ALA Council Archives | Page 7 of 7 | American Libraries Magazine

ALA Midwinter attendees react as the Youth Media Award winners are announced.

Midwinter 2016 Wrap-Up

By Greg Landgraf | March 1, 2016

Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law School professor and cofounder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, urged attendees to first define the core purpose of libraries in his “Creativity, Innovation, and Change: Libraries Transform in the Digital Age” presentation. “The book as we know it, as an artifact,” he declared, “is on its way out.” … Continue reading Midwinter 2016 Wrap-Up →

Council III Memorials and Resolutions

By Amy Carlton | January 12, 2016

Council members rose as Feldman read memorials for Shereen Marx, Kuang-Hwei (Janet) Lee-Smeltzer, Richard C. Fyffe, Billy Charles Beal, Allene Farmer Hayes, and Linda Waddle. A tribute was read for Barbara Blosveren. Kent Slade, chair of the Council Committee of Tellers reported the election of three ALA Executive Board members. Karen E. Downing and Andrew … Continue reading Council III Memorials and Resolutions →

Council II discusses FY 2017 Programmatic Priorities. Photo courtesy of Lauren Pressley

Council II: Addressing Priorities

By Amy Carlton | January 11, 2016

Vicky Crone, chair of the Policy Monitoring Committee, presented their report (CD#17) and requested approval to separate Policy B.2.1.7 Labeling and Rating Systems into two new interpretations (Labeling Systems, CD#19.4, and Rating Systems CD#19.5). The motion passed. Andrew Pace gave the report for the Committee on Organization (COO), in place of committee chair Susan Considine … Continue reading Council II: Addressing Priorities →

Council I Passes Resolution on Islamophobia

By Amy Carlton and Laurie D. Borman | January 10, 2016

President-Elect Julie B. Todaro, chair of the 2015–2016 Committee on Committees, presented the nominations for the 2016–2017 election by Council of three Executive Board members (CD#11). The nominees are Vicki Morris Emery, Andrew K. Pace, John C. De Santis, Karen E. Downing, Kimberly Ann Patton, and Ann Crewdson. There were no nominations from the floor. … Continue reading Council I Passes Resolution on Islamophobia →

Council III Memorials and Actions

By Laurie D. Borman | June 30, 2015

ALA President Courtney Young opened the Council III meeting at 7:45 on June 30, and former ALA President Barbara Stripling announced it closed just before 10 a.m., with numerous actions and reports. Council members stood as memorials were read for Gail A. Schlachter, David Cohen, Charles Benton, Cynthia D. Clark, Ruth C. Carter, William Vernon … Continue reading Council III Memorials and Actions →

Council II Honors Charleston Victim

By Amy Carlton | June 29, 2015

The second meeting of the ALA Council in San Francisco opened with a moment of silence for Cynthia Hurd, a victim of the June 17 shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Hurd was the manager of the John L. Dart branch of the Charleston County Public Library. The resolution … Continue reading Council II Honors Charleston Victim →

Council I Passes Two Resolutions

By Amy Carlton | June 28, 2015

On Sunday, ALA Council met for its first session, with ALA President Courtney L. Young presiding. President-Elect Sari Feldman, chair of the 2014–2015 Committee on Committees, presented the nominations for the 2015–2016 Council Committee on Committees election (CD #12). The nominees are Edward L. Sanchez, Gladys Smiley Bell, Min Chou, Maria Carpenter, Stephen L. Matthews, … Continue reading Council I Passes Two Resolutions →

Latest Library Links

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Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
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Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
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Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9
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Karen O’Grady writes: “I am the embedded librarian for the Hahn School of Nursing at the University of San Diego. I am surrounded by nursing faculty, staff, and students rather than by librarians. This has proven to be an incredible gamechanger for the way I see things. Every student in my school knows me by name. I am often stopped in the hallway to answer questions. Every correct answer I give increases my authority and builds trust. Through these casual mini-lessons, this foreign animal called ‘librarian’ slowly becomes an approachable, knowledgeable person.”

College & Research Libraries News, Dec.
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ALA has selected 46 participants for its 2025 class of Emerging Leaders (EL). The EL program allows library staff and information workers to participate in project planning work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity early in their careers. The group will take part in a day-long session during the 2025 LibLearnX conference in Phoenix this January and work for six months, culminating in a poster session at ALA’s 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia in June, where they will highlight results of their project planning work.

ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Dec. 4
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On December 9, ALA announced a $25 million bequest by James W. Lewis, of Washington, D.C. The gift, the largest individual bequest in ALA’s history, will fund scholarships for aspiring librarians with demonstrated financial needs. Throughout Lewis’s career at Merrill Lynch, where he leads the Lewis Group as senior vice president and senior relationship manager, he has demonstrated his commitment to libraries and their communities by generously volunteering his time, including as a member of the Board of Visitors at the library of his alma mater, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He also served as a Library Trustee Board member at District of Columbia Public Library for 10 years.”

AL: The Scoop, Dec. 9
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Tess Prendergast writes: “I will never forget the surprised look on one mom’s face during storytime when I dropped a tip—technically called an aside—about how rhyming helps babies differentiate sounds and prepares them for reading. “You mean that all this singing will help her in school?” she asked. “I thought we were just doing this for fun!” Early literacy activities are certainly fun—but also valuable. Many parents and caregivers aren’t aware that simple, everyday activities can benefit their child’s early language and literacy development and have a lasting positive impact on their learning.”

American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.

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