immigrants and refugees Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Serving the Community at All Times

DPL’s Cultural Inclusivity Department is tasked with developing programs that help connect the library with its immigrant community. The department’s mission is to “collaborat[e] with Denver’s multicultural community to create equitable opportunities for learning, discovery, and connection.” This is done through Plaza and other intentional multicultural programming. DPL’s Plaza program has existed for more than … Continue reading Serving the Community at All Times →

Conscientious Cataloging

By Anne Ford | September 1, 2020

Tired of the delays, some librarians have taken matters into their own hands by making the change in their own catalogs, without waiting for LC to take the lead. Communicating inclusion Two early adopters of the change: Sol López, technical services manager at the Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center (HSLIC) at University of New … Continue reading Conscientious Cataloging →

Laurie Halse Anderson (Photo: Sonya Sones)

Newsmaker: Laurie Halse Anderson

By Alison Marcotte | September 1, 2020

The novel was a collaboration among an all-female team, comprising artist Leila del Duca, colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick, and letterer Saida Temofonte. American Libraries spoke with Anderson about how the refugee crisis made her reimagine Wonder Woman’s origin story, what spurs her to fight censorship, and how the library has been her sanctuary. We read that Wonder … Continue reading Newsmaker: Laurie Halse Anderson →

Bringing Books to the Desert

By Karen E. Fisher and The Zaatari Camp Librarians | July 1, 2020

Among the camp’s adult population, literacy is low: 79% of its residents are from the agricultural region of Dara’a in southern Syria, where people are typically less educated than in a metropolis like Damascus. Before the Syrian civil war, Syrian schools and universities were considered among the best in the Arab world. Resourcefulness and creativity … Continue reading Bringing Books to the Desert →

Author Yaa Gyasi (Photo: Peter Hurley/Vilcek Foundation)

Newsmaker: Yaa Gyasi

By Sallyann Price | July 1, 2020

One of the central themes of Transcendent Kingdom is the tension between science and faith. How did you approach the science aspect? It was really fun for me to do something so outside of my comfort zone. Talking to scientists, many of them conceptualized their work as a series of questions, as trying to get … Continue reading Newsmaker: Yaa Gyasi →

Newsmaker: Julia Alvarez

By Sallyann Price | May 1, 2020

What drove you to write this novel? Why now? Afterlife comes out of a feeling that it’s an elegiac time for our planet, as we watch so many species become extinct, ecosystems in danger, forests burning. It feels like a time of many endings. In our national life—our uncivil society, the divisions, the draconian immigration … Continue reading Newsmaker: Julia Alvarez →

The Immigration Crisis Arrives at the Library

By Sallyann Price | January 27, 2020

“Part of the story we wanted to tell is: ICE is everywhere, the border is everywhere,” Gil Fuentes says of the Torn Apart/Separados, a second volume of which analyzes and maps ICE’s financial infrastructure. “Most people in the US believe it’s a line that separates Mexico from the US. As an immigrant I can tell … Continue reading The Immigration Crisis Arrives at the Library →

Migrant Narratives and Gray Areas

By Sallyann Price | January 25, 2020

“Writing is a way for me to engage these questions profoundly through story,” Alvarez said. “What I love about stories, the best ones, is that they allow for competing truths, for complexity and nuance, for exploring the gray areas of life.” As an author whose work has been challenged by schools and libraries, Alvarez is … Continue reading Migrant Narratives and Gray Areas →

Know Your Rights—and Theirs

By Claire Zulkey | January 2, 2020

Will that change? No one is certain. Though ICE’s official policy states it will avoid carrying out enforcement actions at “sensitive locations” such as daycares and places of worship, libraries are not specifically named among those locations. In this politically tense climate when immigration has been a major focus, some libraries wonder how they should … Continue reading Know Your Rights—and Theirs →

Welcoming New Americans

By Wanda Kay Brown | November 1, 2019

Libraries have a role to play too. From hosting programs with local legislators and teaching patrons media literacy to offering support for online census questions and assistance with government e-forms, today’s libraries are hot spots of civic engagement. Newcomers to this country, especially, see libraries as trustworthy guides on their path to integrating into their … Continue reading Welcoming New Americans →

Newsmaker: Mariana Atencio

By Sallyann Price | July 26, 2019

What were you reading growing up in Venezuela? Who were your literary heroes? Isabel Allende, La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits). Growing up, her novels were like the universe. She’s from Chile originally—she escaped the dictatorship and found a home in Venezuela. There’s a character in the book called Clara because … Continue reading Newsmaker: Mariana Atencio →

Newsmaker: George Takei

By Phil Morehart | July 17, 2019

Why did you choose to tell your story as a graphic novel? It’s been my mission in life to tell the story of my childhood imprisonment and to raise awareness of that chapter of American history. There’s a new generation of young people, and we want to target them in the best way. I thought … Continue reading Newsmaker: George Takei →

Latest Library Links

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Sallyann Price writes: “Birdwatching has exploded in popularity during the pandemic, with The New York Times last year observing record participation in Global Big Day, an annual birdwatching event in early May, and the National Audubon Society reporting a boom in sales of birding supplies. Libraries, too, are flocking to the hobby. With help from their collections and community partners, they’re working to get patrons outside—even if it’s just a backyard or neighborhood park.”

American Libraries Trend, Sept./Oct.
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Araceli Méndez Hintermeister writes: “Embarking on a new design or renovation project at your library can be overwhelming. These works, ranging from books on user design to volumes on architectural planning, will help spark ideas.”

American Libraries column, Sept./Oct.
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The Plum Creek Literacy Festival in Seward, Nebraska, canceled its Children’s Festival and Adult Conference September 24–25 after several authors withdrew in protest of Concordia University’s code of conduct, which they called discriminatory toward the LGBT community. The absence of several books from a presale list, and a subsequent explanation for why one author was pulling out of the event that went viral on social media, led the festival to cancel its Friday and Saturday activities.

Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star, Sept. 23
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Kimberly Johnson and Jennifer Greb write: “As the 100th anniversary of the devastating 1921 Tulsa race massacre approached and Tulsa City–County Library looked for ways to educate the community about a significant piece of our city’s past, we had a disturbing realization: Many of our patrons, even those native to Tulsa, knew little to nothing about it. Decades of whitewashed reports and unacknowledged losses added up to a serious gap in how we understand our local and national history.”

American Libraries Trend, Sept./Oct.
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R. E. Hawley writes: “I’m going to describe an image for you; maybe it’s something you’ve seen before. It’s a canvas filled with amorphous daubs of warm, bright color, intersecting with one another to form different hues in the overlapping spaces. On top of the canvas, a blocky but refined sans serif spells the title and the author’s name. I am, of course, describing a book cover—or rather, the book cover, that of the current literary zeitgeist, whose abstract splotches are a ubiquitous presence in the new releases display at your local bookstore. Writer Alana Pockros calls it the unicorn frappuccino cover.”

Print, Sept. 23
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Heather Kelly and Geoffrey A. Fowler write: “We all know it’s important to protect our privacy online to prevent things as simple as our birthdate or as detailed as our search history from being used by companies, strangers, and even governments. Unfortunately, it’s hard to know where to start. We have gone through the settings for the most popular (and problematic) services to give you recommendations on what exactly you should do.”

Washington Post, Sept. 23
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Laura Solomon writes: “In my job as a front end designer/developer, I work with a lot of library logos. I also work with a lot of library staff that don’t understand the importance of what logos do, or how a good one is created. When faced with a subpar logo, there’s often not much I can do other than work with whatever I’ve been given. Even libraries with awful logos cannot undertake a redesign lightly, or particular staff people may be emotionally invested in their creation and don’t want something new … even if it’s better.”

Mean Laura, Aug. 17

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