Chernow’s next book is Grant (Penguin, due out in October), a biography of Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War general and the 18th president of the United States. “Grant was an extraordinarily important figure in American history,” Chernow said, “but he has faded into obscurity.” He hopes that his new treatment will set the record straight … Continue reading All About the Man Buried in Grant’s Tomb
Card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh can be played between two people or as tournaments between four people. The objective is to get your opponent’s score to zero. The benefits of card games include sportsmanship, problem solving, and strategy. Meanwhile, role-playing games allow players to collaboratively use their imagination to tell stories. Libraries can also host a … Continue reading The Benefits of Tabletop Games for Libraries
How? By developing partnerships with other units like faculty, student life, and even the local community. “Being creative is also a significant factor,” said April Sheppard, assistant director for public services at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. In her portion of the discussion, Sheppard described how a monthly game night developed through donations from various publishers. This … Continue reading You Don’t Always Need Money to Run a Successful Program
Even though it’s Sunday, it’s still difficult to navigate all of the events, sessions and exhibit floor. If you like solving mazes, #alaac17 is for you pic.twitter.com/k51ECLXo8q — Samantha Mairson (@SamanthaMairson) June 25, 2017 It’s difficult to not be inspired by Libraries Transform when walking around #alaac17. "Libraries transform!" she says, … Continue reading Top 10 Tweets — Sunday (Day 3)
Hollis was treated to the screening of recently discovered footage at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History showing the read-in and the arrests. The video shows her talking to a library assistant in the Jackson Municipal Library. “I went to the desk very confidently,” Hollis said, “and asked for a specific book. I let her … Continue reading The Tougaloo Nine Remembered
“No one could leave the house without something to read,” Parker fondly recalled that rule of her mother’s before a packed auditorium at the President’s Program of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 24. Growing up, Parker and her seven siblings were constantly shuttled to the Clifton branch of … Continue reading Sarah Jessica Parker Unveils ALA’s Book Club Central
Over the course of a year and a half, the Library Takeover project—inspired by a similar teen program founded by Apples & Snakes and Half-Moon Theatre in the UK—went from grant proposal to three fully realized, polished library programs that were informed by community input at each step in the process. Engaging community need Analysis … Continue reading Madison’s Library Takeover
During their talk at the 2017 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, the four authors on the panel—Joseph Cassara, Sophie Yanow, Rakesh Satyal, and Eileen Myles—talked about protest, AIDS during the 1980s, and culture. In discussing family novels and his exploration of the topic in his new novel, The House of Impossible Beauties, Cassara said … Continue reading Out and Proud
Ryan Buller, access services librarian at the University of Denver, presented research conducted by Brigham Young University (BYU) Head of Patron Services Duane Wilson, who was unable to attend the conference. Wilson had surveyed 76 large academic libraries in 2012 and found that 75% were charging fines; however, since the survey failed to distinguish between … Continue reading Doing Away with Fines
Instead, Baglier and her colleague, associate university librarian Michelle Leonard, have developed a simple card game called Keywords to Mastery to help their students connect the right keywords to topics and find appropriate library resources. This interactive session, sponsored by ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table, introduced Keywords to Mastery to attendees, who were broken up into … Continue reading To Reveal Research Topics, Play This Card Game
“We had a dilemma,” says Cyr. “It was a really hard pill for anyone to swallow as to why we would build new public building for $18 million.” Still, champions of the library—both political and internal—pressed on and the new building finally opened in 2012, a full 14 years after it was first envisioned. “The … Continue reading From Design to Dedication
A standing room-only crowd gathered Sunday at the 2017 American Library Association Annual Conference to learn how to combat fake news and teach truthful media literacy. Joanna Burkhardt, professor and director of the University of Rhode Island branch libraries and author of Teaching Information Literacy Reframed: 50+ Framework-Based Exercises for Creating Information-Literate Learners (ALA-Neal Schuman, … Continue reading Navigating Fake News
