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Illustration: Katie Wheeler When you seek the advice of a goblin priest in the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons, beware: Instead of helping you in your quest, he might try to feed you to a tentacled monster with a taste for adventurers. A crew of six explorers—library patrons playing as a gnome, two half-elves, […]
Patrons at Palos Verdes Library District in Rolling Hills Estates, California, submitted photos that include images of daily jokes, Zoom meeting signs, protests, and jigsaw puzzles. Photos: Palos Verdes Library District in Rolling Hills Estates, California The Palos Verdes Library District (PVLD) coronavirus archiving project started with a cat. Monique Sugimoto, archivist and local history […]
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA). “BCALA comes out of an unflagging commitment to equity,” says Tracie D. Hall, executive director of the American Library Association (ALA) and herself a member of the affiliate organization. “I cannot help but think of how prescient its founding […]
A towering figure in both librarianship and the civil rights movement, E. J. Josey (1924–2009) cofounded the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) and served as ALA president (1984–1985). He inspired and mentored colleagues and students with a leadership style that reverberates today. Renate L. Chancellor, associate professor in the Department of Library […]
Teen leader Iris Alvarenga poses in front of yard signs at Waltham (Mass.) Public Library that depict issues youth patrons care about. The installation was a partnership between the library, civic organization For Freedoms, and local art group Blueprint Projects. Photo: Erwin Cardona/Waltham (Mass.) Public Library Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations—renewed by the death of […]
Photo illustration: ©Victor Tongdee/Adobe Stock As librarians, we are affected by our work. We’re often directly exposed to traumatic events or feeling the indirect results of natural disasters, terrorist events, or rioting. We experience secondary exposure by hearing patrons speak out about their traumas and even by helping them find the resources they need to […]
#MurderTrending, a dystopic novel by Gretchen McNeil, ranked first on the 2019 Teens’ Top Ten list. Photo illustration: © Wayhome Studio/Adobe Stock 1957Year the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) was founded. 6–8Dates in November that YALSA will host its 10th symposium, “Biggest Little Spaces: How Libraries Serve the Expanding Worlds of Teens.” Originally scheduled […]
Amy Schindler, director of archives and special collections at University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Libraries, holds a magic book from the Omaha (Neb.) Magical Society collection. Photo: University of Nebraska at Omaha One day, the magic collection vanished—and then reappeared. That is, the Omaha (Neb.) Magical Society moved its 1,200 magic-related books and materials […]
Mayra Castrejón-Hernandez performs at Milwaukee Public Library’s first Deaf StorySlam event in September 2019. Photo: Pat A. Robinson Photos/Milwaukee Public Library In September 2019, Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) hosted its first Deaf StorySlam, a storytelling event intended to highlight Deaf voices of color and their lived experiences and bring together the city’s Deaf and hearing […]
University of Kentucky in Lexington is attempting to remove a 1934 mural by artist Ann Rice O’Hanlon (detail shown here). Photo: Mark Cornelison In the 1930s and 1940s, federal programs such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) paid artists and artisans to create thousands of artworks. Some of those works ended up on display in […]
This is a guest blog post by Abbie Grotke, Assistant Head, Digital Content Management Section Washington, D.C. – Crowd in front of Capitol – Cleveland’s 2nd inauguration. Washington D.C, 1893. Photograph. //www.loc.gov/item/00650948/. You may have noticed that it is presidential election season in the United States, which means it’s also time for web archivists to […]
I’m pleased to announce that Thib Guicherd-Callin has accepted the continuing role of Assistant Director and Program Manager for LOCKSS. Thib brings unsurpassed experience and skills to this role. He joined the LOCKSS Program as a Summer intern in 2005 and has been with it since then. In his own words, he is “the intern […]
Illustration: ©artflare/Adobe Stock Each year, American Libraries tracks dozens of library referenda across the country, using the ballot box as a means of tracking support for public and school libraries. Because next week’s presidential election is expected to generate high voter turnout, some communities may be pushing harder than usual to get local referenda in […]
When the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) set out in January 2015 to research the ability of students to judge the credibility of online information, they could never have predicted that their results would be disseminated precisely at a time when the level of public concern over the availability, spread, and impact of misinformation online […]
Sunday Roast Chicken with Chickpeas and Couscous, inspired by Chef Alberta Wright of Jezebel, one of the recipes in The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food by Marcus Samuelsson and Osayi Endolyn Photo: Angie Mosier Reprinted with permission from The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food (Voracious, October) by […]
The COVID-19 pandemic poses many challenges to libraries, including the accessibility of physical materials in support of teaching and learning. In a more typical quarter, faculty would place books on reserve, so that students could come to the library and check them out for a designated window of study. With most students off campus for […]
Carrie C. Robinson Fifty years ago this week, Carrie C. Robinson—a Black school librarian whose long career revealed much about the Jim Crow South, the challenges of integration, and librarianship in the civil rights era—settled a landmark case for racial justice in the profession. After being passed over for a promotion, she had sued her […]
In today’s post, Sam Schireson interviews a By the People volunteer who has gone above and beyond! By the People is a crowdsourced transcription program launched in 2018 at the Library of Congress. Volunteer-created transcriptions are used to make digitized collections searchable and discoverable on loc.gov. In this interview we hear from Henry in Virginia who has been […]
The following is a guest post by Brian Foo, 2020 Innovator in Residence and creator of Citizen DJ. Background This past weekend, the Citizen DJ Showcase aired at the National Book Festival and the Citizen DJ application went from beta to officially launched as an LC Labs experiment. For the Showcase, the renowned DJ, Kid […]
By the People at the National Book Festival Tomorrow, Friday 9/25, marks the beginning of the 20th Library of Congress National Book Festival! Representatives from across the Library will be hosting festival-goers via virtual booths, where visitors can connect with their favorite Library programs and collections. A member of the By the People team will be […]
