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1 month ago | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | David Alvarado |Megan Bennett |Emily Udell |Rebekkah Smith Aldrich
The ALA Nominating Committee has selected three nominees to run for ALA president in the upcoming election. The candidates running for the 2026–27 term are Lindsay Cronk, dean of libraries at Tulane University in New Orleans; Andrea Jamison, assistant professor of school librarianship at Illinois State University; and Maria McCauley, director of libraries at Cambridge (Mass.) Public Library.
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Jun 3, 2024 | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | Emily Udell
Social workers who connect patrons to needed physical and emotional care. Quiet rooms for rest and relaxation. Robotic pets that purr away patrons’ anxieties. And grief groups to support patrons over the holidays. Over the past decade, mental health support in libraries has grown more inventive, specific, and widespread.
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Jun 3, 2024 | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | Diana Panuncial |Maribeth Mellin |Ed Finkel |Emily Udell
San Diego’s famously sunny reputation may rest on its Mediterranean climate, but “America’s Finest City” has more to offer than beaches and breezes.
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Mar 1, 2024 | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | Emily Udell
Last October, President Joe Biden released an executive order detailing guidelines for various aspects of artificial intelligence (AI), with the aim of driving inquiry, regulations, and policy around current and emerging tools. A hot topic in many industries, generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) has increasingly occupied our cultural consciousness since the large language model ChatGPT debuted for public use in November 2022.
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Mar 1, 2024 | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | Emily Udell |Leigh Kunkel |Rosie Newmark |Ashley Fowlkes
Sam LaFrance and Kasey Meehan write: “From July 1, 2022, to June 31, 2023, a quarter of over 3,000 book bans that PEN America recorded were books with scenes of rape or sexual assault. Of the 12 most frequently banned titles, five contained scenes of rape or sexual assault. The erasure of books on sexual abuse is striking amid an epidemic of sexual violence. The book-banning movement is efficiently eradicating an already narrow space to learn about sexual violence in public schools.
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Jan 18, 2024 | 
indianapolismonthly.com | Christiana Bertsch |Terry Kirts |Amy Lynch |Emily Udell
Indy DoughCustomers queue up for Amanda Gibson’s doughnuts whenever she makes an appearance at a local farmers market, which she does once a month at SoBro’s Half Liter BBQ in winter. Indy Dough has gained a following with delights such as apple fritters made from overnight brioche dough and sourdough focaccia. She also makes vegan old-fashioned doughnuts with various glazes. She doesn’t offer pre-orders or custom orders, but her doughnuts are worth the wait.
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Jan 2, 2024 | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | Diana Panuncial |Meredith Pratt |Ryan Ireland |Emily Udell
Cory Doctorow writes: “Tech bubbles come in two varieties: The ones that leave something behind, and the ones that leave nothing behind. Sometimes, it can be hard to guess what kind of bubble you’re living through until it pops and you find out the hard way. Artificial intelligence is a bubble, and it’s full of fraud, but that doesn’t automatically mean there’ll be nothing of value left behind when the bubble bursts.
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Jan 2, 2024 | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | Emily Udell
Steve Phan, a park ranger with the US National Park Service (NPS), remembers driving to his office in Washington, D.C., after the first shutdown of the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. “There was literally no one on the road,” he says. “It felt post-apocalyptic.”Phan had volunteered for essential duties, including monitoring the parks that remained open, and had become busier than ever as people turned increasingly to outdoor activities.
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Jun 1, 2023 | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | Emily Udell
When outreach librarian Annie Spence was working from home during the pandemic, a colleague dropped off a care package of books at her doorstep. The package made her family feel less isolated, and she didn’t soon forget the gesture. “We had run out of books to read,” says Spence, a mom of two who works at the Grosse Pointe Public Library (GPPL) in suburban Detroit.
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May 1, 2023 | 
americanlibrariesmagazine.org | Emily Udell
Ava Kirtley was a high school junior when she first learned about attempts to ban books at her school library in Walla Walla, Washington. In summer 2021, several parents and community members challenged a handful of books at the school, including the memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. In response, Kirtley and about 40 of her peers met that fall at a student-run social justice club to discuss how to respond.
