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Libraries’ Next “Act” in Health During COVID-19

By Leighann Wood | March 27, 2020

Through the Public Library Association’s (PLA) second annual Libraries Connecting You to Coverage initiative, libraries can access a suite of turnkey resources to start or increase efforts to educate and build awareness of health insurance coverage options, especially with the evolving workforce landscape. With the outbreak of COVID-19, many patrons may experience job cuts and … Continue reading Libraries’ Next “Act” in Health During COVID-19 →

Dewey Decibel Podcast: Exploring Gale’s Women’s Studies Archive

March 23, 2020

In this special bonus episode of the Dewey Decibel podcast, sponsored by Gale, a Cengage Company, American Libraries Associate Editor Sallyann Price speaks with a librarian doing just that. Kimberly M. Gay, head of reference and information services and academic reference and instruction librarian at Prairie View (Tex.) A&M University, shares how she uses the Women’s … Continue reading Dewey Decibel Podcast: Exploring Gale’s Women’s Studies Archive →

Human Libraries: Turning the Page on Discrimination

By Timothy Inklebarger | March 2, 2020

The “book” was available for one day only during a Human Library event at Torreyson Library on the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) campus in Conway. The forum offered “readers” the chance to check out more than two dozen flesh-and-blood human beings, who served as books, to tell their stories about living with the challenge … Continue reading Human Libraries: Turning the Page on Discrimination →

A 23-foot statue stands at a central spot on the Oxford campus of the University of Mississippi. The state's Institutions of Higher Learning board will determine whether to relocate the monument to a Confederate cemetery, also on campus.

A Monumental Debate: Addressing Controversial Namesakes

By Timothy Inklebarger | February 4, 2020

In this multipart series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. This is the sixth story in the series. It’s been more than two years since the university chose … Continue reading A Monumental Debate: Addressing Controversial Namesakes →

Agents of Influence: Academic Librarians -- Fostering partnerships at the forefront of research

Pioneering Digital Humanities at Stanford

By Timothy Inklebarger | January 6, 2020

In this multipart series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. This is the fifth story in the series. Quinn Dombrowski, academic technology specialist at Stanford’s Division of Literatures, … Continue reading Pioneering Digital Humanities at Stanford →

From left: Catherine Morse, Joe Bauer, Matt Carruthers, and Sara Hughes at a research sprint held in October 2019 in partnership with University of Michigan Library. The group worked on developing a data management system for information on public drinking water.

Ready, Set, Research!

By Timothy Inklebarger | December 3, 2019

In this multipart series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. This is the fourth story in the series. Also referred to as scholar sprints, the intensive forums are … Continue reading Ready, Set, Research! →

Reaching the Uninsured

By Leighann Wood | October 29, 2019

Through PLA’s second annual Libraries Connecting You to Coverage initiative, libraries can start or increase efforts to educate and build year-round awareness of coverage options including enrollment in Medicaid or a Special Enrollment Period. These efforts will help reach the uninsured, many of whom are people of color. Health insurance is an important first step … Continue reading Reaching the Uninsured →

Colleen Lyon, head of scholarly communications at University of Texas at Austin.

Wading the Muddy Waters: Educating on Copyright and Digital Archives

By Laurie D. Borman | October 22, 2019

In this five-part series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering trends on the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. This is our third story in the series. Even with all that traffic, Lyon still gets … Continue reading Wading the Muddy Waters: Educating on Copyright and Digital Archives →

Mind Your Business(es)

By Anne Ford | September 30, 2019

PLYMC Business and Investment Librarian Ed Koltonski offers these tips for supporting small business success: Work with local groups that also support business development. The BIC works closely with many other partners in the area, including the Youngstown chapter of the SCORE business mentoring network, the local business incubator, and other public libraries. “I’ve been … Continue reading Mind Your Business(es) →

Librarians Bridge the Gap: Accessing Public Health Information

By Laurie D. Borman | September 17, 2019

In this five-part series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering trends on the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. This is our second story in the series. “Whether it’s helping to work with a question, … Continue reading Librarians Bridge the Gap: Accessing Public Health Information →

Digging through Boxes, Delving into Databases

By Laurie D. Borman | August 6, 2019

In this five-part series, American Libraries presents case studies and interviews with thought leaders looking at research trends in academic libraries. We’ll be covering trends on the topics of social justice, information literacy, digital archives, faculty outreach, and new technology. We’ll also explore how librarians build and grow relationships within the academic community. Our first … Continue reading Digging through Boxes, Delving into Databases →

Latest Library Links

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Gretchen Corsillo writes: “High school students around the country could now stand to lose even more as a result of the recent widespread efforts to ban and challenge books. Earlier this month, College Board, the nonprofit that administers testing and college readiness programs such as the SAT, Advanced Placement (AP) Program, and PSAT, released a new set of guiding principles. Titled What AP Stands For, the statement directly opposes censorship and clarifies that schools that remove essential topics or readings from AP classes could lose their official designation.”

Intellectual Freedom Blog, May 18; College Board
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Taylor Healey-Brooks and Michelle Lee write: “Research across many fields has shown that having a mentor can be crucial for people of color. Mentoring can lead to knowledge, experience, networking opportunities, and increased job satisfaction. One of the most important things mentoring offers is a sense of community and emotional support in one’s career. But it can be difficult for new librarians to find such a person with years of training. Because of the lack of diversity in librarianship (in 2020, approximately 83% of credentialed librarians were white) and problems retaining librarians of color, it can be challenging for new librarians to find a mentor with ample experience in the field. Peer mentoring—a relationship in which the participants are at similar points in their career—can help fill this gap.”

American Libraries column, May; AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees, June 10, 2021
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On May 18, the American Library Association announced that actor, singer-songwriter, and philanthropist Idina Menzel and her sister, author and educator Cara Mentzel, have been named this year’s honorary chairs for Library Card Sign-Up Month. This September marks 35 years since the Library Card Sign-Up Month campaign began. Menzel and Mentzel are coauthors of the forthcoming picture book, Loud Mouse. For more information, visit the Library Card Sign-Up Month webpage.

ALA, May 18
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Adi Robertson writes: “For weeks, tech news has been dominated by billionaire Elon Musk’s attempts to buy (and subsequently avoid buying) Twitter. And since Musk announced his plans in April, people have debated whether it’s better for online social spaces like Twitter to remain publicly traded companies—where they’re under pressure from shareholders—or be owned by a single wealthy figure like Musk. But Ben Tarnoff, author of the upcoming book Internet for the People, believes there’s a better way. Tarnoff’s book discusses common proposals like lessening the power of internet gatekeepers with antitrust reform, but it also argues that promoting competition isn’t enough: there should also be a political movement advocating for local, noncommercial spaces online.”

The Verge, May 23
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Hannah Natanson writes: “On a hot, dusty Wednesday afternoon, 10 girls gathered in their high school library to talk about a book the adults said they weren’t allowed to read. The teens came complaining about tests and chattering about TikTok dances—but they quieted when Ella Scott, the 16-year-old cofounder and copresident of the Vandegrift High School (Tex.) Banned Book Club, cleared her throat. Ella looked at her notes for the club’s 14th meeting, convened to review I. W. Gregorio’s None of the Above. The book tells the story of Kristin, a high school student who discovers she is intersex, a condition in which people are born with atypical combinations of chromosomes, hormones, gonads, or genitals. In December, the Leander (Tex.) Independent School District had banned the novel from classroom libraries and from use in high school student book clubs—along with 10 other books.”

The Washington Post, May 22
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Austin Persinger writes: “Last November, our local police department wrote on Facebook that it had received complaints about misused and abandoned shopping buggies strewn about Hinton, our city of 2,800 people. The police, using the tools at their disposal, threatened disciplinary measures for what it referred to as the unlawful removal of buggies. I thought this was a knee-jerk reaction and not the best solution for the situation. I read this story through the lens of a rural librarian conducting a reference interview. The story that I heard was that there are lower-income people in our community who take these carts because they live in a food desert and lack reliable transportation.”

American Libraries Trend, May
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Annemarie Mannion writes: “When her son brought home speech cards from elementary school to help him better learn and articulate words, Jen Taggart could barely see what the cards depicted. The cards had been duplicated and the images were blurry, says Taggart, head of youth services at Bloomfield Township (Mich.) Public Library (BTPL). That experience more than 13 years ago inspired her to start BTPL’s Youth Accessibility Support Collection, a set of items designed to meet the needs of children with various types of disabilities and learning needs. Since 2009, families have been borrowing from the collection, which includes adaptive toys, sensory storytime boxes, speech therapy cards, and skills development sets.”

American Libraries Trend, May

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