Lisa Peet

On June 4, Joy Bivins was named Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research division of The New York Public Library. LJ caught up with her as she settled into her new role to discuss the overlap between collecting for museums and libraries, what has changed in the past year and a half, and what the Schomburg’s users can expect.

ALA announces the distribution of $1.25 million in COVID-19 relief funds, IMLS is accepting FY22 proposals for National Leadership Grants for Libraries and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program, Library and Archives Canada Foundation has funded the purchase of 70 contemporary Canadian Judaica items, and more news briefs.

At Emory University, Atlanta, students in Assistant Professor Maria Montalvo’s U.S. History Seminar class “Slavery and the Archive” learn how to excavate historical records: making connections between disparate sources and questioning not only what they find, but what they don’t.

The all-virtual format of the American Library Association (ALA) 2021 Annual conference, held June 23–29, meant new options for attendees who previously hadn’t been able to travel to the event, and also allowed ALA to put together an impressive roster of speakers.

The creative problem solving that allowed Anaheim Public Library to weather the pandemic while meeting pre-pandemic goals have earned it the 2021 Gale/LJ Library of the Year award.

The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) President's Program at the 2021 American Library Association (ALA) Annual conference continued the theme of social justice prevalent in many of the conference offerings. The session’s title, Community Driven Justice in Our Work: Library and Archival Workers of Color Advocating for Self-Preservation, Solidarity, Change, and Justice in Communities, Workplace, and in the Profession at Large, proposed a wide cross-section of work; panelists kept the focus on their own advocacy efforts within their libraries.

UPDATE: On June 30, Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council announced the final $98.7 billion New York City budget for FY22, which will restore full funding to the city's libraries. “In an understandably uncertain budget year, we are incredibly thankful to Mayor de Blasio, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Finance Chair Daniel Dromm, Cultural Affairs and Libraries Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the budget negotiating team, and the entire City Council for keeping New York City’s public libraries strong as we all move forward into our next chapter,” directors of the three systems said in a statement. 

The subject of the Association of College and Research Libraries President’s Program at the 2021 American Library Association Annual conference, Making Change: Organizing for Action While Caring for Each Other, on June 24, was a timely one for library workers keeping their advocacy energy up after a challenging year and a half. Speakers discussed taking community organizing approaches to the work of dismantling institutional racism, widening the circle to care for colleagues and community in the ways they need without burning out.