ALA President Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Dewey Decibel: Small and Rural Libraries

Dewey Decibel Podcast: Small and Rural Libraries

September 15, 2020

In Episode 54, Dewey Decibel speaks with Jefferson, as well as two librarians whose work was showcased on his tour. First, Dewey Decibel host and American Libraries Senior Editor Phil Morehart discusses small-library concerns with Corey Christians, director of Yavapai County (Ariz.) Free Library District. Next, Morehart talks with Stacey Russell, interim executive director of … Continue reading Dewey Decibel Podcast: Small and Rural Libraries →

From the President, by Julius C. Jefferson Jr.

Stand Up, Speak Out

By Julius C. Jefferson Jr. | September 1, 2020

For 60 years Lewis served and advocated for our collective humanity. What many may not know is that his wife, Lillian, who passed in 2012, was his chief advisor and a librarian. Lewis’s legacy reminds me that service is the fundamental reason libraries exist and that reading and access to information—which are human rights—are necessary … Continue reading Stand Up, Speak Out →

Clockwise from top left: Karina Quilantan of Jaime Escalante Middle School, Pharr, Texas; Bill Chapman of Jarrell Independent School District; Kristi Starr of Coronado High School, Lubbock; Heather Lamb of Castleberry Independent School District, Fort Worth; Roger Ceballos of Benjamin Franklin International Exploratory Academy, Dallas; Tamiko Brown of Fort Bend Independent School District, Sugar Land; Stephanie Galvan Russell of Gorzycki Middle School, Austin; Rosenid Hernandez-Badia of Benjamin Franklin International Exploratory Academy, Dallas; and Julius C. Jefferson Jr.

“Libraries Are Holding Space for Their Communities”

By Julius C. Jefferson Jr. | August 12, 2020

If you scroll through my tweets between July 27 and August 7, you will see a series of crowded Zoom screenshots. But they don’t do justice to the expert librarians and community partners who participated in our discussions. Every stop we visited was unique. The range of innovation I witnessed within the library profession in … Continue reading “Libraries Are Holding Space for Their Communities” →

Holding Space, a national conversation series with libraries

The Stories of America’s Libraries, Virtually

By Julius C. Jefferson Jr. | July 27, 2020

Rather than a celebration on wheels, “Holding Space” will take place virtually. The intent remains the same: As American Library Association (ALA) president, I want to elevate the stories and successes of libraries whose work takes place just out of the spotlight. Libraries improve lives every day, and though their services and delivery models may … Continue reading The Stories of America’s Libraries, Virtually →

Black Lives Matter

By Julius C. Jefferson Jr. | July 1, 2020

These events spurred singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye to record “What’s Going On” 50 years ago. As I assume leadership of ALA, we are confronting an unprecedented global pandemic, the likes of which has not been seen since 1918; an economic collapse, including the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression; unjust police killings of unarmed Black … Continue reading Black Lives Matter →

ALA Virtual Opening Session Speaker Misty Copeland

Misty Copeland Gets to the “Pointe” of Representation

By Amy Carlton | June 24, 2020

ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall reflected on her first four months as head of the Association, a period marked by the simultaneous struggles of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global uprising against police brutality and racism. “Our resistance in these struggles requires our resilience,” Hall said. In 2026, ALA will turn 150, and Hall … Continue reading Misty Copeland Gets to the “Pointe” of Representation →

A Year of Change, Loss, Hope

By Wanda Kay Brown | June 1, 2020

This is not how I imagined the end of my term as president. Indeed, this year has brought some of the greatest joys and deepest sorrows, and the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything—everything except my deep love for this profession. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to have met so many library workers during … Continue reading A Year of Change, Loss, Hope →

Libraries Adapt amid Crisis

By Wanda Kay Brown | May 1, 2020

COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus have upended our way of life and altered the way we as library professionals do our work. Of course, it has also impacted the American Library Association in profound ways. In March, the Executive Board made two difficult decisions: First, to recommend the closing of all libraries to all patrons. … Continue reading Libraries Adapt amid Crisis →

Wong Wins 2021–2022 ALA Presidency

April 8, 2020

Wong received 6,718 votes, while her opponent, Steven Yates, assistant director of University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies, received 2,448 votes. As ALA president, Wong will be the chief elected officer for the oldest and largest library association in the world. She will serve as president-elect for one year before stepping into … Continue reading Wong Wins 2021–2022 ALA Presidency →

Don’t Be Counted Out

By Wanda Kay Brown | March 2, 2020

Quite simply, representation matters. If people aren’t counted in, they will most likely be counted out. That’s because the census informs everything from districting for federal, state, and local offices to the allocation of as much as $1.5 trillion in federal funding to states and localities. The census intersects with the work of libraries in several … Continue reading Don’t Be Counted Out →

Forward Together

By Wanda Kay Brown | January 2, 2020

But as we hear often, many members find the path to engagement too confusing, too insular, and too expensive. How do we address these concerns while also modernizing the way our Association functions? This is where we start. For the past 18 months, as a member of the Steering Committee on Organizational Effectiveness (SCOE), I’ve … Continue reading Forward Together →

Welcoming New Americans

By Wanda Kay Brown | November 1, 2019

Libraries have a role to play too. From hosting programs with local legislators and teaching patrons media literacy to offering support for online census questions and assistance with government e-forms, today’s libraries are hot spots of civic engagement. Newcomers to this country, especially, see libraries as trustworthy guides on their path to integrating into their … Continue reading Welcoming New Americans →

Latest Library Links

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Caroline Leavitt and Christina Ianzito write: “Lights on! Doors locked! It can be fun to fray your nerves when the source is fictional (or is it?!). We asked some booksellers and other bibliophiles to recommend their all-time favorite scary stories. Here are 20 of them.”

AARP, Oct. 20
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Richard Byrne writes: “Recently, YouTube made some changes to the way that the caption editing process works. Those changes are for the better as they’ve made it easier to adjust the correlation between timestamps and your edited captions. In the following video I demonstrate how to edit the captions and adjust the timing of the captions on your YouTube videos.”

Free Technology for Teachers, Oct. 27
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The Chronicling Resistance Project is a new archival effort to document more than 300 years of resistance history in Philadelphia by collecting letters, photographs, reports, scrapbooks, and other materials from civil, women’s, and LGBTQ rights struggles. An artistic response to the 2016 presidential election’s impact on minority communities, Chronicling Resistance—recently awarded a $600,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation—aims to uplift people who are underrepresented in US archives. The curated materials eventually will be housed in an exhibit at Philadelphia Free Library’s Parkway Central branch.

Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 26
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Red paint was smeared on doors and windows of Austin (Tex.) Public Library’s Central location on Cesar Chavez Street early October 26. City officials said the on-duty security guard discovered the vandalism at around 5 a.m. and said the act happened around 2 a.m. The culprits also wrote anti-voting sentiments on the walls of the library, but staff members were able to cover it up with brown paper in the early daylight hours.

KXAN-TX Austin, Oct. 26
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Schools nationwide are struggling to recover unreturned library books, seven months after the coronavirus pandemic shut down buildings and displaced students. A Morris County (N.J.) schools superintendent recently issued a plea to parents after more than 1,100 school library books in his K–12 district went missing. In Osceola, Florida, school officials announced last month that they were seeking 37,801 overdue books worth an estimated $756,020. An AASL survey in September found that 54% of school districts were bracing for a collection loss of up to 10%.

NJ.com, Oct. 24
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Each year, American Libraries tracks dozens of library referenda across the country, using the ballot box as a means of tracking support for public and school libraries. Because next week’s presidential election is expected to generate high voter turnout, some communities may be pushing harder than usual to get local referenda in front of taxpayers, even as the ongoing pandemic lends uncertainty to, well, everything. To get the ball rolling, here we present library referenda that have appeared since last year’s roundup.

AL: The Scoop, Oct. 27
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Claudia C. Breland writes: “In my 10 years as a professional genealogist, working with hundreds of clients and thousands of records, I have learned a lot about judging the quality of a source. Genealogists know that the closer a record is to the event in question, the more likely it is to be accurate. Original documents with primary information are best; sources with secondary information need to be explored further. Sometimes you will have several sources that record the same information—but on digging deeper, you might find that the information is in fact, incorrect.”

Genealogy and Online Research, Oct. 17

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