collections Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Illustration of people using sustainability tools in a house, in a garage, and outside

Green Lending

These Library of Things collections allow carbon footprint–conscious locals to buy less, monitor their usage of natural resources, appreciate nature, and create a more sustainable environment. Most items are returned in their entirety, while others—like seeds and weather stripping—are intended for borrowers to keep what they need and return the rest. Click to open an … Continue reading Green Lending →

Grid of images including a person picking up trash, a seed packet, vegetables, a bee and flower, and a yoga mat and blocks

27 Sustainability Ideas to Implement Right Now

March 3, 2025

Organize a swap. Sul Ross State University Library in Alpine, Texas, hosted a clothing exchange for students, while Bring Your Own Plant is a popular, low-cost event at Lancaster (Wis.) Public Library. Facilitate food security. Charleston County (S.C.) Public Library installed community fridges stocked with fresh produce at three of its branches, while Summers County … Continue reading 27 Sustainability Ideas to Implement Right Now →

Doreen Horstin, manager of San Francisco Public Library’s Park branch, adds a book to the Read to Recovery shelves, which provide free addiction recovery materials to patrons.

No Questions Asked

By Aviva Bechky | January 2, 2025

Then, without checking out these titles, these patrons leave. They may mark up the books they take. They won’t return the materials. And, according to Doreen Horstin, manager of San Francisco Public Library’s (SFPL) Park branch, this is just fine. These patrons are participants in Read to Recovery, an SFPL program that has been providing … Continue reading No Questions Asked →

Sister Stella, a resident of Queen of Peace, a retirement community for nuns, plays with Henry. The robotic dog belongs to Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich, Illinois.

Librarian’s Pet

By Rosie Newmark | May 1, 2024

Kristan, outreach services coordinator at Ela Area Public Library (EAPL) in Lake Zurich, Illinois, knew that the presence of pets has been associated with health benefits like reductions in stress and blood pressure. In 2022, she introduced robotic pets to the library’s collection, taking them on visits to assisted living and memory care facilities to … Continue reading Librarian’s Pet →

A photo of a piece of sheet music from University of Michigan's collection of Thomas Edison's sheet music.

By the Numbers: Inventors

By Megan Bennett | May 1, 2024

May is National Inventors Month 135,850 Number of items in the Edison Sheet Music Collection, housed at University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor. Thomas Edison, who invented the phonograph in 1877, spearheaded this collection as a way for his phonograph company to select vocal and instrumental scores to record. 44 Number of agricultural bulletins … Continue reading By the Numbers: Inventors →

Marcia Mardis, professor of information science, director of Florida State University's (FSU) Information Institute, and associate dean for research at FSU’s College of Communication and Information

Eyeing the Storm

By Sanhita SinhaRoy | January 21, 2024

Librarians Denise Gomez and Marcia Mardis are from Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, and they know a thing or two about natural disasters. The two researchers presented “Not Another Named Storm: Disaster Planning in Public Libraries” on January 21 at ALA’s 2024 LibLearnX conference in Baltimore. They shared findings from their three-year Institute of … Continue reading Eyeing the Storm →

A catalog from the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play

By the Numbers: Toys

By Megan Bennett | November 1, 2023

230,000 Number of volumes available at the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, located at Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. The museum is also home to the National Toy Hall of Fame. The library houses books, catalogs, personal papers, design documents, oral history projects, and other research material relating to … Continue reading By the Numbers: Toys →

World War I–era peace pins housed at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford (Calif.) University. The pins belonged to pacifist and feminist activist Alice Park.

Keep the Peace

By Megan Bennett | September 1, 2023

Lucy Biddle Lewis, a fellow peace activist, walked in on this happening. Lewis told her contemporaries that she saw Addams and begged her to stop because scholars could learn from her life and work. There’s no record of when this interaction took place, but in 1930, Addams began donating her materials to Swarthmore (Pa.) College, … Continue reading Keep the Peace →

Culturally Diverse Collections

By Elisabet Kennedy | June 1, 2023

Whatever your school’s library is like, the opportunity to bring in culturally responsive principles exists. If you are a school librarian, time is not always on your side. But with intentional steps, the culturally responsive practices that you decide to implement in your library can be structured into feasible tasks. Each of the following tasks … Continue reading Culturally Diverse Collections →

Bookend: At the Heart of Medical History

By Phil Morehart | June 1, 2023

“It’s not a traditional library,” says Michelle Rinard, referring to the museum’s Thorek Manuscripts and Rare Books Collection. As curator and manager of exhibitions and development, Rinard stewards the library—home to more than 1,000 volumes of medical books, journals, illustrations, letters, and manuscripts dating from the 16th century to the present. Among the collection’s rare … Continue reading Bookend: At the Heart of Medical History →

Head curator Jenny Robb poses with collection items from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum

Bookend: A Library of Laughs

By Megan Bennett | May 1, 2023

“When I was growing up, we didn’t have graphic novels for a children’s audience,” says Robb, head curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum (BICLM) at Ohio State University in Columbus. “But now we have all kinds of stories,” she says. “Autobiographical, fantasy, adventure, you name it. It’s incredible to see this explosion … Continue reading Bookend: A Library of Laughs →

Pieces from Library of Congress' Bob Hope Collection

By the Numbers: Humor

By Megan Bennett | March 1, 2023

1976 Year that author Larry Wilde founded National Humor Month, held annually in April. 70 Number of oral history interviews available online through the American Comedy Archives, housed at Iwasaki Library at Emerson College in Boston. Interview participants include Margaret Cho, Dick Van Dyke, Betty White, and “Weird Al” Yankovic. 628,300 Number of print materials … Continue reading By the Numbers: Humor →

Latest Library Links

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Christine Park writes: “In 1985, anthropologist James C. Scott published Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, illustrating the ‘prosaic but constant struggle’ of Malaysian villagers indirectly dissenting against the power holders. Since January of this year, there have been seemingly unending and concentrated attacks on [redacted] policies as the new administration has made it a cornerstone of its agenda to combat ‘wokeness’ in America. But it’s fitting to utilize the tools that we have, and not comply in advance. For example, instead of removing any mention of [redacted], we can use visual tools to highlight the absurd and pervasive assault on our First Amendment rights.”

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Mar. 20
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Megan Nigh writes: “Getting books into your library is one half of the equation, but the other half is getting them into the hands of your teens. Handselling can be effective, but we can’t always be there for every teen looking for their next read. So how do we engage and entice teens to pick up a book? Check out some ideas [including special teen displays, on-shelf recommendations, and light-hearted gimmicks] that worked for us!”

Young Adult Library Services Association: The Hub, Mar. 21
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ALA sent a letter March 20 warning Keith E. Sonderling, the new Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) acting director, not to cut library programs required by federal law. The letter was sent in response to President Trump’s Executive Order of March 14, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” which takes aim at IMLS. Outlining the Congressional mandate of the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) of 2018, which was signed by President Trump, ALA urged Sonderling to follow provisions of the MLSA and avoid violating federal law. Additionally, the National Museum and Library Services Board has sent Sonderling a letter outlining IMLS’s statutory obligations.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, Mar. 20; Publishers Weekly, Mar. 24
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Peter McCabe and Anna Mehler Paperny write: “US authorities said March 21 they are closing Canadian access to a library straddling the Canada-US border. The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is located between the towns of Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont. The library’s entrance is on the Vermont side. Previously, Canadian visitors were able to enter using the sidewalk and entrance on the American side. Under the new rules, Canadians would need to go through a formal border crossing before entering the library.” The Department of Homeland Security told Reuters the move was in response to drug trafficking, but provided no evidence of such activity.

Reuters, Mar. 21
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Megan Bennett and David Alvarado write: “In 1979, Berkeley (Calif.) Public Library became one of the first libraries to start a tool lending program. Today, library patrons can choose from dozens of household options, from lawn mowers to miter saws, cold-press juicers to knife sharpeners. Public libraries continue to adopt this model. These Library of Things collections allow carbon footprint–conscious locals to buy less, monitor their usage of natural resources, appreciate nature, and create a more sustainable environment. Here’s an illustrated list of 21 popular tools promoting sustainability available in library collections across the US and Canada.”

American Libraries feature, Mar./Apr.
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Jodi Fortino writes: “Some Lee’s Summit (Mo.) School District Board of Education members said they’ve heard from parents concerned about what content their children can access in school libraries. Starting this month, parents can place their student on a restricted checkout status. Parents can call their school’s librarian and list up to 20 titles that their student won’t be able to check out. School librarians said they received 89 formal reconsideration requests in the 2022–2023 school year, but none of them came from parents whose children had checked out a book.” No requests were received in the 2023–2024 school year.

KCUR-FM (Kansas City, Mo.), Mar. 10
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Jeffrey Brainard writes: “The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Friday told staff members it has canceled subscriptions carried by its National Agricultural Library as part of a drive by President Donald Trump’s administration (and its Department of Government Efficiency) to cut federal spending. The move appears to drop nearly 400 of the library’s roughly 2,000 journals, including many prominent in various agricultural subfields—but curiously none from the world’s three largest scientific publishers, all of which are for-profit. Most of the affected publishers are university or nonprofit scientific society presses. USDA staff members depicted the move as hasty, indiscriminate slashing.”

Science, Mar. 17

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