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Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access at LRTS
No full textNow that we have entered the third year of our three-year term, we wanted to reflect on two very full years at Library Resources Technical Services (LRTS). The journal, organization, and profession have seen considerable change since we came on board in 2022.In these few years, LRTS has transitioned from a subscription model to a fully open access (OA) journal that does not charge authors to publish. Given the journal’s scope and our own interest and engagement in OA publishing, we have proposed a funding model we’re calling Sustaining Open. Although the three Core journals are committed to publishing OA without charging authors, the money has to come from somewhere. We’ve worked with EBSCO and HARRASSOWITZ to create the ALA Core journal package that can be paid efficiently and easily via your institution’s preferred subscription agent
Book Review: Making the Library Accessible for All: A Practical Guide for Librarians, Second Edition
No full textAccessibility has gained significant attention and has become a top priority. Libraries strive to meet legal requirements and be more accommodating and appealing to patrons and employees with disabilities. Making the Library Accessible for All: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Jane Vincent addresses a variety of accessibility issues, such as communication barriers, material and format accessibility, architecture and environmental considerations, events and exhibits accessibility, as well as technology and web accessibility. Moreover, it outlines relevant legislation and regulations to consider
Book Review: Crash Course in Collection Development, Third Edition
No full textCrash Course in Collection Development by Wayne Disher successfully outlines many of the aspects within collection development, such as community considerations, assessment and evaluation, policies, budgets, maintenance, and the promotion of new materials, to name a few. Each chapter is broken down in a way that provides a high enough level view of a given topic to inform the reader, but not too detailed that it becomes proscriptive for this text to truly be seen as a crash course
And the Winner Is . . . Launching a Mock Ezra Jack Keats Award Program
No full textAwards abound in youth literature, and over the past few decades, mock award programs in which students and patrons evaluate books according to award criteria and select their own winners within their communities have become fixtures in school and public libraries.We have found that the Ezra Jack Keats (EJK) Award readily lends itself to a parallel mock award program. The EJK Award champions “illustrators and writers, early in their careers, who create extraordinary books that reflect our diverse population, the universal experience of childhood and the strength of family and community.” Launched in 1986, the award is administered by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation (EJKF), in partnership with the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi. The corresponding Mock EJK Award program also celebrates diverse picture books by early career creators and can be easily adapted to encompass different audiences, goals, and time spans
Managing Reference and User Services: Exploring Management of Reference and User Services
No full textWe are excited to be able to discuss current and changing practices in the management of reference services. Julia has worked in reference services for three decades. She started her career as an adult and reference services librarian in public libraries in the branches of the New York Public Library and at the Chandler (Arizona) Public Library. She then shifted to academic libraries, working as both a generalist and business reference and instruction librarian at Murray State University and the University of Toledo. She is currently the director of reference and instruction at the University of Toledo. Jo has worked in public libraries in Northeast Ohio since 2011. She earned her doctorate in organizational leadership from the University of Dayton in 2023, where she focused on organizational change, leadership theory, and organizational effectiveness. Her dissertation studied staff engagement with and organizational support for readers’ advisory services in public libraries. She is currently the senior main library manager for Stark Library in Canton, Ohio
The Federal Seed Act, Plant Variety Protection, and the Politics of Seed Exchange in the United States
No full textThe diversity of edible plants that we know and enjoy today is a direct result of our ancestors saving, replanting, and sharing seeds within their communities over millennia. However, over the last century, food crop diversity has been declining at an alarming rate. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that at least 75 percent of food crop diversity has already been lost.1 This has been attributed to a variety of interrelated trends, such as industrialized agricultural practices and the food system at large, urbanization, government policies, privatization of seed, and the breakdown of community seed exchange networks
Get to Know . . . Denise Jones
No full textDenise Jones, like many of us, did not take a direct path to specialize in government information. She originally wanted to be a school librarian, but an internship at a pharmaceutical company’s library set her onto the special libraries track. She eventually took a position as the librarian at a newspaper. “I was the first professional librarian they’d ever had, so I set up a controlled vocabulary and I started online searching for them.” Later, she got a job as the research manager at a large newspaper, where she used state documents extensively and developed a solid understanding of state government organization. She moved into her current position as the State Publications Clearinghouse Liaison at the State Library of North Carolina (SLNC) twelve years ago. At SLNC, Denise handles the acquisition of state documents and manages the distribution of documents to the six state documents depository libraries in North Carolina
Little Engines that Could… An Early Literacy Collaboration
No full textEricson Public Library resides in Boone, IA, the county seat of a mostly rural Midwest state. It has a history of railroading and mining and draws visitors to enjoy a scenic and historic train ride, so Little Engines seemed like the perfect name for our library’s project, designed to enhance and support early literacy in the community. To increase our impact, we sought to do both a library and community-based project.The purpose of Little Engines was to implement and evaluate an innovative education approach to support parents and/or caregivers to create literacy-rich environments for their preschool-aged children. Our larger goal was to increase family engagement by partnering with community organizations and preschools to make connections between kindergarten readiness for children and learning opportunities at the library and in the community. The project included an evaluation component, and we approached it through the lens of an ecological developmental framework (e.g., Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model)
Access to LGBTQ-Themed Children’s Materials: A Recent History of Their Censorship
No full textWhether in school or public libraries, children and young adults are often denied access to materials that contain gay or transgender themes. However, it is the librarian and information professional’s job to make sure that the public has equal access to information for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) community. With the current rise in censorship attempts targeting the community, librarians and information professionals can learn from how prior censorship attempts were handled. The following essay contains a recent history and discussion of the censorship of LGBTQ books and materials for children
Accessing LGBTQ+ Content in One US State: The Role of CIPA and Internet Filters
No full textPassed in 2000, the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) required public schools and public libraries to use a technology protection measure to limit minors’ access to various types of content, though the specific implementation of this law is left up to individual institutions. In the subsequent 20+ years, internet filters have been used to block access to a wide range of content, including some that was not intended to be covered by CIPA. In this research project, we tested internet filters in public libraries across one Southern US state by examining whether we could access LGBTQ+ content; this data was then supplemented with interviews of library staff. We discovered that LGBTQ+ content was not inappropriately blocked but was in fact overwhelmingly accessible. Though previous research indicated LGBTQ+ content was blocked in some public libraries, this study did not corroborate these findings. It appears that implementation of internet filters to comply with CIPA has become less controversial and more routine than has been depicted