American Library Association Journals
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Bringing in the Boys: Great Programming to Attract All
No full textChildren’s library programming has seen tremendous growth over thepast few decades with a profusion of creative and innovative offerings.Many of those center on and cater to previously overlooked audiences,ranging from indigenous peoples and other marginalized populations tophysical, mental, gender, and neuro-divergent individuals. This long overdueemphasis on diversity and inclusion is exhilarating, and hopefully will becomea standard component of all future library programming
Book Reviews
No full textHicks, A., Lloyd, A. O. Pilerot (Eds.) (2024). Information Literacy Through Theory. Facet PublishingWintermute, H.E., Campbell, H.M., Dieckman, C.S., Rose, N.L., Thulsidhos, H. (2024). The DEI Metadata Handbook: A Guide to Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Description. Iowa State University Digital PressShaw, M. K. (2024). Cataloging Library Resources: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Rowman and LittlefieldJackson, A. P., DeLoach, M. L., Fenton, M. (Eds.). (2024). Handbook of Black Librarianship. Rowman Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated
Anti-Racist Collections Workbook: A Tool for Building Inclusive Library Collections
No full textThe Anti-Racist Collections Workbook was developed by a team of librarians at the University ofColorado Boulder as an alternative to traditional diversity audits, which often fail to address systemicissues. Recognizing the deep-rooted ideologies of Whiteness in academic libraries, the workbookuses scholar Diane Gusa’s White Institutional Presence framework to critically examine collectionpractices. It focuses on six areas: cataloging and classification, selecting materials, purchasingmaterials, approval profiles, weeding, and community engagement. Each section provides questionsto challenge existing practices and promote anti-racist collection policies. By interrogating andadjusting traditional practices, the workbook aims to inspire library practitioners to create inclusive,representative collections that better serve all communities, moving beyond superficial representationto address structural inequities in library system
Using Reflection: Culturally Responsive Family Literacy Workshops
No full textMany library literacy programs are more flexible andresponsive than comparable adult education servicesbound by curriculum requirements, WorkforceInnovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding requirements,and more. This article explores how family literacy workshopslean into the strengths of the public library to use traditional adultlearning practices, such as reflection, in adaptable and responsiveways to build learning and social outcomes
1,000 Books: More than Just a Reading Challenge
No full textEnter the bustling Lodewick Children’s Library at the Ridgefield Library in Ridgefield, CT, and you will notice a few things at once—a colorfully decorated service desk, a large freshwater fish tank, my office window displaying hundreds of little toys and baubles, and a whole lot of red bags.The red bags are our very popular and highly circulating 1,000 Books before Kindergarten (1KBBK) Collection. This is Ridgefield Library’s unique physical collection of picture book titles that accompany the challenge. This collection consists of one hundred red totes, each containing ten curated books surrounding a theme. Each tote is accompanied by an extension activity, nursery rhyme or poem, tips for reading with children, a breakdown of the anatomy of a picture book and how to engage young readers in exploring the art
The Hermeneutical Work of Anti-Gender Book Challenges
No full textAnti-gender book challenges work to disrupt and damage our meaning making practices; this is the hermeneutical work that these challenges perform, whether or not they induce a ban. A challenge may be understood as ‘anti-gender’ when it appeals for justification to the idea that some underspecified gender ideology is poisoning mainstream society and the minds of its young people. These challenges, which have greatly increased in frequency since 2021, consequently communicate objections to the permissive inclusion and representation of transgender, gender-nonconforming, and queer persons or related topics in books. In so doing they advance a larger epistemic project aimed at suppressing marginalized interpretive resources that have begun to secure some mainstream traction. This paper draws on B.R. George Stacey Goguen’s philosophical account of hermeneutical backlash and Emily Knox’s sociological analysis of book challengers and their worldviews to explain how anti-gender challenges perform this distinctively hermeneutical work. This work entails not only restricting physical or digital access to reading materials but the pernicious conceptual distortion and the discursive reclassification of literary works as ideological teaching aids. Understanding how anti-gender book challenges target (equitable access to) our shared pool of interpretive resources will give us clearer insight into the ways in which public libraries serve as venues for contesting the vary terms of our personal and collective meaning making
Changing Landscape of Government Information Management and the Role of Government Information Librarians
No full textThis paper examines the evolving role of government informationservices at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign Libraryin response to national shifts in government publishing, discoveryinfrastructure, and user needs. As the Federal Depository LibraryProgram (FDLP) transitions to a digital-first model, traditionalresponsibilities like print selection and cataloging have given wayto new priorities, including instruction, outreach, and digitalstewardship. Through a case study of organizational restructuring,service redesign, and cross-unit collaboration, the paper highlightshow academic libraries can adapt to ensure continued acces
2025 Award Winners
No full textJames Bennett Childs AwardThe James Bennett Childs Award honors individuals who havemade a lifetime and significant contribution to the field ofgovernment documents librarianship through stature, service,and publication. The recipients of the 2025 James Bennett ChildsAward are Katrina Stierholz and Jim Noël. The Childs Award isa tribute to individuals who have made a lifetime and significantcontribution to the field of documents librarianship, based onstature, service, and publication
Editor’s Corner: Government Information Librarianship Existentialism
No full textWhile I try to keep my editorials optimistic, I have also madeno secret that I, like many others, struggle with the currentpolitical environment in which I find myself, both withinthe United States and globally. Every time I sit down to work onan editorial on an aspect of government information librarianship,it seems more events occur and more information emerge
RDA and Serials Cataloging, Second Edition
No full textThe second edition of RDA and Serials Cataloging is an update to the 2013 first edition and focuses on what author Ed Jones calls “Official RDA.” That is, the 2020 Resource Description and Access (RDA) standards described in the RDA toolkit.1 According to Jones, this book “is designed to be used by serial catalogers who are new to RDA and by monograph catalogers who are new to serials cataloging” (vii)