and Management Association, effective August 31, 2020. The vote to form Core was 163 to 1. For more information on Core, visit core.ala.org/.ALA invites library workers to apply to be part of Resilient Communities: Libraries Respond to Climate Change, a pilot program to help public and academic libraries engage their communities in programs and conversations that address the climate change crisis. The project will fund in-person and virtual film screenings, community dialogues, and related events based on local interest in 25 public and academic libraries, and it will provide instruction and support for the libraries to be centers for community education and support during extreme weather events. Learn more about Resilient Communities and apply online. Applications will be accepted from July 1 to August 28, 2020.
The Association of College and Research Libraries has published Hidden Architectures of Information Literacy Programs: Structures, Practices, and Contexts, edited by Carolyn Caffrey Gardner, Elizabeth Galoozis, and Rebecca Halpern. This book collects authors from a variety of diverse institutions detailing the day-to-day work of running and coordinating information literacy programs and the soft skills necessary for success in the coordinator role.The Library History Round Table announced that this year’s Justin Winsor Library History Essay Award winner is Julie Park for her paper “Infrastructure Story: The Los Angeles Central Library’s Architectural History.” Park is assistant curator and faculty fellow at the Special Collections Center, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library in New York. Her essay uses written contracts, board meeting minutes, floor plans and renovation reports to show “how, as infrastructure, the library’s architecture and its spatial priorities were deeply ‘relational’ [which] required adaptation to changing contingencies over time, despite features that seemed permanent and immovable.”
ProQuest announced the first winner of a scholarship presented in collaboration with the ALA Film and Media Roundtable and the Association of Moving Image Archivists. Valeria Estefanía Dávila Gronros, a master’s candidate at University of Alabama, was selected to receive the deg farrelly Scholarship from a group of online applicants by a panel of FMRT and AMIA members. The scholarship has two parts—a $1,000 education grant for tuition and books and another $1,000 cash award to be used for other education-related expenses like workshops and conference fees.
Denice Adkins, associate professor; Jenny Bossaller, associate professor; and Heather Moulaison Sandy, associate professor and director of graduate studies, all at the University of Missouri’s School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, are the recipients of the 2020 ALA Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table David Cohen/EMIERT Multicultural Award for their article “Exploring Reader-Generated Language to Describe Multicultural Literature.” The David Cohen/EMIERT Multicultural Award recognizes recent articles that include significant new research related to the understanding and promotion of multiculturalism in libraries in North America.
The American Association of School Librarians has released equity, diversity, and inclusion resources created by the 2019–2020 Presidential Initiative Task Force. Advised by AASL President Mary Keeling, the committee hosted office hours, designed informative bookmarks, and presented a webinar on EDI in the school library. The resources can be found at www.ala.org/aasl/all/EDI.Mirela Roncevic writes: “With the COVID-19 crisis forcing a rapid shift to remote and distance learning around the world, the issue of the accessibility of digital resources becomes even more prominent. This year, however, marks a turning point in what is required of universities and colleges across the US on the matter of accessibility. All institutions of learning that receive federal aid are now legally required to make their digital learning materials accessible to students, including those with disabilities.”
Starting July 8, AL Direct, the e-newsletter of American Libraries magazine, will change to a weekly schedule and showcase an updated design. The newsletter, which is currently mailed on Tuesdays and Fridays, will mail every Wednesday. AL Direct, created in January 2006, is sent to personal members of the American Library Association. It provides summaries and links to news, announcements, and other information of interest to library and information science professionals. The newsletter is supplemented daily by other news on the American Libraries website widget, Latest Library Links, and the AL news blog, The Scoop.
Wendi Maloney writes: “People chatting in the sun beside a taco truck in Oakland, California. A woman peering warily over a surgical mask in a Newark, New Jersey, bus line. A sign reading ‘no gloves, no mask, no service’ taped on the entrance to a Royal Chicken and Biscuit restaurant in Newark. What do these images have in common? They’re all by Camilo José Vergara, noted for photographing urban communities where life is often hard. They are also among the very first items the library acquired documenting the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. And they will be far from the last: The library anticipates a collecting effort that exceeds its coverage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”
Leonard Greene writes: “They’ve been socially distancing for decades, and now the iconic lions that guard the main branch of the New York Public Library are wearing masks, too. Workers outfitted the marble lions, named Patience and Fortitude, with Jurassic-sized masks to set an example and remind New Yorkers to stay safe and follow expert guidelines to combat the spread of COVID-19.”
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