News from the ALASC student newsletter, The Descriptor. The Descriptor was discontinued in 2017 but we thank all contributing students for their efforts.

Becoming a Media Mentor: The Right Philosophy for the Right Time (a Book Review) by Student Megan Smith

“Media mentorship” is only one aspect of working with youth and families, but one that is garnering more attention with a growing body of work in the professional literature. After Lisa Guernsey coined the phrase in her 2014 TEDxMidAtlantic talk, discussion among librarians has focused on finding solid research and developing relevant services. Naidoo’s Diversity Programming for Digital Youth: Promoting…

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Bridging the Distance by Claudia Haines

Homer, Alaska is a small, rural town that sits on the shores of Kachemak Bay. Its winter days are dark and cold while summers seem endless. The town is filled with both old-timers who are here for the long haul and newcomers who might be here only a season or maybe three. Regardless of how long they stay, or how…

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Social Media and Learning at the Ferguson Municipal Public Library by Madelynn Dickerson

On August 9, 2014 a black teenager named Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. The boy, who was eighteen years old, was unarmed. His death spurred on protests in the city of Ferguson that drew international media attention both in August, immediately following the shooting, and again…

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Family Place Libraries Initiative: Welcoming and Supporting Families of All Kinds by Megan Smith

In February of this year, the Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, opened the doors of its newly renovated building. What is not new, however, is their partnership with Family Place Libraries, a network of libraries promoting early literacy and play-based engagement with families of young children. The initiative operates nation-wide with a training institute based in Centereach, New…

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Sustaining Our Global Community by Kelley Presley

If you take a moment to ponder the concept of community, you begin to realize that it is a truly multi-faceted notion. There are numerous ways to define it, from the town in which you live to a group of individuals who congregate and share their love of knitting. People find and define community in many aspects of their lives.…

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