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Winners of the 2016 Congressional App Challenge meet in Washington, D.C., on April 4, 2017, with Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) speaking in the background.

Libraries in the #HouseofCode

By Shawnda Hines | April 11, 2017

Some of this year’s winners included: Organized College Planner (Zach Burke, Illinois’ 9th congressional district) keeps track of passwords, deadlines, and course application requirements. Election Connection (Santiago Torres, Christopher Leung, Christopher Jhaveri, and Jason Kwan, California’s 39th congressional district) provides information to help voters make more educated decisions about candidates and ballot propositions. STEMLink (Nikhil Sharma, … Continue reading Libraries in the #HouseofCode →

Ready to Code

By Linda W. Braun | September 1, 2016

The OITP–Google project, Libraries Ready to Code, launched in April 2016 and will continue through the fall of this year. The team working on the project hosted focus groups and one-on-one interviews and conducted site observations in order to learn what’s going on across the country. As project researcher for this initiative, I wanted to … Continue reading Ready to Code →

Maya Penn speaks during the Auditorium Speaker Series at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida.

Maya Penn’s Ideas Inspire

By Amy Carlton | June 26, 2016

Maya Penn says she started her first business when she was just a kid, selling plastic pizzas to her stuffed animals. But that was only make-believe. She started her real first business years later, at the ripe old age of 8—an Etsy shop called Maya’s Ideas, selling headbands she sewed herself using recycled and repurposed fabrics, with a portion of the profits going to charity.

Attendees learn CAD modeling in the COLab at the 2016 Public Library Association Conference in Denver.

How-To Lessons, Makerspaces, and Coding

By Laurie D. Borman | April 8, 2016

Colorado businesses and libraries partnered in COLab, where attendees could try out 3D printing with a printer made in Colorado, as well as other makerspace projects that are part of the partnership. At the Take Charge Lounge, spin bikes were set up with a phone charger attached to the flywheel, making it freewheeling charging. Programs … Continue reading How-To Lessons, Makerspaces, and Coding →

A Learning Organization

By Meredith Farkas | March 1, 2016

There is no one working in a library who wouldn’t benefit from continuous learning. At some institutions, only those in professional positions are granted time and money for professional development. This not only creates an uncomfortable divide between colleagues, it also suggests that only professionals really need to learn on the job. This couldn’t be … Continue reading A Learning Organization →

Building the New Nostalgia

By Erika L. Jenns | June 27, 2015

Dale Dougherty, founder and executive chairman of Maker Media; Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America; John Palfrey, head of school at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; and Meaghan O’Connor, assistant director for programs and partnerships at the District of Columbia Public Library offered insightful remarks. Each tried to answer that … Continue reading Building the New Nostalgia →

Learning to Code

By Andromeda Yelton | May 15, 2015

For my Library Technology Report, I reached out to the LITA-L, Code4Lib, and LibTechWomen discussion lists, as well as my own network, to survey librarians on how they use code in their jobs. I looked for people who are not primarily developers and who could share examples of short scripts. I also asked for recommendations … Continue reading Learning to Code →

Get Cracking on Code

By Kate Silver | March 30, 2015

In a matter of months, Ferguson took a series of free coding classes through the library. It opened up an array of career possibilities, and he was quickly hired as a front-end web developer with an advertising agency. “When I was working as a paralegal, I had reached the ceiling,” says Ferguson. “Whereas with web … Continue reading Get Cracking on Code →

People on the streets of Austin, Texas, and on the SxSW exhibit hall floor show their support for libraries with their new lib*interactive tattoos.

Ideas and Inspiration: Day Four of SXSW

By Maryann James-Daley | March 17, 2015

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I had breakfast at the modern marvel that is the Lamar Whole Foods (no kidding, the flagship store is an awe-inspiring stop for out-of-towners) and then started my day with a bunch of my favorite people: librarians! The meet-up welcomed librarians and librarian-friendly technologists from across the globe, and the … Continue reading Ideas and Inspiration: Day Four of SXSW →

Geeking Out at SXSW: Day Two

By Maryann James-Daley | March 15, 2015

After my revised Saturday plan to go to an informal librarian breakfast meet-up was derailed, I found myself in the Austin Convention Center, standing in a common area in front of a tray full of Legos. What a wonderful way to jumpstart your day (and brain) with a little free-building. Little did I know that … Continue reading Geeking Out at SXSW: Day Two →

Latest Library Links

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Katie Gaddini writes: “Book bans may have mushroomed in the Trump era of reactionary politics, but they have a well-established history in America. One woman in particular, Norma Gabler, redefined the current strategy and logic behind modern book bans. Called ‘education’s public enemy number one,’ by critics in 1980, Gabler led the crusade against the so-called secular trend in school textbooks throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Even though Norma and her husband Mel worked together, Norma was the public face of their efforts for decades.”

Time: Made By History, Nov. 13
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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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