Key Issues Archives - I Love Libraries

Lacey Rollins and Lizzie Dufresne, staff at Jessie E. McCully Memorial Library. Photograph courtesy of Sierra Jones and the Jessie E. McCully Memorial Library.

Transforming Access: How Nearly 700 Small and Rural Libraries Are Advancing Accessibility

March 17, 2025 / By Hannah Arata

Since 2022, the American Library Association’s Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities initiative has awarded grants to 662 small and rural libraries nationwide. In the latest round of funding, 300 libraries will receive money to enhance accessibility to facilities, services, and programs for people with disabilities. Seventy-three percent of these round-three grantees serve populations of 5,000 people or less.

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Opening Doors

March 4, 2025 / By Bill Furbee

In Goldthwaite, a small, but vibrant town of approximately 1,700 people in central Texas, Jennie Trent Dew Library fills many voids in a community that is missing essential nonprofit and civic organizations. This made the library an ideal candidate for ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities grant, an initiative to assist small and rural libraries in providing greater accessibility of facilities, services, and programs for patrons with disabilities.

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Poverty and Philanthropy: Combining Education with Community Needs

February 19, 2025 / By Bill Furbee

In the latter half of the 2010s, 6th graders at Wyoming (Ohio) Middle School took a class that gave them firsthand experience in addressing food disparity in the community—one that ended up winning the school in the Cincinnati suburbs a grant from the American Library Association.

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We’ve Made Some Changes

February 6, 2025 / By Phil Morehart

We’ve made some changes here at I Love Libraries, but one thing has remained the same: our dedication to sharing the wonderful world of libraries with you. And the facelift allows us to do that in exciting, new ways.

We’ve Made Some Changes Read More »

Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud at ALA's LibLearnX in Phoenix

Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud Want You to Support the American Library Association

February 5, 2025 / By Phil Morehart

Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud are legends in the comic book world—and huge supporters of the American Library Association. They want you to support ALA too.

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Patron using memory kit at Mark Twain Library in Connecticut

Making Memories at the Library

February 5, 2025 / By Phil Morehart

Residents of Redding, Connecticut, can now connect with loved ones experiencing memory loss thanks to a program implemented at Mark Twain Library. And it all began with one simple patron request.

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Freedom Walk: School Library Creates Interactive Program to Teach About Censorship

February 4, 2025 / By Bill Furbee

A school librarian in Texas created an award-winning interactive “Freedom Walk” to teach students and the community how censorship issues affect library access.

Freedom Walk: School Library Creates Interactive Program to Teach About Censorship Read More »

ALA Vows to Defend Intellectual Freedom and Access to Information Against Political Threats 

November 7, 2024 / By Phil Morehart

In response to results of the 2024 United States election, the American Library Association has vowed to continue its defense of the core values of librarianship in the face of political threats. What are the core values?

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LeVar Burton Awarded National Humanities Medal for Work Championing Literacy

October 25, 2024 / By Phil Morehart

LeVar Burton, actor, director, author, and former host of “Reading Rainbow,” was honored this week with the National Humanities Medal for his acting and literacy advocacy work in a ceremony at the White House. Seventeen distinguished humanists and two humanities organizations were recognized at the event.

LeVar Burton Awarded National Humanities Medal for Work Championing Literacy Read More »

Devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in Asheville, N.C. by Bill McMannis.

Libraries Respond to Communities Hit by Hurricanes

October 11, 2024 / By Phil Morehart

Hurricanes have devastated the southeastern United States this month, and libraries and library associations are stepping up to help their communities in the aftermath.

Libraries Respond to Communities Hit by Hurricanes Read More »

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