Latest Library Links

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On March 1, the US Copyright Office launched its updated website, redesigned to be more organized, more responsive, and easier to digest. It now features a new header with global navigation and search, and expanded width in all sections to maximize screen usage. Several individual pages have been consolidated for improved navigation. A new page, history and education, includes a wealth of information such as the history of copyright law, past reports and publications, and past announcements.
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The North East Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) is helping the Coca-Cola archives preserve a photo album from 1914 that features images of vintage murals from across the country. Watch the video (2:52).
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Ensuring its continued usefulness as a tool for both RA and collection development, Francisca Goldsmith’s The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels, published by ALA Editions, has been updated to encompass a bounty of new titles, authors, and styles. Suitable for newbies and hardcore fans alike, the new second edition sketches in the history of graphic novels, tracing their evolution and showing what makes them unique.
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Here are some facts about female achievers who improved and advocated for our libraries. The 135th Street branch of New York Public Library was where librarian Sadie Peterson Delaney pioneered the technique of bibliotherapy, the therapeutic use of reading materials, to help immigrants and troubled children in the 1920s. Also, in 1857 Jane Wadden Turner was hired as a library clerk by the Smithsonian. She was the first woman to secure a paid position at the institution.
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During the entire month of March, the ALA Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship will recognize and celebrate women’s achievements with National Women’s History Month. This year the committee is putting the spotlight on librarians who participated in the Women’s March—a grassroots effort to send the message that women’s rights are human rights. It was a worldwide protest held on January 21–22. Visit the highlights page to look photos and stories.
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Julie A. Leuzinger, head of library learning services at the University of North Texas, has been awarded the 2017 ACRL Politics, Policy, and International Relations Section’s Marta Lange/Sage–CQ Press Award. The award honors an academic or law librarian who has made distinguished contributions to bibliography and information service in law or political science.

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Yale University on March 1 announced the 2017 recipients of its Windham-Campbell Prizes. The eight recipients, honored for their literary achievement or promise, will receive a $165,000 individual prize to support their writing. The winners are; in fiction, André Alexis and Erna Brodber; in nonfiction, Maya Jasanoff and Ashleigh Young; in poetry, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Carolyn Forché; and in drama, Marina Carr and Ike Holter.
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Deborah L. Schaeffer, instruction and reference librarian and liaison librarian to the School of Social Work (retired) at California State University, Los Angeles, is the recipient of the 2017 ACRL Education and Behavioral Sciences Section Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award. A plaque will be presented to Schaeffer during an EBSS event at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.
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“The Jacket from Dachau: One Survivor’s Search for Justice, Identity, and Home” LibGuide was selected as the 2017 winner of the RUSA ReferenceUSA Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services for its well-organized and accessible presentation of information about the Holocaust. Spearheaded by Leslie Ward and Christine (Mi Seon) Kim of the Kurt R. Schmeller Library, Queensborough (N.Y.) Community College, the LibGuide was developed to accompany an exhibition.
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Andrew E. Kramer writes: “In other parts of the world, viewers might suspect the evening news is just a bunch of lies, but watching the weekly broadcast in Ukraine of StopFake News, they can be certain of it. The group is highly respected in journalistic circles in Kiev for its specialty of debunking fake news. Kiev, with its running battle with Moscow, was plagued by fake news long before concern spiked in Western Europe and the US.” And its website features an IFLA infographic that explains how to spot fake news.
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At the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta, ALA Council passed a resolution on gun violence affecting libraries, library workers, and library patrons. The resolution originally came to Council via a Membership Meeting vote at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando. Council subsequently directed the Committee on Legislation and the Intellectual Freedom Committee to establish a working group to continue the work. The resolution that was passed in Atlanta is a substitute for that 2016 resolution.
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ALCTS has named Jeanne Drewes, chief of the Binding and Collections Care Division and the Deacidification Program at the Library of Congress, as the 2017 recipient of its Ross Atkinson Lifetime Achievement Award. As one of her nominators stated, “Jeanne Drewes is, in my estimation, the most important figure in raising the profile of preservation in the last two decades. Her work at LC, ALA, and across the profession has made the field, and preservation professionals, continue to be relevant in today’s dynamic library environment.”

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Latest Library Links

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Hannah Natanson writes: “On a hot, dusty Wednesday afternoon, 10 girls gathered in their high school library to talk about a book the adults said they weren’t allowed to read. The teens came complaining about tests and chattering about TikTok dances—but they quieted when Ella Scott, the 16-year-old cofounder and copresident of the Vandegrift High School (Tex.) Banned Book Club, cleared her throat. Ella looked at her notes for the club’s 14th meeting, convened to review I. W. Gregorio’s None of the Above. The book tells the story of Kristin, a high school student who discovers she is intersex, a condition in which people are born with atypical combinations of chromosomes, hormones, gonads, or genitals. In December, the Leander (Tex.) Independent School District had banned the novel from classroom libraries and from use in high school student book clubs—along with 10 other books.”

The Washington Post, May 22
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Austin Persinger writes: “Last November, our local police department wrote on Facebook that it had received complaints about misused and abandoned shopping buggies strewn about Hinton, our city of 2,800 people. The police, using the tools at their disposal, threatened disciplinary measures for what it referred to as the unlawful removal of buggies. I thought this was a knee-jerk reaction and not the best solution for the situation. I read this story through the lens of a rural librarian conducting a reference interview. The story that I heard was that there are lower-income people in our community who take these carts because they live in a food desert and lack reliable transportation.”

American Libraries Trend, May
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Annemarie Mannion writes: “When her son brought home speech cards from elementary school to help him better learn and articulate words, Jen Taggart could barely see what the cards depicted. The cards had been duplicated and the images were blurry, says Taggart, head of youth services at Bloomfield Township (Mich.) Public Library (BTPL). That experience more than 13 years ago inspired her to start BTPL’s Youth Accessibility Support Collection, a set of items designed to meet the needs of children with various types of disabilities and learning needs. Since 2009, families have been borrowing from the collection, which includes adaptive toys, sensory storytime boxes, speech therapy cards, and skills development sets.”

American Libraries Trend, May
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livius writes: “Librarians at the Leeds (U.K.) Central Library took advantage of the lockdowns to thoroughly survey and catalogue the rare book and special collections. In the process, they documented more than 3,000 items that had fallen through the cracks, including a Bible so small that you need a magnifying glass to read it.” The survey also found a copy of Oliver Twiss, a low-cost contemporary that lifts heavily from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

The History Blog, May 9; The Independent (U.K.), May 5
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The Public Library Association is now accepting applications for public libraries to receive funding to conduct digital literacy workshops using DigitalLearn.org resources. The PLA Digital Literacy Workshop Incentive Program, supported by AT&T, provides up to $7,000 to support outreach and training in local communities. The application deadline is June 10. Library staff can learn more about this opportunity on May 19, 2022, at 1 p.m. Central as part of the PLA Digital Literacy Workshop Incentive Office Hour. The webinar also will be archived and posted online.

Public Library Association, May 17
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Julie Kim writes: “Watching an adorable kid lovingly curl up with their favorite stuffed animal can be achingly cute … until you think about where that stuffie has been. The sandbox, the car trunk, the dog’s mouth—oh, my! And then, ugh, what’s been on that stuffie (I have observed a kid burying boogers into the fur of their favorite stuffed lion). Officially grossed out? Fortunately, many stuffed animals and plush dolls are machine-washable. Vinyl dolls should never be submerged in water. But with some supplies and techniques, you can remove grime and even undo a doll’s marker makeover.”

New York Times, May 12
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In Episode 71 of Call Number with American Libraries, “Setting Up for Self-Care,” we celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month, observed each May. The importance of self-care has become clearer than ever in recent years, especially in the age of the pandemic. In this episode, AL editors speak with Randa Lopez Morgan about Louisiana State University Library’s Relaxation Room, Rebecca Tolley about her book A Trauma-Informed Approach to Library Services, and Michelle Schaub, who implemented yoga classes in the Monona (Wis.) Grove High School library.

AL: The Scoop, Apr. 16

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