history Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Patricia Bearden (left) and Raquel Flores-Clemons present “Partners in History: Chicago State University Archive and International Society of Sons and Daughters of Slave Ancestry Digital Collaboration" at DPLAfest in Chicago on April 20.

DPLAfest Comes to Chicago

By John Amundsen | April 25, 2017

Several presentations highlighted efforts to document, preserve, and share digital collections on social justice and community engagement. Preserving African-American history on Chicago’s South Side “Partners in History: Chicago State University Archive and International Society of Sons and Daughters of Slave Ancestry Digital Collaboration,” led by Chicago State University (CSU) Archivist Raquel Flores-Clemons, Patricia Bearden, president … Continue reading DPLAfest Comes to Chicago →

Children read in the Soissons Library in Aisne, France, after World War I. Photo: ALA Archives

The French Connection

By Marcelline Dormont | February 16, 2017

Anne Tracy Morgan, daughter of financier John Pierpont (J. P.) Morgan, was the mind and money behind the volunteer mobilization. Morgan was a frequent visitor to France. When war broke out, she threw herself into relief work for the Allied cause. In 1917, she created the American Committee for Devastated France, better known as CARD … Continue reading The French Connection →

Revisiting an Old Friend

By Joseph Janes | January 3, 2017

Anyway, in the chapter on the library and society from Shera’s 1976 textbook Introduction to Library Science, he writes in the first paragraph: “It is axiomatic … that the library as a social instrumentality, is, as it has always been, conditioned and shaped by the social milieu within which it functions” (emphasis mine). Well. We’ve … Continue reading Revisiting an Old Friend →

Dewey Decibel podcast Episode Eight: Hail to the Chief's Library

Dewey Decibel Podcast: Presidential Libraries

December 1, 2016

Meredith Evans, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta. American Libraries managing editor Sanhita SinhaRoy talks with Meredith about managing a presidential library, her work with President Carter, and more. Jodi Kanter, associate professor of theater at George Washington University and author of the book Presidential Libraries as Performance: Curating American … Continue reading Dewey Decibel Podcast: Presidential Libraries →

Lyndon B. Johnson. Photo: Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum

By the Numbers: Presidential Libraries

By Megan Perrero | November 1, 2016

1939 Year the Presidential Library System began. Franklin D. Roosevelt donated his presidential and personal documents to the federal government. 643 Number of hours of recorded telephone conversations the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum has collected. The conversation topics range from the assassination of JFK to dealing with the USSR. 45 Number of meetings … Continue reading By the Numbers: Presidential Libraries →

All in the Family

By Karen Muller | September 1, 2016

Fostering Family History Services: A Guide for Librarians, Archivists, and Volunteers, by Rhonda L. Clark and Nicole Wedemeyer Miller, offers practical advice, with bibliographical notes, on how to establish a family history service within the framework of existing programming and outreach. The authors assert that providing family history resources is more about offering guidance and … Continue reading All in the Family →

Our Digital Heritage

By Meredith Farkas | May 2, 2016

Libraries have always played a role in preserving local history, but that job has become more complex as the formats in which materials may be available continue to multiply. On the other hand, the technologies to digitize and post local history resources online have become cheaper and more readily available, even to small libraries. Some … Continue reading Our Digital Heritage →

Ken Burns on “Grover Cleveland, Again!”

January 9, 2016

Documentarian Ken Burns sits down for an interview with American Libraries to discuss his new children’s history book, Grover Cleveland, Again! He also reveals the common thread that unites nearly all United States presidents and presents an idea for improving the teaching of history.

On the Road with Lafayette

By Phil Morehart | October 29, 2015

The Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat who fought for the US in the American Revolutionary War, is a ubiquitous but overlooked character in American history. He touched many significant events, people, and places: the Revolution, Herman Melville, Marie Antoinette, and also our modern parks, cities, and roads. The name “Lafayette” is everywhere in the US, … Continue reading On the Road with Lafayette →

Digitizing History

By Phil Morehart | July 31, 2015

Cambridge goes online Cambridge Archive Editions (CAE), in partnership with East View Information Services, has digitized its collection of British archival documents from the 18th to the 20th century, including original print volumes and accompanying maps, and made them available as online editions via the East View ebook platform. Twenty-five years’ worth of accumulated CAE … Continue reading Digitizing History →

Ephemera from the local history reference collection at Albany County (Wyo.) Public Library in Laramie.

What To Collect?

By Kathy Marquis and Leslie Waggener | July 29, 2015

Where to begin The patron base for your LHRC will help determine types of materials and subject matter to acquire. Another factor is how much space you have to house the materials. And, of course, your budget is an important consideration. What can your library afford? You may have to build slowly, but that’s okay. You … Continue reading What To Collect? →

Latest Library Links

9h

Just a few years ago the Madison (Wis.) Public Library was collection-focused, with high circulation but a low capacity for making connections with its community. Michael Spelman, library manager at the MPL’s Central Library, and with community engagement librarians Laura Damon-Moore and Kylee Stoor, explained one key initiative in the process of reorienting the library toward community-led initiatives.

AL: The Scoop, June 25
9h

An impromptu musical performance took place at the “Out and Proud: LGBTQ Literature” program on Saturday, prompting one panelist to declare the gathering an “extreme gay act.” During their talk at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference, the four authors on the panel—Joseph Cassara, Sophie Yanow, Rakesh Satyal, and Eileen Myles—talked about protest, AIDS during the 1980s, and culture.

AL: The Scoop, June 25
9h

LLAMA’s Technology Committee of Practice held a session on Sunday morning that addressed the overdue question: “To Fine, or Not to Fine?” Four panelists of varying backgrounds explained how their libraries ultimately chose to do away with fines for overdue materials and how the policy was put into place. Kara Kohn of the Plainfield (Ill.) Public Library District described the fine-free initiative that some libraries in Illinois have adopted.

AL: The Scoop, June 25
9h

“Why not low tech?” asked Tiffany Baglier, education librarian at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She was speaking about gaming and library instruction on Sunday. Baglier and her colleague, associate university librarian Michelle Leonard, have developed a simple card game called Keywords to Mastery to help their students connect the right keywords to topics and find appropriate library resources. This interactive session, sponsored by the ALA Games and Gaming Round Table, introduced Keywords to Mastery to attendees, who were broken up into groups of six to play.

AL: The Scoop, June 25
9h

Dover (Del.) Public Library’s path to constructing a new building was a winding one. “Our project actually began in 1998,” says Director Margery Cyr. Instead of expanding its original facility, the library determined in 2003 that it would be “wiser” to build a new structure in a different area of Delaware’s capital. What followed was a failed referendum, the process of getting city advocates on board, narrowing location options from a list of 26 to one final city-owned site, shelving a joint-use concept in favor of moving to a county library system, and securing mixed methods of funding.

AL: The Scoop, June 25
13h

Differentiating between a legitimate news story and one that has been generated to mislead and contains biases or errors can be difficult, especially in an era where social media and news outlets inundate readers with content at ever-increasing rates. What can be trusted, and how can we be responsible news consumers? Joanna Burkhardt began the session “Helping Library Users Navigate Fake News” by documenting infamous instances of fake news from the past.

AL: The Scoop, June 25
14h

Athina Livanos-Propst writes: “There are days when all the plans work. I love those days. This was pointedly not one of them. I had carefully planned out sessions that I wanted to get to today. It was a lovely mix of things that would have been helpful for my own particular niche library. However, when I went to check the meeting room for my first session of the day, I learned that it was not at the conference center, but one of the satellite hotels instead.”

AL: The Scoop, June 25

View more Latest Library Links