I Love Libraries Archives | American Libraries Magazine

I Love My Librarian Awards Celebrated Virtually

By Chase Ollis | January 22, 2022

This year’s recipients include three academic librarians, three school librarians, and four public librarians, including one prison librarian. “These 10 honorees are inspiring examples of what is possible in our profession,” said ALA President Patricia “Patty” M. Wong during the ceremony’s opening remarks. “Their stories are a testament to the profound leadership, compassion, and expertise … Continue reading I Love My Librarian Awards Celebrated Virtually →

Composite of headshots of the 2022 I Love My Librarian honorees

Meet the 2022 I Love My Librarian Award Winners

By Chase Ollis | January 10, 2022

“Even in these unprecedented times, our nation’s librarians continue to empower their patrons, promote inclusion in their spaces and collections, and provide essential services for their communities,” said ALA President Patricia “Patty” M. Wong in a statement. “Congratulations to this year’s I Love My Librarian Award winners, who impact the lives of those they serve … Continue reading Meet the 2022 I Love My Librarian Award Winners →

I Love My Librarian Award Winners Announced

November 30, 2017

“This year’s I Love My Librarian Award recipients are true leaders who are inspiring and implementing strategies to better their communities,” said Jim Neal, president of the American Library Association (ALA). “Whether it’s fostering inclusion and diversity or mentoring youth, these librarians are expanding beyond their traditional roles and providing more opportunities to meet the … Continue reading I Love My Librarian Award Winners Announced →

I Love My Librarian Award Winners Announced

November 30, 2016

Winners were selected from nearly 1,100 nominations. Library users detailed how their favorite librarians working in public, school, college, community college, or university libraries helped to improve the quality of their lives by connecting them to information, opportunities, and critical technology. “The I Love My Librarian Award is an incredible opportunity to acknowledge librarians as experts … Continue reading I Love My Librarian Award Winners Announced →

I Love My Librarian Award Winners Announced

December 3, 2015

The winning librarians were selected from a pool of more than 1,300 nominations submitted by library patrons nationwide who use public, school, college, community college, or university libraries. The nominations detailed stories about how their favorite librarians helped improve the quality of life in their communities. The nation’s 166,164 certified librarians play a vital role … Continue reading I Love My Librarian Award Winners Announced →

Latest Library Links

5h

Rachel Hendrick writes: “Students and library vendors are pushing 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
9h

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 5-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
1d

ALA has reopened its search for an executive director in partnership with executive search firm Isaacson, Miller. The search will be led by a steering committee comprising ALA member leaders. 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
1d

Emily Weak writes: “Something I always hear from hiring managers is that they want to build a resilient, diverse workforce. Sometimes we say we want a resilient workforce, but what we mean is that we want staffers who are willing to go above and beyond, or to do more with less. These concepts are deeply entrenched in librarianship, but I think we’re beginning to see how they can cause problems. Instead of trying to hire people who will do more with less and who will thrive amid adversity, let’s think about resilience as an organizational feature.”

American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.
1d

Elisabeth B. White writes: “How can librarians ensure their instruction materials are as accessible as possible? One way is through Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, a set of best practices to improve teaching and learning and create inclusive and equitable educational experiences for all students. The guidelines include three principles that instructors must provide via multiple means: engagement (the ‘why’ of learning), representation (the ‘what’ of learning), and action and expression (the ‘how’ of learning). However, to create a truly equitable educational experience, school library workers need to consider accessibility principles as well.”

American Libraries feature, Nov./Dec.
4d

Elisa Shoenberger writes: “The comics I grew up reading were those in the newspapers, and they were called the funny pages for a reason. In time, I began exploring the wider world of comic books, covering a wide variety of genres from superhero comics to horror. But I do have a fondness for the seeming simplicity of one to four-panel comics in the newspapers and webcomics for humor. For this list, I’ve put together my tribute to the funny pages. Most of the comics are short form comics, but a few are longer narratives.”

Book Riot, Nov. 11
4d

Jay Peters writes: “Bluesky gained more than 700,000 new users in the last week and now has more than 14.5 million users total, Bluesky COO Rose Wang confirmed to The Verge. The ‘majority’ of the new users on the decentralized social network are from the US, Wang says. The app is currently the number two free social networking app in the US App Store, only trailing Meta’s Threads. Instagram-bootstrapped Threads, which recently crossed 275 million monthly users, is still significantly larger than Bluesky. But the independent platform has seen a lot of growth in recent weeks.”

The Verge, Nov. 11

View more Latest Library Links