The American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference returns to a live event after a two year run of virtual-only conventions owing to COVID. The in-person event will be held June 23–28 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Here is a curated selection of sessions that appealed to the LJ editors who are attending the conference.
This handbook offers in-depth field-proven strategies and useful resources—from the librarian perspective—for pro-actively and collaboratively addressing gender issues and promoting inclusivity. Expanded and increasingly nuanced issues are covered, as well as innovative ways to voice under-represented gendered points of view through use of space, curation, and edit-a-thons.
In the midst of the myriad problems facing libraries in the United States—from the pandemic to burnout to the drastic increase in materials challenges—I want to celebrate a big win: the shift to libraries as at-scale providers of home connectivity for the digitally disenfranchised in their communities.
Hiring an EDI officer requires system-wide support, a clear definition of the role’s parameters, and providing authority to effect changes, not just make suggestions.
"Early on I was focused on those numbers and how we could diversify the staff to make it look more like the community that we served. That's always where I recommend that people start, because it's hard to have these conversations if you don't have diverse lived experiences on your team."
Treshani Perera, Music and Fine Arts Cataloging Librarian at the University of Kentucky, has written and spoken on critical cataloging—looking at knowledge organization though an equity lens, examining not only at how content is described, but why those systems exist and how they can be changed.
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The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill leads holds this week. Six LibraryReads and ten Indie Next picks publish this week. People's book of the week is The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz. These Impossible Things by Salma El-Wardany is the new Read with Jenna pick. Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley gets reviews and buzz.
The 2022 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize shortlist is announced. Arnolda Dufour Bowes wins the 25th annual Danuta Gleed Literary Award. June’s Costco Connection is out featuring By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register by Piper Huguley and The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery.
In sciences, environmental science field technician Mamadou Ndiaye's starred selection, 100 Animals That Can F*cking End You, is "not necessarily an essential purchase, [but] this book is recommended for libraries where humorous books circulate well." Killers Amidst Killers: Hunting Serial Killers Operating Under the Cloak of America’s Opioid Epidemic, by true crime journalist, producer, and podcast host Billy Jensen, is this week's starred social sciences title. "Jensen is a respected figure in the true crime community, and his compelling, compassionate work is highly recommended." In fictionGrey Bees, by Andrey Kurkov, is a starred selection. "Kurkov successfully portrays the tensions of living in a war zone in a story featuring a naive Everyman intent on surviving, while giving readers keen insight into Ukraine today." And Joseph Osmundson's Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between is another starred sciences title. "Osmundson writes with hope for a world where racial inequities are addressed and people treat each other with love and kindness. Just as viruses change and mutate, so, too, can people, he suggests. Recommended."
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