COVID-19 Archives | Page 5 of 14 | American Libraries Magazine

ALA Announces COVID Library Relief Fund

April 9, 2021

These funds are intended to bolster library operations and services, including technology access, collections, digital instruction, staffing, and outreach. Funds can be used to maintain and amplify existing service strategies or add new ones. “Libraries have demonstrated extraordinary innovation over the past year in creating new materials, programs, and service delivery models, but they are … Continue reading ALA Announces COVID Library Relief Fund →

Call Number Episode 60: Supporting Seniors during the Pandemic

Call Number Podcast: Supporting Seniors during the Pandemic

March 23, 2021

On Episode 60, Call Number with American Libraries looks at library outreach to seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic. First American Libraries Associate Editor Sallyann Price speaks with David Kelsey, outreach coordinator at St. Charles (Ill.) Public Library in St. Charles, Illinois, and president of the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services, about the importance of … Continue reading Call Number Podcast: Supporting Seniors during the Pandemic →

What the American Rescue Plan Act Means for Libraries

By Kathi Kromer | March 12, 2021

Of the $200 million for IMLS, $178 million is allocated for the Library Services and Technology Act and will go to state library administrative agencies on a population-based formula. IMLS announced state allotments for ARPA funding in a March 11 press release. Because there is a $2 million state minimum, every state will receive a … Continue reading What the American Rescue Plan Act Means for Libraries →

ALA Executive Board Supports APALA in Recognizing and Condemning Ongoing anti-Asian Hate Crimes

March 11, 2021

The Executive Board of the American Library Association (ALA) stands in solidarity with the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) in recognizing and condemning anti-Asian hate crimes. The ALA Executive Board affirms APALA’s March 3 statement in which it writes, “Our Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities have been deeply impacted by attacks that have … Continue reading ALA Executive Board Supports APALA in Recognizing and Condemning Ongoing anti-Asian Hate Crimes →

Jack Miller dusts shelves at the main location of Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin, Illinois, pre-pandemic. Photo: Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin, Illinois

A Disproportionate Pandemic

By Emily Udell | March 1, 2021

“He is so routine-driven that he never considers doing ‘home’ things at the computer lab or ‘computer lab’ things at home,” says his mom, Rebecca Miller. “Being able to do these things at home is not the same to him at all.” In addition, using the computer lab gave Jack a taste of what his … Continue reading A Disproportionate Pandemic →

Illustration of people, stacked books, and a computer monitor. (Illustration: ©PureSolution/Adobe Stock)

How User-Friendly Is Your Website?

By Greg Landgraf | March 1, 2021

“I get the feeling that many people think usability comes second to utility,” says Christina Manzo, user experience librarian at Radford University Carilion in Roanoke, Virginia. “I think they’ve become one and the same. There’s a seemingly endless supply of interfaces competing for our attention, so users are less willing to put up with a … Continue reading How User-Friendly Is Your Website? →

Valerie Wagley, counselor at Fair Oaks Elementary School in Cobb County, Georgia, reads to kids at a bookmobile stop in summer 2020. Photo: Kelli Wood

The Road to Normal

By Mark Lawton | March 1, 2021

“Would it be crazy if we packed our cars with books and drove them around?” Parrish remembers proposing. They put out word of their plan to give away books, and soon teachers, churches, school libraries, families, and even the local YMCA were donating books for the effort. Goochland County government loaned them a van. And … Continue reading The Road to Normal →

Illustration: Open laptop that looks like theater with people sitting in rows of seats and instructor pointing at image on screen (©wei/Adobe Stock)

Fighting the Spread

By Timothy Inklebarger | March 1, 2021

“As medical professionals and librarians, we tell people what to do, but we don’t often explain why,” she says. “A lot of times people are like, ‘I don’t want people telling me what to do.’ But if they understand the science behind it, I think it really helps.” In response to the unfolding crisis, Daly, … Continue reading Fighting the Spread →

A wooden kamishibai box, which contains illustrated cards ((Photo: Geo1208)

Think Inside the Box

By Diana Panuncial | March 1, 2021

Clack, clack! Siskind hits the sticks together, sets them down, and opens the flaps on the front of the box to create a small stage showing the illustrated cover of that day’s kamishibai storytime. Kamishibai, or “paper theater,” is a form of storytelling that originated in Japan in the late 1920s. Storytellers would ride into … Continue reading Think Inside the Box →

Human visitors explore the butterfly garden at Kokomo–Howard County (Ind.) Public Library’s South branch. (Photo: Kokomo–Howard County (Ind.) Public Library)

Where Monarchs Reign

By Emily Udell | March 1, 2021

Drawing on their existing relationship with KHCPL, the gardeners discussed planting a community butterfly garden—a sanctuary designed to attract and support the colorful winged creatures at all stages of life—on the grounds of the system’s South branch. “What I love best is that when they wanted this for their community, they first thought of the … Continue reading Where Monarchs Reign →

Building Morale in a Pandemic

By Meredith Farkas | March 1, 2021

I’ve heard countless stories of library workers who have gone above and beyond to support their communities during this time. But I’ve also wondered how many libraries surpassed expectations to meet their staffers’ needs. I spoke with several librarians about what they’ve done to support their workers as whole people. Early in the pandemic, administrators … Continue reading Building Morale in a Pandemic →

Librarian's Library by Araceli Mendez Hintermeister

Engagement at a Distance

By Araceli Méndez Hintermeister | March 1, 2021

Pivoting during the Pandemic: Ideas for Serving Your Community Anytime, Anywhere Edited by Kathleen M. Hughes and Jamie Santoro This collection includes 22 reflections from library staffers across the US on how public libraries have responded to challenges posed by COVID-19. Whether you seek to serve specific patron groups, address larger community needs, or … Continue reading Engagement at a Distance →

Latest Library Links

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Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
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Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
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Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
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Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9
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Karen O’Grady writes: “I am the embedded librarian for the Hahn School of Nursing at the University of San Diego. I am surrounded by nursing faculty, staff, and students rather than by librarians. This has proven to be an incredible gamechanger for the way I see things. Every student in my school knows me by name. I am often stopped in the hallway to answer questions. Every correct answer I give increases my authority and builds trust. Through these casual mini-lessons, this foreign animal called ‘librarian’ slowly becomes an approachable, knowledgeable person.”

College & Research Libraries News, Dec.
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ALA has selected 46 participants for its 2025 class of Emerging Leaders (EL). The EL program allows library staff and information workers to participate in project planning work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity early in their careers. The group will take part in a day-long session during the 2025 LibLearnX conference in Phoenix this January and work for six months, culminating in a poster session at ALA’s 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia in June, where they will highlight results of their project planning work.

ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, Dec. 4
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On December 9, ALA announced a $25 million bequest by James W. Lewis, of Washington, D.C. The gift, the largest individual bequest in ALA’s history, will fund scholarships for aspiring librarians with demonstrated financial needs. Throughout Lewis’s career at Merrill Lynch, where he leads the Lewis Group as senior vice president and senior relationship manager, he has demonstrated his commitment to libraries and their communities by generously volunteering his time, including as a member of the Board of Visitors at the library of his alma mater, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He also served as a Library Trustee Board member at District of Columbia Public Library for 10 years.”

AL: The Scoop, Dec. 9

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