Latest Library Links
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Applications for the 2017 “Leading to the Future” ALA Leadership Institute, August 7–10, in St. Charles, Illinois, will be accepted through April 13. The institute is designed to help future library leaders develop and practice their leadership skills in areas critical to the future of the libraries they lead. The four-day immersive leadership development program will be led again by ALA past-president Maureen Sullivan and library and leadership consultant Kathryn Deiss.
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On June 23, at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, the RUSA Emerging Technologies Section will host a preconference, “We Are All User Experience Librarians: Creating Change from the Trenches.” This half-day morning session will focus on user testing and experience using discussion, presentations, and interactive exercises. Registration costs can be found on the conference website.
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Wayne A. Wiegand, author and F. William Summers Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Studies at Florida State University, was selected as the 2017 winner of the Gale Cengage History Research and Innovation Award, administered by the RUSA History Section. Wiegand was selected for his proposal to fill a significant gap in the history of public school libraries. The award consists of $2,500 to assist with research expenses.
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On June 23 at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, ALCTS will present “Cataloging and Metadata for the Web: Meeting the User Where They Are.” This all-day preconference will address the skills required to increase libraries’ presence on the open web. Register through the 2017 ALA Annual Conference website. A panel of librarians will share their first-hand experiences implementing the concepts discussed in the Library Technology Report, “Improving Web Visibility: Into the Hands of Readers.”
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On June 23 at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, ALCTS will offer “Building Successful Digital Programs at Small Institutions.” This all-day preconference will address the skills required to build a sustainable digitization program at your library. Register through the 2017 conference website. The preconference presenters will be Peggy Griesinger, Jaime Schumacher, Madeline Sheldon, and Danielle Spalenka.
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Elizabeth Hussey, public services librarian at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, and Eleana Cordova, adult reference and interlibrary loan librarian at Wayne (N.J.) Public Library, were selected as the 2017 winners of the Atlas Systems Mentoring Awards, administered by the RUSA Sharing and Transforming Resources Section. Each recipient will receive $1,250 to assist with travel to the ALA Annual Conference.
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Maryann James-Daley writes: “The diversity gap is an emerging theme in technology. As corporations, nonprofits, and individuals have embarked on their own solutions, libraries have risen as partners in bridging that gap, from coding classes for kids to the creation of makerspaces that foster access for all. But how are we doing? Two panels at South by Southwest Interactive on March 11 in Austin, Texas, tackled some of these questions.”
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Libraries are employing unique methods to make their digital collections available to patrons outside of the library. As a part of its Digital Library Community Project, San Antonio (Tex.) Public Library created digital wallpapers—virtual bookshelves that give patrons access to ebooks by simply scanning a QR code with a smartphone—that can be placed throughout the community. SAPL Community and Public Relations Manager Caitlin Cowart explains how the library developed the system.
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Joseph Janes writes: “Several centuries ago, during the Merovingian period I think, I taught whole courses on online searching. I’ve always preferred the AND operator to NOT when trying to refine search results. NOT is too blunt an instrument for my tastes, and it’s too easy to lose good information with it; using AND provides focus and often does a more effective job of narrowing down a big retrieval set. AND has been on my mind lately.”
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Applications are now open for the 2017 Gordon M. Conable Conference Scholarship, sponsored by the Freedom to Read Foundation, and four half scholarships for students to attend “Intellectual Freedom and Censorship,” a two-credit graduate course offered through the University of Illinois iSchool, sponsored by the Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund. The Conable scholarship provides funding for an LIS student or recent graduate to attend the ALA Annual Conference. Apply by April 21. -
Police in Charleston, South Carolina, are looking for whoever is responsible for racist and anti-gay graffiti at three buildings, including the Hurd branch of the Charleston County Public Library, named for one of the victims of the 2015 Charleston church shootings. Workers found the graffiti when they arrived March 13. The remarks were sprayed at three buildings, including the building named for Cynthia Hurd, one of nine people shot to death at Emanuel AME Church. Hurd had been manager of that library when she was killed.
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Santa Fe (N.Mex.) Public Library workers told police a man and woman who had been causing trouble at the Southside branch may have urinated on three copies of the Quran and damaged former President Bill Clinton’s 2004 autobiography, My Life. Library workers also suspect the couple may have taken books by conservative commentator Ann Coulter and copies of the Bible and “laid [them] around the library,” according to a police report. The couple are said to have caused trouble when they first starting visiting March 2.
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