American Library Association Journals
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Managing Children’s Services: Leadership Lessons: The Messages Picture Books Bring Us
No full textI have worked in youth services for most of my twenty-year career as a librarian. During this time, I have had the privilege of serving on the 2010 Caldecott, 2017 Newbery, and 2021 Sibert Award Selection Committees.I sincerely appreciate my fellow committee members who inspired me with their love of children’s literature and their passion for bringing stories to life for young people everywhere.Throughout our deliberations, my colleagues demonstrated the power of genuine empathy, active listening, and a growth mindset. I utilize these skills daily in my current work as a leadership coach for library directors and managers
Capturing Impact: Sharing Stories of Makerspace Successes
No full textOn an incredibly hot Saturday afternoon in August, a group of ten kids are gathered around a table with Mars Patterson, the current Bubbler Artist in Residence, hands twitching to touch the collection of Instax cameras in front of them. Parents look a little skeptical, but the kids listen carefully to Mars’ instructions.Mars lays out the children’s task—she is encouraging kids to look at their environment (the Madison (WI) Public Library’s Children’s Area) with fresh eyes—to take photos of interesting shapes, lines, colors, and textures that they see. There are enough cameras for some of the parents, too, and so, armed with guidance and equipment, families set off together on a mini adventure
Couples who Collaborate: Cheryl and Wade Hudson
No full textCheryl and Wade Hudson are the dynamic duo behind Just Us Books, the publishing company they started in 1988. Their collaboration together began when they published AFRO BETS ABC Book (1987), after receiving rejection after rejection from major publishing companies citing a lack of interest in books about Black children.Just Us Books has received numerous accolades and awards over its thirty-five years in business, in recognition of its significant contribution to the publication of diverse books for children. In 2022, the couple was awarded a Carle Honors award from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art for their contribution to children’s literature
The Circuitous Reach of Carceral Censorship
No full textCarceral censorship functions as a repressive apparatus obstructing flows of information and knowledge needed to transform individual lives, as well as bring about criminal justice reform and social change. This article examines the ambiguity and irrationality of U.S. carceral censorship in relation to every human’s right to pursue knowledge and fulfill their potential for growth. For the imprisoned, this becomes an impossibility when the need to nurture relationships and sense of belonging are denied. The right to live with dignity, learn, and grow must honor the basic human need to connect with others and build community. Our analysis explores the role of censorship in disrupting these essential human needs for people in prison, and the extended network of people imprisonment impacts, as the era of mass incarceration unfolds
2024 GODORT Award Winners
No full textJames Bennett Childs AwardBernadine Abbott Hoduski Founders AwardProQuest/GODORT/ALA “Documents to the People” AwardNewsBank/Readex/GODORT/ALA Catharine J. Reynolds Research GrantMargaret T. Lane / Virginia F. Saunders Memorial Research Awar
Peer Mentoring in Academic Librarianship: Service and Connections can Lead to Improved Scholarly Output
No full textIn the dynamic field of librarianship, mentorship plays a pivotal role in fostering professional development, knowledge sharing, and community building. This article explores the multifaceted benefits of peer mentorship and how it can serve academic librarians who may feel underprepared for the academy and its scholarship requirements (and opportunities), whether they are on a tenure-track or not. Typically, a traditional mentor-mentee relationship has a power imbalance but what this article describes is a peer mentoring relationship between a newer academic librarian and a mid-career, tenured librarian that provides support and engagement for both parties and is ultimately successful in helping them reach major career milestones. This type of mentorship has both partners actively contributing and receiving support. The case study shares strategies for identifying a suitable peer mentor, logistical considerations, best practices, and demonstrates the numerous benefits of peer mentorship
Readers’ Advisory: Thinking About Books
No full textI have been a student of readers’ advisory (RA) for more than 25 years. Librarianship is a second career for me, and I had no exposure to the practices of RA until I took a class in my second year of library school. It was there that I met the late Dr. Connie Van Fleet, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic professor who encouraged me to parley my previous customer service experience into public librarianship. Her RA class was the most entertaining and eye-opening course I attended in my two years at Kent State University because it was there that I embraced two of S. R. Ranganathan’s laws: every reader his or her book and every book its reader. I went on to work in Cleveland Public Library’s Popular Library, a room that held new fiction and popular nonfiction. The staff in Popular Library created booklists, led a book discussion, curated the various genre shelves, and shared their knowledge of reading subjects in an organic way working directly with patrons. Although it has been many years since I worked at CPL, I will always be grateful to the library staff for fueling my interest in RA services
Reference Services and Instruction: The Intersection of Reference and Instruction
No full textAs an academic librarian, I often have conversations about reference or instruction. However, those conversations are seldom about reference and instruction. I believe that this is due to the structural realities of ALA; discussions about reference take place in RUSA and talks about instruction occur in ACRL. This is unfortunate because reference informs and enhances instruction and vice-versa. Moreover, as a result of this siloing, I don’t know what other divisions have to say about the links between reference and instruction. Fortunately, RUSA is the perfect place to hold those dialogues since people from all divisions come together here regarding reference. I think we need to create a space to hold these discussions, which is why I’ve created this column
Rules, Privacy, and Ethics: Challenges in Creating Author Name Change Guidelines
No full textPeople change their names for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, gender transition, change in marital status, and religious conversion. Guidance on the metadata management of author name changes for the myriad resources in a library’s discovery system is elusive and absent. Executing metadata for name changes creates many challenges in a rapidly advancing infrastructure of emerging discovery technologies, aggregators with shared metadata in multiple schemas, and numerous formats in varied platforms. Moreover, it is difficult to find a balanced approach to ethically apply evolving cataloging and name authority control rules to suit the linked data environment. This case study examines an academic library’s process in creating guidance for implementing name changes. The paper reports on the stakeholders involved, resources consulted, dilemmas considered, and decisions made in the development of the library’s author name change guidelines
Hidden Collections and Rare Books Cataloging: A Review of the Literature
No full textDuring the past three decades, the holdings of rare books and special collections departments have come to be known as “distinctive collections.” Running parallel to this development has been the adoption of the term “hidden collections” to designate backlogs of unprocessed rare books and special collections materials, and an increased awareness of providing access to these materials. This paper examines the literature to explore the development of the trend for rare books and special collections to be called “distinctive collections” and for backlogs to be referred to as “hidden collections.” It also discusses factors that can contribute to the development of rare book backlogs including the need for trained staff and fuller levels of cataloging required to adequately describe the artifactual values of rare books in bibliographic records