Sandra Uwiringiyimana

How Dare the Sun Rise

June 24, 2017

At age 10, Uwiringiyimana witnessed the murder of her younger sister, several family members, and scores of others at the hands of rebels who mercilessly slaughtered 166 refugees living in a camp in Gatumba, Burundi. Thirteen years later, she’s chronicled that night and its continued effect on her life in the book How Dare the … Continue reading How Dare the Sun Rise


Deepa Iyer

Living in a Climate of Fear

June 24, 2017

Iyer said that in the wake of the September 11 attacks, these communities faced three different types of repression: public acts of discrimination, governmental surveillance and intimidation, and a media narrative that demonized them as terrorists. “All of this came together to form a climate of isolation and fear” that did not end a year … Continue reading Living in a Climate of Fear



Panelists (from left) Susan Wengler, Claudia McGiveny, Kristen Woodward (online programs and instructional design coordinator, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries), Kelly Diamond, and Moderator Molly Mansfield (online learning and instruction librarian, Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois)

Failure Analysis: Online Instruction

June 24, 2017

Failure analysis can be applied to librarianship as well. Several brave librarians shared their failures—and the lessons they learned from them—during “Visibility and Engagement: Design, Develop, or Refresh your Online Instruction.” Kelly Diamond, head of the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Support at West Virginia University’s Evansdale Library, told of being hired in an online … Continue reading Failure Analysis: Online Instruction


Desiree Alexander, Instructional Technology Supervisor for Caddo Parish Public Schools and founder of Educator Alexander Consulting, speaks at the American Library Association’s 2017 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 24, 2017

Serving Teens of Color

June 24, 2017

Tagoe partnered with Catholic Charities of Dallas to add programs to the summer reading program and provide citizenship information for immigrants and refugees. Alexander stressed the importance of promoting and branding your library. “Promote like your life depends on it,” she declared. Using social media is a first step, but she also recommended involving teens in … Continue reading Serving Teens of Color


Why teaching girls to code will change the workforce … and the culture

June 24, 2017

“We’re missing out on women, and it wasn’t always this way,” speaker Reshma Saujani told attendees at the Opening Session of the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2017 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 23. “It’s almost become fashionable for girls to say, I hate math, I hate science.” So what did Saujani, whose … Continue reading Why teaching girls to code will change the workforce … and the culture


Gene Luen Yang

Graphic Novel Friday Forum

June 24, 2017

The sessions were hosted by Pop Culture Classroom, the Children’s Book Council, and the French Comics Association (FCA). Yang, a MacArthur fellow and graphic novelist who also taught high-school computer science, used to tell his students that he also drew comics because he thought it would make him cool. It did not. But it did … Continue reading Graphic Novel Friday Forum



ALA Annual Chicago Conference and Exhibition

LITA Offers Camp for Women in Library Technology

June 24, 2017

A multi-racial, multi-lingual group of nearly 40 women gathered on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for a day of discussion around the roles and challenges of women in library technology. Out of respect for the privacy of the attendees, individual names and other specifics will not be shared.  The intent was to create a genuine safe … Continue reading LITA Offers Camp for Women in Library Technology


Arlene Hopkins and Stephen Maack

Sustainability in Public Libraries

June 23, 2017

This column is one in a multipart American Libraries series that explores the library profession’s relationship to sustainability. Sustainability does not mean continuing the public library, its facilities, and its roles as they are now.  It may mean retaining key elements of the library while changing many others. Or it may mean retaining the core values … Continue reading Sustainability in Public Libraries


Google software engineer Jessie Chavez, project director Marijke Visser, and Office for Information Technology Policy Director Alan Inouye at the June 22 announcement of a new Ready to Code initiative.

ALA, Google Partner for Phase III of Libraries Ready to Code

June 23, 2017

Some 25–50 participating libraries will receive funding from ALA, along with consulting expertise and operational support from Google. Individual libraries may use the funding for devices, staffing, marketing, and other costs associated with piloting and rapidly implementing a CS educational toolkit developed in partnership with libraries, for libraries. The toolkit, set to release in conjunction … Continue reading ALA, Google Partner for Phase III of Libraries Ready to Code