authors Archives | Page 20 of 20 | American Libraries Magazine

The April announcement of the Soon to Be Famous Author Project winner took place at the Illinois Library Association in Chicago. Front, from left: Denise Raleigh, Michael Alan Peck, and Cris Cigler. Back, from left: Donna Fletcher, Julie Stam, Lucy Tarabour, Nikki Zimmermann, and Jennifer Amling.

Soon to Be … Awarded

By Alison Marcotte | June 12, 2015

“A group of us who knew each other gathered spontaneously outside of the room after the talk and just got jazzed about it and said, ‘We really should do something,’” says Sue Wilsey, communication manager at the Helen Plum Memorial Library in Lombard, Illinois. What resulted was the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project, … Continue reading Soon to Be … Awarded →

Newsmaker: James Patterson

By Megan Cottrell | June 4, 2015

American Libraries: You made headlines last year by giving $1 million dollars in small grants to independent bookstores, and now you’re doing the same for school libraries. The problems bookstores are facing are well known, but school libraries haven’t received as much national attention. Why did you decide to focus on school libraries? That’s exactly … Continue reading Newsmaker: James Patterson →

Outlander author Diana Gabaldon. Photo: Elenna Loughlin

Newsmaker: Diana Gabaldon

By Mariam Pera | January 8, 2015

When you began writing Outlander, you didn’t think anyone would ever see it, but you shared some of what you wrote on literary forums. Can you talk about what role the online literary community played for you as a novelist starting out? I started showing people a bit of what I was doing on [a … Continue reading Newsmaker: Diana Gabaldon →

Newsmaker: Judy Blume

By Claire Bushey | April 15, 2014

I know you’re not supposed to ask this of writers, but how’s the current book going? Slowly! It’s never good for me to stop and start, and with this book I’ve had to do that several times. Two years off to write and produce the Tiger Eyes movie. Months away from it for other reasons. But … Continue reading Newsmaker: Judy Blume →

Interview with Melissa Sweet

By Sanhita SinhaRoy | January 27, 2014

Among Sweet’s awards are a Caldecott Honor for A River of Words (Eerdmans, 2008) and, more recently, a 2014 Sibert Honor for A Splash of Red (Knopf), which was announced at the January 27 Youth Media Awards. Video: Melissa Sweet on the Influence of Libraries See, hear, and read more about what’s going on … Continue reading Interview with Melissa Sweet →

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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