Donna McDonald, director of the Arkansas River Valley Regional Library System and secretary of United for Libraries, noted that many public library users are “unaware of the library’s funding challenges, and the biggest supporters may not be frequent users.” Elected officials can often be a “hard sell” because they are also looking at funding for … Continue reading Advocate Proactively
A list of the 2017 award winners follows: John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature: The Girl Who Drank the Moon, written by Kelly Barnhill, is the 2017 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Algonquin Young Readers, an imprint of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, a division of Workman … Continue reading 2017 Youth Media Award Winners Announced
Liou’s presentation was a perfect follow-up to the city-wide vision of the Atlanta Beltline described by Ryan Gravel during Saturday’s Arthur Curley Lecture, showing how small investments in the assets neighborhoods already have can make a big difference. Liou’s vision for Buford Highway builds on a fundamental belief that the area is special because of … Continue reading Library Service in a World That’s Getting Closer
Gravel—who sparked the idea for the Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile multiuse trail or repurposed rail lines that will eventually connect 46 neighborhoods—should know. His “ulterior motive,” he says, was simply creating a city that he wanted to live in. Gravel’s talk was testament to how one person with a bold idea can make a difference … Continue reading “Unfettered by Reality”
The keynote speaker was Daina Ramey Berry, associate professor of history and African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin and author of The Price for Their Pound of Flesh (2017), a history of the economic value of slaves from birth to death. “Slavery does not stop people from fighting for … Continue reading “Freedom Ain’t Never Been Free!”
Kwame Alexander blew us all away with the importance of poetry, children’s input, and books. "Books are like amusement parks; sometimes you've got to let kids pick their ride."– Kwame Alexander, Newbery Medal winner #alamw17 — Kathy Mansfield (@akmansfield) January 22, 2017 Poems can change you, transform you – @kwamealexander #alamw17 — Jennifer Demas (@jenn5656) … Continue reading Top 10 Tweets—Sunday Edition
The event was streamed live on the American Libraries Facebook page, where it is available for replay. Cheryl Gorman, senior fellow of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, served as moderator for the 90-minute session, which gave each member a maximum of three minutes to state his or her concerns. A total of 32 individuals … Continue reading ALA’s Town Hall Meeting
Boyer started the session with the example of the New York Times recently giving its subscribers Google cardboard in order to allow them to view newly published content in a virtual reality format. “The question becomes for all of us, is virtual reality the next content delivery platform?” Boyer said. Technology companies are investing in … Continue reading Virtual Reality as the New Field Trip: The Importance of Place in Learning
That was the question at the center of “Improving Federal and State Policy to Support Family Engagement in Libraries,” a Saturday morning panel sponsored by the Public Library Association (PLA) at ALA’s 2017 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Atlanta. Caspe reinforced that family engagement is a shared responsibility, can happen anywhere, and can happen at … Continue reading Changing Policy to Support Family Engagement
Catherine Murray Rust, dean of libraries at Georgia Tech University, detailed how her library undertook such an endeavor in Reimagining the Research Library for the 21st Century, an ALA Masters Series session at the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting. It was an extensive project, with some elements still ongoing, but it boiled down to three basic … Continue reading Research Libraries Transform
Todaro introduced a special guest, Librarian of Congress Carla D. Hayden, who gave remarks and thanked the library community for making her confirmation possible. 2014–2015 ALA President Courtney L. Young, chair of the ALA Executive Director Search Committee, presented the committee members (CD#10.2): Keri Cascio, Diane R. Chen, Joseph M. Eagan, Miguel Figueroa, Dora T. … Continue reading Librarian of Congress Thanks Library Community at Council I
The use of ransomware by hackers on public computers has increased dramatically in the past two to three years, and libraries need to be diligent about security practices, said Daniel Ayala, director of global information security at ProQuest. Ayala provided tips and information during his talk on cybersecurity at Midwinter on Saturday. “We need to think of … Continue reading Cybersecurity and Privacy in 2017
