International Supplement 2016

Features & Trends

Scenes from the opening session, clockwise from top: IFLA President Donna Scheeder; Ohio inventors, including lightbulb creator Thomas Edison, were highlighted through costume and song; a handler with a binturong ambassador from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Photos: Rebecca Lomax/American Libraries; Dane Khy/Columbus Metropolitan Library (zoo)

Connections, Collaboration, and Community

By Amy Carlton, Terra Dankowski, George M. Eberhart, Rebecca Lomax, and Phil Morehart

The Opening Session celebrated its host state with appearances from Cleveland Cavaliers announcer Olivier Sedra and some animal ambassadors from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. It also recognized the state’s history as the “birthplace of aviation” with an aerialist tribute to the Wright Brothers and a video message from astronaut and former US Senator John … Continue reading Connections, Collaboration, and Community →

From left: Khaled Ahmad Halloume, Hassan Momani, ALA Past President Sari Feldman, Jassim M. Jirjees, Asmah Saad Assim, Muna Abdulla, and Azeyaa Ahmed at the 2015 SIBF/ALA Library Conference. Photo: ALA International Relations Office

SIBF/ALA Library Conference Turns Three

As ALA’s most ambitious international professional development collaboration to date, the library conference will be hosted at the 35th SIBF, November 8–10 at the Sharjah Expo Centre in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The shared location provides an opportunity for attendees to combine professional development with exploring and acquiring materials for their libraries. In 2015, … Continue reading SIBF/ALA Library Conference Turns Three →

ALA and the German Library Association (BID) celebrated the start of a three-year partnership between US and German libraries at the German Library Congress in Leipzig March 14–17. From left: Kent Logsdon, deputy chief of mission, US Embassy in Germany; ALA Past President Sari Feldman; BID President Heinz-Jürgen Lorenzen; and Scott R. Riedmann, US consul general in Leipzig. Photo: Melanie Duong

ALA and Germany Unite

More than 4,000 librarians from Germany and other countries participated in the largest library event in Europe. The US was the honored country, and Kent Logsdon, deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Berlin, joined Feldman in thanking BID President Heinz-Jürgen Lorenzen and the German library community for the distinction. The US–German partnership … Continue reading ALA and Germany Unite →

Latest Library Links

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“Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a nonviolent civil rights movement in the late 1950s and 1960s to achieve legal equality for African Americans in the US. Each year, the US honors and celebrates King’s life and legacy on the third Monday in January. Here are some books that honor the life and legacy of Dr. King and his role in the civil rights movement.” Find additional booklists from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Colorado Mountain College Libraries, and New Orleans Public Library.

Livingston (N.J.) Public Library, Jan. 8; Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change; Colorado Mountain College Libraries, Jan. 9; New Orleans Public Library, Jan. 13
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“After the hundreds (thousands?) of hours trawling through online image collections since the Public Domain Review’s inception, we’ve decided it was time to create one of our own! We are really excited to share with you the launch of our new sister project, the Public Domain Image Archive, a curated collection of more than 10,000 out-of-copyright historical images, free for all to explore and reuse. Our aim is to offer a platform that will serve both as a practical resource and a place to simply wander—an ever-growing portal to discover more than 2,000 years of visual culture.”

Public Domain Review, Jan. 8
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The New York Public Library has acquired the archive of Jhumpa Lahiri, shedding new light on the award-winning author and multilingual translator. Comprising 31 boxes of material stretching to nearly 40 linear feet, the archive, which will become publicly available in 2025, chronicles Lahiri’s literary accomplishments from a young age and her commitment to critical reading, the nuances of language, and the craft of writing. Highlights include correspondence with friends and peer writers including Michael Cunningham, Jennifer Egan, Elena Ferrante, Salman Rushdie, Amy Tan, and others, and notebooks and drawings from Lahiri’s teenage years.

New York Public Library, Jan. 13
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Samuel T. Barber and Sarah Parramore write: “The creation of a Retention, Tenure, and Promotion Mentorship Group [at California State University, Fullerton’s Pollak Library] was designed to address the unique challenges posed by the rapid expansion of probationary tenure-track faculty. By describing an application of the ripple effect leadership theory, this article explores the importance of strategic, empathetic leadership in supporting faculty development, which may be useful to other academic library faculty and leaders seeking to assist and support newly hired library employees.”

The Journal of Creative Library Practice, Jan. 8
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Chris Gillespie writes: “Using ChatGPT to gather data can save you a significant amount of time. But the accuracy and reliability of the results depend heavily on the quality of the information the model uses. The good news is you can use a few strategies to force ChatGPT to provide responses based only on high-quality sources.” Recommended techniques include defining the source type, giving specific instructions, and asking for recent data only.

MakeUseOf, Jan. 11
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On January 13, the ALA Executive Board released a statement describing what library professionals can do to support communities affected by the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles. To date, at least 24 people have died, and more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed, including Los Angeles Public Library’s Palisades branch, according to news reports. The full statement encourages those who wish to help to donate to local relief efforts and the ALA Disaster Relief Fund, volunteer for local libraries and organizations mobilizing to assist those in need, and advocate for policies and funding to help libraries continue critical work during and after disasters.

AL: The Scoop, Jan. 13
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ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table is now accepting applications for the “Game On!” grant, which provides $2,000 to help a library or libraries develop gaming programs or collections for their communities. The grant has doubled in size since 2024 thanks to a $1,000 donation match from Cards Against Humanity, whose support will continue through 2029. The application deadline is March 10, and the winner or winners will be announced at GameRT’s “ALA Play” event at ALA’s 2025 Annual Conference this June in Philadelphia.

ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, Jan. 12