Bringing it all together

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the fact that a master’s degree is required to be a librarian. For me, choosing to pursue a graduate degree in library science made perfect sense. I have …

The study found the presence and usage of public libraries and museums to be positively associated with community health, school effectiveness, institutional connection, and cultural opportunity.

Law librarians are utilizing their skills as legal information innovators and educators to bridge the justice gap by providing citizens with the resources and services necessary to engage in civics through meaningful access to justice.

Social Justice, Privilege, Equity, Inclusion. These terms are all terms that each of us as MLIS students have heard with some level of frequency. Libraries are commonly thought to be champions for …

Yep, I’m still harping on that theme of the stark lack of diversity in librarianship. For a profession that claims Diversity as  a core value and declares that “We value our nation…

A profile of an institution at the heart of our democracy

It didn’t take long for Todd Lockwood to realize that a hierarchical book classification system would not work for the Brautigan Library. He was, after all, following through on Richard Braut…

We know that just like working out, civic activism can feel intimidating at first.  We're here to help you get started!

WITNESS is an international nonprofit organization that trains and supports people using video in their fight for human rights.

The program assists institutions of higher education serving Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian students to become self-sufficient by providing funds to improve and strengthen their academic quality, institutional, management, and fiscal stability.

The police murder of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020 was the one major act which sparked American and global civil unrest during 2020 relating to institutional and systemic racism, police brutality, and unsettled issues from the era of colonization and the African slave trade. The Protests Against Racism Web Archive contains a selection of websites documenting protests and activism sparked by the murder of George Floyd, where Mr. Floyd was the “tipping point,” the “last straw;” the web archive also includes websites documenting earlier killings of victims of racism and police brutality. Coverage encompasses protests against racism and police brutality against Blacks, police reform (both the liberal and conservative reactions to police brutality); critical grassroots movements (i.e. local Black activism, multiracial activism). This project covers “Black Lives Matter” protests and protests named in the idea of "Black Lives Matter" but not organized by the Black Lives Matter organization; the impact of these protests in various aspects of society: police reform; racism in sports, business/corporations, legislation and legislative-related activism, educational institutions, religion; reaction of Conservative America (i.e. local, regional, and state groups); other areas of society impacted by these nation-wide and global expressions, etc. This is a highly selective collection that primarily focuses on U.S. sites, and includes a small global component. Social media platforms were out of scope for this collection.

Amplifying Blackness in the Borderlands is a new program that will allow students to create projects that explore what it means to be Black in Tucson and the Southwest.

Over the past several years, public, state, academic, and law libraries have increasingly sought to serve people in prison through a variety of services. Now, with a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Ithaka S+R is undertaking a planning project that will set the stage for future partnerships to develop and pilot wrap-around library services to meet the information needs of people who are currently incarcerated.

From a Joint Announcement (via Harvard Library): The HBCU Library Alliance and Harvard Library this week announced a project to sustain and deepen capacity for the digitization, discovery, and preservation of African American history collections held in HBCU libraries and archives. Harvard’s support for the HBCU Library Alliance’s ongoing work is a step in addressing […]

UPDATED POST: A Tip Sheet for Librarians Facing Harassment (via PEN America) This guidance is intended to equip librarians with strategies to navigate online abuse. While this resource acknowledges the ways that online abuse can move offline, it is primarily focused on digital safety. For a discussion of physical safety in libraries, see: “We Need […]

The ABA Journal is read by half of the nation's 1 million lawyers every month. It covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.

From The Chicago Tribune: Last week, city and Chicago Public Library officials declared Chicago a sanctuary city for those stories, by establishing “Book Sanctuaries” across the city’s 77 distinct community areas and 81 library branches. That entails a commitment to expand local access to banned or challenged books through library programming. [Clip] Chicago Public Library […]

Diversity is a cornerstone of the library profession and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has recently announced a renewed emp…

During the Summer and Fall of 2022, threats directed to public and school libraries and library workers escalated, including the forced temporary closure of five public library systems due to bomb and shooting threats. On September 27, the executive board of the American Library Association (ALA) transmitted a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray expressing concerns about the threats directed to public and school libraries and library workers.

ACRL announces the publication of Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice, edited by CJ Ivory and Angela Pashia, which explores the opportunities and challenges of moving the discussion about open educational resources (OER) beyond affordability to address structural inequities fo

The president will also be urging governors to do the same for cases regarding state offenses of civil possession of marijuana.

ALA is the first organization to launch a nationwide public-facing anticensorship campaign with Unite Against Book Bans.

CHICAGO — The Public Library Association (PLA) Strategic Plan 2022—2026 is now available on the PLA website, following its unanimous approval by the PLA Board of Directors in June 2022. Informed by member surveys, member and partner interviews, and PLA leadership and staff engagements, the PLA strategic plan centers Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EDISJ) and expands PLA’s role as a platform for innovation and amplifier for sharing public library community impacts. The PLA Board of Directors began the process of updating the strategic plan in 2021.

Forty years after Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 to raise awareness about censorship, the issue has taken on new importance for booksellers across the country, who increasingly find themselves on the front lines, alongside librarians, in defending people’s freedom to read.

Eco-friendly tiny houses offer safety, stability, and savings.

As AALL and RIPS committee work ramps up again this fall, the RIPS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force is off and running.  Not familiar with the Task Force?  Let me get you up to …

This collection of resources is designed to be of use both to new collection development librarians as well as those … "Collection Development Resources on the Web"