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March 26, 2018 970 × 647 pla-career

Lisa Shaw (left) and Elizabeth Iaukea present “Libraries Strengthening the Talent Pipeline,” a March 23 session at the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia.

Lisa Shaw (left) and Elizabeth Iaukea

Latest Library Links

15h

American Libraries collects statistics that illustrate how libraries support their patron’s (and staff’s) health, fitness, and wellness. Learn the number of CPR training kits the Baltimore Ravens donated to Baltimore County (Md.) Public Library in 2023, the number of attendees at Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library’s first All-Staff Wellness Conference, the percentage of libraries that offer some form of workplace mental health resources, and the year Clemson (S.C.) University’s Cooper Library introduced desks attached to stationary bikes in one of its study rooms.

American Libraries Trend, Mar./Apr.
19h

This timeline lists some of the significant sustainability milestones in the library world, starting with ALA’s creation of its Task Force on the Environment in 1989. Other notable events include the Lake View Terrace branch of Los Angeles Public Library becoming the first library to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum certification from the US Green Building Council in 2005, Anythink Brighton (Colo.) becoming the first carbon-negative library in the US in 2009, and ALA’s addition of sustainability to its Core Values of Librarianship in 2019.

American Libraries feature, Mar./Apr.
22h

On April 3, several states received written notification from Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Acting Director Keith Sonderling that their IMLS grants were cancelled. At time of writing, the states include California, Connecticut, and Washington. In a statement, ALA President Cindy Hohl said “Withdrawing library grants is a callous move at any time, but downright cruel at a time when it’s getting harder for many Americans to make ends meet. ALA calls on every person with a library story to remind their Congressmembers and elected officials at every level why America’s libraries deserve more, not less funding.” On April 4, the attorneys general of 21 states sued the administration for attempting to eliminate IMLS and other agencies.

ALA Communications, Marketing, and Media Relations Office, Apr. 3; California State Library, Apr. 3; Connecticut State Library, Apr. 4; Washington Secretary of State, Apr. 4; The Art Newspaper, Apr. 4
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Two new documentary films on libraries will have their official premieres in April. Banned Together, which follows three students as they work to reinstate 97 books suddenly pulled from school libraries in South Carolina, will be available for streaming on Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video starting April 10. Free for All: The Public Library, which chronicles the evolution of the American public library, will air on PBS’s Independent Lens April 29 and on the PBS app.

newswire
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Jeff Trexler writes: “The stated aim of Texas Senate Bill 20 is to criminalize artificial intelligence (AI)-generated child pornography; the language used to do this, however, also encompasses ‘a cartoon or animation’ regardless of the use of AI and applies to images ‘regardless of whether the depiction is an image of an actual child.’ This language has raised concerns over SB20’s potential impact. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has encountered situations in which government officials have claimed all manga is by definition child porn, and practically every day brings another heated yet legally unfounded accusation that a graphic novel is pornographic or obscene.”

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Mar. 25
5d

Tasha Squires writes: “When the 17 students in my school’s Spanish/English dual-language program visited the library at the beginning of the school year, my main concern was, how do I get them connected to reading? When our program started three years ago, we knew that 7th and 8th graders were notoriously difficult to engage in reading. We set out to create an atmosphere that engaged our multilingual students, offering them a wide variety of formats to choose from and presenting them with representation in the materials in the library.”

Edutopia, Mar. 26
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Anthony Lonetree and Zoë Jackson write: “As high schoolers staged a walkout March 23, parents filed suit against St. Francis (Minn.) Area Schools alleging the district unlawfully banned dozens of books based on the ideas they contained and the ratings of an anonymous website that recently went dark.” Students also staged walkouts at Radnor (Pa.) High School over the removal of Gender Queer, Fun Home, and Blankets from the library. Students at numerous schools on military bases worldwide did the same in response to restrictions on learning materials.

Minnesota Star-Tribune, Mar. 24; Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 21; Washington Post, Mar. 17

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