The library world—and Americans in general—received bad news late today when a federal judge declined to block the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The ruling, issued in ALA v. Sonderling, will allow the administration’s cuts at the independent agency while the case proceeds.
The international library community is rallying around its peers and colleagues in the United States as they endure challenging times that have seen the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under attack by President Trump and Dr. Carla Hayden fired as the Librarian of Congress.
Alexis Chanthachack, assistant director of Beals Memorial Library in Winchendon, Massachusetts, knows how difficult it can be to find activities and events—especially in rural areas—that are welcoming to autistic youth. That immediacy led the mother of two sons diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to become the driving force behind the library’s accessibility work—work that led the library to receive a Libraries Transforming Communities Accessible Small and Rural Communities grant from the American Library Association to enhance accessibility for patrons on the autism spectrum.
Miriam Tuliao, senior library marketing manager at Penguin Random House and an adjunct library science instructor at Queens College, City University of New York and Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, will run 18 miles on Global Running Day (June 4) to raise funds for the American Library Association’s Spectrum Scholarship Program. This is her 18th consecutive year organizing an athletic fundraiser for the program.
The Secret Life of Librarians has been nominated for a Webby Award! Watch the series, then cast your vote for America’s librarians by April 17!
Raina Telgemeier is practically a household name when it comes to kids comics, and Scott McCloud wrote one of the foremost books (Understanding Comics) explaining how comics work. Readers inspired by the duo’s latest collaboration, “The Cartoonists Club,” will appreciate these other titles that teach key elements of cartooning and offer stories of kids creating comics together—and sometimes both at the same time.
Texas threatens jail time for school librarians who provide classic literature to students. “The Kite Runner” author speaks out about his book being banned in Minnesota schools. These are among the stories in our latest report on book bans and challenges happening across the U.S. and efforts to thwart them.
Hubbard (Ohio) Public Library’s oldest patron, Lily Walter, who celebrates her 105th birthday in May, stopped by the library last month to renew her library card. She told the library she has loved reading and libraries for 101 years—as long as she can remember.
In Louisville, Kentucky, an elementary school’s path to become a Spanish-immersion magnet school helped create an ALA award-winning program that raised awareness of the Hispanic/Latinx community and fostered the cultural competence and unity of all students by asking: What unites us?
The University of Pittsburgh Library System’s Horror Studies Collection is a horror-lover’s dream. Amongst the holdings are the George A. Romero Archival Collection, consisting of hundreds of items from the influential “Night of the Living Dead” filmmaker, the literary papers of “Whalefall” and “The Shape of Water” author Daniel Kraus, scripts from filmmakers Wes Craven (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”) and John Carpenter (“Halloween”), and first editions of “Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” and various Edgar Allan Poe works. And now, students and researchers will have access to items from the 1999 found-footage classic, “The Blair Witch Project,” courtesy of the film’s producer.
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