State of America's Libraries Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Book Bans a Focus of State of America’s Libraries 2022 Report

April 4, 2022

The report summarizes library trends and outlines statistics and issues affecting libraries during the previous calendar year. It comes out annually during National Library Week, this year April 3–9. Book challenges Library staff in every state faced an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) tracked 729 challenges to … Continue reading Book Bans a Focus of State of America’s Libraries 2022 Report →

2021 State of America's Libraries Special Report (graphic featuring illustrated figures wearing masks, buildings, and icons representing library services and community during the pandemic)

ALA Releases State of America’s Libraries Special Report: COVID-19

April 5, 2021

Like many public institutions forced to close their doors, libraries adapted to a new way of doing business. Closures did not prevent library workers and libraries from serving their communities. Instead, shuttered physical spaces fueled significant innovation and opportunities to assist and support patrons and students remotely. As most libraries were closed to in-person visits, … Continue reading ALA Releases State of America’s Libraries Special Report: COVID-19 →

State of America’s Libraries 2020

April 20, 2020

Although the report focuses on 2019, libraries are shown to be on the front lines addressing societal and community challenges—a role they are certainly playing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many libraries serve as first responders that take on roles outside of traditional library service that support patrons’ needs and community development. Functioning at various times as … Continue reading State of America’s Libraries 2020 →

The State of America’s Libraries 2019

April 7, 2019

The report finds that library workers are on the front lines addressing community challenges. Many serve as first responders who take on roles outside of traditional library service that support patrons’ needs and community development. Functioning at various times as career counselors, social workers, teachers, and technology instructors, library staffers give special care to adopt programs … Continue reading The State of America’s Libraries 2019 →

State of America’s Libraries 2018

April 9, 2018

During this time of rapid social change, libraries of all types are providing welcoming spaces to an increasingly diverse population; working with the community to offer social service support and health resources, career, and small business development assistance; and combating fake news by providing tools to assess and evaluate news sources. The function of libraries … Continue reading State of America’s Libraries 2018 →

State of America’s Libraries 2017

April 10, 2017

The term “fake news” is recent, but the skills needed to evaluate information are not. Librarians provide users with expertise and the training needed to evaluate the quality of information in all formats. The report shows that the library community continues to share best practices to help fuel efforts to combat disinformation. With the massive … Continue reading State of America’s Libraries 2017 →

The State of America’s Libraries 2016

April 11, 2016

This and other library trends of the past year are detailed in the ALA’s The State of America’s Libraries 2016 report, released April 11 in recognition of National Library Week, April 10–16. The report shows that libraries of all types add value in five key areas: education, employment, entrepreneurship, empowerment, and engagement. Local and national … Continue reading The State of America’s Libraries 2016 →

The State of America’s Libraries 2015

April 13, 2015

This and other library trends of the past year are detailed in ALA’s State of America’s Libraries Report 2015, made available during National Library Week, April 12–18, both as an American Libraries digital supplement, as well as on the ALA website at ala.org/americas-libraries and as a PDF file. As society continues to change the way … Continue reading The State of America’s Libraries 2015 →

The State of America’s Libraries, 2014

April 14, 2014

On April 13, the American Library Association released its report on the 2014 State of America’s Libraries during National Library Week, April 13–19, detailing library trends of the past year. Its findings include: More than 90% of the respondents in an independent national survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project said … Continue reading The State of America’s Libraries, 2014 →

Latest Library Links

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The American Library Association (ALA) released new data today documenting 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. The unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubles the 757 challenges reported in 2021. A record 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship, a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021. Of those titles, the vast majority were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color.

ALA, Mar. 22
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Joshua Kim writes: “Mary Jane Petrowski, associate director of ALA’s Association of College and Research Libraries, reached out in regard to my piece on academic library staffing trends. In that piece, I shared some Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) findings that seem to demonstrate a steep drop in academic library staffing since 2012. As Petrowski is ideally positioned to unpack academic library staffing trends, she agreed to help us figure out what is going on.” Petrowski answers whether IPEDS data is adequate for telling the story of staffing trends, contextualizes staff reductions, and shares ideas for how nonlibrarians can be allies to academic librarians.

Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 21, Feb. 12
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Maggie Laurel Boyd writes: “What happens when time doesn’t heal us the way we expect? Is healing possible in the terms we have laid out for it? This reading list features eight books published in the last 20 years, plus one book published 50 years ago (it’s worth the trip back in time, though, I promise) that challenge traditional healing narratives. In the COVID-19 pandemic, discussions about health and healing remain all too relevant; many of us are realizing that illness permeates many of the spaces we exist within, and still more of us are reckoning with our vulnerability to illness. Reading these texts helps us recognize that if our arc of recovery deviates from the template, then at least we’re in good company.”

Electric Lit, Feb. 23
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ALA’s Reference and User Services Association will host its second-annual RUSA Virtual Forum March 28 and March 30. Under the theme “Reference and User Services Reimagined,” the forum’s two nonconsecutive days of programs will showcase best practices for library workers in reference, user services, adult readers advisory, collection development, resource sharing, genealogy and archives, business reference, and reference technology. The opening keynote will be delivered by Nicole A. Cooke, Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and associate professor at University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science. Early bird registration ends March 11.

ALA’s Reference and User Services Association, Feb. 22
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Paisley Rekdal, Peter Bromberg, and Rebekah Cummings write: “Utah is the latest state hit by the national wave of bills targeting public education. A new public school curriculum bill introduced in the Utah legislature (House Bill 427) would ‘prohibit the use of instructional materials and classroom instruction inconsistent with the principle of inalienable rights, equal opportunity, and individual merit.’ Vacuous as this description might seem, the bill is hardly empty of meaning. If passed into law, this bill would effectively shelter students from the past, spoon-feeding them versions of the world that make no one feel uncomfortable about anything, least of all actual facts. It’s not only a paternalistic attitude, but one that would stultify the classroom.”

The Hill, Feb. 24; The Guardian (US), Feb. 14; Utah State Legislature
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Jodi Fortino and Kate Grumke write: “The ACLU of Missouri is challenging a new state law that bans ‘sexually explicit material’ from schools and has resulted in districts pulling hundreds of books from their shelves. The suit, filed on behalf of the Missouri Association of School Librarians and the Missouri Library Association, asks the circuit court in Kansas City to find the law unconstitutional. The ACLU filed the lawsuit against Jean Peters Baker in her capacity as the Jackson County Prosecutor and on behalf of all county prosecutors in Missouri. In its lawsuit, the ACLU argues that the law violates educators’ due process rights because it uses vague language that invites government overreach and does not differentiate school employees’ official capacity from their personal capacity.”

KCUR-FM (Kansas City, Mo.), Feb. 23
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ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall writes: “Having visited, worked or consulted for, and spoken at hundreds of libraries, I don’t believe there is any educational or public service institution that more ably facilitates personal growth and community access than libraries. They place the acts of discovery and changemaking within reach of everyone. The library’s proven ability to stimulate people and ideas into action is what fueled ALA’s new Civic Imagination Stations project, a pilot supported by the Estée Lauder Companies’ Writing Change program, a three-year initiative designed to advance literacy as a pathway to equality, access, and social change.”

American Libraries column, Mar./Apr.

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