Librarians

Dozens rally for Evanston's only African-American librarian in work dispute according to the The Chicago Tribune.

Lesley Williams, head of Adult Services at the library, said she is on paid administrative leave, ordered by library administrators as they consider disciplinary action in response to what has been called a "personnel matter."

While she said she could not go into specific details about the issue, Williams said she is accused of "gross incompetence, insubordination and not contributing to a healthy work environment." She is the only black librarian in a community made up of 20% of African-Americans.

Librarians like Peeps, right? Can someone please explain (in the comments) how this came to be?

Anyway, here's a recipe for culinarily ambitious librarians (and others) who want to make delicious honey saffron-scented HOMEMADE PEEPS!!

From the New York Times Melissa Clarks thoughts about her Peeps project. And here is the recipe should you choose to undertake it.

From Onward State a piece about a new series of trading cards for Penn State Librarians.

The Penn State librarians have recently collaborated with freelance graphic designer Rogo to design state-of-the-art trading cards, each of which also serve as a business card. The cards are designed specifically for each librarian and employee, giving them a caricature and superhero nickname. Alllllright!

Color and Activity Book for Librarians: Or anybody who has worked at a library



The Color and Activity Book for Librarians contains more than 50 pages of activities, including

Library Lingo Word Search
Committee-avoidance Maze
Cataloger Empathy
Decoding Bureaucracy


Witty and offbeat, this book will be appreciated by anybody who has worked at a library, from pages and clerks to librarians and directors.

At Amazon you can browse some of the inside pages of the book. See book here.

From Canada's University Affairs Bulletin, an article by Carey Toane about his newly appointed role as an an entrepreneur librarian.

Story via NPR's The Takeaway, an 8 minute interview with the new Librarian of Congress.

There have been 14 librarians of Congress since the position was created in 1802. Like any other federal appointment, it's a position that changes with the direction of a given administration. Between 1802 to 1864, political appointees lead the Library of Congress. From 1864 to 1987, most librarians had mixed backgrounds and experience. But one thing that connects all librarians from 1802 to 2015? They were all white, and all men.

Carla Hayden is the first African-American and the first woman to become this country's Librarian of Congress. Oh, and she's interested in retail, she mentioned the LOC's lovely shop.

The New York Times has announced the winners of their annual contest. Send these peeps your best.

The 2016 I Love My Librarian Award recipients include three academic librarians, four public librarians and three school librarians. This year’s winners are:

Danielle S. Apfelbaum, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York

Andrea Bernard, Tyler Memorial Library, Charlemont, Massachusetts

Olga Valencia Cardenas, Stanislaus County Library, Modesto, California

Elissa Checov, Gwinnett Tech. College / Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, Georgia

Kathryn Cole, Northside Elementary School, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Tabatha “Tabby” Farney, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Sherri Ginsberg, Hillsides Library, Pasadena, California

Lia Kharis Hillman, San Francisco Public Library

Jamille Rogers, Marguerite Vann Elementary School, Conway, Arkansas

Roosevelt Weeks, Sr. Houston Public Library

From the New York Times a lovely story about a Bronx librarian and his weekly visits to read to children in the homeless shelter.

Colbert Nembhard looks more like a traveling salesman than a librarian in his dark suit with his rolling suitcase. He strolls 10 minutes to the Crotona Inn homeless shelter from the Morrisania Branch Library, where he has been the manager for 25 years. As he dug through the dozens of books stuffed inside the suitcase, an announcement crackled over the intercom inside the shelter, where 87 families live: “Mr. Nembhard is here to read stories and sing songs to your children.”

"The Connecticut Four" libarians who fought FBI "national security letters" seeking information on patrons and compelling librarians' silence on the demands are speaking out again. Fresh efforts are afoot in the U.S. Senate to expand the FBI's ability to require libraries to hand over private information in the absence of a judge's order. 

From Librarians Stand Again Against FBI Overreach - Hartford Courant

Alumnus and longtime library employee left largely unrestricted bequest to U of New Hampshire. It is spending $100,000 on the library and $1 million on a video scoreboard for the football stadium.

From Critics question spending librarian's donation on scoreboard

Chief Justice John Roberts is slated to swear in Carla Hayden on Wednesday to lead the Library of Congress, the world's largest library, created in 1800 by President John Adams. Hayden, 64, the first woman and the first African American to serve as the Librarian of Congress, sat down with USA TODAY's Capital Download to talk about her battle against provisions of the USA Patriot Act and her decision to keep Baltimore's libraries open in the wake of violence over the death of Freddie Gray. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.

From Carla Hayden becomes the first woman, first black to lead Library of Congress

While there are not many celebrity librarians out there, Rita Meade certainly counts as one. By day, an employee of the Brooklyn Public Library, by night a children’s book author, library-themed band (Lost in the Stacks) frontwoman, and host of the Book Riot podcast Dear Book Nerd.

From The Brooklyn 100: Rita Meade, Celebrity Librarian

Little video inspired by the completion of the Olympics.

Nominate your favorite librarian for the I LOVE MY LIBRARIAN AWARD sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. You may submit your applications here until September 19. Hurry!

Competition winners are listed at the Utah Arts Festival site. Congrats to the World's Strongest Librarian!!

I could fill a book with the number of bizarre and/or frustratingly persistent questions I’ve been asked in my nearly 5 years of working in a public library, ranging from “Should I have a doctor look at this rash?” to “Do you work here?” when I’m clearly sitting behind a service desk with a name tag. But the question that irks me the most is an extremely common one: “Wow, you work at a library.  Do you just spend all your time reading?” This question is a close relative to “Working in a library must be so relaxing!” and it usually comes from casual library users or acquaintances who haven’t been in a library in at least a decade. And my reaction is always the same: “Yeah, right.”

From Librarians Don't Read All Day

From Star Wars to Harry Potter via Oxford’s Bodleian, DD Everest celebrates the joy of magical libraries

From Top 10 secret libraries of all time | Children's books | The Guardian

So by accident or design you found yourself in a position that involves computer programming. A common situation for library metadata specialists. I recall projects in graduate school where we mapped records from one metadata format or standard into another. Yet, we never discussed who creates the scripts to transform the records with your mapping (spoiler: its probably you). The result of this for me, someone who did not come from a computer science background, was getting the skills I needed through a mixture of things recommended by mentors, co-workers, and internet searches. Here is what worked best for me.

From Library Metadata Specialist – Accidental Computer Programmer – Heidi Uphoff

Meet Jessamyn West, the radical librarian. She just got a big award from the Vermont Library Association for her role in the selection process for the next Librarian of Congress. She's behind one of the first librarian blogs, she's annoyed the FBI, and she's a crusader for keeping both sides of the digital divide in mind as we move further into the information age. Cory Doctorow of "Boing Boing" has called her an "internet folk hero."

From Renegade Librarian Jessamyn West On Information, Access And Democracy | Vermont Public Radio

"I went every day, and the librarians helped me with my homework," Heyward said. "My grandmother couldn't help me with my homework." Now, Heyward is in a position to help others as manager of the East 38th Street branch of The Indianapolis Public Library. During 2016 National Library Week, Heyward was honored as a "Mover and Shaker" by Library Journal. She was recognized nationally for tapping into her deep familiarity with the neighborhood to organize community partnerships with more than 40 nonprofits, businesses, churches and universities.

From Librarian creates place of hope & love for neighborhood