professional development Archives | Page 17 of 35

ALA Battledecks IV: Chicago Showdown

By Brita Zitin | July 2, 2013

Improv was an unstated but undeniable theme of this year’s ALA Conference. There was Friday’s Learning Round Table preconference with Chicago’s Second City Communications, Saturday’s ProQuest Scholarship Bash featuring Second City performers, Sunday’s LLAMA/NMRT discussion about what to do if you’re called upon to speak unexpectedly, and Monday’s Ignite session about collaboration based on the … Continue reading ALA Battledecks IV: Chicago Showdown →

Library Camp Song: Everybody!

By Brita Zitin | July 2, 2013

Okay, everyone, to the tune of “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”: At the end of a conference, Do you find you’re not quite through? Do you want to make more friends, And bounce ideas off someone new? Have you used up your per diem Or your energy to schmooze, But just aren’t quite through Then … Continue reading Library Camp Song: Everybody! →

Mark Frauenfelder Makes Stuff Happen

By Sanhita SinhaRoy | July 2, 2013

He began by looking at the history of making in the United States. In 1900, 80% of Americans worked on farms; today, only 2% do, Frauenfelder said. So if you worked on a farm back then, you likely lived far away from an urban area and therefore had to learn how to make your own … Continue reading Mark Frauenfelder Makes Stuff Happen →

Whistleblower Issues Dominate Council III Session

By Laurie D. Borman | July 2, 2013

After extended debate, the ALA Council voted to substitute the resolution in support of whistleblower Edward Snowden (CD#39) that passed in Council I on Monday, with a resolution on the need for reforms for the intelligence community to support privacy, open government, government transparency, and accountability (CD#20.4 and CD#19.2) developed by the Committee on Legislation … Continue reading Whistleblower Issues Dominate Council III Session →

So You Want to Make a Game? Have We Got a Group for You!

By Brian Mayer | July 2, 2013

This year was the second meeting for the fledgling Game Making Interest Group, which started as a interest-group passion of Chair Breanne Kirsch, public services librarian at the University of South Carolina Upstate Library. While the interest group shares crossover with the Games and Gaming Round Table, it stands on its own since its focus … Continue reading So You Want to Make a Game? Have We Got a Group for You! →

Ignite Sessions and Conversation Starters: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Room…

By Kate Tkacik | July 2, 2013

The room was packed to capacity at all four of the Conversation Starter and Ignite programs I attended. These sessions are fun, diverse, and informal. At Ignite talks, presenters have five minutes and 20 slides to share a unique project or a specific passion. Presentations ranged from Twitter-length book talks to literacy for African-American male … Continue reading Ignite Sessions and Conversation Starters: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Room… →

Ann Patchett, Readers’ Advisor Extraordinaire

By Brita Zitin | July 2, 2013

Without using the library buzzwords “readers’ advisory” or “booktalking,” Ann Patchett spent the first half of her appearance at the PLA President’s Program describing her passion for the former, and the second half displaying her skill with the latter. Patchett’s bio was impressive enough when it was primarily a bibliography, since, as PLA President Eva … Continue reading Ann Patchett, Readers’ Advisor Extraordinaire →

Creating Game-Based Makerspaces

By Brian Mayer | July 2, 2013

The Games and Gaming Roundtable hosted a panel of experts (including yours truly) in which the discussion focused on different ways of blending games and play with the power of creation and makerspaces. I started the session talking about my work utilizing game design as way for students to demonstrate concept understanding and mastery throughout … Continue reading Creating Game-Based Makerspaces →

Giada De Laurentiis and Librarians: A Tasty Combo

By T.J. Szafranski, Virtual Services Reference Librarian, Lake Villa District Library, (Ill) | July 2, 2013

It made sense for Giada De Laurentiis to speak to a room full of librarians. Her new series of children’s books, Giada De Laurentiis’s Recipe for Adventure, will be published starting in September. For her, the books were a “passion project,” rooted in her experience as a child. As an immigrant, De Laurentiis had trouble … Continue reading Giada De Laurentiis and Librarians: A Tasty Combo →

LLAMA’s PR Xchange

April Schweikhard | July 2, 2013

When it comes to marketing, who couldn’t use a little help from their friends? Thankfully, LLAMA’s PR Xchange on Sunday provided librarians the opportunity to sample some of what has been judged to be the year’s the best marketing materials. This year’s … Continue reading LLAMA’s PR Xchange →

Make Me a Maker

By Kate Tkacik | July 2, 2013

“Maker” seems to be one of librarians’ favorite buzz words right now and, frankly, as I’m not working in public libraries and I haven’t been working with students for the past year, I guess I just haven’t been getting it. That said, I’m curious, because making stuff is cool, I just haven't really understood where/why … Continue reading Make Me a Maker →

Why You Can’t Always See What You Make

By T. J. Szafranski | July 2, 2013

At “Makerspaces: Creating, Exploring, Pitfalls,” sponsored by the Library and Information Technology Association, four successful makerspace enthusiasts discussed what makes a makerspace, and what gets made in those spaces. Jason Griffey, head of library IT at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, moderated a panel that included Bradley Jones, youth technology librarian at Skokie (Ill.) … Continue reading Why You Can’t Always See What You Make →

Latest Library Links

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Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, was partially evacuated July 15 after university officials received an email claiming “In the name of Donald Trump I have hidden highly lethal lead azide devices in the library and cafeteria.” Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, evacuated its library and dining halls after receiving bomb threats July 11. Evacuation orders in both cases were lifted after searches found no bombs. Many public libraries in Illinois, Minnesota, and other states have experienced threats over the past year, most recently at River Forest (Ill.) Public Library.”

WDRB-TV (Louisville, Ky.), July 15; WGAL-TV (Lancaster, PA), July 15; Book Riot, July 16; WLS-TV (Chicago), July 9
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C. Allison Sills writes: “In the dance between safeguarding patron privacy and navigating the law, community colleges confront a pivotal question: How do we fulfill our legal obligations without compromising the ethical and legal bedrock of our profession? In North Carolina, where I work, since the Parents’ Bill of Rights became state law in December 2023, community colleges have been pressured to compulsorily activate all patron checkout history for the first time in decades. The need to shield individuals’ privacy from potential abuse is paramount.”

College & Research Libraries News, July
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Steph Campbell writes: “From a combination of hype from Stranger Things, captivating performances on Critical Role, acceptance of ‘nerd culture,’ and so many other reasons, tabletop role-playing games have greatly increased in popularity over the past few years, and youth activities are reflecting this. Running games is often seen as the core for facilitating this interest, but you can connect your library’s book collection to this too. By displaying books that focus on themes from your library’s game sessions, you can help players find other stories that they relate to.”

ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, July 11
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Share innovative strategies and resources with your peers by submitting an education program proposal for the 2025 LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience, taking place January 24–27, 2025, in Phoenix. The submission site is open now through August 12. The programmatic theme of LibLearnX 2025 is Reimagine, Refocus, Reset: Charting a Path for the Future. The LibLearnX Program Submission Guide provides detailed explanations of the learning formats and step-by-step instructions for submitting a proposal. Consult the Program Proposal Rubric for evaluation criteria and scoring and view a video on using the submission site to create and submit your proposal.

ALA Conference Services, July 15
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Summer is in full swing. This means getting outside, soaking up some sunshine, and listening to our favorite tunes—from oldies-but-goodies to today’s hits. In Episode 97, Call Number covers music. This episode includes conversations with librarian and Grammy Award–winning French horn player Joy Worland, as well as librarians who have organized programs for local patrons who love Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and K-Pop. Attendees of ALA’s 2024 Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego also share memories of the first concert they attended.

AL: The Scoop, July 15
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Sheila Craft-Morgan writes: “Citations are a key measure of the impact of a researcher’s work. However, research in a variety of disciplines has found that women are less likely to be cited than men; citations contain geographic bias; and the Matthew effect—in which those who begin with advantage continue to gain advantage—leads to more citations for prominent scholars in a specific discipline. These findings contribute to the notion that scholarly knowledge comes from a homogenous group of researchers, thereby overlooking the contributions of other groups.”

American Libraries column, June
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Mel Baldwin writes: “Regardless of why someone comes into a library, every patron should be free to interact with staff, browse materials, and use the internet without fear of harassment or worse. That freedom depends on libraries upholding patron privacy. With nearly 400 active anti-trans bills pending in state legislatures as of April 2024, it is a dangerous time in the US to be gender nonconforming, someone whose gender expression does not align with the traditional male or female binary. And for trans people of color, studies show the risk of discrimination and violence is higher.”

American Libraries column, June

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