Photo of Kathleen Hanna

Newsmaker: Kathleen Hanna

May 10, 2024

  Hanna’s new memoir Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk (Ecco, May) chronicles the challenges and triumphs of her life before, during, and after navigating the male-dominated genre during the 1990s, spurring the Riot Grrrl movement and paving the way for other women artists. American Libraries caught up with Hanna ahead of the … Continue reading Newsmaker: Kathleen Hanna


Illustration of an incarcerated individual reading, with a colorful vision of home emerging from the book.

Lighting the Way

November 1, 2023

Betts founded Freedom Reads, an organization that installs 500-book Freedom Libraries in prisons and juvenile detention centers. Horton cofounded Radical Reversal, a program that creates performance and recording spaces in detention centers and correctional facilities, and conducts workshops that provide creative outlets for incarcerated people. American Library Association (ALA) Executive Director Tracie D. Hall interviewed … Continue reading Lighting the Way


The Virtual Interview Lab at Do Space in Omaha, Nebraska

Acing the Interview

November 1, 2021

An estimated 19 million Americans—or 6% of the population—still lack access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds. And as more job interviews have moved online during the pandemic, those without access face a major roadblock to finding employment. That’s where Do Space has stepped in. In July 2020, the Omaha, Nebraska–based community technology library … Continue reading Acing the Interview


Illustration: Man does virtual interview at home with laptop, wearing shirt and tie with pajama bottoms and slippers (Illustration: Shane Tolentino)

The Virtual Job Hunt

May 3, 2021

After a particularly tough rejection, she reached out to a librarian friend for moral support. “She said, ‘You have it, but, by the way, there’s this job that opened up at the last minute in my district,’ which I didn’t know about,” Vela says. “So she put my name in.” It was Vela’s 35th job … Continue reading The Virtual Job Hunt


Melissa Lockaby, assistant professor of library science at the University of North Georgia, demonstrates how not to greet patrons in libraries.

Soft Skills: Hard to Teach?

January 27, 2019

Melissa Lockaby, assistant professor of library science at the University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, drew on her background in human resources to present a career development workshop on “The Soft Skills: What Library School Doesn’t Teach You” at ALA’s 2019 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Seattle on Saturday, January 26. As a veteran library professional … Continue reading Soft Skills: Hard to Teach?


Neil Patrick Harris

Newsmaker: Neil Patrick Harris

January 3, 2017

We’ve heard that Bridge to Terabithia is one of your favorite books. That can be an emotionally difficult read, given its tragic ending. Has becoming a father changed the way you approach children’s literature? Oh, absolutely. It’s important to us that our children not only read but understand the morals and messages behind the words. … Continue reading Newsmaker: Neil Patrick Harris


Ken Burns at Midwinter 2016

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.