Photo of Latia Ward, Academic Insights column. Text says "Academic Insights by Latia Ward"

Accessing Justice

June 1, 2022

This scenario is an example of both a reference transaction and an access-to-justice issue. Many people do not have easy access to an attorney and will come to the library seeking legal information. Librarians are not authorized to give legal advice, but they can direct patrons to useful organizations and resources. According to Jessica Steinberg, … Continue reading Accessing Justice


A protester at the Save Niles Library rally in July. Organizers met at a local park, then marched to the library for a public hearing on proposed budget cuts.

A Conflict of Values

November 1, 2021

Incumbent trustee Becky Keane-Adams responded immediately, saying she wholeheartedly disagreed. “Books are windows,” she began. “If you open a book and you can never see yourself in it, then it’s hard to figure out who you are.” The comments of Makula—elected in April along with candidates Olivia Hanusiak and Suzanne Schoenfeldt, who like Makula identify … Continue reading A Conflict of Values


Kazuo Ishiguro

Newsmaker: Kazuo Ishiguro

February 25, 2021

Klara and the Sun is a powerful commentary on the ethics of technological advances and artificial intelligence. What inspired you to address those themes? It was an opportunity to have a narrator with an interesting perspective. The Artificial Friend is almost like a baby at the beginning: completely fresh, completely open, but taking things in … Continue reading Newsmaker: Kazuo Ishiguro



From left: Ee Min Hoon, Philip Schreur, Toru Aoike, and Eero Hammais

IFLA: Artificial Intelligence and Data Mining

August 26, 2019

The session was sponsored by the Knowledge Management and Information Technology sections with the Big Data special interest group. Frank Cervone, director of information technology for the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Public Health, kicked off the program by asking, “Is AI real?” AI has been actively embedded in public and personal spaces, … Continue reading IFLA: Artificial Intelligence and Data Mining


In Practice by Meredith Farkas

When Values Collide

November 1, 2018

Another core value is intellectual freedom, and we have a long and proud history of supporting it in the face of censorship. Because we attempt to represent a diversity of perspectives in our collections, displays, and programming, most libraries contain material that some patrons might find offensive. But what if a perspective repudiates the dignity … Continue reading When Values Collide


Librarian's Library: Karen Muller

Future Strategies

September 4, 2018

In Six Issues Facing Libraries Today: Critical Perspectives, John M. Budd calls these issues persistent and thorny—and they are. The first topic addressed is information: what it is and what it is not. Budd explores the criteria used to evaluate statements and suggests further avenues for considering the theory of information. Next is information literacy, an … Continue reading Future Strategies



Julie B. Todaro

Our Way Forward

March 1, 2017

In my columns and interviews over the past eight months of my presidency, I have focused primarily on ALA’s values and the values of our profession. As a result, I invariably receive a myriad of emphatic emails from people who often tell me that I can’t tell them how to think or what to value. … Continue reading Our Way Forward


Joseph Janes

Boolean Logic

March 1, 2017

I’ve always preferred the AND operator to NOT when trying to refine search results. NOT is too blunt an instrument for my tastes, and it’s too easy to lose good information with it; using AND provides focus and often does a more effective job of narrowing down a big retrieval set. AND has been on my mind lately. As I … Continue reading Boolean Logic


In Practice by Meredith Farkas

Access and Resistance

March 1, 2017

When I started working at the library, we handed out time-limited computer access passes to anyone who wanted them. Users included library cardholders, people who were homeless, the residents of a local halfway house, and people who worked in the city but didn’t live there. I loved that we provided a valuable service to those … Continue reading Access and Resistance


Julie B. Todaro

Moving Forward Together

January 3, 2017

Being all things to all people, however, is impossible. This is why the Association steps in, to set the vision and tone for professionals to follow throughout their working days, though it is not always easy. In the past months I have experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and I have … Continue reading Moving Forward Together