Libraries Transforming Communities Archives | American Libraries Magazine

ALA Announces $7 Million in Grants to Support Accessibility

March 3, 2022

The American Library Association (ALA) announced today that its Libraries Transforming Communities project will offer more than $7 million in grants to small and rural libraries to increase the accessibility of facilities, services, and programs to better serve people with disabilities. “[The] Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities [grant] represents an important next … Continue reading ALA Announces $7 Million in Grants to Support Accessibility →

A scrimmage day featuring the Special Olympics Burlington team—and open to people of all abilities—was held in May. Photo: Special Olympics Burlington.

Acceptance and Inclusion

By Amanda Wilk | September 22, 2017

After the 2016 US presidential election, BPL heard from teens who were frightened, shaken, and without the agency to act. For many who were from a diverse culture or ethnicity, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, or simply had inclusive worldviews, this change in leadership created a deep sense of fear for themselves and those … Continue reading Acceptance and Inclusion →

Models for Change

By Terra Dankowski | January 22, 2017

Fournier spoke about the two-year Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) initiative ALA is executing in partnership with the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD), with support from the Harwood Institute and backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The initiative began with training and review at … Continue reading Models for Change →

Sustainable Thinking for Libraries

By Amy Carlton | June 27, 2016

Aldrich and her copresenter Matthew Bollerman of Hauppauge (N.Y.) Public Library, who spoke Saturday at the 2016 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida, said libraries can become sustainable by focusing on the triple bottom line, a term borrowed from the accounting world. For libraries, this means finding the overlap between decisions that are environmentally … Continue reading Sustainable Thinking for Libraries →

Columbus (Wis.) Public Library created a pilot art bench project in which local artists were asked to paint seven benches that were later distributed throughout town. The project received funding from the Libraries Transforming Communities initiative.

Columbus Public Library Gets Benched

By Alison Marcotte | August 24, 2015

Stemming from a Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) initiative, the library began a pilot art bench project, buying seven benches and distributing them to local artists, who painted them to either reflect Columbus in general or to reflect a bench’s location (such as a pool-themed bench near a community pool). The funding came from the remainder … Continue reading Columbus Public Library Gets Benched →

Richard Frieder (standing), community engagement director at Hartford Public Library, facilitates a community dialogue among neighborhood residents and Hartford police officers on the topic of community violence and public safety. The dialogue took place in June 2015 at Hartford Public Library's Barbour Street branch. (Photo: Judy Wyman Kelly)

Hartford Public Library Builds, Strengthens Community–Police Relationships

By Alison Marcotte | August 3, 2015

HPL is one of 10 public libraries in the US that have been participating in ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) initiative since April 2014. The initiative, in collaboration with the nonprofit Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, is an 18-month community engagement training program where libraries learn how to address challenges facing their community. (Read more … Continue reading Hartford Public Library Builds, Strengthens Community–Police Relationships →

Kenneth Wayne Thompson, director of Davenport (Iowa) Public Library, participates in small-group work at an ALA-Harwood Institute training in Atlanta in October.

Libraries Transforming Communities

By Bailey Brewer | January 22, 2015

Of course it wasn’t Freudenberger and the community alone who made these changes happen; it was thanks in part to an initiative called Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC), which launched a program in April 2014 involving 10 library districts. The initiative is the result of a partnership between the American Library Association and the Bethesda, Maryland–based … Continue reading Libraries Transforming Communities →

Latest Library Links

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Elisa Shoenberger writes: “These days, it seems that humor and murder mysteries go together like cookies and milk. With films like Knives Out and See How They Run and television shows like Only Murders in the Building, it seems that murder mysteries with a lot of humor are fashionable right now. Plus, we’re going to get the film adaptation of Richard Osman’s delightful The Thursday Murder Club later this year. I’ve put together a list of recently published humorous murder mystery books.”

Book Riot, Feb. 17
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Pranay Parab writes: “Google’s recent foray into artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t going to stop anytime soon. While you can hide Google Workspace’s Gemini buttons and prompts for now, you can’t actually stop the company from continuing to build its apps around a technology that revolves around getting its hands on as much data as possible. I rely on Google Docs for collaboration, but the company’s AI push has got me looking for alternatives, even if Google currently denies using your data to train its models. On that note, these are the best AI-free, encrypted alternatives to Google Docs.”

Lifehacker, Feb. 13
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Elizabeth Coen and Mary Manning write: “In the winter of 2023, we reimagined the curricular design of an undergraduate survey course called American Drama. We wanted students to think deeply about the nature of representation in American theatre, and whose voices are traditionally privileged in play anthologies and theatrical productions and whose voices are not. We also wanted students to examine these privileges and gaps through primary and secondary source research—through group discovery and ‘play’ in the archives and in the stacks.”

TPS Collective, Feb. 14
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Suzan Karabakal writes: “As a UX research and design student at the School of Information, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to conduct user research on Library Search, the University of Michigan Library’s discovery layer, last summer. My goal was to uncover how novice users approach Library Search features and functions, and to identify design opportunities to improve student experiences. After conducting interviews with librarians in the Learning and Teaching division, student employees who provide ‘Ask a Librarian’ services, and undergraduate students, I compiled a list of five key findings and five key design recommendations.”

University of Michigan Library, Feb. 13
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María Evelia Emerson writes: “Diversity audits, like much of librarianship, are not a simple box to check off once complete. Collections, as well as other programs and services, need to be consistently revisited in order to stay abreast of current trends and make sure that libraries strive to be as inclusive as possible. Although this requires time (something few librarians have an abundance of), without consistent check-ins, reviews, and feedback, collections and services are at risk of catering to a specific group of people, without taking into account the variety and differences of experiences and needs that make up our society.”

Portal: Libraries and the Academy, Jan.
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ALA’s Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services will host “Libraries Respond: Racial Healing and Transforming Communities through Mental Health Practices,” a virtual panel discussion, on February 25 at 3 p.m. Central. The 90-minute event will feature mental health professional Grace Le sharing her expertise on how mental health can impact our individual journeys towards racial healing, and a moderated panel of ALA leaders sharing perspectives and experiences on collective community healing towards racial equity and our roles in our library spaces. Register to receive the Zoom link.

ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy, and outreach Services
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Michelle Reed and Tova Gaster write: “Neo-Censorship in US Libraries: An Investigation into Digital Content Suppression, a new Library Futures report, dives into an underreported area of library censorship—database bans that restrict youth access to ebooks, research resources, and other digital content. While bans on beloved print books are often more visible, challenges to databases and digital collections risk restricting children from viewing a wide range of content—from breast cancer awareness to resources for identifying and reporting sexual abuse.”

Library Futures, Feb. 13

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