Lisa Peet

1 month ago | libraryjournal.com | Lisa Peet

Los Angeles is a sprawling city with a range of geographic, economic, and social variables, and the wildfires that affected the Los Angeles metropolitan area in January were a demonstration of that diversity, with the area’s three main library systems—Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), LA County Library, and Altadena Library District—impacted by the fires to very different degrees. “We’re so close, but so far apart in so many ways,” said LA County Library Director Skye Patrick.

1 month ago | libraryjournal.com | Lisa Peet

Three weeks after the fire was contained, Jessica Gleason, bookmobile librarian at the Wailuku Public Library, bookmobile driver Michael Tinker, and Lāhainā branch manager Chadde Holbron, hit the road to support Maui’s West Side community. Climate events in an enclosed area, such as an island, can greatly increase the scale of harm.

2 months ago | libraryjournal.com | Lisa Peet

Freedom to read advocacy, a necessary part of the library and education landscape for years, has taken on an added layer of importance since January, when the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights labeled book bans a “hoax.” A new documentary, Banned Together—available to stream April 10—shines a spotlight on three young freedom to read advocates, and how, together and individually, they are standing up to make a difference.

2 months ago | libraryjournal.com | Lisa Peet

In late January, as President Donald Trump began rolling out executive orders intending to scrub federal websites of data on public health; the environment; gender identity; diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; and census research—to name a few—archivists across the country stepped up to preserve as many files as they could. Often working on their own time, data librarians (and others who understood what was at stake) began crawling government sites to save endangered information.

2 months ago | libraryjournal.com | Lisa Peet

Library Journal has long highlighted and celebrated the resiliency libraries show in the face of hardship. Whether through our annual awards for those that have stepped forward after an unanticipated crisis, or Movers & Shakers profiles of library workers who go above and beyond to meet their community’s immediate needs, we have always recognized that libraries have a role to play in the worst of times. What has changed, however, is the way we have come to view catastrophic events.