ALA Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits Archives | Page 6 of 12

Top Tech Trends Focus on Privacy

By Amy Carlton | January 26, 2020

Moderator Ida Joiner, senior librarian at the Universal Academy School in Irving, Texas, was joined by panelists Victoria Blackmer, assistant director of Robert R. Jones Public Library in Coal Valley, Illinois; Marshall Breeding, independent library consultant; Elisandro Cabada, medical and bioengineering librarian at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Alison Macrina, founder and executive director … Continue reading Top Tech Trends Focus on Privacy →

The Latest on #eBooksForAll

By Amy Carlton | January 26, 2020

Ramiro S. Salazar, Public Library Association (PLA) president and director of San Antonio (Tex.) Public Library was aided by four panelists who have been working on the campaign since the beginning: Sari Feldman, Alan S. Inouye, Patrick Losinski, and Larra Clark. Salazar noted that the embargo affects all libraries, public libraries in particular. ALA has … Continue reading The Latest on #eBooksForAll →

Telling Stories On and Off the Ice

By Sallyann Price | January 26, 2020

The “ShibSibs”—recently announced as honorary co-chairs of National Library Week—spoke about their collaboration, their inspirations, and their shared love of storytelling in a January 26 Auditorium Speaker Series session at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting. Their novel Kudo Kids: The Mystery of the Masked Medalist (forthcoming in May), the first in a series of mysteries for middle-grade … Continue reading Telling Stories On and Off the Ice →

Using Virtual Reality to Fight Fake News

By Sallyann Price | January 26, 2020

In a January 25 session at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting, Felicia Smith, head of learning and outreach at Stanford University Libraries, described how these types of real-life scenarios can help teach critical evaluation skills. Her recent research focuses on the potential of virtual reality (VR) to help drive that message home. Smith is not a VR … Continue reading Using Virtual Reality to Fight Fake News →

Making Discoveries Discoverable

By Carrie Smith | January 26, 2020

The team of librarians who helped shape this course through collaboration with instructors shared their experience at “Metadata Instruction Mobilizing Human Rights Research in the Undergraduate Classroom” on Saturday, January 25 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Philadelphia. The project began when a history professor approached Alex Boucher, research and instructional services librarian … Continue reading Making Discoveries Discoverable →

More Than Making

By Carrie Smith | January 26, 2020

To explore the roles a library can play in hosting a makerspace, Schrupp posed three questions: Why host a makerspace? Knowing how it fits into a school’s mission and objective will guide how you choose resources and what types of activities will take place. What is the focus? “There are a lot of approaches out … Continue reading More Than Making →

Free Speech for the Smartphone Era

By Sallyann Price | January 26, 2020

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), and Theresa Chmara, general counsel for the Freedom to Read Foundation, led a session on these hot-button legal issues in a January 25 session at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting. The presentation focused on the responsibilities of the public library in moderating social media commentary and regulating … Continue reading Free Speech for the Smartphone Era →

Completing the Count

By Terra Dankowski | January 26, 2020

Who sees my data? Do you need an ID to fill out a census form? Who should I include on my form? “People are afraid to answer the census, that’s what our research has shown,” Burton Reist, assistant director for communications for the US Census Bureau, told attendees at “2020 Census: How Libraries Can Support … Continue reading Completing the Count →

Midwinter 2020 Top 10 Tweets—Day 2

By Crystal Carrazco | January 26, 2020

https://twitter.com/chaoticute/status/1221283272421990400 We started the day with the amazing Echo Brown. What a way to start the morning, with a moving talk by Echo Brown. So glad I made time to listen. #alamw2020 #alamw20 Now may I live her message. — Dr Michelle Hudiburg (@chellouise) January 25, 2020 Followed by some great sessions. My first … Continue reading Midwinter 2020 Top 10 Tweets—Day 2 →

Council I Introduces New Executive Director

By Amy Carlton | January 26, 2020

Brown introduced the first Lois-Ann Gregory Wood Fellow, Tashia Munson of Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Brown then introduced Tracie D. Hall, ALA’s new executive director, who will start February 24. The minutes from the 2019 ALA Annual Conference (CD#2) were adopted. ALA Executive Director Mary Ghikas presented the review of executive board … Continue reading Council I Introduces New Executive Director →

Macmillan CEO Hosts AMA

By Terra Dankowski | January 25, 2020

Sargent, who has been at the center of Macmillan’s controversial ebook lending policy that took effect November 1—a model that limits libraries to purchasing one copy of each new ebook and imposes an eight-week embargo on additional copies—invited attendees to “ask him anything.” Before opening the floor to comments, he explained to attendees how Macmillan … Continue reading Macmillan CEO Hosts AMA →

Elisa Rodrigues (left) and Anders Lyon Photo: Hanna Byrd Little

What Types of Technology Should Librarians Scrutinize?

By Hannah Byrd Little | January 25, 2020

The session, part of the Symposium on the Future of Libraries at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits in Philadelphia on January 25, included both a presentation and a large-group discussion. The first significant item discussed was privacy. The presenters called attention to the seventh article of the ALA Bill of Rights: “All people, regardless of origin, … Continue reading What Types of Technology Should Librarians Scrutinize? →

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Elisa Shoenberger writes: “These days, it seems that humor and murder mysteries go together like cookies and milk. With films like Knives Out and See How They Run and television shows like Only Murders in the Building, it seems that murder mysteries with a lot of humor are fashionable right now. Plus, we’re going to get the film adaptation of Richard Osman’s delightful The Thursday Murder Club later this year. I’ve put together a list of recently published humorous murder mystery books.”

Book Riot, Feb. 17
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Pranay Parab writes: “Google’s recent foray into artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t going to stop anytime soon. While you can hide Google Workspace’s Gemini buttons and prompts for now, you can’t actually stop the company from continuing to build its apps around a technology that revolves around getting its hands on as much data as possible. I rely on Google Docs for collaboration, but the company’s AI push has got me looking for alternatives, even if Google currently denies using your data to train its models. On that note, these are the best AI-free, encrypted alternatives to Google Docs.”

Lifehacker, Feb. 13
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Elizabeth Coen and Mary Manning write: “In the winter of 2023, we reimagined the curricular design of an undergraduate survey course called American Drama. We wanted students to think deeply about the nature of representation in American theatre, and whose voices are traditionally privileged in play anthologies and theatrical productions and whose voices are not. We also wanted students to examine these privileges and gaps through primary and secondary source research—through group discovery and ‘play’ in the archives and in the stacks.”

TPS Collective, Feb. 14
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Suzan Karabakal writes: “As a UX research and design student at the School of Information, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to conduct user research on Library Search, the University of Michigan Library’s discovery layer, last summer. My goal was to uncover how novice users approach Library Search features and functions, and to identify design opportunities to improve student experiences. After conducting interviews with librarians in the Learning and Teaching division, student employees who provide ‘Ask a Librarian’ services, and undergraduate students, I compiled a list of five key findings and five key design recommendations.”

University of Michigan Library, Feb. 13
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María Evelia Emerson writes: “Diversity audits, like much of librarianship, are not a simple box to check off once complete. Collections, as well as other programs and services, need to be consistently revisited in order to stay abreast of current trends and make sure that libraries strive to be as inclusive as possible. Although this requires time (something few librarians have an abundance of), without consistent check-ins, reviews, and feedback, collections and services are at risk of catering to a specific group of people, without taking into account the variety and differences of experiences and needs that make up our society.”

Portal: Libraries and the Academy, Jan.
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ALA’s Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services will host “Libraries Respond: Racial Healing and Transforming Communities through Mental Health Practices,” a virtual panel discussion, on February 25 at 3 p.m. Central. The 90-minute event will feature mental health professional Grace Le sharing her expertise on how mental health can impact our individual journeys towards racial healing, and a moderated panel of ALA leaders sharing perspectives and experiences on collective community healing towards racial equity and our roles in our library spaces. Register to receive the Zoom link.

ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy, and outreach Services
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Michelle Reed and Tova Gaster write: “Neo-Censorship in US Libraries: An Investigation into Digital Content Suppression, a new Library Futures report, dives into an underreported area of library censorship—database bans that restrict youth access to ebooks, research resources, and other digital content. While bans on beloved print books are often more visible, challenges to databases and digital collections risk restricting children from viewing a wide range of content—from breast cancer awareness to resources for identifying and reporting sexual abuse.”

Library Futures, Feb. 13

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