American Library Association Journals
Not a member yet
5478 research outputs found
Sort by
Editor’s Note: You Can Go Home Again
No full textI was thrilled to reconnect with old friend, and CCBC librarian, Merri Lindgren, at the library on the campus at UW-Madison.On a crisp Friday in late November, I was supposed to be visiting the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) in Madison, WI, to peruse the starred books of 2023. And I did—tables full of them.But two things distracted me; first was the amazing historic collection of books, which includes original books and artwork from Wisconsin native Ellen Raskin, author of the Newbery Award–winning The Westing Game. Her illustrations were bold, with in-your-face colors and funky typefaces—definitely a force ahead of her time
Checkmates: Teens Mentoring Kids in Florida Chess Club
No full textWhat makes a chess club hip? Could it be that watching hours of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit made it more popular, or is it simply because of the players and facilitators involved?At the Miami-Dade Public Library System’s South Dade Regional Library, it is more of the latter. The library’s weekly Chess Club program has been offered for nearly a decade, but in March 2020 it came to a halt when in-library programming was suspended due to COVID-19. When the club resumed at the beginning of 2022, turnout was lower than it had been in the past. We had a low turnout of about five kids when we started after COVID, but it steadily increased to about fifteen to twenty kids weekly, not including the teen interns
Emphasizing the Economic: Nancy Fraser, the Cultural-Redistributive Divide, and Social Justice’s PR Crisis
No full textThe philosopher Nancy Fraser defines two paradigms for social justice: the economic and the cultural. These two paradigms often find themselves at odds (the familiar struggle between class politics and identity politics), but only when working in conjunction, according to Fraser, can they reach their emancipatory potential. Contra Fraser, this paper argues that there exist some historical moments in which it is necessary for one paradigm to take precedence over the other. In our current political moment, both the Right and the Left can be said to be fixated on culture, and this fixation ultimately disadvantages the Left: it appears as if the Right has already won the culture war, at least within the minds of a statistically significant portion of the American populace. Legal attempts to protect social justice seem similarly doomed. In order to persuade the public of the advantages of the movement, this paper argues that we must begin to emphasize its universal economic benefits
Clear the Floor: One Library’s Approach to the Removal and Integration of Items from Two Print Journal Collections
No full textDue to the desire for more student space at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, the Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center reviewed its serial holdings both in the library and in its offsite storage facility and determined which titles to retain and discard. This paper will briefly describe the selection process and then discuss the methods and phases of the project used to discard material in two shelving locations including auctioning material, donating material to another library, removing unselected material, and repurposing material for a decorative noise-abatement wall. This paper will also discuss the process of integrating items selected for retention from two shelving locations in separate buildings into one shelving location. The author will share the lessons learned throughout the project
Book Review: Project Management in Technical Services: Practical Tips and Case Studies
No full textWhile library literature and conference programs abound with project management guidance, relatively little has been published on adapting these techniques for technical services. Project Management in Technical Services: Practical Tips and Case Studies helps fill this gap with a compilation of instruction and case studies in various approaches to project management ranging from individual techniques for managing workloads to coordinating institutional and consortial projects. According to the preface, the goal of the book is to “help technical services professionals build their own ‘project management toolkit’” and “right-size” an approach that will work for any type of project (viii). With this mission in mind, the book’s two parts are further outlined in the preface. Part I: Implementation Perspectives is divided into chapters on personal project management and departmental implementation and Part II: Case Studies is divided into chapters on technology, space, and collection maintenance. While the majority of the cases discussed in the book focus on one-off projects, several chapters (especially chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7) also address how project management techniques can be useful for the cyclical, individual work common in technical services. The benefits of adapting project management in technical services are discussed throughout the book, including increased productivity and organization, improved evaluation of projects (both while they are ongoing and following completion), facilitating communication, increasing transparency, encouraging collaboration, and avoiding burnout. Other common themes include tool recommendations, agile project management methods, and adapting to change
Seeking Oasis in Book Deserts: Building Home Libraries to Create Equity in Book Ownership
No full textLibraries have long promoted book giveaways to increase the love of reading and books. The educational benefits are well documented for increased print and book ownership access. Libraries also leverage programs such as 1000 Books Before Kindergarten and summer learning as popular programs to help families grow home libraries.Despite these efforts, there are many socioeconomic disparities in which children in this country own books. Espinosa et al. found that children in the highest socioeconomic status have over five times the books in their homes as children in the lowest quartile. A study by van Bergen et al. found that the number of books in the home helps predict early reading abilities, yet these gaps in book ownership persist
Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee: Advocating for a Decolonized Thanksgiving
No full textThanksgiving is deeply ingrained in North American culture, often associated with family gatherings, delicious food, and expressions of gratitude.But the history of Thanksgiving is also intertwined with colonialism, oppression, and violence against Indigenous peoples. It is crucial that children’s librarians take steps to decolonize Thanksgiving and promote a more accurate and inclusive understanding of the holiday. The lived experiences and ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples need to be acknowledged and honored
Membership Committee: Membership Profiles
No full textCarrie Banks, Supervising Librarian, Inclusive Services at Brooklyn Public LibraryEti Berland, Youth Services School Engagement Librarian, Wilmette (IL) Public LibraryAna-Elba Pavon, Semi-retired/On-Call Librarian, San Francisco Public Librar
Access for All: Adapted Literacy Through Low-Tech Assistive Technology
No full textThree-year-old Kasey has cerebral palsy (CP) with seizures. He often pushes books away, putting his head down instead. Kasey is learning preliteracy skills and enjoys manipulating objects but has great difficulty with fine motor abilities.Kasey’s twin, Kolby, also has CP. He enjoys having books read to him. He will often seek out books during check-out time, but he cannot interact with them on his own because of fine motor difficulties. His strengths include enjoying the computer with an adaptive switch, and he has the ability to understand key concepts in a story.Chandler is an active four-year-old with language delay, who often engages in imaginary play where he fights with ninjas during storytime. He seldom initiates looking at books, and when he does, he folds the pages, bends the corners of the book, or even tears the pages. During sensory activities such as playing in sand, finger painting, and playing with play dough, he is very attentive and will not leave that area. His strengths include his sustained attention to the sensory area and manipulatives table, his imagination, and his understanding of simple plots