The “ShibSibs”—recently announced as honorary co-chairs of National Library Week—spoke about their collaboration, their inspirations, and their shared love of storytelling in a January 26 Auditorium Speaker Series session at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting. Their novel Kudo Kids: The Mystery of the Masked Medalist (forthcoming in May), the first in a series of mysteries for middle-grade … Continue reading Telling Stories On and Off the Ice
The selections were announced January 26 at the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Book and Media Awards sponsored by NoveList, during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Luiselli’s novel tracks husband-and-wife audio documentarians as they travel cross-country with their two children deep into the painful history of the Apache … Continue reading 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners Announced
In a January 25 session at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting, Felicia Smith, head of learning and outreach at Stanford University Libraries, described how these types of real-life scenarios can help teach critical evaluation skills. Her recent research focuses on the potential of virtual reality (VR) to help drive that message home. Smith is not a VR … Continue reading Using Virtual Reality to Fight Fake News
The team of librarians who helped shape this course through collaboration with instructors shared their experience at “Metadata Instruction Mobilizing Human Rights Research in the Undergraduate Classroom” on Saturday, January 25 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Philadelphia. The project began when a history professor approached Alex Boucher, research and instructional services librarian … Continue reading Making Discoveries Discoverable
To explore the roles a library can play in hosting a makerspace, Schrupp posed three questions: Why host a makerspace? Knowing how it fits into a school’s mission and objective will guide how you choose resources and what types of activities will take place. What is the focus? “There are a lot of approaches out … Continue reading More Than Making
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), and Theresa Chmara, general counsel for the Freedom to Read Foundation, led a session on these hot-button legal issues in a January 25 session at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting. The presentation focused on the responsibilities of the public library in moderating social media commentary and regulating … Continue reading Free Speech for the Smartphone Era
Who sees my data? Do you need an ID to fill out a census form? Who should I include on my form? “People are afraid to answer the census, that’s what our research has shown,” Burton Reist, assistant director for communications for the US Census Bureau, told attendees at “2020 Census: How Libraries Can Support … Continue reading Completing the Count
https://twitter.com/chaoticute/status/1221283272421990400 We started the day with the amazing Echo Brown. What a way to start the morning, with a moving talk by Echo Brown. So glad I made time to listen. #alamw2020 #alamw20 Now may I live her message. — Dr Michelle Hudiburg (@chellouise) January 25, 2020 Followed by some great sessions. My first … Continue reading Midwinter 2020 Top 10 Tweets—Day 2
Brown introduced the first Lois-Ann Gregory Wood Fellow, Tashia Munson of Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Brown then introduced Tracie D. Hall, ALA’s new executive director, who will start February 24. The minutes from the 2019 ALA Annual Conference (CD#2) were adopted. ALA Executive Director Mary Ghikas presented the review of executive board … Continue reading Council I Introduces New Executive Director
Sargent, who has been at the center of Macmillan’s controversial ebook lending policy that took effect November 1—a model that limits libraries to purchasing one copy of each new ebook and imposes an eight-week embargo on additional copies—invited attendees to “ask him anything.” Before opening the floor to comments, he explained to attendees how Macmillan … Continue reading Macmillan CEO Hosts AMA
The session, part of the Symposium on the Future of Libraries at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits in Philadelphia on January 25, included both a presentation and a large-group discussion. The first significant item discussed was privacy. The presenters called attention to the seventh article of the ALA Bill of Rights: “All people, regardless of origin, … Continue reading What Types of Technology Should Librarians Scrutinize?
Brown relayed her “origin story” to attendees in the Auditorium Speaker Series at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits in Philadelphia on January 25. Born during the mid-1980s crack epidemic in one of Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods to a mother and stepfather with no money and histories of addiction, her first memory is of … Continue reading Miracles and Memoir
