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Illustration: Antonio Rodriguez/Adobe Stock The world of college admissions drastically shifted in 2023, when the Supreme Court’s landmark rulings in two cases—Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina—rejected race-conscious affirmative action policies. Just two years later, as some schools report declining enrollment of students of color, a flurry […]
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings (left) with contestant Adriana Harmeyer Photo: Disney/Christopher Willard With total earnings of $441,600, Adriana Harmeyer, clinical associate professor and archivist for university history at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, is the winningest library professional ever to have appeared on the legendary game show Jeopardy! Harmeyer—who holds the 12th-longest consecutive winning […]
The 2025 recipients of the I Love My Librarian Award (ILMLA) are 10 standout librarians. They include a bookmobile librarian serving a community in crisis, a school librarian bridging gaps for low-income students, a youth detention facility librarian creating a more inviting and inclusive space, and other notable community figures. On January 24, the American […]
Photo: John Black Photography In July 1925, the US was transfixed by State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, also known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. Held in Dayton, Tennessee, the proceedings examined whether high school teacher John T. Scopes violated the law by teaching evolution in a state-funded school. Then, as now, the trial […]
Ted Quiballo (right), instructional technologies librarian at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, shows interns for World Relief Chicagoland’s youth summer program how to use a 3D scanner. For nearly a decade, Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston, Illinois, and the Chicago office of the national nonprofit World Relief have worked together to offer free summer programming […]
Last November, my home state of Iowa saw a flurry of activity relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), both positive and negative. A group of plaintiffs filed suit against the state over a law that would ban books in K–12 schools that purportedly depict sex acts. (A federal judge temporarily halted enforcement of the […]
Libraries of all sizes across the US are more than just information access points: They’re social hubs, technology centers, and can be safe havens for the marginalized. In rural areas and small towns in particular, libraries are often one of the few—or only—places to serve these functions in a way that’s free and accessible to […]
Photo: James Jelin Whether it’s snickerdoodles, peach cobbler, or cheese dip, many home cooks want to be remembered for their signature dish. Some have even gone as far as incorporating those foods into their final resting place. “Food connects us to someone we miss,” says Rosie Grant, digital librarian for American Jewish University in Los […]
Photo: ©kite_rin/Adobe Stock The work of medical librarians is essential and varied. Housed within academic medical libraries, hospitals, corporate libraries, and insurance companies, medical librarians provide information and resources to improve patient care, promote public health, and support medical education and research. Responsibilities are constantly evolving with technology and new programming. American Libraries spoke with […]
Autherine Lucy and lawyers Thurgood Marshall and Arthur Brooks leave the courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 29, 1956, after the court had ruled Lucy had to be reinstated as a library science student at University of Alabama but before the university’s trustees expelled her later that day. Photo: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs […]
Sandy Himel is associate professor and head of government information and the Cajun and Creole Music Collection at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Photo: Doug Dugas/University of Louisiana at Lafayette In 1950s southern Louisiana and southeast Texas, a new kind of music filled hopping dance halls: swamp pop. The genre, typified by electric guitars, pianos, […]
T-Kay Sangwand, digital collection development librarian at UCLA Library and host of radio show The Archive of Feelings.Photo: Amanda Lopez When T-Kay Sangwand named her radio show The Archive of Feelings, she wasn’t just being cute. In addition to being a DJ, Sangwand is librarian for digital collection development at UCLA Library, where she helms […]
Special Report: The Legacy of 9/11 It’s been 20 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, flashed on our TV screens and left an imprint on our memories. Nearly 3,000 people died at the World Trade Center in New York City, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and aboard four hijacked airplanes. For […]
When I completed my library degree at University of Toronto last year, I kept a spreadsheet to track jobs I applied to. Looking through those listings now—part- and full-time jobs across North America in public, academic, and government libraries and archives—I see that all were somehow precarious, with assignment durations ranging from four months to […]
