Advocacy Archives | Page 41 of 47 | American Libraries Magazine

Conference on Privacy and Youth: Day 1

March 24, 2011

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom's Conference on Privacy and Youth, currently meeting March 24–25 in downtown Chicago, is bringing together some 50 librarians, privacy advocates, educators, authors, artists, and policy experts to discuss the work they are doing to engage and educate young people in privacy protection so that they can make informed choices … Continue reading Conference on Privacy and Youth: Day 1 →

Madison’s Mayor Joins Librarians’ Labor-Rights Rally

By Sharon McQueen | March 8, 2011

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz joined Wisconsin’s librarians March 6 as they again assembled to march to the State Capitol in opposition to Governor Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill (PDF file), whose passage would dramatically curtail collective bargaining rights for public-sector employees. “I was proud to join librarians to march to the Capitol and fight Scott Walker’s … Continue reading Madison’s Mayor Joins Librarians’ Labor-Rights Rally →

I’m Not Your Scapegoat

By Audrey Barbakoff | March 7, 2011

I’ll admit it: I’ve always thought unions were a little passé. I just couldn’t shake the image of a typical union dude as a hard-bitten, grimy-fingered steelworker swigging black coffee spiked with gin. So despite the fact that as a public librarian I’m a dues-paying member myself, I’ve never mustered the enthusiasm to attend a … Continue reading I’m Not Your Scapegoat →

A Capitol Weekend in Wisconsin

February 28, 2011

On February 26, several dozen librarians brought library-themed picket signs to the Wisconsin Capitol Building in Madison to show solidarity with protesters entering their third week of demonstrations opposing Gov. Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill, which includes the permanent abolishment of most collective-bargaining rights for the state’s public-sector employees. “Librarians fight for everyone’s rights,” read … Continue reading A Capitol Weekend in Wisconsin →

Action Alert: Protect Library Funding, ALA President Urges Library Community

February 25, 2011

In anticipation of the U.S. Senate reconvening February 28, American Library Association President Roberta Stevens has issued this call to action through ALA’s Washington Office: “I am writing to you today to enlist your participation in an association-wide advocacy campaign to protect funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Improving Literacy … Continue reading Action Alert: Protect Library Funding, ALA President Urges Library Community →

Capitol Protests Force Delay of Library Legislative Day (UPDATE)

February 22, 2011

Well aware that timing is everything, the Wisconsin Library Association postponed its 2011 Library Legislative Day, which had been scheduled for February 22, less than 48 hours before it was to take place. Of course, it would have been difficult to stay focused on biennial budget issues while tens of thousands were converging on the … Continue reading Capitol Protests Force Delay of Library Legislative Day (UPDATE) →

IMLS, LSTA Saved – for Now

By Beverly Goldberg | February 17, 2011

This just in from Kristin Murphy, government relations specialist for the American Library Association’s Washington Office: “Because of ALA’s unprecedented grassroots efforts this week on Amendment #35 to H.R. 1 (the Continuing Resolution to the FY2011 budget) was defeated. This victory for libraries is undoubtedly due to the strong grassroots efforts of librarians and library … Continue reading IMLS, LSTA Saved – for Now →

All IMLS, LSTA Funding in Jeopardy

By Beverly Goldberg | February 15, 2011

A bill that is coming up for a vote this week in the House of Representatives calls for the elimination of all Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funding, including Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding, for the remainder of FY2011. Reaction to the introduction of Amendment 35 to the Continuing Resolution was … Continue reading All IMLS, LSTA Funding in Jeopardy →

House Casts Shadow on Sunsetting Provisions of Patriot Act

By Beverly Goldberg | February 9, 2011

By a vote of 277–148, the House defeated reauthorization of the “library” provision of the USA Patriot Act February 8 for the first time since its enactment 10 years ago. Section 215, which allows federal authorities conducting a counterterrorism investigation to seize someone’s library records or business records unbeknownst to the individual and without a … Continue reading House Casts Shadow on Sunsetting Provisions of Patriot Act →

“Our Authors, Our Advocates” Advocacy Tools Available

January 7, 2011

Public service announcements to help libraries promote ALA President Roberta Stevens’ “Our Authors, Our Advocates” national library advocacy public awareness campaign were unveiled today during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. Library advocates can now download audio and video PSAs from such best-selling authors as Sharon Draper, Brad Meltzer, Sara Paretsky, and Scott Turow. The … Continue reading “Our Authors, Our Advocates” Advocacy Tools Available →

Road Trip: AASL President Takes National “Vision Tour” of Excellent School Libraries

December 20, 2010

Nancy Everhart, president of ALA’s American Association of School Librarians, is a third of the way through her “Vision Tour” of outstanding school libraries throughout the United States. Everhart says the tour is garnering attention that has already produced major changes for the good. “In one instance, a school librarian who had her job reduced … Continue reading Road Trip: AASL President Takes National “Vision Tour” of Excellent School Libraries →

Bipartisanship, Thy Name Is Libraries

December 15, 2010

There was a bit of a holiday-season miracle over the past week: the bipartisan passage by consent of the Museum and Library Services Act in both the House and Senate. The MLSA is now on its way to President Obama’s desk for his anticipated signature, to the delight of the library community, which can rest … Continue reading Bipartisanship, Thy Name Is Libraries →

Latest Library Links

3h

Robin Camille Davis writes: “It wasn’t until seven years into my career as a user experience librarian that I realized I’d been accidentally excluding a sizable segment of users from my user research. Interviews, surveys, and usability studies favor people who are gifted at oral and written communication. What about people who are more gifted at visual communication? In the context of user research, this participatory design invites participants to design their own response to a given prompt.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, June 30
6h

Stories from communities nationwide come to life on ALA’s new Show Up for Our Libraries interactive site map. The stories illustrate the real-life consequences of potential funding cuts to rural, research, city, state, and university library programs and, in turn, to the hundreds of millions of library users across the country. Services such as summer reading programs, telehealth resources, interlibrary loan, and ebooks have all been affected. ALA collected the stories in conversation with patrons, library professionals, and advocates across the country to better understand the impact of federal funding cuts since the President’s executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, June 25
1d

On June 27, the Supreme Court upheld the Universal Service Fund, which funds the E-Rate program. ALA issued a statement regarding the ruling that reads, in part, “The ALA applauds the Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision to uphold the Universal Service Fund. The system of telecommunications subsidies administered by the Federal Communications Commission includes the E-Rate program, which provides libraries and schools billions of dollars each year for broadband access and connectivity. More than half of all public libraries apply for funding to subsidize the cost of internet connectivity through E-Rate each year.”

AL: The Scoop, June 27
1d

On June 27, ALA announced its new executive director, Daniel J. Montgomery. ALA’s announcement read, in part, “Montgomery has worked on behalf of public education and the rights of workers for more than two decades. He was elected to a three-year term as president of the 103,000-member Illinois Federation of Teachers in October 2010 and has been unanimously reelected every three years since then. He will start at ALA on November 10. The steering committee chose Montgomery because of his commitment to public institutions, his comfort working across diverse and difficult political situations, his service to both cities and rural areas, and his experience managing a complex, member-driven organization.”
5d

Oliver Moody writes: “In the €100 million Oodi library, which looms over central Helsinki like a cruise ship from the future, robots called Tatu, Patu, and Veera trundle back and forth between the shelves and the reading rooms. Against this backdrop, foreign visitors might be surprised to see how many children and teenagers are engaged in an almost unsettlingly archaic activity: reading and borrowing books. In the age of TikTok, Netflix, and Candy Crush, it is not just Finland’s public libraries that are booming, but also demand for their physical paperbacks and hardbacks.”

The Times (London), June 20
5d

Amit Agarwal writes: “Angus owns a beautiful apartment near the university campus. With the new semester around the corner, he wants to create brochures to attract students as tenants. But here’s the challenge: the university has students from all over the world who speak different languages. Angus needs to create brochures that speak to everyone—from students from Japan to those from France, and everywhere in between. While he could create PDF brochures in multiple languages manually, that process would be both time-consuming and error-prone. This guide explains how you can automate it all.”

Digital Inspiration, June 18
6d

Emma Roth writes: “A federal judge has sided with Anthropic in an artificial intelligence (AI) copyright case, ruling that training its AI models on legally purchased books without authors’ permission is fair use. It’s a first-of-its-kind ruling in favor of the AI industry, but it’s importantly limited to physical books Anthropic purchased and digitized. Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California also said in his decision that the company must face a separate trial for pirating books from the internet, and did not address whether AI model outputs infringe copyrights, which is at issue in related cases.”

The Verge, June 24

View more Latest Library Links