academic libraries Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Personal protective equipment donated by University of Maryland's Preservation Department

University Libraries Help Hospitals with PPE Donations

By Timothy Inklebarger | March 27, 2020

Archivists and conservators from university libraries across the country have been pitching in to help bridge the supply gap, donating their supplies of the PPE typically used in the restoration of materials. Through networking with local health care providers, libraries are getting lifesaving supplies where they’re needed most. Eric Alstrom, head of conservation and preservation … Continue reading University Libraries Help Hospitals with PPE Donations →

Tom Green County Library System in San Angelo, Texas, is closed to walk-ins but offering curbside checkout services, as explained by this image from their website.

Staying Open during COVID-19

By Anne Ford | March 23, 2020

But as of Monday, March 23, a handful of public and academic libraries were still serving patrons in person. “[Southeastern Idaho] Public Health said that we should maintain services, and they’re the experts, right?” says Robert Wright, director of Idaho Falls (Idaho) Public Library (IFPL), which has canceled all programming but remains open for the … Continue reading Staying Open during COVID-19 →

Granting Libraries’ Census Wishes

By Taylor Hartz | March 13, 2020

Libraries in five states explain how they plan to put their grants to work in the coming months during the census response period. Expanding accessibility Census tract 406 in downtown Dothan, Alabama, is one of the hardest-to-count areas in the country, with a response rate of about 66% in 2010. Nearly half of residents do … Continue reading Granting Libraries’ Census Wishes →

Human Libraries: Turning the Page on Discrimination

By Timothy Inklebarger | March 2, 2020

The “book” was available for one day only during a Human Library event at Torreyson Library on the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) campus in Conway. The forum offered “readers” the chance to check out more than two dozen flesh-and-blood human beings, who served as books, to tell their stories about living with the challenge … Continue reading Human Libraries: Turning the Page on Discrimination →

Speaking at Trexler Library, Chrysan Cronin, assistant professor and director of public health at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, discusses the dangers of vaping. Photo: Photo: Paul Pearson/Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire

By Mark Lawton | March 2, 2020

“A friend of mine is a [high school] teacher,” says NHML Library Technical Assistant Melinda Landino. “One of her students vaped in the bathroom, [then] flatlined in class. They had to bring in EMTs.” NHML is one of many libraries across the US addressing the vaping scare that gained momentum in summer 2019. As of … Continue reading Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire →

“Family kits”—children’s backpacks filled with age-appropriate activities—are available for checkout at University of Maryland Libraries. (Photo: University of Maryland)

Helping Parents in a Pinch

By Kelsey Corlett-Rivera and Rachel Gammons | March 2, 2020

Children are present in many types of libraries—not just the public variety. The expense and difficulties of arranging childcare means that even academic library patrons often need to bring young ones along when studying or browsing the stacks. Now, through the creation of a family study space and other amenities, University of Maryland Libraries has … Continue reading Helping Parents in a Pinch →

A 23-foot statue stands at a central spot on the Oxford campus of the University of Mississippi. The state's Institutions of Higher Learning board will determine whether to relocate the monument to a Confederate cemetery, also on campus.

A Monumental Debate: Addressing Controversial Namesakes

By Timothy Inklebarger | February 4, 2020

In this multipart series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. This is the sixth story in the series. It’s been more than two years since the university chose … Continue reading A Monumental Debate: Addressing Controversial Namesakes →

Agents of Influence: Academic Librarians -- Fostering partnerships at the forefront of research

Pioneering Digital Humanities at Stanford

By Timothy Inklebarger | January 6, 2020

In this multipart series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. This is the fifth story in the series. Quinn Dombrowski, academic technology specialist at Stanford’s Division of Literatures, … Continue reading Pioneering Digital Humanities at Stanford →

Above, a Congolese immigrant waves to the camera in a screenshot from a home movie archived by Home Made Visible. Below, metadata is collected for a photo submitted to Los Angeles Public Library's Mobile Memory Lab. Screenshot: Home Made Visible; Photo: Los Angeles Public Library

Uncovering the Past

By Lauren Emily Whalen | January 2, 2020

Caught on old home movies, each image offers an intriguing glimpse of a specific community. But if those movies stay trapped on dusty VHS tapes or forgotten reels of 8-millimeter film, their stories—and those of the populations they belong to—stay hidden. That’s why some libraries in the United States and Canada are offering patrons the … Continue reading Uncovering the Past →

Beth M. Lander, college librarian at the Historical Medical Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, poses with a human skull set on green velvet. (Photo: Kriston Bethel)

Bookend: Medical Marvels

January 2, 2020

“That’s an excellent example of what it is like to work here,” she says. “You never know what might happen next.” The college shares its library with the Mütter Museum, an institution known for its macabre medical materials, which span centuries. Sometimes those artifacts find their way into the hands of playful coworkers, so keeping … Continue reading Bookend: Medical Marvels →

When Disaster Strikes

By Lori A. Goetsch | December 9, 2019

This wasn’t the first time we’d had fire alarms: leaky pipes, burned bagels, and other incidents had set off our alarms in the past, and the staff was experienced in and accustomed to vacating themselves and others from the building. However, this time was different—smoke was observed and, as first responders came on the scene, … Continue reading When Disaster Strikes →

From left: Catherine Morse, Joe Bauer, Matt Carruthers, and Sara Hughes at a research sprint held in October 2019 in partnership with University of Michigan Library. The group worked on developing a data management system for information on public drinking water.

Ready, Set, Research!

By Timothy Inklebarger | December 3, 2019

In this multipart series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. This is the fourth story in the series. Also referred to as scholar sprints, the intensive forums are … Continue reading Ready, Set, Research! →

Latest Library Links

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Jennifer LaGarde writes: “I was over the moon excited when Jeff Zentner announced that he was going to be reading his The Serpent King, in its entirety, on Instagram Live over the next several weeks. It was during one of those readings that Jeff came to a scene in which the three main characters are shushed by a librarian. Almost immediately, all the librarians listening lost their minds—filling the screen with comments declaring that ‘librarians don’t shush anymore!’ But even before their chorus of friendly outrage began, Jeff predicted the reaction, offering a caveat about how his understanding of librarianship has grown since the book was published.”
The Adventures of Library Girl, Apr. 6
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The Tennessee Association of School Librarians has received the 2020 AASL Chapter of the Year Award. The $1,000 award recognizes the AASL chapter most active and dynamic in achieving the goals of AASL at the state and local level. The group was cited for its work on Tennessee Library Legislative Day, developing school librarian leadership capacity through professional development, webinars, TASL Talks, Twitter Media Minutes, and promoting AASL events and elections.
AASL, Apr. 6
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Bruce Schneier writes: “Over the past few weeks, Zoom’s use has exploded since it became the video conferencing platform of choice in today’s COVID-19 world. (My own university, Harvard, uses it for all of its classes.) Over that same period, the company has been exposed for having both lousy privacy and lousy security. My goal here is to summarize all of the problems and talk about solutions and workarounds. In general, Zoom’s problems fall into three broad buckets: (1) bad privacy practices, (2) bad security practices, and (3) bad user configurations.”
Schneier on Security, Apr. 3
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Tina Jordan, Elisabeth Egan, and Joumana Khatib write: “If you’ve finished tearing through all seven episodes of the hit show ‘Tiger King’ and you’re looking for more, we’ve got some reading suggestions.”
New York Times, Apr. 2
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Veronica Roth writes: “I am a pessimist. It has served me well in life—and in writing. Science fiction, my preferred genre in reading as in writing, is therefore a predictable match for me. Science fiction warns us. 1984 cautions us against government surveillance, propaganda, and totalitarianism. The Handmaid’s Tale shows us the horrors of systemic misogyny. Science fiction is also a mirror: It reveals us to ourselves, shows us both our complicity in harmful systems and our individual frailties. The Power by Naomi Alderman is an example of the former—what would women do with extraordinary power? The same things as men, it turns out; the system is the problem. People are always people, science fiction says. Even in the future.”
Literary Hub, Apr. 6
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Sarah S. Davis writes: “Natural Poetry Month is the perfect time to start introducing poetry into children’s lives. Thanks to generous online resources, it’s never been easier to find free, quality educational lessons on poetry for kids. In this article, we’ll review six great resource hubs to find children’s poetry for free online. Whether you’re looking for free, printable short poems for kids, rhyming poems for kids, or funny children’s poems, these dynamite websites offer what you need.”
Book Riot, Apr. 6
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Ruth Gilligan writes: “In his 1919 paper on the uncanny, Freud reckoned ‘the frightening element is something that has been repressed and now returns.’ As a nation whose traumatic past is still coming to light, it is safe to say Ireland remains a haunted place. There is also our unique relationship with the supernatural—not just the churchy stuff, but all the myth and superstition. We can be fierce believers in the sinister. Four years ago, I started writing The Butchers, a novel set in the borderlands during the 1996 crisis over mad cow disease. Here are 10 Irish Gothic offerings from which I drew eerie inspiration.”
The Guardian (UK), Apr. 1

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