We are excited to announce the arrival of Banned Books week, a yearly tradition that celebrates the freedom to read. The ALA has a plethora of resources on Banned Books week but we wanted to alert all of you out there to check out this specific page on Frequently Challenged Books. This page has links to books banned in specific…
September is National Library Card Sign-up Month, a month long event sponsored by the American Library Association and participated in by libraries across the country. As the newly elected Chair of the ALA Student Chapter of course I want to celebrate and promote this event, however I am embarrassed to admit that up until last week I didn’t even have a library card myself. But before you judge me, let me explain. For the past 10 years I have either been a student or an employee of Columbia University which provides me with access to the university libraries. This includes a vast collection of over 12 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials. As it is one of the top five academic library systems in North America embarrassingly I saw no need to visit my local public library.
Because I felt it would be
hypocritical to promote Library Card Sign-up Month and at the same time lack a library card, I decided I need to sign-up. The process was simple, an online application, a reference number that I took to my local branch along with my current photo ID, and in less than three minutes I had my very own library card. But then it hit me, now what? My usual trip to the academic library is predetermined with a research purpose and plan. Often times I locate the materials I need using the online catalog ahead of time and speed through the doors to the area of the stacks I need. I also use it as a quiet place to hole up when I need to study or write a paper, and although I feel a sense of familiarity and comfort in the university library there is a concurrent feeling of academic and scholarly pressure. (more…)
As many may already be aware, September is officially library card sign up month. We have a couple more weeks left and in honor of this special month the ALA has appointed Snoopy the official Chair of this month's events. The ALA is running a contest until Tuesday, September 29 at noon CT. Librarians and the general public are encouraged…
Many of you who may follow the ALA Facebook organization page may have noticed something seemed a bit off. Posts were being shot off left and right on asinine topics. Apparently the ALA page Facebook page had been hacked at some point over the Labor Day Weekend was not resolved for a good amount of time (even though many reports…
Thanks to Jean Bedord for this announcement. Good news! Information Today, the organizer of Internet Librarian Conference 2015, is again  generously extending a special rate to SJSU School of Information for this annual conference. The theme this year is "Morph:  Exploring New Roles & Directions for the Info Service Biz". The full 3 day conference is $499 for Early Bird registration and $549 after Sept. 25. Full program…