33% of Americans report feelings of “extreme stress.” 60-90% of doctor visits are related to “stress-related complaints.” As such, it should not come as a surprise that there has been a strong emphasis on well-being at the 2019 ALA Annual Conference. Well-being has been emphasized because it is absolutely essential. Tureen is an extrovert. Melilli is … Continue reading Overworked and Overwhelmed, Oh My!
Koran Saines, Sterling district supervisor for the Loudoun County (Va.) Board of Supervisors, asked the question at the beginning of “A Successful Budgeting Process,” a June 23 panel at the American Library Association’s 2019 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C., to illustrate a simple but important point: Librarians should be having ongoing conversations with … Continue reading Budget Bedfellows
“We often frame [disability or accessibility] as a problem, something to overcome, or something to deal with,” she told attendees at “Accessibility and Creation of Online Library Materials: Applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL),” a June 22 session at the American Library Association’s 2019 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. Johns chooses instead to … Continue reading Universal Design for All Learners
Queries addressed topics ranging from privacy issues to unruly teens, from how to respond to police warrants to dealing with people experiencing homelessness. The topic of patron behavior—and attendant issues of penalty policy and compassion—struck a chord, as the session’s format evolved from question-and-answer to open exchange among librarians raising questions and weighing in to … Continue reading Following the Letter of the Library Law
Then came “The Breaking,” as she called it. Diagnosed with scoliosis at age 13, the disease progressed and when she was 19 she went in for spinal surgery and woke up paralyzed. “I went from being an athlete to being in a hospital bed unable to move,” she said. “I lost my faith in science … Continue reading Nnedi Okorafor on Writing, Rage, Bugs, and Aliens
Kristin Pekoll, Assistant Director of ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) began the session by announcing that OIF had recorded 531 affected items in 2018—which is a step beyond just challenges. These items included books films, board games, video games, magazines and much more. Sarah Ward, outreach librarian at Hunter College Libraries in New York … Continue reading Still Chilling: Censorship Beyond Banned Books
Comprising authors Tracey Garvis Graves, Linda Holmes, Tif Marcelo, Hope Ramsay, and Sheila Roberts, the group discussed their latest works. Garvis-Graves, author of The Girl He Used to Know, let the audience in on two secrets: First, the novel’s premise originated from the well-known song Auld Lang Syne. And second, in order to write it, … Continue reading Isn’t It Romantic
Exile is one of several themes Talusan explores in her memoir The Body Papers, winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. She and Nathan Rostron, editor and marketing director of Restless Books—an imprint dedicated to international authors writing in English—participated in a June 22 panel discussion on the challenges faced by immigrant … Continue reading Expression in Exile
In a talk moderated by Todd Krueger, 2019–2020 president-elect of the Young Adult Library Services Association, Miller and Wheeler explained the genesis of the project. Miller said that as a kid, after discovering Superman, his other big love was Disney’s The Sword in the Stone. That continuing fascination was a driving factor in wanting to … Continue reading A New Twist on an Old Tale
Moderator Heidi MacDonald, editor-in-chief of comic industry blog The Beat, began by asking the panelists to describe the inspirations behind their most well-known works. Speaking through a translator, French writer Julia Billet said that the story detailed in her graphic novel Catherine’s War, which follows a young Jewish girl during WWII as she journeys across France … Continue reading The Words Behind the Images
If the purpose of Intellectual Freedom 101, held Friday afternoon, was to get the conference off to a lively start, it was successful. The fast-paced, one-hour panel let attendees learn about the intellectual freedom activities ALA and its affiliates are working on and how they are defending First Amendment rights. Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) … Continue reading Intellectual Freedom 101
While today was most people’s second day at the conference, we also welcomed a lot of first time and first day attendees! …but for some of us, it was not our first rodeo. Once we had our coffee, it was time to get inspired by some of the speakers. Even Carla Hayden has an inspiring … Continue reading Annual 2019 Top Ten Tweets—Day 2
