The Moderator ALA President Jim Neal Are libraries neutral? Have they ever been? Should they be? Can libraries be neutral as part of societies and systems that are not neutral? Are libraries, through their processes, their practices, their collections and technologies, able to be neutral? ALA has long advocated for certain principles, detailed in the … Continue reading Are Libraries Neutral?
The current and prospectively annual battles over funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and Innovative Approaches to Literacy have dominated our advocacy work. We have sustained and even expanded funding for IMLS in FY2018, but we are already pushing for support for FY2019 appropriations. At the same time, other important aspects … Continue reading Hope, Power, Action
The program featured a sprawling discussion in which multiple definitions of neutrality were proposed, and various positions were argued for and against them. The rhetoric was lively and occasionally prickly on the stage, in the audience, and on social media. Are libraries neutral spaces? Have they ever been? You're not going to want to miss … Continue reading Are Libraries Neutral?
I am pleased to report that on September 14, the full House of Representatives voted as part of a large spending package (H.R. 3354) not to make any cuts in federal funding for IMLS. This includes all funding for IMLS programs under the Library Services and Technology Act, and for the Department of Education’s Innovative Approaches to … Continue reading Your Efforts Are Helping to #saveIMLS
The 120,000 libraries of all types across the US—public, school, academic, government, special—are an essential component of the national information infrastructure, and library workers are critical leaders in their communities. We stand for individual rights, democracy, diversity, intellectual freedom, and social responsibility. We are trusted, helping to address community concerns and needs, and championing our … Continue reading Our Shared Responsibility
“The ALA expresses our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those lost and injured during this weekend’s protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. We will not forget their efforts to enlighten and safeguard their communities from bigotry while opposing racist, anti-immigrant, anti-GLBTQ, and anti-Semitic violence. We stand in solidarity with the people of Virginia as … Continue reading ALA Condemns Racism and Violence in Charlottesville
Garcia-Febo received 3,278 votes, while her opponents, Scott Walter, university librarian, DePaul University, Chicago, received 3,209 votes, and Terri Grief, school librarian at McCracken County High School in Paducah, Kentucky, received 2,636 votes. As ALA president, Garcia-Febo will be the chief elected officer for the oldest and largest library association in the world. She will … Continue reading Garcia-Febo Wins 2018–2019 ALA Presidency
Hayden didn’t use any privileges of her new position to access Parks’s notes, however, because LC has digitized the collection and posted it online. “I pulled it up on my iPad,” she says. “To think that a kid in Baltimore who just experienced the unrest there could look at Parks’s handwritten thoughts about unrest, that … Continue reading America’s Librarian
We also can’t leave out areas such as competitiveness within organizations for appointments and time, the question of whether one can make a difference in the profession through an association, and the need for one’s values and ethics to be in sync with those of the association. And then there is the inevitable query: Is … Continue reading Helping ALA Cruise to Success
In a statement, President Obama said: “Michelle and I have known Dr. Carla Hayden for a long time, since her days working at the Chicago Public Library, and I am proud to nominate her to lead our nation’s oldest federal institution as our 14th Librarian of Congress. Dr. Hayden has devoted her career to modernizing … Continue reading Obama to Nominate Carla Hayden for Librarian of Congress
Concurrent to the tour, Libraries Transform street team members went around D.C. to bring the message of the transformative impact of libraries to the public. American Libraries followed the Libraries Transform street team and tour, and here’s what we saw. 8:25 a.m. – Dupont Circle The Libraries Transform street team had an enticing proposition for … Continue reading Seeing How Libraries Transform
Across D.C.
I am also proud of my project to support the job seekers who are our patrons. The presidential initiative Career Development Facilitators program not only created an opportunity for 20 library employees from around the country to help patrons and job seekers address various components of job searching and career planning, it also created a … Continue reading Engaging All of Us
