#alaac18 Archives | Page 5 of 7 | American Libraries Magazine

Council I Discusses Organizational Effectiveness

By Amy Carlton | June 24, 2018

The minutes from the ALA Midwinter Meeting (CD #2.1) were adopted. Ed Sanchez gave the report from the ALA Resolutions Committee (CD#10.2) on a motion to amend the ALA Policy Manual to update the motion form process for resolutions with fiscal implications. The motion passed. ALA President-Elect and chair of the Committee on Committees (COC) … Continue reading Council I Discusses Organizational Effectiveness →

Author Sue Halpern at Carnegie Awards celebration

The Story behind the Stories

By George M. Eberhart | June 24, 2018

Egan told the audience that, like many other novels, Manhattan Beach was born in a library, specifically the Local History Room of the New York Public Library. She had wanted her next novel to be set in New York City during World War II, but did not know exactly where to start. The library staff … Continue reading The Story behind the Stories →

Authors Sherrilyn Kenyon and Nnedi Okorafor

Diversity in Science Fiction

By George M. Eberhart | June 24, 2018

Nnedi Okorafor, author of the Binti series of novellas about a spacefaring African girl, said that many of her characters have gotten “angrier and more destructive” over time. Binti, however, is “not a badass,” even though she is a superhero. “Her superpower is negotiation,” Okorafor said. “Science fiction and fantasy can offer a distorted lens … Continue reading Diversity in Science Fiction →

Everyday Advocacy

By Terra Dankowski | June 24, 2018

“We were able to get the Tea Party to support our millage increase. That’s probably the first and last time that would happen in Kent County,” he joked to attendees at the United for Libraries President’s Program, “Engaging Elected Officials with Your Library,” at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans … Continue reading Everyday Advocacy →

YA Leading the Way

By Lisa Krok | June 24, 2018

My day began with “Native YA Today: Contemporary Indigenous Voices and Heroes for the 21st Century and Beyond.” The panel was comprised of #ownvoices authors Cynthia Leitich Smith, Joseph Bruchac, and Dawn Quigley. Eric Gansworth’s travel was delayed, so we were graced with the pinch hitter of all time, Debbie Reese—aka the Diversity Jedi herself. Some themes that … Continue reading YA Leading the Way →

Graphic Medicine

By Amy Carlton | June 24, 2018

Czerwiec, senior fellow of the George Washington School of Nursing Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement and the Artist-in-Residence at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, started making comics as a way to process her emotions and take care of herself while working in an AIDS ward in Chicago in the 1980s and 1990s. She … Continue reading Graphic Medicine →

Alison Head, founder and executive director of Project Information Literacy, explains how research data creates a more complete understanding of the information-seeking behaviors of high school and college students.

Memes as News Sources?

By Sally Stieglitz | June 23, 2018

The mixed-methods study considered the significant shift towards a preference for online news resources and looked at how students consider authority and currency when seeking information. Head experienced an epiphany when she observed, based on focus groups, that the students “are really different from me and and how I find news.” As a result, Head … Continue reading Memes as News Sources? →

A New Frontier

By Amy Carlton | June 23, 2018

Fatima Perkins, community outreach and advocacy director at Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging in Cleveland, illustrated the many opportunities libraries will have in coming years to meet needs of older adults and caregivers as demographics shift rapidly. The number of Americans over 65 is projected to more than double from 46 million today to … Continue reading A New Frontier →

Leading a Troubled Nation

By Phil Morehart | June 23, 2018

She discussed this trait and her own journey with the presidents as part of the Auditorium Speaker Series on June 23 at the American Library Association’s 2018 Annual Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans. Like Kearns’s books, her talk was dense with colorful, fascinating anecdotes that humanized our nation’s leaders while revealing how their leadership … Continue reading Leading a Troubled Nation →

The Consequences of the Closet

By George M. Eberhart | June 23, 2018

Fieseler, an Auditorium Speaker at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans on June 23, told attendees his work is a “meditation on the consequences of closeted life in America.” The Up Stairs Lounge was an oasis, Fieseler said, where the mostly secret gay community could get together in a place “safe from the … Continue reading The Consequences of the Closet →

Top 10 Tweets—Saturday Edition

By Heather Cho | June 23, 2018

You’ve gotten used to the New Orleans weather. https://twitter.com/NoetheMatt/status/1010512940141891592 You brought your fashion game. #librarianfashion #alaac18 pic.twitter.com/4ktvbPhVC6 — Erin Schramm (@PaperPickles) June 23, 2018 You ate a good breakfast. https://twitter.com/phepbu/status/1010578207928733697 You can face whatever the day brings. https://twitter.com/activistHistori/status/1010525804881764352 You grabbed badges. https://twitter.com/HedgesPictures/status/1010519173510950912 And also picked up some pins. https://twitter.com/erinalibrarian/status/1010544347056607232 You’re learning your way around the … Continue reading Top 10 Tweets—Saturday Edition →

Disability Advocacy: Making Connections

By Kate Thompson | June 23, 2018

Inspired by the title of James Charlton’s classic work on self-advocacy, three librarians working in the area of services to individuals with disabilities shared their experiences and insights in a panel titled “Nothing About Us Without Us: Engaging the Community in Creating Disability Friendly Libraries” on Saturday at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition. Marti … Continue reading Disability Advocacy: Making Connections →

Latest Library Links

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Many members know Bill Ladewski as executive director of the Reference and User Services Association, an ALA position he has held since 2019. In early September, Ladewski added another title to his CV: director of Member Relations and Services. In this role, he and his team are charged with providing service and information to the Association’s nearly 50,000 members. Ladewski answered our 11 Questions to reintroduce himself to the ALA community.

AL: The Scoop, Nov. 19
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John Warner writes: “I understand what people mean when they invoke the term ‘institutional neutrality,’ but I don’t know how it’s workable in today’s world. Higher education institutions are built upon a foundation of actual values, values that are, by definition, not neutral. The Kalven report, the Rosetta Stone of institutional neutrality produced by a faculty committee at the University of Chicago in 1967, is not a call to make all work emanating from an institution ‘neutral,’ but is instead a call to make the atmosphere for scholarly inquiry and debate as free as possible.”

Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 15
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Angela Hursh writes: “Ever wondered how your library’s email performance compares to others? Benchmarks help you understand how well your emails perform in key areas and identify opportunities for improvement. They also allow you to compare your email marketing performance, set goals, and stay on top of trends. However, the lack of industry benchmarks for email marketing metrics specific to libraries has been bugging me. Metrics from similar industries don’t fully capture the unique aspects of promoting a library. To help libraries accurately measure their email effectiveness, we’ve created the first-ever library email benchmark report.”

NoveList, Oct. 22
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Rachel Hendrick writes: “Students and library vendors are pushing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in higher education, but there are very few resources that help librarians and scholars separate the wheat from the chaff. Luckily, we here at Choice love a good assessment rubric. (In fact, we made a PDF of our assessment rubric.) Even the least tech-savvy of us can use a very simple AI literacy framework to think critically about whether an AI application is worth your time.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, Nov. 13
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Rowana Miller writes: “In my experience, many young library-goers identify as storytellers but not writers. These are the kids who draw Captain-Underpants-style cartoons, who craft meticulous Minecraft universes, and who plot elaborate Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, but who believe that ‘writing’ is limited to five-paragraph essays. But when children draw the connections between their natural storytelling proclivities and the written word, they can become self-motivated to develop the communication skills that will help them for the rest of their lives. Libraries, I believe, are uniquely positioned to help children make this connection.”

ALSC Blog, Nov. 15
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ALA has reopened its search for an executive director in partnership with executive search firm Isaacson, Miller. A committee of ALA member leaders will oversee the search. The selected candidate will succeed Interim Executive Director Leslie Burger, who was appointed in November 2023. “We are excited to embark on our search for a new executive director,” said ALA President Cindy Hohl. “This leadership position is critical as we navigate the years ahead. We seek candidates who have knowledge of the library community and the urgent issues we face.”

ALA Communications, Marketing, and Media Relations Office, Nov. 14
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Emily Weak writes: “Something I always hear from hiring managers is that they want to build a resilient, diverse workforce. Sometimes we say we want a resilient workforce, but what we mean is that we want staffers who are willing to go above and beyond, or to do more with less. These concepts are deeply entrenched in librarianship, but I think we’re beginning to see how they can cause problems. Instead of trying to hire people who will do more with less and who will thrive amid adversity, let’s think about resilience as an organizational feature.”

American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.

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