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As 2020 Maryland Library Association (MLA) Conference Director, rather than cancel the conference due to the pandemic, Naomi Keppler worked with staff to reenvision the event online, collaborating with MLA’s technology committee to build a virtual platform that other states replicated.

Bill Smith’s love for community service and music led to him work with Dallas Public Library (DPL) staff and volunteers to create a schedule of classes in musical instruction and theory for underserved communities. 

During a job hunt while unemployed, Jessica Chaney learned about the opening of CLOUD901, Memphis Public Library’s social, creative, production, research, and performance technology lab. Chaney thought she might be able to contribute her film experience—but library leadership realized she had management potential.

Marquita Gooch-Voyd—who became the first person of color to receive the Georgia Public Librarian of the Year award in 2020—sees the impact that technology can have on patrons’ lives and careers. 

Babak Zarin has expanded Access Services at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) to include accessibility in all forms, developed and conducted an accessibility audit, and shared information and insight through presentations for other library systems and one-on-one conversations with library staff. The Deaf Culture Digital Library is the culmination of two years’ work reviewing and developing a program to meet the needs of the Deaf and hearing-impaired community, not just within CRRL, but throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

No matter how robust a library’s services, they can’t reach those who aren’t aware of them. St. Louis County Library (SLCL) Reference Manager Jennifer Gibson has been working to bridge the library’s outreach gap in several critical areas. 

Queens Public Library’s (QPL) Immediate Access: Technology Reentry program helps new parolees overcome the many barriers to restarting their lives outside of prison. Program Manager Jill Anderson is an expert in removing roadblocks. This includes listening to program participants and community partners about what they need or can offer, and to funders about what opportunities are available.

When life gives you honeybees, make honey. That could be the motto of Amy Thatcher, manager of the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Richmond Branch. “I believe pushing against boundaries yields opportunity,” she says. “Be adventurous. Try implementing what appears to be impossible. Most of the time, it’s possible.”  

When Nicole Bryan took on the position of Neighborhood Library Supervisor for the Macon Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) in January 2020, she could not have imagined guiding her branch through a pandemic. In those two years, however, Bryan developed outdoor community programming, a systemwide special edition library card, and programs to reinforce community connections.

Jane Gov believes that “to really understand what teens want, they must be involved in the planning.” This is the foundation for the Teen Volunteer and Teen Advisory Board (TAB) programs. The programs’ goal is to be strategic in how the library utilizes the skills of volunteers, and to support a team that doesn’t only give advice and assist with library activities, but creates ideas and makes them happen. 

Among Katie DiSalvo-Thronson projects is building a portal for students and families in need with information about finding food, housing and rental assistance, unemployment, and mental health resources. Knowing that many students didn’t have access to the internet, she worked to produce a print version included with free lunches distributed by local schools. 

Ady Huertas grew up in the library, first while learning English as a preteen and then at 16 serving as library aide at the San Diego Public Library. She celebrates 25 years with the system this year. 

“It’s been the most rewarding career move I never anticipated,” Luke Kirkland says of becoming a librarian. Kirkland initially set out to be a musician, but found his stride leading the teen department at Waltham Public Library. “I’m incredibly honored to receive this recognition. The credit should really go to the teens who made the Teen Room and Real Talk the space that it is.”  

Perry joined Mid-Continent Public Library in 2013 in the new role of business specialist. She spent four years working on a plan to provide business information education in Spanish with two community partners, hosted a support group during quarantine about virtual programming, and helped develop a small business support team that was active in the community.

Shortly before Gregory Stall completed his MLIS, two simultaneous internships—at the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress—introduced him to the excitement of public programming with formidable collections. At New York Public Library (NYPL), he has tapped into his own curiosity to stoke interest and bring the community to the library, both in person and virtually.  

Raemona Little Taylor is not satisfied with libraries’ success as spaces of inclusion. “I feel like the first step is acknowledging the long history of libraries as segregated spaces,” she says. “Until libraries and librarians grapple with their history as gatekeepers for white-dominant culture, they will struggle to create welcoming and inclusive workplaces where diverse workers feel like they truly belong.” 

Xenia Yolanda Hernández has collaborated with agencies and nonprofits to help families and businesses in Saint Paul, MN, most impacted by the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Dieter Cantu knows the power of education. And after having spent three years incarcerated in Texas’s juvenile justice system, he also knows the difficulties teens face getting an education in those systems.

After George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, Cindy Khatri advocated for Downers Grove Public Library (DGPL) to issue its first anti-hate statement. She was then tasked with writing the next, following the March 2021 murder of eight people at three Atlanta spas, six of whom were Asian women. She recruited Van McGary as coauthor because “I don’t know if I can do this on my own, and I want to share my platform of power,” she remembers thinking. “We’ve been a dynamic duo ever since.” 

In late 2020, Sophie Kenney founded the Reaching Across Illinois System (RAILS) BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) Library Workers group. At the first meeting, Kenney opened the floor to anyone who wanted to be a co-leader, paying forward the leadership opportunities she’d received. Heidi Estrada stepped up. “The rest is amazing history,” says Estrada. 

When former Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL) CEO Jackie Nytes stepped down in August 2021 amid allegations of systemic racism throughout the system, Nichelle M. Hayes was one of many employees advocating for change. On March 28, the IndyPL Board unanimously voted to appoint Hayes as the library’s next interim CEO, succeeding John Helling, who had served in the role following Nytes’s departure.

Jessica Alvarado was drawn to library work after seeing how involved the Dallas Public Library (DPL) was within the city and local communities and loves being able to provide diverse, inclusive, and engaging programming. Recently Alvarado has become one of the lead creators of the city’s first Poet Laureate, created to encourage greater literacy awareness and advocacy for the literary arts in the Dallas community.

Jeanie Austin is a champion of information for people experiencing incarceration and returning from it. Previously a juvenile detention center librarian, they not only provide direct service to local facilities, but broadened San Francisco Public Library’s (SFPL) JARS letter-writing reference service program to incarcerated patrons throughout the country.

While working at Norfolk Public Library during the pandemic, Patricia Kendalls observed an increase in the public’s needs around mental health. During programs, patrons would talk “about how stressed and fearful [they] were," she recalls. "I gleaned from these conversations that the community needed avenues to deal with the many stresses that society was facing.”

Calvin Battles’s work includes monthly meetings with a network of nonprofits and service agencies to determine the most efficient and cost-effective ways to use their resources. About four years ago, they began discussing the criminalization of poverty and the impact it was having on their community.

Lessa Kanani‘opua Pelayo-Lozada has become an effective champion of Asian American and Pacific Islander library workers and a strong voice in the American Library Association (ALA) and the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, where she was the first Pacific Islander to serve as executive director. She is now ALA president-elect.

The results from LJ’s Fall 2021 Public Library Fundraising Survey demonstrate how the the COVID-19 pandemic changed the ways libraries conducted their fund­raising. Like so much else in the library field, the pandemic forced library staff, administrators, and Friends groups to reconsider the best ways both to raise funds and utilize them.

In the “Fostering Equity and Inclusion by Promoting Employee Wellbeing” session, Ozy Aloziem, equity, diversity and inclusion manager at the Denver Public Library (DPL), detailed the culturally responsive model of employee care that she created and DPL is piloting. 

Collection Diversity audits, while crucial, can present a daunting challenge. What can tip the balance toward deciding the work is worth it is a concrete plan for how the knowledge gained can be directly translated into action. At the “After the Collection Diversity Audit” session at PLA, a mixture of in-person and virtual panelists shared their experiences and strategies.

At the 2022 Public Library Association (PLA) Conference, held from March 23–25 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, many of the programs looked at equity work being done throughout the library, including top-down integration into the library’s strategic plan, the creation of dedicated departments and teams, and thoughtful, community-inclusive programming. Here are a few standout sessions attended by LJ editors.

A variety of public libraries shared their hands-on practices for improving and deepening their equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) work at the Public Library Association conference, held in Portland, OR, March 23–25. Among them, the "Queering the Library: Strategically Creating Space for the LGBTQ+ Community" session, presented by Rebecca Oxley and Teresa Miller, librarians in the Prince George's County Memorial Library System, MD, was unusual in that, rather than being led by top leadership, the change was led by branch-level staffers.

LJ surveyed over 400 U.S. college students to measure how they use and value their university/college library. The results, from the perspective of community college and 4-year university/college students, are broken down by type of institution, online or in-person learning environments, and broad fields of study: Humanities, STEM, and Business/Education. 

At the end of February Steven Potter, CEO and director of Mid Continent Public Library (MCPL), Kansas City, MO, announced his plans to retire after 34 years with the library—12 of them as director—effective June 30. LJ caught up with him shortly before the PLA Conference to talk about his tenure at MCPL and his plans on retirement (spoiler alert: nothing).

30 years of underfunding will take decades to fix.

Academic appointments at University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, New Mexico State, UMass Amherst, and others; New York Library Association has a new Executive Director; Indianapolis Public Library gets a DEI Officer; and more people news for February 21, 2022.

Openness, accessibility, democracy, and the dignity of the public. We at Brooklyn Public Library had these words in mind when we started to work on our 28th Amendment Project.

Libraries have been distributing masks throughout the pandemic. In 2021, they began partnering with local health departments to distribute test kits as well—at curbside, in parking lots, or in the building—with varying results. Particularly in late 2021 and January of this year, kits ran out almost immediately even as takers lined up for blocks. Communication from city and county health agencies was not always timely or accurate. And library workers once again found themselves on the front lines managing patron reactions and their own safety concerns.

Mirroring trends in the national workforce, workers at more public and academic libraries unionized in 2021.

The vast majority of 2021 library ballot measures passed, but few were put to a vote, and fewer asked for new funding.

Telehealth can bridge healthcare accessibility issues, but that leaves out the many who still don’t have reliable broadband access at home. Some libraries are stepping up to fill that gap.

Outreach librarianship meets community members where they are, building  relationships that improve libraries and lives.

No matter how audience behaviors ultimately swing in the future, hybrid events will be a pillar of our new normal. We must continue to refine our capability of being anywhere and everywhere for anybody.

From October through December, Andi Cloud served as the first Madison Public Library (MPL), WI, Native American Storyteller-in-Residence. Cloud, an enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, grew up in Black River Falls, WI. Her residency combined virtual and in-person events, including interactive storytelling, guest speaker Zoom events, art workshops, activity kits, and story times.

Proving that print reference is alive and well, these backlist titles explore a variety of popular topics. Online resources round out the list.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (CML), NC, in March 2022 will begin distributing 20,000 free, refurbished laptops to Mecklenburg County adults who do not have their own home computers through its MeckTech Computer Kit Program. Separately, this month CML began rolling out MeckTech Connect, a pilot program that will provide free broadband internet service to about 800 households in Charlotte’s West Boulevard Corridor.

From open outdoor areas to fantastic and functional fixtures, sustainable systems to study spaces, LJ's 2021 Year in Architecture roundup celebrates the best new construction and renovation in public and academic libraries across the country.

The data for new public library buildings and renovations featured in LJ's Year in Architecture 2021.

Three librarians from specialized institutions, focusing on Black history and culture, the performing arts, and business, discuss their collections and explore several databases that are often the first resources they go to when fielding questions from patrons.

The CollectionHQ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Analysis tool was created with the goal of empowering library staff to view their collections with a critical eye. The clean design and presentation allow staff to identify DEI gaps in the collection at a glance and make a plan to address them. Though not a diversity audit, it represents a way to begin one, as well as to create a robust collection policy aimed at increasing DEI representation in a collection.

A partnership between Las Vegas–Clark County Library District and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada is bringing the library’s digital resources to every bus in town. Las Vegas transit riders, including out-of-towners, can now immediately access Las Vegas Clark County Library District’s treasure trove of free movies, ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines with one simple download, without physically being in the library or having a library card.

A librarian discusses the challenges of researching Black genealogy and offers tips to other librarians doing similar work.

The Association of College & Research Libraries and Public Library Association have launched Benchmark: Library Metrics and Trends, a new digital resource for data analysis and visualization designed to “help libraries plan, make informed decisions, and tell the story of their impact.”

The movement in public libraries toward eliminating late fines for borrowed materials is equitable—and practical.

On October 5, the three New York City library systems—Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), New York Public Library (NYPL), and Queens Public Library (QPL)—announced that they will no longer charge late fines on books and other circulating materials. New Yorkers of all ages will not need to pay late fines on overdue materials, and the three systems have cleared all prior late fines from patron accounts, unblocking about 400,000 cards frozen because holders had accrued more than $15 in late fees—more than half of them in high-need communities.

The 2020 Public Library Technology Survey presents a snapshot of the vital technology services that libraries provide their communities, areas of disparity between urban and rural libraries, and the challenges that institutions of all sizes face in expanding or enhancing technology services.

Virtually every public library has something in its local history or current circumstances that could serve as the seed of a program that personalizes big-picture issues by focusing on their relevance to patrons’ own lives and communities.

On September 9, Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued an executive order requiring all state facilities, including libraries, to require proof of vaccine or a negative COVID-19 test for visitors 12 or older to enter. Since the mandate took effect on September 13, library employees throughout Hawaii have been contending with patron reactions ranging from gratitude to anger—including hurled library cards, vandalized cars, and a lot of frustration.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven a mental health crisis as many have dealt with isolation, grief, and loneliness. Gaming can provide a shared experience and a way to fill this void. Libraries have done wonderful teen gaming programs over the last year. However, there is also an adult audience for video games.

As an increasing number of patrons seek not only new jobs but new career paths, public libraries are upping their own skill sets with creative solutions.

On the evening of August 20, Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL) CEO Jackie Nytes announced that she would step away from her role, effective at the end of August, in response to accusations that IndyPL leadership has perpetuated systemic racism throughout the system. 

Libraries of Stevens County (LOSC), WA, was honored to create a community program called Trail Tales in partnership with two other rural library districts in Northeast Washington. LOSC, North Central Washington Libraries, and Pend Oreille County Library District joined with the Colville National Forest and Upper Columbia Children’s Forest to create a reading experience to be enjoyed in the great outdoors.

 LJ ’s first readers’ advisory (RA) survey in eight years found that RA is a growing practice, but librarians want more training and tools to do it better, particularly in genres they don’t read for pleasure. Can crowdsourcing help RA keep up?

On July 21, the Board of Trustees of the Niles-Maine District Library, IL, walked back several items in a contentious FY22 budget proposal. Following a three-hour public comment meeting the night before, community protests, and a complaint filed with the Illinois Labor Relations Board on behalf of library workers’ recently joined union, the board adopted a compromise budget—but some feel the concessions are too little and too late.

The $1.9 trillion pandemic relief legislation passed by Congress in March contains a significant amount of money for libraries to help their communities. In response, many companies are highlighting products that can be purchased with recovery funding.

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.

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. 

For many years, patrons looking for Khmer-language books had to search the Long Beach Public Library's (LBPL) catalog in English first, or browse the shelves. Now, thanks to a Library Services and Technology Act grant administered through the California State Library and an in-depth collaboration with Long Beach’s United Cambodian Community agency, readers can search LBPL’s online catalog by author, title, or subject directly in Khmer.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association, is collaborating with IBM to help teens learn new technical and professional skills using IBM’s Open P-TECH platform at participating libraries. The free digital learning platform features interactive, multi-part courses on topics including artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, data science, blockchain, and design thinking, as well as resources for teachers and librarians for each topic.

The shift to remote learning during the pandemic has brought to light sharp disparities in students’ home internet access.

Ohio libraries tend to be well funded, both locally and via a solid base of state government support. This year, however, they found themselves forced to advocate for the portion of their funding administered by the Ohio Public Library Fund, which distributes a percentage of the state’s income and sales tax receipts among the state’s 251 public library systems.

Diversity audits assess representation in library materials, but most examples focus on children’s books. One librarian shares her methods and challenges in tackling adult biographies.

On the morning of Monday, May 10, the three New York City library systems reopened 53 branches for computer use, limited browsing, and in-person reference. Later that day, the leaders of all three systems testified at a New York City Council executive budget hearing to call for support in the face of the $10.34 million in budget cuts to the three library systems in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed FY22 executive budget—a number that could rise to as much as $22.2 million if City Council declines to re-up its yearly commitment.

Rhody Radio, a collaborative podcast project of several Rhode Island libraries, has become a popular long-term programming outlet. The twice-weekly podcast, produced by library staff and community members, captures conversations, lectures, book reviews, and performances by Rhode Islanders; it is available 24/7 on rhodyradio.org and platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Even before the pandemic, outdoor spaces on library grounds were trending. Now, although the vaccine rollout is well underway, it will likely be fall at the earliest before most libraries resume indoor programming. What was a nice-to-have luxury has become the only game in town.

Whether gardening, sending up a rocket, or savoring an art exhibit, taking programs outdoors lets libraries offer in-person connection in line with COVID safety protocols.

I’ve been delighted to watch the ambitious program in Ohio in which 137 of the state’s 251 library systems (and counting) have chosen to help distribute about 2 million at-home coronavirus testing kits. At press time, libraries had already distributed nearly 60,000 tests through about 365 locations.

Festival of Books features Native American authors Rigoberto González, Danielle Geller, and more. The Wolfson History Prize announced, and Louise Erdrich is named the 2021 Aspen Words Literary Prize Winner. Margaret Wander Bonanno, author of several Star Trek books, dies at the age of 71. Ocean Prey by John Sandford, The Devil’s Hand by Jack Carr, On the House by John Boehner, and Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe top best sellers lists. Covers are revealed for Reckless Girls and Flowers for the Sea. New DC comics to cover new Superman and Supergirl series. The director of Game of Thrones is adapting Stone Junction by Jim Dodge for television.

Restorative justice is broadly defined as an approach to repairing and addressing harm done within a community. It can also be understood as a practice that emphasizes the importance of every voice being heard when harm is done, in order to repair the holistic well-being of the person harmed, the person responsible for the harm, and the community impacted by the offense. These methods are used proactively and are foundational in creating systemic change within any organization.

The challenge for libraries is, first, to obtain and spend federal funding, and second, to parlay that temporary help into a permanent paradigm shift. The new equipment will outlast the emergency. It is up to library leaders to document its ongoing impacts, so that when breakage and age take their inevitable toll, funders will find it unthinkable not to replace and upgrade the gear.

Public libraries are seeing success with virtual murder mysteries, which vary in format from Zoom events to text-based games to videos.

As early as December 2020, many were advocating for library workers to be included in early distribution categories. Even in the absence of broad recategorization, however, some library leaders have effectively lobbied to have staff across their entire systems vaccinated. Using a range of strategies, they have ensured that their state or local health department officials understand that library workers fill essential, public-facing roles, and are cared for accordingly.

A former Chattanooga Public Library employee, Cameron “C-Grimey” Williams, was fired after removing weeded library books by conservative authors in early December 2020. A video of the books being burned was posted on Williams’s Instagram account, though the post has since been taken down. Williams stated that his supervisor told him that he could take the books in question, and that he was never informed of library policy to the contrary. However, a hearing on February 5 determined that Williams “violated City and Library policies by improperly removing items from the Library’s collections.”

Providing accurate and reliable information is a cornerstone of public librarianship, but over the last year librarians have been especially challenged by the pandemic, the election, and the increased visibility of conspiracy theories. Nonetheless, public librarians remain active on the front lines of the fight against misinformation and disinformation and continue to seek out new and more effective ways of helping their patrons apply information literacy principles in their daily lives.

Among the many problems, including daunting refrigeration requirements, difficulty in traveling to centralized sites, and hesitancy driven in part by misinformation, was that most vaccine appointment registration is available only on the internet. And as few know better than librarians, a significant portion of the population lacks the devices, the connectivity, or the skills to use the web. 

A vote by the Lafayette Public Library, LA, Board of Control to reject a grant for a discussion on voting rights, which resulted in former director Teresa Elberson abruptly opting to retire, has highlighted longstanding issues between the board and library administration, and fears for the library’s future.

Budgets, modestly up, reflect pre-COVID planning, but how they’re spent has changed drastically: Circ, hours, and staffing see major pandemic drops while tech, e-content, and safety spending rise.

Despite partisan clashes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and economic headwinds, voters largely came through for public libraries in 2020.

Next week, Sno-Isle Libraries, WA, will hold orientation sessions for its second cohort of aspiring IT professionals—nearly 50 residents of Snohomish and Island counties who will spend the next 25 weeks studying for CompTIA A+ certification, a common requirement for entry-level IT and computer service technician jobs.

COVID shifts drove falling print circ and rising ebooks. But will it last? LJ's 2021 Materials Survey looks at some of the last year's trends.

In the messy middle of the pandemic, library leaders share how things have changed since March 2020, their takeways, and continuing challenges.

The session “Small and Rural Libraries: A Candid Discussion,” held at the American Library Association (ALA) 2021 virtual Midwinter Meeting, began—as one might expect, during a year of pandemic, budget cuts, and major disruptions—by looking at the challenges small libraries face. But it quickly turned into a celebration of how they are meeting the needs of patrons, communities, and staff with imaginative, humane solutions.

When Baltimore County Public Libraries (BCPL) implemented its successful Lawyers in the Library program at its Essex branch in 2016, it was a way to offer legal help to those in need who didn’t have the means to hire a lawyer on their own. However, library staff began to realize that there was more that could be done. So the library and Maryland Legal Aid decided to create the Mobile Library Law Center.

With most patrons still unable to browse the stacks, public librarians are finding creative ways to provide the experience of serendipitous discovery through book bundles and grab bags.

On the afternoon of December 21, Congress released and passed a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package. The FY21 budget, along with a $900 billion Emergency COVID Relief spending package, includes a $5 million increase from FY20 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), including nearly $2 million for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). The bill did not, however, include direct funding for libraries.

Gina Millsap, CEO and director of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library (TSCPL) for the past 15 years, retired on December 1. LJ caught up with her on her next-to-last day at TSCPL to find out more about her achievements, her challenges, and what’s next on her agenda.

On August 11, St. Louis County Library (SLCL), MO, announced the layoffs of 122 part-time workers. All 600 employees, both full- and part-time, had been paid during nearly three months while library buildings were closed. But a number of staff, along with other supporters, feel that the layoffs will impact services once the library reopens. Some workers have also alleged that the layoffs were retaliatory.

Covering topics such as Black studies, business, history, nature, statistics, and technology, the following databases will help academic and public libraries meet the research needs of patrons—a task that's become even more difficult now that access to physical materials is more limited owing to the pandemic.

From open outdoor areas to fantastic and functional fixtures, sustainable systems to to study spaces, LJ's 2020 Year in Architecture roundup celebrates the best new construction and renovation in public and academic libraries across the country.

Publishers and librarians offer their perspective on what makes for a great reference collection, and how to maintain it to serve all information seekers.

Library Journal covers many projects initiated within libraries, but occasionally a great idea is born of sheer fandom. The Library Land Project emerged from consultants Greg Peverill-Conti and Adam Zand’s love of libraries, and their goal to visit as many in their home state of Massachusetts as possible—and kept growing from there.