By Ezekiel Amari McGee (Follow us on LinkedIn) For the past year, watching the news often feels like watching a Hitchcock film—you know something awful’s coming, it’s just a matter of when. Wh…

Although much of my work involves navigating digital information, I try not to forget that libraries are also physical spaces. Indeed, my lifelong love of libraries as places and structures is a bi…

Guest Post by Mari Cheney, Associate Director of Research and InstructionBoley Law Library, Lewis & Clark Law School I had the immense honor of attending this year’s annual meeting in Boston us…

By Marlena Okechukwu (Follow us on LinkedIn) Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash Conferences are big business. In fact, globally, the Meetings industry generates trillions of dollars annually – …

Funding will expand ALA’s intellectual freedom initiatives amid record number of book challenges CHICAGO (June 22, 2023) — The American Library Association (ALA) will distribute $1 million to support and expand intellectual freedom initiatives as the nation grapples with rising censorship challenges and seeks a greater array of resources to protect the right to read. ALA will use the funds to provide a major boost for its current efforts to support its members, library workers and libraries everywhere, as well as the communities they serve.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Library Association (ALA) applauds the Biden-Harris Administration’s steps announced today to address the rise in book bans and other attacks on LGBTQIA+ Americans. In a fact sheet released today, the White House announced that the Department of Education will appoint a new coordinator to address the growing threat that book bans pose for the civil rights of students, among other steps to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ Americans.

By Charles Bjork This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington, D.C., concluded with a special panel discussion on Protecting Cultural Heritage in Conflict Z…

This is text of the closing keynote I gave for the CORE Forum on November 20, 2020.

As seems to be the new normal, there is a lot happening in the news (*gestures vaguely around*). It’s easy to focus on a few issues at the expense of others or to get overwhelmed and check out enti…

In a stunning show of support for libraries, late yesterday afternoon the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to support a resolution backing the Internet Archive and the digital rights of all libraries. Supervisor Connie Chan, whose district includes the Internet Archive, authored the legislation and brought the resolution before the Board. “At a […]

Learn more about this WorldCat Discovery feature, the research and community input informing this work, and building toward a community of practice.

How racially diverse is the librarian profession, and how can we begin to assess that diversity? Those are the two key questions at the heart of two

National Library Week is April 23-29, 2023. This national annual observance celebrates the contributions of libraries and their staff to their communities and greater society. This year's theme is "There's More to the Story" - a reminder that while libraries are full of stories on their shelves, they are more than their collections of books.

By Mikayla Redden (Follow us on LinkedIn) If you read my last post, you might remember the trampoline full of tennis balls metaphor I provided as an example of how living with a neurodivergent…

Guest Post by Anonymous In the last year, there has been much talk of de-credentialing (dropping degree requirements from) academic law librarian positions. While possibly driven by the shortage of…

Guest Post by Trezlen Drake, Head of Digital Resources, and Foreign & International Law Research Librarian at Yale Lillian Goldman Law Library As a woman of color from a financially disadvantag…

Getting along with others is about more than just having things in common.

The following text was written by Baharak Yousefi, Ebony Magnus, Yoonhee Lee, and me. It was originally sent as a response to a list-serv discussion…

Written by Amy Bintliff

Recent years have seen a resurgence in widespread activism throughout the country. Librarian's Library columnist Allison Escoto suggests helpful resources for librarians seeking to understand—in both theory and practice—the role of libraries in a time of increased social activism.

This week marks Banned Books Week, celebrated annually at the end of September to honor our freedom to read and the importance of free access to information, whether or not we personally agree with it. Join us as we explore the history of banned books.

Home | Proactive Preparation | Responding to an Incident | Meeting Community Needs | Special Considerations & Resources What prompted the need for this document? | Assistance and Consultation | Definitions What prompted the need for this document? After the 2016 elections, there was a spike in reported hate crimes in American libraries. Consequently, questions about hate speech, the First Amendment, and patron behavior in the library are escalating.Hateful Conduct in Libraries: Supporting Library Workers and Patrons

The university announced courses would resume “immediately online and asynchronously,” but questions about academic freedom, transparency, and more, remain.

In the debut of our Academic Insights column, academic librarians Twanna Hodge and Jamia Williams assert that BIPOC voices must be centered in every aspect of librarianship.

A couple years ago, Book Riot posted an article by Katisha Smith titled, “13 Pioneering Black Librarians You Oughta Know.” Among others, Smith introduces us to Edward C. Williams, the f…

By Sue Silverman One of the first things that struck me when teaching international and foreign law research for the first time was how Western and Eurocentric international law is, from the princi…

From technology to teaching about how to use tech, libraries foster equity of access for everyone - regardless of their own means