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American Libraries launches revamped website

January 6, 2010

We at American Libraries are kicking off 2010 with a whole new way of keeping on top of library-related news, views, and perspectives with this revamped website. The site offers many new benefits, including expanded news content, web-only spotlights, HTML versions of most of the print magazine’s content, comment-enabled articles, an archive of every issue … Continue reading American Libraries launches revamped website →

Treasurer Says Happy New Year

December 31, 2009

American Library Association Treasurer Rod Hersberger made the following announcement today on the ALA Council list: "Our financial advisors at Merrill Lynch reported that at November 30, the total value of ALA's endowment stood at $28,398,452. This compares to the endowment's month-end low point at February 28 of $21,298,663. That represents a recovery of $7,099,789. Pretty … Continue reading Treasurer Says Happy New Year →

IFLA Assembly Learns Streamlining Works, Finances Stable

September 3, 2009

The General Assembly of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions met August 26 during the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Milan, Italy. Formerly known as the Council, the General Assembly has been re-engineered to reflect a swifter, streamlined IFLA, with an emphasis on the core activities and priorities of its active … Continue reading IFLA Assembly Learns Streamlining Works, Finances Stable →

IFLA Closing Day Puts Focus Back on Global Economy

September 3, 2009

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) closed its 75th World Library and Information Congress August 27 with National Organizing Committee chair Mauro Guerrini announcing that the five–day conference in Milan had attracted 3,931 registrants, along with 228 volunteers and members of the Italian staff, 128 exhibitors, 34 press, 30 interpreters and assorted … Continue reading IFLA Closing Day Puts Focus Back on Global Economy →

Latest Library Links

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Becky Siegel Spratford writes: “I am constantly correcting people—educated people, library users, readers—who think that when we buy a book for the library we get it in all formats for one price. They assume we pay slightly more [for electronic formats] than them, but they think for that price we get all those copies they see in our collections. We need to also work on how we communicate this issue to our card holders. So how can we share this complex issue more easily?”

RA for All, Sept. 11
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Chris Lewis writes: “For my generation and generations before us, the public library was an equalizing force in every town, helping anyone move toward the American dream. A ruling in Hachette v. Internet Archive has just thrown that promise of equality into doubt by limiting libraries’ access to controlled digital lending (CDL). On September 4, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals [affirmed a lower court’s decision that CDL through the National Emergency Library was not fair use.] If the courts won’t recognize CDL-based library lending as fair use, then the next step falls to Congress.”

MIT Technology Review, Sept. 11
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“Hispanic Heritage Month honors the contributions and influence of Hispanic and Latine Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States, and is celebrated from September 15 to October 15 annually. Check out these recent releases from authors of Hispanic or Latine background!”

Seattle Public Library, September
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Cara S. Bertram writes: “The year 2023 was another record-breaker for book bans. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) documented 1,247 attempts to censor library books and other materials—most of which were works by or about people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, or both. But attempts to limit access to literature in the US are as old as our nation itself. American Libraries travels through time to outline our country’s history of censorship—and the library workers, authors, and advocates who have defended the right to read.”

American Libraries feature, Sept./Oct.
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The Library of Congress’s 2024 Literacy Awards recognized four top honorees on September 8, International Literacy Day: The LaundryCares Foundation, an Illinois-based nonprofit that installs learning spaces in laundromats across the country; New Zealand’s Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori Inc., a network of schools working to preserve and promote the Māori language; We Need Diverse Books of Bethesda, Maryland, which helps authors and illustrators with diverse backgrounds get their books published; and the Alsama Project in Beirut, Lebanon, which educates Syrian refugee youth frequently left out of Lebanese schools.

Library of Congress Timeless, Sept. 9
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Michael Rodriguez writes: “In the first half of 2024, institutions of higher education in the United States closed permanently at the rate of one per week, according to one estimate, with little sign of slowing down. Where the author lives in Pennsylvania, eight colleges have closed, consolidated, or announced plans to do so since January 2024 alone. These closures directly impact small private colleges and the communities built around them, but closures also ripple throughout the academy, disbanding libraries and archives and endangering access to and preservation of the scholarly record.”

The Scholarly Kitchen, Sept. 5
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Daniel M. Rothschild writes: “Discussions of reading habits typically break down, at least in the first instance, along the binary of fiction and nonfiction. If you ask most people what they read, they’ll give you some version of ‘mostly fiction’ or ‘mostly nonfiction.’ I write today in praise of a third genre that few self-respecting intellectuals admit to reading regularly, though many do: the reference book. Real reference books are unpretentious, which is part of their charm. You as the reader can make them comply with the demands of your knowledge, intellect, and time constraints, not vice versa.”

Discourse, Aug. 30

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