September 2010

Features & Trends

Dynamic Doers

Welcome to a showcase of the dynamic doers—a snapshot of those who have dedicated themselves to the profession, who have gone above and beyond, and whose contributions have been so significant and so varied. These individuals and institutions have been recognized by their colleagues and friends for jobs well done. From Joseph W. Lippincott recipient Thomas C. … Continue reading Dynamic Doers →

Winning Grants: A Game Planse

By Herbert Landau

Grant seeking is a marketing process. Simply stated, you define your library’s need and sell it to one who can fund your project. Librarians are their own best grant-proposal writers. No outsider can write a proposal as effectively as a “library insider” who fully understands the institution’s mission and priorities as well as the needs … Continue reading Winning Grants: A Game Planse →

Charles Ogletree on Race, Reading, and the Presumption of Guilt

Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School professor and founder of Harvard Law’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, serves as one of several celebrity honorary co-chairs of the American Library Association’s Spectrum Presidential Initiative, an effort to raise $1 million in scholarships for minority students pursuing a master’s degreee in library and information science. … Continue reading Charles Ogletree on Race, Reading, and the Presumption of Guilt →

Dollar General Invests in the American Dream
By Leonard Kniffel
Early Literacy: A Sustainable Statewide Approach
By Bonnie McCune
When Crisis Calls
By Matthew J. Boylan
Reaching Undergrads: Recruitment via Internship
By Sara D. Smith

Columnists

Why Librarianship Endures
Will Manley
New from ALA: September 2010
By Mary Ellen Quinn
The Competition Intensifies
By Leonard Kniffel
Happy Birthday, Dutch
By Bill Ott
Regional Reading Places
By Mary Ellen Quinn
Measuring E-Resource Use: Standards and Practice for Counting Remote Users
By Rachel A. Fleming-May and Jill E. Grogg
Your Reality, Augmented
Meredith Farkas
The Customer’s Always Right
Brian Mathews
In Their Own Words
By Roberta A. Stevens
The First First Library
By Mary Ellen Quinn
A Bookworm By Any Other Name
Jason Smalley
It’s Not Monkey Business
Jennifer Burek Pierce
Who’s in Charge Here?
By Joseph Janes

Latest Library Links

13h

ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Writers Guild Initiative are hosting a unique series of writer’s workshops that help participants use writing to reflect on experiences, share insights, identify a path forward, and make their voices heard. The workshops will pair 25 librarians with professional film and television writers. All librarians are invited to apply by December 16. Participants will be randomly selected for the four-session online series taking place from February 1 through March 8, 2025.

Office for Intellectual Freedom, Nov. 20
16h

Cass Balzer writes: “What would you do to keep your child clean, dry, and healthy? Skip meals? Miss bill payments? Take on an extra job? For nearly half of US families with young children, the answer is: All of the above and more. A National Diaper Bank Network study found that in 2023, an unprecedented 47% of families with young children nationwide struggled to afford diapers. In response, libraries have stepped up to distribute these critical supplies. Though they can be challenging to fund and coordinate, these programs are immensely popular and—for many communities—vital.”

American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
20h

Ana Ndumu writes: “For more than a century, American libraries of all types have helped immigrants integrate, worked with municipalities to cultivate welcoming communities, and supported laws to shape our immigration system. With immigrants making up 13.8% of our population, the US is more racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse than ever before. But for many library workers, staying abreast of the fraught immigration policy landscape is challenging. Laws shift rapidly, with initiatives introduced or eliminated according to political agendas. Here are additional resources library workers can use to educate themselves or network with others administering to immigrant communities.”

American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.
4d

Michael Kan writes: “Are you still using ‘chocolate,’ ‘naruto,’ or ‘monkey’ for your passwords? You really need to stop. All three are among the most commonly used passwords, putting your accounts at risk of hacking, according to new data from NordPass. The password manager’s sixth annual list of the top 200 most commonly used passwords is pulled from a 2.5TB dataset of stolen logins taken from various sources.” ZDNet offers tips for creating stronger passwords and improved security measures.

PC Mag, Nov. 14; NordPass, Nov. 13; ZDNet, Nov. 14
4d

John Sharp writes: “Athens and Fairhope are two fast-growing cities in the fastest-growing areas of Alabama, and there is no mistaking their conservative bona fides. But according to early statistics about library card applications, their libraries appear to be bucking a trend embraced by conservative-leaning groups and the Alabama GOP: Their patrons appear to be trusting the libraries. More than 60% of parents at Fairhope Public Library and Athens-Limestone County Public Library have signed off on all-access passes for their children with no restrictions on library usage.”

AL.com, Nov. 17
5d

Katie Gaddini writes: “Book bans may have mushroomed in the Trump era of reactionary politics, but they have a well-established history in America. One woman in particular, Norma Gabler, redefined the current strategy and logic behind modern book bans. Called ‘education’s public enemy number one,’ by critics in 1980, Gabler led the crusade against the so-called secular trend in school textbooks throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Even though Norma and her husband Mel worked together, Norma was the public face of their efforts for decades.”

Time: Made By History, Nov. 13
5d

Many members know Bill Ladewski as executive director of the Reference and User Services Association, an ALA position he has held since 2019. In early September, Ladewski added another title to his CV: director of Member Relations and Services. In this role, he and his team are charged with providing service and information to the Association’s nearly 50,000 members. Ladewski answered our 11 Questions to reintroduce himself to the ALA community.

AL: The Scoop, Nov. 19

View more Latest Library Links