#alaac22 Archives | American Libraries Magazine

2022 Annual Wrap-Up

By Alison Marcotte | July 20, 2022

Major themes that resonated throughout the conference included book bans and censorship; issues around diversity, equity, and inclusion; examples of successful library programming during the pandemic; library funding strategies; patron and library worker safety; information access; and technology trends and challenges. Conference speakers included actors John Cho and Tiffany Haddish, comic book artist Kevin Eastman, … Continue reading 2022 Annual Wrap-Up →

Daphene Keys, public services librarian at Houston Community College, with the Baker & Taylor mascots

A Marketplace of Ideas

By Marshall Breeding | July 20, 2022

ALA mandated COVID-19 vaccinations and face masks for conference attendees, which lent some confidence for personal interactions on the exhibit floor. While some vendors noted lighter traffic than in past years, there appeared to be a sense of appreciation for the return of a live marketplace—and a consensus that virtual conferences have not been able … Continue reading A Marketplace of Ideas →

Newsmaker: Celeste Ng

By Alison Marcotte | July 20, 2022

Ng, who spoke at the American Library Association’s 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C., talked with American Libraries about the novel, which calls to mind the not-so-distant past—and the anti–Asian American hate we are seeing today. In Our Missing Hearts, libraries are one of the last remaining sources of truth, as an underground … Continue reading Newsmaker: Celeste Ng →

Exhibit hall candids from the American Library Association's 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. Clockwise from top right: Steph McHugh (left) and Mary Hamer (right), media specialists and librarians at Yorkville (Ill.) Community Unit School District 115, pose with author Rosemary Wells during a signing of her book If You Believe in Me. María Daniela “Dani” Thurber, reference librarian in the Hispanic Reading Room of the Library of Congress and immediate past president of the District of Columbia Library Association, makes a conductive bracelet at the Tech Test Pilot Playground. Luke Sutherland, access services specialist at Montgomery College Library in Takoma Park, Maryland, creates a page for the #alaac22 collaborative zine in the Zine Pavilion. Shayna Szabo, youth services librarian at LA County (Calif.) Library, pets Oliver, a rabbit from Peacebunny Island, an island on the Mississippi River where rabbits are trained to become comfort and emotional support animals.

Bookend: Reunited, and It Feels So Good

By Terra Dankowski | July 20, 2022

Steph McHugh (left) and Mary Hamer (right), media specialists and librarians at Yorkville (Ill.) Community Unit School District 115, pose with author Rosemary Wells during a signing of her book If You Believe in Me. María Daniela “Dani” Thurber, reference librarian in the Hispanic Reading Room of the Library of Congress and immediate past president … Continue reading Bookend: Reunited, and It Feels So Good →

David Vinjamuri talks about ethnographic design in libraries

Avoid the Cookie-Cutter Library

By Carrie Smith | June 30, 2022

At “Ethnographic Design: Creating Culturally Centered Library Spaces,” Huberty and David Vinjamuri, adjunct associate professor of marketing at New York University, discussed how they apply ethnographic design in new libraries and remodeling projects. They were joined by community librarian Julie Retherford from Chetco Community Public Library in Brookings, Oregon, who shared her experiences from a … Continue reading Avoid the Cookie-Cutter Library →

Luvvie Ajayi Jones appears as Closing Speaker at the American Library Association's 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C., on June 28.

Making Trouble

By Terra Dankowski | June 28, 2022

“Disruption of this world is how we’re going to get to the place we actually want to get to,” Jones told attendees at the June 28 Closing Session of the American Library Association’s 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a dumpster fire if Batman wasn’t the one you had … Continue reading Making Trouble →

Money Know-How

By Sanhita SinhaRoy | June 27, 2022

Patrons and students need guidance to navigate what can feel like an overwhelmingly complex financial landscape. And if the nation is to address its wealth inequality, libraries can help. Moderator Kenneth McDonnell, financial education program analyst at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, gave an overview of a pilot project the US federal agency created to … Continue reading Money Know-How →

Jane Park (left) and Christina Soontornvat appear as part of the American Library Association (ALA) President's Program at ALA's Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C., on June 26. Photo: EPNAC

‘This Is a Movement’

By Terra Dankowski | June 27, 2022

American Library Association (ALA) President Patricia “Patty” M. Wong convened a panel of authors, publishers, and literacy advocates to discuss these questions at “Advancing the Asian American Story,” a June 26 program at ALA’s 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. To better understand the strides the publishing industry is making with representation and … Continue reading ‘This Is a Movement’ →

Catherine Murray-Rust speaking in the "Creating the Future Library Workforce" program at the ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C.

Solving Worker Struggles

By Greg Landgraf | June 27, 2022

Murray-Rust offered four questions, adapted from the Harwood Institute: What are your aspirations for the library workforce community? What challenges do you face in meeting them? What changes are needed in your community to reach those aspirations? And how are you committed to reaching those aspirations? Low compensation is a major problem across the library … Continue reading Solving Worker Struggles →

Council III: Intellectual Freedom Takes Center Stage

By Sallyann Price | June 27, 2022

Wong began the meeting with memorial tributes honoring: Ross J. Todd (M-#8), Donald C. Adcock (M-#9), Virginia “Ginny” Bradley Moore (M-#10), Nancy Kandoian (M-#11), Alvin Leroy Lee (M-#12), Donna Scheeder (M-#13), Margo Crist (M-#14), Alexandra Sax (M-#15), Sarah Van Antwerp (M-#16), Ann Pechacek (M-#17), Sandra Payne (M-#18), Judith S. Rowe (M-#19), Tracey Hunter-Hayes (M-#20), and … Continue reading Council III: Intellectual Freedom Takes Center Stage →

Authors Maya Prasad (left) and Susan Azim Boyer speak at “Engaging Historically Underrepresented Young Adult Readers,” a June 27 session at the American Library Association's 2022 Annual Exhibition and Conference in Washington, D.C. Photo: Rebecca Lomax/American Libraries

Uplifting Underrepresented Readers

By Diana Panuncial | June 27, 2022

Torres and authors Susan Azim Boyer, Katryn Bury, and Maya Prasad shared their experiences growing up with a lack of positive depictions of themselves in books at “Engaging Historically Underrepresented Young Adult Readers,” a June 27 session at the American Library Association’s 2022 Annual Exhibition and Conference in Washington, D.C. The panel offered strategies for … Continue reading Uplifting Underrepresented Readers →

Jennifer Embree, subject librarian and Sustainability Hub coordinator for Binghamton University Libraries, speaks at the American Library Association's 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C., on June 26. Photo: Rebecca Lomax/American Libraries

Join the Hub

By Terra Dankowski | June 27, 2022

“Despite how big our school is, there was no sustainability office,” Embree said at “Sustainability Hubs in Practice: How Libraries Can Develop Dynamic Spaces and Services to Help Foster an Action-Based Sustainability Culture in Communities,” a June 26 session at the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. “Unless you’re … Continue reading Join the Hub →

Latest Library Links

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Genevieve Trainor writes: “The Guinness World Record holder for Most Prolific Book Thief is Ottumwa (Iowa’s) Stephen Blumberg. The 23,600 volumes he accumulated between the 1970s and his arrest in March of 1990 were all stashed in his 17-room home. Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, got involved with Blumberg as part of the FBI’s efforts to return the stolen manuscripts and rare books to their museums and libraries. Referred to as the Omaha Project, the information science proving ground involved four weeks, 44 catalogers and reference librarians and 600 volunteer hours to determine who might be the rightful owners.”

Little Village (Dubuque, Iowa), Dec. 4
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Casey Newton writes: “At the moment, no one knows for sure whether the large language models that are now under development will achieve superintelligence and transform the world. And in that uncertainty, two primary camps of criticism have emerged. The first camp, which I associate with the external critics, holds that artificial intelligence (AI) is fake and sucks. The second camp, which I associate more with the internal critics, believes that AI is real and dangerous. Today I want to lay out why I believe AI is real and dangerous.”

Platformer, Dec. 5
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Latia Ward writes: “One way to keep current with what students think of the library and its services is through Student Library Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are a way to gather feedback and reinforce the library as a welcoming place. How do librarians create a welcoming environment within Student Library Advisory Committee meetings? Librarians create a welcoming environment through community, purpose, and dedicated space.” Also see part 1 of this blog post.

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 13, Dec. 5
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Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
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Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
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Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
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Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9

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