I Love Libraries

Features

Bringing the Hulk to the Northlake Public Library

Don’t you want to live in a world where libraries have statues of comic book characters, 3D printers, and professional quality graphic design hardware/software? We do too, which was why we recently launched a crowd sourced fundraiser using the platform Indiegogo to buy a nine foot tall Incredible Hulk Statue, a Replicator 2, an iMac, and a Cintiq pen display. The initial idea came from a community member who thought it would be a good idea to have a giant Hulk statue in the library to help promote and purchase more comics and graphic novels, especially creator-owned and indie titles.

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Cultivating a Special Collection

Serendipity is often the best friend of special collections librarians. Sharing our passion for history and preservation can create happy accidents, connecting us with the caretakers of the remnants of past generations. In fact, libraries  come to acquire many cultural treasures, often discovered in the contents of someone’s attic, basement, or storage space, because we nurtured a relationship with a potential collector over time.

Western Kentucky University’s most happy accident happened more than 10 years ago when I [Sue Lynn McDaniel] was sitting in a dentist’s chair. The hygienist was making small talk and asked a standard ice-breaker question: “What do you do for a living?” My reply led to her inquiring: “Would WKU be interested in my Uncle J. T.’s suitcase?” Uncle J. T. turned out to be John T. Scopes, the defendant in what has come to be known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. He was charged with violating the Butler Act (Tenn. HB 185, 1925), which criminalized the teaching of “any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.”

As his niece explained, Scopes did not necessarily believe in evolution, but he thought all students had the right to access all information so they could make educated decisions. Another characteristic she remembered about him from family gatherings was that “Uncle J. T. liked to stir things up!”

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Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County to Receive Medal in White House Ceremony

WASHINGTON (May 8, 2013) - This afternoon, in a White House ceremony in the East Room, First Lady Michelle Obama will join Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Director Susan Hildreth to present the 2013 National Medal for Museum and Library Service to Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The nation's highest honor conferred on museums and libraries for service to the community, the National Medal celebrates institutions that make a difference for individuals, families, and communities. Kimber Fender, The Eva Jane Romaine Coombe Director, and community member Amina Tuki will accept the National Medal.

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Take Action

Library Legislative Day 2013

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Ask Congress to Support FASTR Act

On February 14, 2013, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act was introduced in the Senate by Senators Cornyn (R-TX) and Wyden (D-OR) and in the House by Representatives Doyle (D-PA) and Yoder (R-KS). 

Previously known as the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA), this is a bill that will accelerate scientific discovery and fuel innovation by making articles reporting on publicly funded scientific research freely accessible online for anyone to read and build upon.  Read more...

20 Libraries to Receive Free Professional Advocacy Consulting Services!

Thanks to a $75,000 grant from the Neal-Schuman Foundation, United for Libraries is awarding 20 Citizens-Save-Libraries grants to support advocacy at the local level for libraries with troubled budgets.  The grants will cover travel and expenses to send expert advocates to 20 locations over the course of 2 years to help Friends of the Library groups, library directors and Trustees develop individual blueprints for advocacy campaigns to restore, increase or save threatened library budgets.  Read more...

Mobile Commons

Mobile Commons allows ALA to send text messages to a mobile list.  From there, advocates can connect directly to their legislators simply by responding to the text.  Mobile Commons also enables ALA to post click-to-call alerts on our webpages.  The alert connects advocates, whether they're on the mobile list or not, to their legislator's office simply by enteriing their phone number on our page and clicking "call."  Read more...

Showcase

It takes a village to run Torrance Elementary School Libraries

By: Rob Kuznia, Staff Writer & Sean Hiller, Staff Photographer

Reprinted courtesy of: Daily Breeze

In an instant, the library at Lincoln Elementary in Torrance went from calm to semi-chaotic as the students of a first-grade class spilled in for their weekly visit.

In a 30-minute flurry of activity, the kids sought help from the three women in the library to locate, check out and return books - as well as to settle up on any nickel-a-day late fees they might have owed.

At one point, a little boy looking for a book about grasshoppers grabbed the hand of a library lady named Amy Ota as she was helping another student.

"Hi Mom," he said.

She turned around and smiled.

"Hi sweet pea."

In the Torrance Unified School District, it takes a village to run an elementary school library.

For decades, all of the libraries in the district's 17 grammar schools have been entirely operated by parent volunteers.

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News

The most social media friendly state libraries in 2013

Beth Parker writes: “Do libraries need social media? According to the ALA 2013 State of America’s Libraries Report, the answer is a resounding yes. To determine which state libraries are doing the best job of managing their social media presence, we gathered usage stats for each of the state libraries on the top social media platforms. Here are all 50 state libraries, ranked from highest to lowest for social media friendliness.”...

LibraryScienceList, May 6

New Jersey district nixes Middle School Survival Guide

A parent brought Arlene Erlbach’s Middle School Survival Guide to the May 8 Delanco Township, New Jersey, school board meeting, saying she thought the book provided too much information about sexual issues for middle school students. Board members took a look at the content and agreed to take it out of circulation. The board thought it provided too much information on such subjects as “making out,” oral sex, intercourse, pregnancy, and abortion for 6th–8th graders....

Burlington County (N.J.) Times, May 10

Batman comic retained in Nebraska

The Columbus (Nebr.) Public Library Board received its second materials challenge in five months and again rejected the protest. This time a patron objected to Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. The patron referred to the DC Comics book as “very adult” and said in the challenge it “advocates rape and violence.” The board voted 3–0 to deny the materials challenge....

Columbus (Nebr.) Telegram, May 14

Wallflower pulled from suburban Chicago classroom

Copies of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky have been removed from Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Elementary District 41’s Hadley Junior High School, where an 8th-grade literacy class’s independent reading group was perusing the title after having selected it. The daughter of complainants Jen Bradfield and her husband was not in class on the day students chose Perks. The school board overrode a reconsideration committee’s vote to retain the book....

Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald, May 10

Mother files ADA complaint over library incident

Linda Aase has spent much of her life helping disabled people navigate their daily routines—as a disability program manager with the federal government, as a board member for disability advocacy groups and, above all, as a mother. So when her 25-year-old daughter, who has Down syndrome and autism, had an emotional outburst at the Rust branch of the Loudoun County (Va.) Public Library, she was not surprised. But she was surprised, she said, at the library staff’s reaction....

Washington Post, May 10

Library director wins on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Allenstown (N.H.) Public Library Director Amber Cushing (right) walked away from the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? that aired May 13 with $25,250 after correctly answering six questions. She ultimately left when she missed a question involving math. Cushing graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science in 2012....

UNC Daily Tar Heel, May 13; Manchester New Hampshire Union Leader, May 1

Stolen historical documents returned to Maryland

At a table in the library of the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, an investigator with the National Archives pulls file folders from a cardboard box and hands them to Library Director Patricia Dockman Anderson. Until recently, the documents were evidence, some of the more than 10,000 items seized in a massive FBI investigation that ensnared a well-known collector of presidential memorabilia and his assistant. This week, however, they were returned to the society to become again pieces of history available to researchers....

Associated Press, May 14

Huffington Post

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Webinars

United for Libraries to host webinar on "Library Advocacy at the State Level: 12 Steps to Success

NEWS
For Immediate Release
April 15, 2013

Contact: Jillian Kalonick

PHILADELPHIA — United for Libraries will present the free webinar “Library Advocacy at the State Level: 12 Steps to Success” from 2 to 3 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, April 30.

This webinar will be led by Jeffrey Smith, director of public affairs for Humanim and president of the Foundation for Baltimore County (Md.) Public Library (BCPL). Participants will learn the basics of government/legislative advocacy and understand the 12 steps necessary to be an effective advocate for library issues when meeting with key decision-makers. Additionally, a case study in successful advocacy for library related funding will be presented. The webinar is geared toward trustees, friends, foundation members and staff members. This webinar is co-sponsored by ALA’s Office for Library Advocacy.

Jeffrey Smith is a member of the Baltimore County Board of Library Trustees and the Board of Directors of Citizens for Maryland Libraries. He secured two separate $250,000 state appropriations in support of BCPL’s nationally-recognized “Storyville” children’s libraries. He writes a monthly column focused on advocacy and messaging for libraries that appears in Library Journal. Additionally, he writes a biweekly column covering general library issues for Public Libraries Online. He presently serves United for Libraries as division liaison to ASCLA and as a member of the Newsletter & Web Advisory Committee.  He also serves on ALA’s Legislation Assembly.

The webinar is free; registration is limited to 100. This webinar will be presented with Internet audio only. You will need a computer with speakers or headphones as well as Internet access. United for Libraries members can access a recording of the webinar after April 30. For more information and to register, visit http://ala.adobeconnect.com/advocacy-state/event/registration.html. 

United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, is a division of the American Library Association that supports citizens who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries. United for Libraries brings together library Trustees, advocates, friends, and foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. For more information or to join United for Libraries, visit the United for Libraries website or contact Jillian Kalonick at (312) 280-2161 or jkalonick@ala.org.

The Office for Library Advocacy (OLA) supports the efforts of advocates seeking to improve libraries of all types by developing resources, a peer-to-peer advocacy network, and training for advocates at the local, state and national level. In order to achieve this goal, OLA works closely with the Public Information Office, the Chapter Relations Office, the Office for Government Relations, and other ALA units involved in advocacy on behalf of particular types of libraries or particular issues, in order to help better integrate these efforts into the overall advocacy planning and strategies of the association. OLA also works to cultivate future leadership in order to sustain the advocacy efforts of the association.

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