Bookmobiles Remain Driven P. 38 Catching up with Emerging Leaders P

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March/April 2021

THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Pandemic-Era Accessibility p. 26

Bookmobiles Remain Driven p. 38 Catching Up with Emerging Leaders p. 34

PLUS: Kazuo Ishiguro, Butterfly Gardens, Crossword Constructor e LearningSolutions ALA PUBLISHING

Check out our upcoming alastore.ala.org workshops and eCourses!

12-WEEK4-WEEK ECOURSE ECOURSE 15-WEEK90-MINUTE ECOURSE WORKSHOP SERIES 2-PART90-MINUTE WORKSHOP WORKSHOP TWO4-WEEK 12-WEEK ECOURSE ECOURSES SELF-PACED ECOURSE LaunchingIntroduction and GettingTop Social Started GraphicDisaster CatalogingCreating Be a Great Expandingto Music withMedia Music Trends DesignPlanning Skills for forEffective Newbies Online Boss During VirtualReference Services Librarianshipand Strategies forLibraries All Library eCourseLearning Bundle a Crisis Awith Complete Sara J. Beutter Guide eCoursewith Laura Solomon Bundle Employeeswith Mary Grace Flaherty with Dr.Dominique Mary Bolin Turnbow with Catherine Manus and Liza Weisbrod and Amanda Roth Hakala Ausperk for Challenging withWednesday, the Music Library withThursday, Aaron Schmidt Begins Monday, Begins Monday, AssociationMarch 31, 2021, April 1, 2021, BeginsFebruary Monday, 1, 2020 Self-Paced CircumstancesMarch 22, 2021 2:30pm Eastern Wednesdays,2:30pm Eastern April 5, 2021 with Ellyssa Kroski Begins Monday, January 6 & 13, 2021 January 4, 2020 Begins Monday, January 4, 2020

For a full listing of current workshops and eCourses, visit alastore.ala.org. March/April 2021

American Libraries | Volume 52 #3/4 | ISSN 0002-9769

COVER STORY 26 A Disproportionate Pandemic Library patrons with disabilities face compounded challenges BY Emily Udell

FEATURES 30 How User-Friendly Is Your Website? 44 Usability lessons for BOOKS libraries in a remote world BY Greg Landgraf

38 34 Emerging Leaders: Where Are They Now? Past participants on lessons learned, experience gained BY Phil Morehart

38 The Road to Normal Bookmobiles and outreach staffers take on new roles in a year of COVID-19 BY Mark Lawton

44 Users at the Center of Everything A crash course in UX for your library 34 30 BY Callan Bignoli and Lauren Stara ON THE COVER: Photo by ©Wavebreak Media/Adobe Stock 18

22 20

UP FRONT TRENDS PERSPECTIVES 3 From the 16 Where Monarchs Reign IN PRACTICE Editor Library butterfly gardens emphasize 48 Building Morale in a Pandemic Spring into Action sustainability, community partnerships BY Meredith Farkas BY Sanhita SinhaRoy BY Emily Udell DISPATCHES 6 From Our 18 Fighting the Spread 49 Visualize This Readers Health librarians quell pandemic BY Monika Glowacka-Musial panic with webinars BY Timothy Inklebarger YOUTH MATTERS ALA 50 It’s Okay to Be Wrong 20 Think Inside the Box BY Linda W. Braun 4 From the President Librarians turn to a Japanese form A Place within ALA of storytelling during pandemic ON MY MIND BY Julius C. Jefferson Jr. BY Diana Panuncial 51 Bookmobiles for Justice BY Lesley Garrett 5 From the Executive SPOTLIGHT Director 22 A Movement Grows in Brooklyn LIBRARIAN’S LIBRARY Revolutions Oral histories highlight one neighborhood’s 52 Engagement at a Distance Where We Stand environmental issues and activism BY Araceli Méndez Hintermeister BY Tracie D. Hall BY Acacia Thompson 8 Update PEOPLE NEWSMAKER What’s happening 24 Kazuo Ishiguro 54 Announcements at ALA Celebrated author on how technology 12 Candidate may alter our humanity THE BOOKEND Statements BY Alison Marcotte 56 Clues You Can Use Campaign statements PLUS from the candidates for By the Numbers 2022–2023 president 17 BY Stacey A. Aldrich, 23 Global Reach Ed Garcia, and Lessa 25 Noted & Quoted Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada

Address: 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1300 Chicago, IL 60601 Spring into Action Website: americanlibraries.org Email: [email protected] Phone: 800-545-2433 plus extension Career Ads: JobLIST.ala.org arch marks the one-year anniversary of most states’ ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns. While EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Creating Sanhita SinhaRoy pandemic life has, of course, taken a drastic [email protected] | x4219 sidewalk Favorite chalk art toll on virtually everyone over the past year, spring MANAGING EDITOR M Emily Udell reports on some of the specific challenges Terra Dankowski Kayaking activity? [email protected] | x5282 this period presents to patrons with disabilities, as well SENIOR EDITORS as the library workers who provide accessible services Amy Carlton [email protected] | x5105 and programs (cover story, p. 26). Enjoying the Phil Morehart Morning At the same time, the pandemic has also provided lilac bush under [email protected] | x4218 coffee on my opportunities to examine how we can innovate. In my window Sanhita SinhaRoy ASSOCIATE EDITOR back porch “How User-Friendly Is Your Website?” (p. 30), Greg Sallyann Price Spring [email protected] | x4213 Landgraf talks with library workers who offer practical cleaning Keeping an EDITOR-AT-LARGE tips for improving—and welcoming patrons into—your eye out for Anne Ford library’s digital world. [email protected] migrating birds Continuing the theme of user experience and design: EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING ASSOCIATE Carrie Smith “Users at the Center of Everything” (p. 44), an ALA Edi- Looking for [email protected] | x4216 tions excerpt from coauthors Callan Bignoli and Lauren the first flowers ART DIRECTOR Stara, who discuss how “design thinking” can identify Rebecca Lomax Baseball [email protected] | x4217 Planting effective ways for reaching and retaining users. spring training tomato seeds ADVERTISING What’s it like to win the Nobel Prize? Or be knighted Michael Stack [email protected] | 847-367-7120 by royalty? Our Newsmaker Kazuo Ishiguro knows. Acceptance of advertising does not constitute endorsement. ALA reserves the right to refuse advertising. The renowned author of The Remains of the Day talks PUBLISHING DEPARTMENT with Alison Marcotte (p. 24) about his new novel, A bike ride Mary Mackay Klara and the Sun, which examines the ethics of tech- Associate Executive Director Going Mary Jo Bolduc for walks nology and its effect on our humanity. Rights, Permissions, Reprints | x5416 After a year With spring around the corner, you’ll find several Planting my MEMBERSHIP timely articles in this issue, including one related to community Melissa Kay Walling, Director of living in a garden environmental awareness and activism (“A Movement ADVISORY COMMITTEE Susan H. Polos (Chair), Helen Ruth Adams, Jason K. Alston, digital world, Grows in Brooklyn,” Spotlight, p. 22) as well as an Crystal Chen, Janie L. Hermann, Jasmina Jusic, and Shelley read how uplifting story about the emergence of library butterfly O’Rourke. Committee associates: Rachel Beth Wykle and gardens (“Where Monarchs Reign,” p. 16). Lori Bryan. Editorial policy: ALA Policy Manual, section A.8.2 patrons, library And if you’re looking for a new hobby to kick off the INDEXED Available full text from ProQuest, EBSCO Publishing, H. W. Wilson, workers, and season, consider joining digital humanities librarian LexisNexis, Information Access, JSTOR. Laura Braunstein in constructing crossword puzzles SUBSCRIBE communities (Bookend, p. 56). Libraries and other institutions: $74/year, 6 issues, US, Canada, and Mexico; international: $84. Subscription price for individuals included are coming What’s a nine-letter word for an ALA conference that in ALA membership dues. 800-545-2433 email membership@ just celebrated its 107th—and final—meeting? Visit ala.org, or visit ala.org. Claim missing issues: ALA Member and together to Customer Service. Allow six weeks. Single issues $7.50, with americanlibraries.org to read highlights from our cover- 30% discount for five or more; contact Carrie Smith, 800-545-2433 age of the historic 2021 Midwinter Virtual—including x4216 or [email protected] keep our recaps of talks by civil rights pioneer Ruby Bridges and PUBLISHED humanity American Libraries (ISSN 0002-9769) is published 6 times First Lady Jill Biden. Our team put together almost 40 yearly with occasional supplements by the American Library Association (ALA). Printed in USA. Periodicals postage paid at connected. posts, and as always, we welcome your feedback. Chicago, Illinois, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Personal members: Send address changes to American Libraries, c/o Membership Records, ALA, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60601. ©2021 American Library Association. All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced or republished without written permission from the publisher.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 3 from the PRESIDENT

A Place within ALA With increased engagement, let’s be the change we need

n January 6, we witnessed a violent only 20% of members participated in the last ALA insurrection at the US Capitol. Our election, compared with the 66% voter engage- nation’s capital, my hometown of ment in the presidential election. Participating in Washington, D.C., was occupied by ALA elections is just one essential way your voice troops in a way we have not seen as a member can be heard. Osince the Civil War. Our democracy was tested. Amid our nation’s and Association’s current Then, two weeks later, we witnessed a peace- challenges, I look to the fresh start that spring ful transfer of power with the inauguration of ushers in with a sense of hope, opportunity, and our 46th president and the historic swearing in optimism. of our 49th vice president, who is the first Black There is no better time than now to be the Julius C. Jefferson Jr. person, first Asian American, and first woman to Association that the library field and our public hold the job, and who was sworn in by the first need. There is a way for every member to be Latina Supreme Court Justice. Our democracy engaged. Maximize the value of your membership prevailed and our country has evolved. by participating in ALA divisions and round tables What do these events mean for libraries and that focus on the specific needs of our profession, the Association? or by serving on Council committees of ALA, divi- Libraries and library workers had an important sions, or round tables. Other opportunities can be role leading up to the 2020 presidential election found in the work of the 28 ALA affiliates (bit.ly/ by encouraging and supporting voter registra- ALAaffiliates) and in the work of ALA offices. tion, which led to more than 66% of eligible Join the Association’s extensive advocacy voters participating—making 2020 the most network and partner with the Public Policy and engaged election since 1900. No matter who you Advocacy Office as well as state chapters to influ- voted for, as an ALA member you understood the ence legislation and policies of importance to the significance of engaging in our democracy and library field. Work with ALA’s Office for Diversity, the democratic process. Literacy, and Outreach Services to navigate issues Participation in the democratic process and of diversity and literacy in the library field. Take Only 20% the governance of our nation is important to the a stand for privacy and the First Amendment citizens we serve. The governance of ALA should using the resources and services of ALA’s Office of members be equally important to our members. for Intellectual Freedom. participated An essential part of being an ALA member is I look to the hope of reenvisioning our collec- being engaged in our governance structure. On tive identity as a member-driven Association, in in the 2020 March 8, when the election opens, each member which all members can see themselves as leaders, ALA election, will have an opportunity to participate in shaping mentors, and partners. I hope that ALA will meet the governance structure of ALA. the needs of all members, and all members will compared This is the moment when all members have a have a place within ALA. with 66% voter part to play by voting to elect those will lead ALA I hope for optimism, so that all ALA members in 2022–2023, as well as the presiding officers of understand we are one Association with many engagement our divisions and round tables, and those on our parts, and we are strongest when we are engaged, during the governing body, Council. These elected members work together, and speak with one voice. recent national will have the responsibility of representing your interests. Our elected member leaders are vital to JULIUS C. JEFFERSON JR. is president of the Ameri- election. the current and future success of ALA. However, can Library Association.

4 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org from the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Revolutions Where We Stand We must connect the fights against library and community disinvestment

udre Lorde, the late poet–activist students, and all students more generally. Then and former school librarian, once why have these decisions been made? Levin’s wrote: “Sometimes we are blessed answer is straightforward: “It’s about money.” with being able to choose the time In his 2005 Jean E. Coleman Library Out- and the arena and the manner of reach Lecture “Classism in the Stacks,” librarian Aour revolution, but more usually we must do Sanford Berman reflected on the responsibility battle wherever we are standing.” libraries have to eliminate rules that further Those words seem especially prescient now as disenfranchise the poor. Berman roundly called we look across the country at the libraries that out “the hostility—or at least lack of sympathy— have struggled most during this period of wide- toward low-income people [that] manifests in Tracie D. Hall spread library defunding and service reductions. various barriers and kinds of discrimination” Though the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and can lead to a library services orientation the issue, there has long been an unmistakable that ultimately ends up “valuing middle and correlation between communities that navigate upper classes more highly than people at or high rates of poverty and those that limit spend- below the poverty level.” To disrupt antipoverty ing on libraries, a correlation antithetical to the policy, “everyone’s priority should be getting baseline understanding of why libraries exist and public libraries financed more generously and what they can offer users, and one that over time continuously,” Berman recommended. cannot help but feel negligent—if not willful. Advocacy as disruption? Yes! What if we As I write this, I am compiling research notes revolutionize the way we fund and equip our on the role of libraries in interrupting the school- libraries in order to confront head-on the ineq- to-prison pipeline, as I am more than certain that uities that we often decry on our protest posters if we were to identify the communities across the and in our institutional committees? What if our country with the highest per capita rates of incar- lowest-income neighborhoods become home to ceration, we would almost universally observe our most well-funded and well-staffed school limited investment in school and public libraries libraries? What if universities that serve the There has in those same zip codes. highest percentage of first-generation college This investigation led me to an August 2019 students shift a larger portion of their bud- long been a broadcast of a WOSU Public Media story, “The gets to their libraries? What if library trustees correlation Decline of School Libraries” (bit.ly/AL-WOSU), become adamant that their mayor or city man- featuring Liz Deskins, former school librarian and ager help them respond to rising high school between adjunct professor at Kent (Ohio) State Univer- dropout rates by establishing a standalone communities sity; Koby Levin, reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit, public library for young adults in a shopping a nonprofit that covers education news; and Mary center facing low tenancy? What if we connect that navigate Keeling, former president of the American Associ- the dots between library and community disin- high rates of ation of School Librarians. Noting that the disap- vestment and position our advocacy efforts to pearance of school libraries is happening in front counter them both? poverty and of our eyes, the story cites research findings that I believe we can. What’s more, I believe we those that limit “one in five school librarian posts was eliminated must. spending between 2000 and 2016 across the country.” Each speaker reiterates the point that this TRACIE D. HALL is executive director of the Ameri- on libraries. policy of library disinvestment hurts low-income can Library Association. Reach her at [email protected].

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 5 from our READERS

Sigh, another powerful resource in hand that I awesome-looking Personal Is Political can use. Thank you. “Tarnished Legacies” (Jan./ K. C. Boyd paper to read. Feb., p. 28) is a great reminder Washington, D.C. Can my great that all types of libraries are colleagues take mired in politics and the history Insufficient of politics, not just presidential Condemnation a break for a bit? ones. Every type of library— I am writing in response to the The number of school, public, academic, and recent statement from the Amer- open tabs is special—showcases its politics ican Library Association’s (ALA) getting hard by how it develops collections, Executive Board (“ALA Condemns what metadata it uses to catalog Measuring the Virus Violence on Capitol Hill, Calls for to manage. items, what programs it does or During these times of uncertainty, Advocacy,” The Scoop, Jan. 7). /end sarcasm does not allow, and how it cre- it is helpful to receive guidance The Board’s statement falls short (about asking ates a strategic plan to serve its on procedures that impact your of upholding the Core Values them to stop) community. The challenge is to workflow, and more importantly, of Librarianship, as outlined on identify politics so that equity, your health. When I received my ALA’s website and reiterated in its @METAGEEKY, in representation, and an honest January/February issue of Ameri- Intellectual Freedom resources. response to “Call to interpretation of the past can be can Libraries, I was pleasantly sur- The Executive Board mem- Action” (Jan./Feb., p. 54) a proactive goal. prised to see the REALM project bers forcefully condemned the Libraries are imperfect institu- chart as a pullout in the magazine violence, destruction, looting, I’ve been tions populated with imperfect (“REALM Test Results: How Long and threats that occurred at the enjoying starting people. This sentiment in no way SARS-CoV-2 Lives on Common US Capitol on January 6, but they excuses these imperfections; Library Materials,” p. 32). chose not to condemn the white to catch up with rather, these imperfections ought The chart serves as a guide but supremacist and anti-Semitic @CallNumberPod to be constant reminders that also as a tool of leverage when symbols, language, and actions episodes. Just libraries still have a long way entering discussions with your that framed that violence and listened to Ep. 52: to go to be truly representative school and district administrators. gave it context. Library users who of the people and communities For school librarians, the REALM read the statement will gather Libraries and they serve and how history has chart helps back our position that the Executive Board made Sustainability. shaped these institutions, places, that we must have best practices a clear choice not to condemn Great! and people. Through open and to follow when receiving books the white supremacist and anti- honest assessment, libraries back into our collections and Semitic nature of the violence and in @BOOKPLUSCOFFEE, can be leaders in recognizing quarantining and storing mate- will make the logical assumption response to Call Number how our institutions’ culture rials. These guidelines are to be that white supremacist and anti- podcast’s Episode 52, needs to change. It is important adhered to and taken seriously. Semitic acts that are not violent “Libraries and Sustain- ability” (July 17, 2020) to reflect on the past and be To date, it is uncertain if my and do not subvert the democrat- mindful of the present so we can school district will or will not ic process are accepted by ALA. recognize the opportunities of return to in-person learning, I stand with a growing number the future. I believe that libraries or when that might happen. of library workers who believe it are up to the task of addressing Because of the forward think- is possible to respect intellectual these challenges. ing of OCLC, the Institute of freedom without sacrificing our Gavin J. Woltjer Museum and Library Services, responsibilities to those who Billings, Montana and American Libraries, I have a are threatened by or suffer from

WRITE US: The editors welcome comments about recent content, online stories, and matters FOLLOW US: of professional interest. Submissions should be limited to 300 words and are subject to editing @amlibraries for clarity, style, and length. Send to [email protected] or American Libraries, From Our facebook.com/ Readers, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60601. amlibraries

6 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org on our WEBSITE

genocidal violence. As I read the members tried to get the crowd Core Values of Librarianship, I moving out of the library. One What You’re Reading see values that are being ignored heckler reached for their camera Responsive and Responsible A growing because of an unreasonable and attempted to take photos number of libraries are promoting culturally fundamentalism and misguided of each person and get their responsive care of Indigenous materials. dogma. I urge ALA’s Executive names. The SANE group finally 1 bit.ly/AL-Responsive Board and my fellow library left the library singing “God Bless workers to drop our feigned America.” Then a man outside Call to Action Our new Academic Insights neutrality and actively commit called the police because a bomb column envisions a future that centers to upholding our shared values had detonated on the windshield BIPOC voices in academic libraries. of access, diversity, and the of his car, blowing the glass 2 bit.ly/AL-AcadInsights public good. to fragments. Nicholas Schiller The outcome was that the REALM Project Infographic Results from Vancouver, Washington library reaffirmed the public’s the first five rounds of tests show how right to meet in the library and long SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Welcoming Police discuss current issues. From that 3 COVID-19, lives on common library I appreciated “Rethinking Police time on we paid more atten- materials. bit.ly/AL-REALMresults Presence” (Sept./Oct. 2020, tion to security, finally hiring p. 46). I had an occasion in 1966 a uniformed security guard when police were called to help for meetings that we thought quell a disturbance at Hunting- might lead to trouble, though In Case You Missed It ton (N.Y) Public Library on Long none occurred. Can a Patron Who Gets Sick Island. I was director there from Stanley A. Ransom Sue the Library? Our ongoing 1956 to 1974, a period marked Plattsburgh, New York legal issues column addresses remote by high tension in the community learning, exculpatory agreements, around the war in Vietnam and CORRECTIONS nuclear energy policy. In “Mitigating Implicit Bias” and other topics. bit.ly/AL-LegalMail One of the organizations meet- (Jan./Feb., p. 44), UCLA Libraries COVID-19 Mitigation Measures ing at the library was SANE (the was erroneously referred to as Episode 58 of our Call Number pod- Committee for a Sane Nuclear the site of a patron experience cast looks at library efforts to curb the Policy), a group dedicated to pre- involving racism at an academic venting the use of nuclear bombs. archive. The institution in ques- virus’s spread. bit.ly/AL-CallNumber58 On the night of March 15, 1966, an tion is the Vietnam Center and ALA Midwinter Virtual Complete invited speaker addressed alter- Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at coverage of this year’s speakers, natives to the war in Vietnam. I Texas Tech University. sessions, award ceremonies, and was at our regular library board “Drawing the Line” (Nov./ on-demand events. bit.ly/AL-MWV21 meeting in another room. When Dec. 2020, p. 18) incorrectly our meeting was done, I stopped asserted that four murals at in to see how it was going, arriv- University of New Mexico’s ing during the Q&A period. Zimmerman Library had been Coming Soon There were heckling and dis- temporarily covered while the Our annual Library Systems Report looks at the ruptions from the audience. The university awaited state permis- latest moves from the library technology industry. SANE officers asked if they could sion to remove them. The murals call the police to help keep order, had not been covered. How is the library job market trending, and what and I assisted them in making the A Global Reach item (Nov./ are best practices for job hunting in a pandemic? call. The police came, the heckling Dec. 2020, p. 19) mistakenly ceased, and the police left. stated that Of Mice and Men was The meeting finally broke set in the American South. It up at around 11 p.m., and SANE takes place in California. AMERICANLIBRARIES.ORG

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 7 IMLS Receives FY2021 Budget Increase he American Library Association (ALA) welcomed “All these numbers add up to one truth: Library advocacy the eighth consecutive increase in federal fiscal year works. Year-round advocacy yields year-round results,” said Tappropriations to the Institute of Museum and Library ALA President Julius C. Jefferson Jr. in a December 22, 2020, Services (IMLS). The regular FY2021 budget bill, passed statement. “There is an increasing awareness among decision December 21, 2020, alongside the $900 billion Emergency makers that libraries are an indispensable strand in a tattered Coronavirus Relief Act, features an additional $5 million for digital safety net. Tens of thousands of advocates, including IMLS, including $2 million for the Library Services and Tech- library workers, Friends, trustees, and state librarians, have nology Act. contacted their federal leaders since March to urge support The FY2021 appropriations bill contains increases for other for library funding. line items important to libraries: “Federal support for libraries is not only a wise investment ■ $28 million for the Innovative Approaches to Literacy in times of crisis; sustained funding can build capacity to program, an increase of $1 million meet community needs in the long run,” Jefferson continued. ■ $167.5 million each in funding for the National Endowment “At the same time, I won’t hide ALA’s disappointment that for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the there is no direct funding for America’s libraries in the new Arts, marking a $5.25 million increase over last year emergency relief package. ALA stands firmly behind libraries’ ■ $462.8 million for the National Library of Medicine, need for additional resources.” an increase of $5.9 million While the relief package did not include direct emergency ■ $757.3 million for the Library of Congress, an increase funding through IMLS, the bill does provide library-eligible of $32 million measures, including $81.9 billion for K–12 schools and higher ■ $117 million for the Government Publishing Office education. Congress also expanded the Paycheck Protection ■ $377 million for the National Archives and Records Program to include eligibility for 501(c)(6) organizations that Administration, an $18 million increase are tax-exempt, such as library associations.

2021 Annual Conference “COVID-19 has profoundly changed library professionals, and celebrations of Will Be Virtual the library world—and, of course, the the positive impact of libraries on society. ALA’s Executive Board announced in wider world around us. But I’m buoyed The call for presentations opens in April. a January 28 statement that the 2021 by the incredible determination, resil- Additional information is available at Annual Conference and Exhibition, ience, and community-building I’ve seen alaliblearnx.org. scheduled for June 24–29 in Chicago, in the past year,” said ALA Executive will take place virtually. Director Tracie D. Hall in the statement. SustainRT Seeks Nominations “We hoped that by this summer, it for Wellness Citation would be safe to meet again in person,” Announcing LibLearnX ALA’s Sustainability Round Table said ALA President Julius C. Jefferson Jr. After 107 occurrences, ALA retired its (SustainRT) is seeking nominations for its in the statement. “However, that is Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits with Citation for Wellness in the Workplace, a clearly not the case. Despite the promise a virtual event in January. Moving way of recognizing libraries that go above of vaccines, the pandemic continues to forward, ALA members will have the and beyond in meeting the wellness needs devastate our country. For the safety of opportunity to attend LibLearnX (LLX), of their staff. everyone involved, we will be moving our the Association’s new library learning ALA members are invited to nomi- Annual Conference to a virtual format. experience, kicking off January 2022 in nate any library that has made efforts in Given the success of our just-wrapped San Antonio. continuing education, wellness, positive virtual Midwinter Meeting, I am confi- A member-focused education event, work environment, unions, salaries, dent that Annual will be just as dynamic, LLX will emphasize active and applied gender equity, pay equity initiatives, and engaging, and inspiring.” learning, networking opportunities for other activities designed to improve the

8 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org APR. School Library Month New Business Advisory Group ala.org/aasl/advocacy/slm APR. 4–10 n January 15, ALA announced the formation of a Business Advisory Group National Library Week representing libraries, civic life, technology, and academia. The 13 advi- ala.org/nlw sory group members have agreed to serve terms of 12–24 months and will O APR. 6 explore strategies related to ALA’s new business development. National Library Workers Day The advisors are Charles Adler, Kickstarter cofounder; Adam Bush, cofounder ala-apa.org/nlwd and provost of College Unbound; Amy Eshleman, former director of the inau- APR. 7 gural YOUmedia Center at Chicago Public Library; Mae Hong, vice president of National Bookmobile Day Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Sandee Kastrul, president and cofounder of bit.ly/bookmobileday21 i.c.stars; Eric Klinenberg, social sciences professor and director of the Institute APR. 10–17 for Public Knowledge at New York University; Jim Neal, university librarian Money Smart Week emeritus at Columbia University in New York City; Marie Oestergaard, director moneysmartweek.org of Dokk1: Aarhus (Denmark) Public Library; Veronda Pitchford, assistant director of Califa Group; Harper Reed, chief technology officer of Barack Obama’s APR. 13–16 ACRL 2021 Virtual Conference presidential campaign; Pam Sandlian Smith, director of Anythink Libraries; conference.acrl.org Joyce Valenza, associate teaching professor at Rutgers University School of Communication and Information; and Kelvin Watson, executive director of Las APR. 25–MAY 1 Vegas–Clark County (Nev.) Library District. Preservation Week ala.org/preservationweek “This Business Advisory Group is no less than a dream team of thinkers who, each in their own way, have changed and are changing the course of library, APR. 30 business, and public practice,” said ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall. “Each Día: Children’s Day/Book Day one of them brings a fresh way of thinking about libraries that will challenge and dia.ala.org enrich ALA’s business development strategies going forward.” JUNE Rainbow Book Month ala.org/rt/rrt

JUNE 24–29 salaries and status of librarians and other Institutions Library Reference Model and 2021 ALA Annual Conference library workers, via the online form at compliance with accessibility standards. and Exhibition 2021.alaannual.org bit.ly/SustainRTnomination. The dead- RDA and RDA Toolkit are now optimized line for nominations is March 15, and the for use in a linked data environment SEPT. winning library will be notified April 23. and for international exchange of Library Card Sign-Up Month Additional information regarding award bibliographic data. RDA Toolkit sub- ala.org/librarycardsignup criteria and the selection process is avail- scribers will have access to both versions SEPT. 26–OCT. 2 able at bit.ly/SustainRTcitation. of RDA Toolkit going forward. Visit Banned Books Week rdatoolkit.org for subscriptions and more bannedbooksweek.org New RDA Toolkit Available information. SEPT. 29 In December 2020, Resource Description Free educational resources are also Banned Websites and Access (RDA) elevated the beta RDA available at rdatoolkit.org and via the Awareness Day Toolkit to official status. The redesigned RDA Toolkit YouTube channel at bit.ly/ ala.org/aasl/advocacy/bwad toolkit—a subscription-based online RDAYouTube. OCT. platform that provides catalogers across TeenTober the world with data elements, guidelines, Call for Mission ala.org/yalsa/teentober and instructions for creating metadata— Enhancement Proposals OCT. 21–23 aims to bring the RDA standard into ALA’s International Relations Round AASL National Conference alignment with the International Table (IRRT) is seeking proposals for Salt Lake City Federation of Library Associations and its 2021 Mission Enhancement Grant, national.aasl.org

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 9 UPDATE

established to fund member-initiated international activities that contribute to ALA’s role in international librarianship. ALA Condemns Violence The grant’s goals are to promote international projects or partnerships, promote on Capitol Hill global dialogue about librarianship, n a January 7 statement, ALA’s Executive Board condemned the violence that increase visibility of international occurred in Washington, D.C., the previous day. It reads, in part: librarianship, and increase international “ALA forcefully condemns the violent attempts to undermine the integrity collaboration in librarianship. Grants I of our electoral process and our democracy. The threats, destruction of govern- vary, with a maximum of $1,000. ment buildings, and looting witnessed on January 6 do not constitute peaceful Proposals must be submitted by protest, but domestic terrorism. current IRRT members of two or more “Libraries in America defend the constitutional rights of all individuals and years in good standing. Each member are cornerstones of the communities they serve. We celebrate and preserve may submit only one proposal per year. our democratic society so that all individuals have the opportunity to become Proposals are due by March 15, and lifelong learners and engaged residents—informed, literate, educated, and submitters will be notified of decisions culturally enriched. before May 15. “A growing number of elected officials are awake to the value of their For examples of proposals and to libraries; but many have yet to understand the role libraries play in the educa- apply, visit bit.ly/IRRTgrant. tion and employment of their constituents and the economic empowerment of AASL Conference their communities. There is much more work to do. To preserve our democratic Registration Opens society and ensure that the health of America’s libraries is a national priority, library advocates must engage decision makers at every level of government. Registration is open for the 2021 Amer- ALA reaffirms our commitment to advocating for libraries, library workers, and ican Association of School Librarians the profession.” (AASL) National Conference, planned The statement calls on library workers and supporters to join ALA’s advocacy for October 21–23 in Salt Lake City. Reg- network at bit.ly/AL-advocacy. istration rates and date-sensitive promo codes can be found at national.aasl.org. The conference will feature keynotes, more than 140 sessions, author panels, needed equipment, connect families to CPPL’s outreach department, branch research into practice sessions, more low-cost internet, and offer programs to staff, and IT quickly put together a plan than 100 exhibitors, an ideas lab for teach community members tech skills. to provide a once-a-week pop-up library sharing best practices, author signings, With Microsoft’s support, PLA’s new service. But unpredictable weather and networking opportunities. Confer- initiative will focus on connecting com- conditions have made the pop-up ence content will be rooted in AASL’s munity members to online training and service less than ideal for users who National School Library Standards certifications that can lead to new need to find work, do schoolwork, or file for Learners, School Librarians, and and improved employment in the post- claims for insurance, unemployment, School Libraries. coronavirus economy. and FEMA funds. Full conference registration allows PLA encourages public library staffs Thanks to a $20,000 donation from school librarian attendees to invite their to learn about, promote, and incorporate ALA’s Disaster Relief Fund, those administrator to attend at no extra cost. the new learning paths, low-cost certifica- communities will now receive portable Through May 1, AASL is offering no-risk tions, and other tools offered by Micro- library buildings that will allow them to registration and full refunds. soft, LinkedIn Learning, and GitHub. For resume full service, plus new technology more information, visit bit.ly/PLA-skilling. kits to enhance mobile printing, copying, PLA Initiative Prepares faxing, scanning, and Wi-Fi services. Workforce for In-Demand Jobs Louisiana Libraries To contribute to the ALA Disaster The Public Library Association (PLA) Reopen with ALA’s Help Relief Fund, visit ec.ala.org/donate. and Microsoft are teaming up to promote The record-setting 2020 hurricane tools that help libraries better support season hit parts of Louisiana espe- Community Engagement job seekers. cially hard, damaging three of Cal- Grants Awarded Since 2018, PLA and Microsoft have casieu Parish Public Library’s (CPPL) ALA’s Public Programs Office (PPO) collaborated to help libraries secure 13 branches beyond use. announced on January 5 the first

10 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org UPDATE

200 recipients of ALA’s Libraries Trans- forming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries grants. The first 200 Executive Board Urges grant recipients—which represent public, academic, school, and tribal libraries Libraries to ‘Stand Strong’ in 43 states—will each receive $3,000 he week before the 2020 US presidential election, ALA’s Executive Board to tackle issues that range from media issued a statement of solidarity with the library community, acknowledging literacy to COVID-19 safety to unemploy- the unrest and uncertainty that led up to Election Day. ment. Library workers will complete a T “Despite the unique difficulties faced in 2020, ALA and the more than free ALA e-course on basic facilitation 300,000 library workers across America continue to demonstrate the core values skills and host at least one conversation of librarianship, which have stood the test of time,” the October 29, 2020, state- with community members on a chosen ment reads. “America’s libraries have weathered seasons of turmoil and stability. topic. Grant funds may cover a range of Library professionals have proven their tenacity and emerged with renewed vigor expenses, including staff time and collec- from the most challenging times, economically, socially, and politically. tions and technology purchases. For the "Libraries are one of the few places where people of diverse backgrounds can full list of grant recipients, visit bit.ly/ gather.... ALA supports the right of every eligible individual to cast their ballot LTCgrants. without the threat of intimidation or reprisal [and] remains a steadfast advocate PPO also invites applications for a for libraries and library workers. The Executive Board urges ALA members to second funding round that will award an stand strong. The core values of librarianship transcend the vicissitudes of politics additional $1.4 million to a maximum and will remain our polestar as we advocate for ourselves and our communities 450 grantees. Library workers may apply from a position of strength and moral courage.” online for grant funding until March 4 at ala.org/LTC.

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americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 11 from the CANDIDATES

Stacey A. Aldrich State librarian, Hawaii State Public Library System, Honolulu | bit.ly/ALAAldrich CANDIDATE FOR ALA PRESIDENT

loha, ALA! The first is stewardship, to ensure digital world? Let’s not wait for I am honored to be on positive organizational continuity. publishers and content providers to the ballot for ALA president This means listening and working with decide for us. Afor the 2022–2023 term. members, chapters, units, Council, the 3. What is the role of libraries in the When I began my career in college executive director, and the Execu- future of digital equity? How do as assistant to the Slavic cataloger at tive Board to support the success of we ensure all people have the skills University of Pittsburgh, little did I ALA and its members by focusing our to thrive, be safe, and successfully know that libraries would afford me energy on the most impactful decisions. participate in society and actively experiences unlike any other field. The second is to develop a program contribute to their communities? I have worked in academic, special, of ideas, conversations, and actions 4. What is the role of libraries in the public, and state libraries, and each that help create the future of our future of communication, ideas, has provided unique opportunities to profession. and the social dilemma? Have you positively contribute to the communi- I’d like us to have real conversations, seen the film The Social Dilemma? ties we serve and our profession. debate, and futures-building sessions Creators of the digital age are I have spent the majority of my around four starting questions: questioning the humanity of social professional career in state libraries 1. Do ALA members feel heard and media and its impact on our society. and have been the state librarian of feel as though they have a place in Libraries have a role to play in California, Pennsylvania, and now the organization? Do we under- engaging our communities and Hawaii, where I am also director of stand one another’s stories? helping define the future. the 51-branch public library system. 2. What is the future of collections I am curious about the big future In between, I worked for a futuring in libraries? What will be phys- questions that you think we should be think tank in Washington, D.C., and ical? What is our place in the talking about, and I want to start infor- have continued to facilitate, train, and mal, deep-dive discussions or actions present on future-forward thinking. around them. I have been president of the Associa- It would be an I would consider it an extreme priv- tion of Specialized and Cooperative extreme privilege ilege to represent and work with our Library Agencies and served on various community to build a future that will ALA and national advisory groups for to build a future nourish and support our members, projects like the Edge Initiative, Project libraries, and the places we call home. Outcome, and Grow with Google. that will support Let’s create a year of future-forward Most recently, I completed two years as thinking and action together. president of the Chief Officers of State members, libraries, Want to learn more and start chat- Library Agencies. and the places ting? Check out my Instagram (bit.ly/ I believe there are two important ALAAldrich). responsibilities of an ALA president. we call home. Mahalo for your consideration!

ALA ELECTION VOTE: March 8–April 7. More information at bit.ly/ALAelection21

12 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org from the CANDIDATES

Ed Garcia Director, Cranston (R.I.) Public Library | edforala.com CANDIDATE FOR ALA PRESIDENT

efore I was a librarian, I and the 2016 LibraryAware Commu- librarians. With continued threats worked at Sony Music and nity Award. While on the Executive to federal funding for libraries and the American Diabetes Asso- Board, I helped guide our Association increased strain on local budgets Bciation. Needing a change, through important and difficult because of the pandemic, our advo- I investigated graduate schools and decisions, including hiring a new cacy efforts need to be foremost in subsequently received a library school executive director, the sale of the ALA our work. As libraries reopen, the diversity fellowship, which allowed headquarters building, and moving safety, job security, and mental well- me to attend conferences and become our conferences to a virtual format. ness of library workers should be at involved in ALA early in my career. As your ALA president, I will bring the top of our advocacy efforts. With This experience was invaluable for more accountability and transparency many struggling with the economic someone who changed careers to to our finances and will continue our fallout of COVID-19, we should advo- become a librarian. I accepted the work of transforming ALA into a more cate for the elimination of student nomination for ALA president in an responsive, sustainable, and modern debt for library workers. effort to give back to our Association, association. We should strive for a more inclu- which has had such a positive impact I have significant advocacy expe- sive library community, which means on my professional life. rience and have worked extensively continuing to promote equity, diver- Our Association is facing internal with members of Congress. As sity, and inclusion. But this should and external challenges that can only legislative action chair for the Rhode also include a strong commitment to be overcome by strong leadership and Island Library Association, I have accessibility. As president, I will focus collaborative effort. I bring proven fought for increased state funding on member engagement, effective leadership and experience in corpo- for libraries and statewide adoption governance, and sustainability. rate, nonprofit, and library settings of the AASL Standards for school I believe in bringing people to help navigate these challenges. together. I have a proven track record I was a 2010 Emerging Leader and at ALA and in my community, work- have served three terms on Council. As libraries reopen, ing with varied groups to bring about I was a member of key committees the safety, job positive change. The decision to run and boards such as the Committee on was less about personal ambition and Diversity, Spectrum Scholar selection security, and more about a sense of commitment jury, Finance and Audit Committee, and belief that I can help address Reference and User Services Associa- wellness of library the challenges we all face. I have tion board, and ALA Executive Board. a passion for public service, which Under my leadership, our team workers should be my work within our Association has at Cranston (R.I.) Public Library at the top of our nurtured. I will bring that passion and received the 2020 Jerry Kline Com- commitment as your ALA president. munity Impact Prize of $250,000 advocacy efforts. I respectfully ask for your vote.

ALA ELECTION VOTE: March 8–April 7. More information at bit.ly/ALAelection21

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 13 from the CANDIDATES

Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada Adult services assistant manager, Palos Verdes Library District in Rolling Hills Estates, California | lessaforlibraries.com CANDIDATE FOR ALA PRESIDENT

ow is the time for us to lead including as chair of the Office for our strengths in areas like intellec- together for change. Over the Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach tual freedom and supporting library past few years, I have listened Services Advisory Committee and workers alongside organizations like Nin convention centers and as a leader in the Asian/Pacific the Freedom to Read Foundation and on conference calls to thousands of American Librarians Association. through shared governance with the members sharing ideas on how we can In our associations and in my own ALA–Allied Professional Association. strengthen ALA for the future. These library, I have made real change, ALA’s strong advocacy base is conversations—and the possibilities supported library workers of color, essential to our future. The work of ALA and its members hold—inspired worked with allies, and broken members and staff to position the me to run for ALA president in the down barriers. Association at the forefront of the middle of a worldwide crisis. ■ model organizational excellence fight to provide broadband access and As your president, I will lead with and sustainability. Declining mem- uphold democracy has allowed us the Association’s core values, cen- bership and fiscal shortfalls demon- room to reimagine our Association—as tering equity, strengthening advo- strate the need for new revenue one that will support library workers cacy, and promoting organizational streams and membership models. I facing challenges nationwide and give excellence through connection and will continue the work to pivot ALA, them a place to explore the profession, collaboration. I have and will continue leveraging the expertise and views develop skills, and connect with other to seek out, listen to, and act on the of member leaders and working passionate members. varied perspectives and experiences of closely with staff to restore trust and I am committed to listening to our our members to move ALA forward. be more transparent. members and nonmembers and will As a 14-year member, past ALA ■ commit to our core values through continually evaluate priorities, efforts, Executive Board member, and chair of partnerships that amplify our ideals. and initiatives. Our members seek an the Steering Committee on Organiza- Collaborations can help us leverage association that is responsive to their tional Effectiveness, I believe in our needs; as your next president, I will be future. By leading together for change, responsive to our members. ALA can live up to its full potential By leading together By celebrating our successes, we and be the Association we need it for change, ALA can lead together for change. I am to be today. passionate about libraries, I am pas- I will lead together with our can live up to its full sionate about our Association, and I members for an Association and a am honored to be a candidate for ALA profession that: potential and be president. I encourage you to make ■ are inclusive, racially equitable, and the Association we your voice heard as I ask for your vote antiracist. I have been proud to help and support—not just in this election, lead ALA’s commitment to diversity, need it to be today. but in our Association every day.

ALA ELECTION VOTE: March 8–April 7. More information at bit.ly/ALAelection21

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JobLIST is a service of the American Library Association and Association of College & Research Libraries. Human visitors explore the butterfly garden at Kokomo–Howard County (Ind.) Public Library’s South branch.

such as monarchs, which play an important part in Earth’s ecosys- tems. Libraries around the country have dedicated outdoor space to these gardens, which serve as programming and education venues as well as tranquil settings where patrons can enjoy a book or relax. Butterfly gardens not only attract their namesake insects but also can serve as havens for other pollina- tors such as moths, bees, birds, and bats; together, they pollinate nearly 80% of flowering and crop plants, according to the US Forest Service. “People have trashed the planet,” Where Monarchs Reign says Jeffrey Glassberg, president of the North American Butterfly Library butterfly gardens emphasize Association (NABA), a nonprofit sustainability, community partnerships conservation organization. “If we can save butterflies, we can save ourselves.” BY Emily Udell hen members of the marketing director. “That shows NABA offers a program that Howard County (Ind.) how important it is for libraries to allows individuals and institutions W Master Gardener be community partners and focus to certify their gardens of any size Association became enchanted by not just inside their walls but out- by including at least three plants the idea of creating a local but- side their walls.” that host butterflies and support terfly habitat, their first stop was KHCPL’s garden came to fruition caterpillars, as well as three plants Kokomo–Howard County Public in September 2020. Fipps says the that serve as nectar sources, which Library (KHCPL). Not for books and garden has been well received as a vary by region. In the northeast, for information but to get the project site for staff and the public to take example, a host plant could be blue off—and into—the ground. a break and the library and local wild indigo and a nectar plant could Drawing on their existing rela- groups to host programming. It has be golden alexander. The advocacy tionship with KHCPL, the gardeners also inspired other projects, such as group encourages the use of native discussed planting a community a local scouting group that plans to plants, which require less water and butterfly garden—a sanctuary install a rain garden. “It continues maintenance, and discourages the designed to attract and support to grow and evolve because the use of pesticides. the colorful winged creatures at all community sees the potential and “We try to set out conditions that stages of life—on the grounds of wants to be a part of it,” she says. are realistic and encourage people, the system’s South branch. “That’s a great sign of success when and not be the plant police,” “What I love best is that when it comes to libraries.” Glassberg adds. they wanted this for their com- Climate change and habitat Certified gardens can display munity, they first thought of the destruction have caused a decline in signage declaring their NABA affil-

library,” says Lisa Fipps, KHCPL the populations of butterfly species iation. “By certifying your garden (butterfly) Stock ©thawats/Adobe (garden); (Ind.) Public Library County Kokomo–Howard Photos:

16 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org In this time of garden] gets people interested in their Deaf History pandemic, outdoor town library who might not have been before.” and Culture spaces become In this time of pandemic—when even more many libraries are forced to limit 15 their indoor services—outdoor Number of years National Deaf History Month vital to patron spaces become even more vital to has been celebrated. In 2006, the American patron engagement. Minot-Sleeper Library Association and National Association engagement. Library (MSL) in Bristol, New of the Deaf announced the month would be Hampshire, allocated funding from observed March 13–April 15. its CARES Act award last summer to host a butterfly garden StoryWalk and having a sign out there, it’s a featuring the picture book In a 466 million way of starting that conversation Garden by Tim McCanna. Number of people worldwide with disabling with the public,” he says. “We saw quite a few people hearing loss. Approximately 34 million are Five libraries around the country walking through,” says Brittany children. feature NABA-certified gardens, Overton, director of MSL. “It wasn’t including Fletcher Memorial Library just children with young families, in Hampton, Connecticut. Anne but older adults as well.” 1976 Year that Alice L. Hagemeyer became DC Public Christie, the library’s program direc- Staffers at libraries with butter- Library’s first full-time librarian for the Deaf com- tor, says NABA certification was a fly gardens say establishing and munity. Hagemeyer went on to cofound the group goal from the garden’s inception. maintaining these habitats require Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action in 1986. “The sooner I got that, the more working hand in hand with local interest the community would master gardener organizations have,” says Christie, who used her and gardening clubs. The Comal 12,750 background in landscape design Master Gardener Association Number of books, media programs, and assistive to plan the project. “A lot of people planted the butterfly garden at communication devices in the Library Services were already interested in gar- Mammen Family Public Library for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing collection dens, but I think having a NABA- (MFPL) in Bulverde, Texas, and its administered by Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library. certified garden got people more volunteers weed beds and check in the native plant and pollinator the irrigation. direction.” Originally planted in 2009, Monarchs, skippers, swallow- MFPL’s garden had to be replanted tails, and fritillaries are among in 2019, when the library under- the butterfly species that visit went an expansion to nearly the garden, which debuted in double its size. Susan Herr, MFPL’s 2013 with plants that are almost director, says some members of the exclusively native. The garden has community found the disruption of become a home for programming the original plot “really painful.” to educate visitors about its pur- “It was important to reestablish pose, as well as a peaceful setting the garden,” she says. “We worked to host speakers and performers hard to create a spot for it in the and a place where hors d’oeuvres new space, and I think it’s been can be served preceding concerts in successful. This summer we had so 31 an adjacent area. many butterflies again.” Number of years award-winning Deaf actor “We view this as a valuable Linda Bove played Linda the Librarian on Sesame resource in keeping interest in the EMILY UDELL is a freelance writer Street, the longest-running television role for a

Photo illustration: YouTube (screenshot); ©R. Gino Santa Maria/Adobe Stock (television) Stock ©R. Gino Santa Maria/Adobe (screenshot); YouTube illustration: Photo library alive,” Christie says. “[The based in Indianapolis. Deaf person.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 17 “You may have read some really scary things [that] people did because they were just so afraid,” Daly says. “A lot of people think they can mix cleaners, especially with bleach. But you never mix bleach and ammonia. A lot of people do not know that.” (Combin- ing bleach and ammonia produces toxic, potentially fatal gases.) Daly also hosted a webinar on things to consider before leaving the house during the pandemic, with advice on wearing proper face coverings, maintaining social distance, and getting tested after coming into contact with an infected person. The webinar’s goal was to inform and also to provide Fighting the Spread peace of mind for viewers. Health librarians quell pandemic panic with webinars “I never wanted people to be afraid to go out,” Daly says. “If they had to, I wanted them to feel confi- BY Timothy hen the COVID-19 pan- Webinars proved to be an ideal dent when they did.” Inklebarger demic started spreading method for reaching patients W throughout the US in who had health questions or were Correcting misinformation early 2020, Jessica Daly, consumer afraid to travel to their physician’s The COVID-19 pandemic has also health librarian at hospital network office, Daly says. prompted an increase in fake news, Orlando (Fla.) Health, knew it was “A lot of families reached out to especially surrounding the virus’s time for her—and other infor- me saying, ‘How can I keep us safe? origins and transmission. That mation specialists in the medical What can I do?’ Having a trained has spurred some librarians to use field—to step up. medical librarian at their disposal webinars as a means of countering “As medical professionals and free of charge was and continues to misinformation. librarians, we tell people what to be a valuable resource for so many Antonio P. DeRosa, oncology do, but we don’t often explain why,” during this most difficult time,” consumer health librarian at Weill she says. “A lot of times people are Daly says. Her first COVID-19 webi- Cornell Medicine Sandra and like, ‘I don’t want people telling me nar, Germ Prevention: Protecting Edward Meyer Cancer Center in what to do.’ But if they understand Your Family, was presented in June New York City, produced a webi- the science behind it, I think it 2020 on Orlando Health’s website nar last May titled Fighting the really helps.” in response to community queries “Infodemic” of Misinformation on In response to the unfold- like these. COVID- 19. Webinars are nothing ing crisis, Daly, as well as other In that webinar, Daly gave tips new for DeRosa, who typically consumer health librarians across on home and personal hygiene, focuses on oncology, but the World the country, began offering free from proper handwashing Health Organization’s decision in webinars in hopes of educating techniques to the best cleaners February 2020 to call the phenom- the public about the virus—and for sanitizing household objects. enon of rampant misinformation perhaps saving lives in the process. Some of the information may an “infodemic” inspired him to Topics ranged from establishing have seemed basic, she says, but highlight the topic, he says. and maintaining basic cleanliness it was important to reiterate— DeRosa says questions to his routines to more specific concerns, especially since certain cleaning office have skyrocketed since the such as combating fake news about products or methods may be onset of the coronavirus. “I’ve

the pandemic. new to some people. received more questions about Stock ©wei/Adobe Illustration:

18 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org “The instructors make sure the content they are teaching is relevant today, so we have a broad scope of where libraries are now and things I know are misinforma- Those who don’t where they can be in the future.” tion,” he says, such as the efficacy — April Shaw, Student of hydroxychloroquine to treat understand their Library Science, BMS COVID-19 and whether face masks really prevent the virus’s spread. options for accessing Brenda Linares, health sciences health care will librarian at University of Kansas Medical Center School of Nursing in be left behind. Kansas City, says she has seen similar misinformation in the Latinx community. Linares hosted a webinar on the topic last August and has it,” she says. In her view, asking frequently discussed health literacy health literacy professionals—as as it relates to the coronavirus in well as nurses, doctors, and others her bimonthly Spanish-language in your organization—for advice podcast Juntos Radio. and best practices is crucial. They Linares says that since the onset can offer guidance on content as of the pandemic, she had seen a well as on recording and promoting number of English-language pod- the webinar. Medical professionals casts on COVID-19 but not many in can even be guests on your webi- Spanish—so she decided to launch nar, she says. Juntos Radio in March 2020. “I But it’s important to remember thought it would be great to share that librarians themselves cannot those resources,” she says. The give medical advice: “The consumer podcast’s first episode provided health librarian’s responsibility is to 100% Online Bachelor’s Degrees COVID‑19 prevention tips; subse- provide credible and timely health quent pandemic-related episodes information,” she says. “Once the in Library Science have dealt with social-distancing patient receives [that] information, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT OMAHA best practices and debunking it is their responsibility to share vaccine myths. The podcast has also it with their physician or medical • Accredited, aﬀ ordable University covered childhood obesity, Alzhei- professional team.” mer’s disease, and other topics. Even more important, Daly says, • Local & regional professional She notes that health literacy is is connecting with the commu- networks one of the social determinants of nity to assess its wants and needs. • Engaged advising from award- health, which include factors such COVID‑19 remains a huge concern, winning faculty as socioeconomic status and educa- she says, but people are dealing with tion. Those who don’t understand other medical issues as well. Daly • High employment placement their options for accessing health keeps a list of health care questions rates care will suffer as a result, she says. that patients pose to her—a list that has led to webinars on cancer pre- Application Deadlines Bringing webinars vention, medication safety, planning to your community for an effective doctor’s visit, prepar- Approaching Daly hosted more than 40 webinars ing for surgery, and other topics. online.nebraska.edu/library on topics related to the pandemic “You don’t need to reinvent the for Orlando Health in 2020. She wheel,” Daly says. “But you want to recommends that health librarians put your own spin on [your webinar] hoping to offer similar programs— and make it personalized for your related to COVID-19 or not—start area and your participants.” by sticking to the basics and turning TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER is a writer to colleagues for assistance. living in Chicago. Additional reporting “The best thing to do is connect by American Libraries Senior Editor with others who are already doing Phil Morehart.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 19 Think Inside the Box Librarians turn to a Japanese form of storytelling during pandemic

BY Diana he performance begins like Panuncial this: Erica Siskind, librarian T at Oakland (Calif.) Public Library, rides her bike to the front of the room, parks it, and pulls from her basket two sticks and a small wooden box. Clack, clack! Siskind hits the sticks together, sets them down, and opens the flaps on the front of the box to create a small stage showing the A kamishibai box is a small stage containing a sequence of cards that illustrated cover of that illustrate traditional folktales. day’s kamishibai storytime. Kamishibai, or “paper theater sets and cards, while others “I grew up in a kamishibai story- theater,” is a form of storytelling make their own out of cardboard and telling world,” says Skow, who was that originated in Japan in the late paper. “It’s keeping the art form alive born in Japan. She wanted to bring 1920s. Storytellers would ride into and [growing] it,” she adds. the art form to RPL to teach patrons villages on bikes, bang wooden During the pandemic, many about other cultures. sticks together, and gather an audi- librarians have uploaded and ence around the kamishibai box, a streamed videos of their story- ‘Another world’ small stage containing a sequence times online. Keiko Skow, youth Siskind compares the audience’s of cards that illustrate traditional services librarian at Racine (Wis.) experience of kamishibai with the folktales. One by one, the storyteller Public Library (RPL), posted a new entertainment they would get from pulls each card from the top of the kamishibai storytime every Friday watching television. “The difference box—either slowly to build suspense last fall. “Virtual storytelling is quite here is that you can touch it,” she or quickly to make the audience new to me,” she says. “But slowly, says. “There’s a live person talking gasp. Text on the back of the cards I got used to it.” to you. But it has the same capacity can help the storyteller along. Kamishibai flourished in Japan to take you to another place—a “Once you have that little stage, in the 1930s and 1940s, offering window into another world.” when you put that in front of the kids, storytellers and artists an easy way Kamishibai creates a triangle of they think it’s like a puppet show, like to make money during a period of emotional connection between the something fabulous,” Siskind says. economic depression, according storyteller, the audience, and the The form has become popular in to the website Kamishibai for Kids world of the story, McGowan says. libraries for its flexibility and acces- (kamishibai.com). During World Creating that connection virtually sibility, says storyteller and artist War II, kamishibai storytellers is a challenge, she adds, but when it Tara M. McGowan, author of The traveled through neighborhoods and works, it’s powerful. “Even if there’s Kamishibai Classroom: Engaging Mul- bomb shelters to offer entertainment text on the back of the card, the tiple Literacies through the Art of Paper to all ages. The rise of television audience doesn’t see it,” she says. Theatre. McGowan says library work- in the 1950s pushed kamishibai “The storyteller is bringing it to life. ers are particularly receptive to trying aside, McGowan says, but histori- If you use the stage, that accentuates kamishibai storytimes because paper ans, schools, librarians, publishers, even more the way you can manip- theater works well with existing and storytellers are working to ulate the cards in ways that aren’t

programming. Some purchase the keep it alive. possible with picture books.” Geo1208 Photo:

20 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org From bamboo sticks to tin can- can’t easily get in town. When she Kamishibai creates a isters that imitate thunder, many discovered kamishibai, she used instruments can convey atmosphere grant money to purchase a theater triangle of emotional and tone in Japanese folktales. But and some cards from kamishibai Skow says the most effective tool is publisher Leaf Moon Arts. connection between the her voice. “Happy, sad, low, high,” As libraries continue to exper- storyteller, the audience, she says. “I’m not just reading the iment with virtual programming, stories. My voice is actually alive.” McGowan recommends implement- and the world of the story. ing kamishibai storytimes through Getting started the pandemic and beyond. “Libraries Lisa Leuck, director of Elgin (Iowa) play a crucial role where children can Public Library, says kamishibai create kamishibai themselves, and When diving into a historic form of has helped broaden her town’s the art form can grow as a culture in storytelling like kamishibai, librarians horizons. Leuck’s library the US,” she says. recommend an open mind, a serves a remote town of Siskind, who has collected around respectful attitude, and a willingness about 700 people. “We’re 24 different story sets, calls the to learn and teach others. “When you extremely rural and iso- kamishibai box an investment with are choosing which stories to buy, use lated here, not just during solid returns. “The stage is important the same thoughtfulness in respect- the pandemic, but all the because that’s what makes it different ing the authentic representations of time,” she says. from a book,” she says. “It’s sturdy, [Japanese] culture.” One of Leuck’s goals [so] you can use it over and over, at the library is to offer share it with a group of librarians, DIANA PANUNCIAL is a writer in Zion, patrons experiences they and make your own stories.” Illinois.

AMERICAN LEGENDS AND LUMINARIES NEW SPRING BOOKS FROM UC PRESS

The late Justice’s last book is the Celebrates the first wave of This new edition features a fresh curation of her own legacy, tracing trailblazing female law professors introduction along with a previously her life’s work for gender equality and and the stage they set for American unpublished interview with Norman a “more perfect Union” democracy Mailer about Baldwin

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americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 21 community’s long arc of environ- A Movement Grows mental activism. Through the voices of community members, this project shares the environmental story of in Brooklyn a neighborhood and how it fought Oral histories highlight one neighborhood’s against both the gross negligence of industry and the indifference of local environmental issues and activism and state authorities. In the 19th century, the neighborhood became a hotbed of industrial reenpoint, New York, a historically working-class Polish immigrant community, oil refining. With few environmental sits at the confluence of the East River and Newtown Creek, at the northwest laws or regulations created until the Gedge of Brooklyn. This neighborhood of more than 34,000 has also been home latter part of the 20th century, oil to decades of industrial pollution. and other manufacturing concerns The Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center, a branch of Brook- created one of the worst environmen- lyn (N.Y.) Public Library (BPL), opened in fall 2020 to highlight and give testimony tal disasters in US history. In 1978, to Greenpoint’s relationship with its natural surroundings and promote awareness of authorities determined what locals climate change and sustainability. Both a full-service library and a community hub for long suspected: Greenpoint was environmental awareness, activism, and education, it houses the Greenpoint Environ- sitting on a pool of oil leaked into the mental History Project (bit.ly/BPLenvcollection), a collection of oral interviews and soil and groundwater. The spill con- personal items chronicling the ecological past of a neighborhood contaminated by sisted of 30 million gallons—more industry. The goal of the project is that future generations may better understand the than twice the amount the Exxon history of the area, its struggles, and its grassroots advocacy. Valdez leaked in Alaska in 1989. In 2010, an activist-initiated lawsuit against ExxonMobil over BY Acacia n the Greenpoint neighborhood children in her school have suffered the Brooklyn cleanup was settled Thompson of northwestern Brooklyn, New unusually high levels of allergies and with New York State. It included an I York, Laura Hoffman’s family asthma. Other residents have com- award of $19.5 million through the and neighbors have experienced dis- plained of bad odors in their homes. Greenpoint Community Environ- turbingly high rates of rare cancers These stories are threads of mental Fund (GCEF), created to and other illnesses. School super- a broader narrative—one BPL support local sustainability projects intendent Alicja aims to document and preserve including the construction of BPL’s Winnicki, a Polish through oral histories as part of the Greenpoint Library and Environmen- immigrant, says Greenpoint Environmental History tal Education Center and its history Project, which comprises 300 unique project under the supervision of digital items and BPL’s Outreach Services. 59 interviews As the library’s outreach archi- with more than vist, I began my research in BPL’s 100 local subjects. Brooklyn Collection, where I found While many of books, newspaper articles, photos, these stories show and ephemera that gave me an the impact of overview of Greenpoint’s history. I decades of indus- created strategies to find oral history trial pollution in subjects and formulated a project Greenpoint, others narrative, aiming to encompass as demonstrate the many perspectives as possible. I announced the project and a call for Items from the Greenpoint col- oral history subjects through social lection, including a newspaper, a media, press interviews, and fliers. photo of an implosion of natural I reached out to community boards, gas storage tanks, and an award presented to Greenpoint Against senior centers, religious institutions,

Smell and Pollution. and local environmental groups. Collection Brooklyn Public Library, (N.Y.) Brooklyn Photos:

22 March/April 2021 Oral histories from Greenpointers highlighted several concerns spanning a century and a half of industrial pollution: vapor intrusion from the oil spill; bad odors from the waste treatment Museum of Censorship facility, waste transfer stations, and fat- rendering plants; fine-air particulate ESTONIA Banned Books—a museum dedicated to prohibited, from a toxic waste incinerator; exhaust destroyed, or otherwise censored books from around the world—has from trucks, especially from the adja- opened in the capital city of Tallinn. The museum is also researching cent Brooklyn–Queens Expressway; the history of censorship in Estonia, particularly under Soviet rule hazardous manufacturing facilities (1944–1991). “With the museum, we next to residential communities; and want to raise people’s awareness of the many brownfields and state and the long history of censorship and the federal Superfund sites peppered importance of freedom of speech,” says throughout the neighborhood. founder Joseph Maximillian Dunnigan. Several oral history subjects saw the “Freedom of thought and expression is environmental state of the neighbor- not a universally accepted human right hood as “just how it was,” with little to this day.”—Estonian World, Dec. 8. to be done about it at the time. This thread weaves through the project: SRI LANKA During his leisure People were busy trying to feed their time, government child protection families and create new lives in the officerMahinda Dasanayaka packs US and didn’t feel like they could fight his motorbike with books and rides what the city and local businesses were across mostly muddy roads through the doing to the air and water quality. mountainous tea plantations northeast Many of the residents interviewed Joseph of Colombo to provide books to under- were relatively recent arrivals, having Maximillian privileged children in rural areas. Having witnessed the hardships lived in Greenpoint less than 30 years Dunnigan, faced by children in villages without libraries, Dasanayaka started his but in that time having become ardent founder program, called “Book and Me,” in 2017, and his collection includes of Banned environmental activists. They fought Books about 3,000 books on a variety of subjects. So far, his program has against toxic incinerators, illegally benefited more than 1,500 children and 150 adults.—AP News, Nov. 26. operating waste transfer stations, and proposed power plants. For example, AUSTRALIA Staffers at the National Library of Australia were activists Kim and Scott Fraser speak sorting through the recently acquired papers of author and journalist of their time fighting against poor air A. B. “Banjo” Paterson (1864–1941) when they discovered a 120-year- quality. Other contributions included old tin of Cadbury chocolates, still in its straw and foil wrapping. The group interviews of local environmen- souvenir sweets were commissioned by Queen Victoria and sent tal organizations and their fights. to British troops in South Africa during the Boer War. Researchers Unrecorded history often becomes believe that Paterson bought the chocolates from a soldier while forgotten history. With the fast pace of serving as a war correspondent.—National Library of Australia, Dec. 22. changes taking place in the Greenpoint community, we’ve worked to preserve ITALY More than 300,000 books were donated to school libraries its oral histories while living witnesses during the fifth annual “Why I Read” (#IoLeggoPerché) campaign, are still around to share it. Future sponsored by the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione residents, who will likely continue the Italiana Editori, AIE). “Despite the travel limitations, the gathering fight against industrial harm, can look bans, the upper secondary schools and many of the lower secondary to this archive for education and schools being in distance learning, and the shopping centers closed inspiration. in many regions during the two weekends of our initiative [Novem- ber 21–29], the act of donating a book at a school is now considered

ACACIA THOMPSON is outreach archivist a civic duty by many citizens who see reading as an indispensable for the Greenpoint branch of Brooklyn right for our children and teenagers,” said AIE President Ricardo

Photo: Banned Books Photo: (N.Y.) Public Library. Franco Levi.—Publishing Perspectives, Jan. 4.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 23 fill a need that’s deeper than just Kazuo Ishiguro exchanging books, which is an important enough function. Celebrated author on how technology may alter our humanity What role have libraries played in your life? In the south of England, in Guildford, where I grew up, any may know Kazuo Ishiguro as author of The Remains parents there thought it was good of the Day (1989) and Never Let Me Go (2005). Now, with their children went to the library Mthe March release of Klara and the Sun (Alfred A. Knopf)—his first novel on the weekend. And at first I really since receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017—Ishiguro tells the story of Klara, resented this—bringing back books an “Artificial Friend” for sale who hopes to be chosen by a customer. With the aid of its I thought my parents would approve unforgettable narrator, the novel explores what it means to be human—to love, to feel of, about ancient Egypt or some- loneliness, and everything in between. American Libraries spoke with Ishiguro about his thing. But that whole business about new work, the parallels between Klara’s world and ours, and being knighted. just hanging around browsing, it did actually work on me. You look at all these spines, and after a while, you BY Alison Klara and the Sun is a powerful predicted and mapped out by Big get fascinated. The first time I got Marcotte commentary on the ethics of tech- Data and algorithms. So that comes into reading was when I was about nological advances and artificial up in the novel: Can you replace 9 years old, when I went through all intelligence. What inspired you somebody you love? If you could the Sherlock Holmes short stories. A to address those themes? It was reproduce that personality algorith- lot of my friends did as well. an opportunity to have a narrator mically, would that work? with an interesting perspective. You received a knighthood in 2019. The Artificial Friend is almost like a What similarities do you see What’s it like being a knight? The baby at the beginning: completely between our world (particularly person who gave me the knighthood fresh, completely open, but taking during the pandemic) and Klara’s? was Prince Charles. I first met him things in at a phenomenal rate. The world of Klara and the Sun is when I was a grouse beater for his As [Klara] very rapidly absorbs just slightly in the future. This is one grandmother, the Queen Mother. I the world around her, she of the things that we’re going to face would bring up bloody bits of shot starts to take on qualities very rapidly. If you move to a model grouse, and of human beings, where you say, “Well, we only need MORE ONLINE he would say, including their self- a small percentage of human beings For the extended “Oh, thank deceptions, hopes, to actually work; machines can do interview, visit you so much, dreams, and fears. a lot of it,” then we’re going to have bit.ly/AL-Ishiguro thank you.” We increasingly to rethink our social values and how He would think algorithms we value one another. come and have a chat with us, and data can One of the positive things that because there were only 14 of us. define people— might come out of [the pandemic] It’s like the Nobel; [being a that somebody’s is that it highlights how important knight] doesn’t make any difference personality, human contact is, not just emo- in my day-to-day life. I don’t go somebody’s char- tionally but even in terms of the around calling myself Sir Kazuo acteristics can be economy. I hope people realize Ishiguro. It doesn’t encourage that, along with what we can do, people to read your work in an the pandemic is highlighting what intimate way. But on the other we can’t do with technology. hand, I’m pleased to have been Libraries being closed has honored. It’s a recognition of my presented a real problem. People vocation and of what we all do. And depended on going to these that would include all the people places during their day. involved with books—publishers, They’re important booksellers, librarians. It’s an

common areas. They affirmation of what we do. Testa Andrew Photo:

24 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org “Make no mistake, what is and will be normal is a choice. Not just a choice as to what people expect or accept, but in what you will do and advocate for. It is the librarians, information professionals, educators, data analysts, and researchers that you are now that will shape the new normal. It is your unique combination of skills and ethical center that must fight disinformation and reweave the connective tissue of our communities and our very democracy.” R. DAVID LANKES, director of the University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science, “A Last Little Lecture,” DavidLankes.org, Dec. 11.

“Library-induced realism is a great thing, one “Research conducted by the that can do much to increase your happiness. Chartered Institute of Public Finance Because the world in which you are perpetually and Accountancy in Manchester [UK] under the impression that the next book found more than 80% of library users purchase, the next apartment, the next who experience feelings of loneliness significant other will be the one that finally or isolation felt the library helped delivers the goods is not a life of happiness. combat these feelings.” It is a life of perpetual dissatisfaction, a life of ROB WHITEMAN, chief executive of the Chartered Insti- tute of Public Finance and Accountancy, “Libraries Are thin and sugary highs followed by long and Vital to Tackling Loneliness,” The MJ, Dec. 8. unenlightening lows. The library is, with its careworn and temporary offerings, as lovely “In an era of fake news, disinforma- and as poignant a reminder of our actual tion, alternative facts, politicized human condition as the tides or a forest in fall.” science, cookies, and spyware, has BEN DOLNICK, “Library Books: A Small Antidote to a Life of Perpetual Dissatisfaction,” The New York Times, Dec. 8. there ever been a greater need for a public library? A place to go for “ELDERS ARE LIKE LIBRARIES. guidance to unbiased information? LOSING ONE IS LIKE A A secure haven for asking questions? LIBRARY BURNING DOWN.” Open and free to everyone?” LOREN RACINE, creator of a Facebook page offering help in Mon- BETSY BERNFIELD, attorney and former director of Teton tana’s Blackfeet community, in “Tribes Try to Shield Elders and County (Wyo.) Library, “Community Needs to Protect Library

Screenshot: davidlankes.org Screenshot: Their Knowledge from Virus,” Star Tribune, Dec. 27. Freedoms,” Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News and Guide, Dec. 16.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 25 A DISPROPORTIONATENATE Library patrons with disabilities face PANDEMIC compounded challenges BY Emily Udell

26 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org efore COVID-19 came along, 18-year-old Jack Miller, who has autism, visited the main location of Gail Borden Public Library District (GBPLD) in Elgin, Illinois, three times a week. On two of those visits, he dusted books, alphabetized DVDs, and performed other tasks as part of his school’s special- Beducation vocational studies program; on the third, he came with his family to check out his favorite Impressionist art books and play games in the library’s computer lab—even though he has access to NATE the same games at home. “He is so routine-driven that he never considers doing “Not being ‘home’ things at the computer lab or ‘computer lab’ things able to go to the at home,” says his mom, Rebecca Miller. “Being able to library has made do these things at home is not the same to him at all.” Jack very sad,” Jack Miller dusts shelves at the main loca- In addition, using the computer lab gave Jack a taste his mother says. tion of Gail Borden Public Library District of what his mom calls “sheltered independence.” “It adds to his in Elgin, Illinois, pre-pandemic. “There are not very many places in the world you can confusion and go that are free, safe, and predictable, and a place to fear right now.” She adds that even in non-pandemic practice your independence skills as a young person with times, “large parts of the world don’t make sense” to him, a disability,” she says. so having one of his comfort zones removed is signifi- The COVID-19 pandemic and its shifting limitations cant. “Not only does he miss that comfort zone, he begins on GBPLD’s hours and services have taken a big toll on to question all his other comfort zones,” she says. “For Jack and his family. So has the movement of his voca- example, every time his dad takes the dogs for a walk, tional studies program to an all-virtual model. Jack exclaims ‘You came back!’ when he returns. I see “I feel shocked about the changes at the library,” Jack him losing confidence in what he thought were rules and says. “I feel confused. I miss my job.” predictable things in the world.” Since the pandemic began, GBPLD has at times reopened its buildings with social distancing mea- SERVICE SLOWDOWNS sures and mask requirements, but Miller’s routine has Another thing rendered less predictable by the COVID-19 not resumed. Even in periods when the main location pandemic: the ease and speed with which people with has been open, its computer lab has mostly remained low vision or blindness (or other physical disabilities that closed—so his family has taken him to a branch location prevent them from reading or holding a printed page) instead, to avoid the distress he might feel upon seeing can access braille and audio materials from the National his familiar computer lab without being able to use it. Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Print Disabled’s “Mom and Dad make me go to the little library free service by US mail. [branch] because of COVID-19,” Jack says. “I like the For decades, NLS has made books and magazines little library, but I like the big one better.” in braille and audio formats available to patrons who Of course, it would be difficult to find a library-goer qualify, along with devices needed to read or listen to whose visits haven’t been affected by COVID-19. But for them. NLS relies on a national network of about 100 Jack and many other people with disabilities, the effects partner libraries, as well as two warehouses stocked with are reaching even further. Losing independence, social- talking-book machines and other resources, plus an app ization, cognitive stimulation, and other library benefits called Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD), to is, in many cases, leading to emotional, intellectual, and circulate materials to about 350,000 users. Parts of that

Photos: ©wavebreak3/Adobe Stock (braille); Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin, Illinois (Miller) District Public Library Gail Borden (braille); Stock ©wavebreak3/Adobe Photos: other difficulties. service experienced slowdowns in 2020.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 27 While the year receive login credentials, download BARD and use it to saw much media transfer NLS catalog items onto a smart device. In some coverage of mail cases that means downloading a braille file and syncing delays caused it to a device that features a refreshable braille display; by the US Postal in others, it means downloading an audio file onto a Service, delays cartridge for use in a talking-book machine. related to NLS The push to increase BARD use did help, Fernekes materials came says, though she’s not sure by how much. She notes about primarily that people who would not have otherwise taken the because of local, leap to try BARD saw it as “a pretty good alternative” COVID-related and that some partner libraries reported seeing “very restrictions affect- significant increases” in the number of users. ing NLS’s partner But, she says, some patrons prefer to read hard-copy libraries, says braille content instead of using BARD. “I’m afraid that Kristen Fernekes, those people were probably the ones who were the Elena Ozment and NLS head of communications and outreach: “Starting most impacted as far as getting materials,” she says. her brother Joey in mid-March, it was hard to keep up.” The lengthy process of transcribing and maintaining celebrate com- pleting the Harry Some libraries that closed to the public because of quality of that content is done by outside vendors, she Potter series. COVID-19 found that with staff members working from says, and many of those vendors shut down because of home, they couldn’t receive or send out shipments the pandemic. of braille or talking-book materials. At one Califor- Despite any service delays they may have encoun- nia library, staffers who would normally download tered, NLS users have continued to send messages of audio files onto special cartridges for patrons to use gratitude to the service and its partner libraries, like with NLS-lent playback machines instead took the this one from an anonymous patron: “I really wish to cartridges home with them and downloaded the files express my appreciation for what you and your col- there for distribution. leagues have been doing for me these past years. I have In addition, one of NLS’s two warehouses was forced been an avid reader all of my life, so when my vision to close for several months because of COVID-19. For- dimmed, I was devastated. The Talking Book program tunately, the other warehouse remained open, and NLS has been a true blessing! In these perilous times I really staffers were able to hastily rework processes so that appreciate your willingness to continue working.” patrons whose libraries had closed were able to receive materials directly from the warehouse instead. “Some THE VAGARIES OF GOING VIRTUAL of our libraries were able to work remotely and receive The pandemic has also pushed much in-person library messages from their patrons, and then everybody programming online. For some patrons with disabili- worked together to get them stuff,” Fernekes explains. ties, that change represents a mixed bag. Even in non-pandemic times, many NLS users One of the groups that has gone all-digital as a result experience isolation because of age, ability, and health of the COVID-19 pandemic is the Next Chapter Book status. “We hear all the time that our materials are life- Club (NCBC) at Nevada County (Calif.) Community lines for our patrons,” Fernekes says. “We take that very Library’s Truckee branch. As part of the national NCBC seriously.” That’s why, she says, as soon as the pandem- program, the club gives people with developmental and ic’s ramifications for NLS services became clear, “the intellectual disabilities the chance to gather, read, and staff at NLS and the folks we were talking to from our discuss books. When the branch halted its in-person network libraries immediately went into the mode of: services in March 2020, the book club began meeting ‘We’ve got to figure out some way to get this to work.’” online with the assistance of staffers from local non- For example, NLS asked partner libraries to train profit Tahoe Ability Program (TAP), who help promote as many users as possible on BARD. NLS-registered and facilitate the club among TAP clients and distribute

patrons can, after contacting their local library to the chosen books to participants. Erin Ozment Photo:

28 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org “We hear all the time that our materials are lifelines for our patrons. We take that very seriously.” KRISTEN FERNEKES, head of communications and outreach, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled

Bobbi Luster, Truckee branch manager, says the club this audience is so high-risk that they may still delay still serves as a “bright spot” for the 10–15 members coming in. So for situations like that, I think that virtual who continue to attend. programming is a lifeline.” Wyche has since left APL for “Our patrons with special needs, who are unable to a position at Grand Prairie (Tex.) Public Library System, drive and depend on others to assist them, have been where she plans to continue the virtual play group. extremely isolated,” she says. “For example, some of Despite the virtual group’s benefits, Wyche acknowl- our patrons who live in care facilities were in lockdown edges, “I think all of us—families, children, and staff for extended periods of time, not allowed to leave the alike—are missing that in-person communication and facility or have guests visit them. Virtual convenings, sense of community.” like book clubs, were some of their only outlets for Garcia and her daughter certainly are. While they’ve social connections.” given the virtual playtime a shot, Garcia says Hannah Participant Erin Freeman agrees. While Zoom is is missing out on the benefits of modeling the behavior “not the same as in person,” she says, she still calls it and language of her peers in a group environment. “For “a good way to do book club” and says that being able somebody like Hannah, it’s not the same,” she says. to virtually attend has helped ease the isolation of The disruption in their library routine, along with the pandemic for her: “I’m a social person. I miss all interruptions to Hannah’s schooling and therapy, has my friends.” resulted in some regression of life skills, as well as For others with disabilities, the new online format an increase in anxiety. Even with some library access may make participation limited or even impossible, now allowed, Garcia doesn’t feel safe taking Hannah says TAP Program Manager Mariah O’Shaughnessy. there, since her daughter won’t wear a mask for more She points out that some of the people her organiza- than a minute. tion serves have limited verbal abilities and that “some Pre-pandemic, Erin Ozment frequented two clients struggle to comprehend what may be happening branches of Orange County (Fla.) Library System in the story or become lost on where they are within (OCLS) in Orlando, with her 13-year-old daughter, the book.” An in-person setting would permit her or Elena, who uses a wheelchair, has visual impairments, another staffer to attend meetings “to explain on the and is nonverbal. side and help people feel involved,” she says. Whereas There Elena enjoyed checking out books in her favor- now, “I’m not there [in the room] with people. Overall, ite genre—fantasy—and occasionally participating in it’s a huge loss.” arts and crafts programming. Her younger brother took advantage of the library’s free classes, which allowed CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES Ozment to spend valuable one-on-one time with Elena Before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, Arlington in other parts of the building. (Tex.) Public Library (APL) hosted a weekly play group Since Elena’s medical issues put her at high risk for for children with disabilities, featuring stories, songs, COVID-19, the family now relies on an OCLS service and activity stations. Five-year-old Hannah Garcia, who that allows patrons to receive materials by mail. While was born with Down syndrome, attended regularly. grateful for that, Ozment says not being able to visit the “It was a safe environment for her to go, where she library has taken a toll on Elena’s state of mind. “I know could be herself and play and interact, where she was she loves me, but she’s tired of not seeing other people. accepted for who she is and for the attention span she The library is part of that,” she says. “Having a welcom- has,” says her mother, Nora Garcia. ing place with other people is important. It’s just been a Once the pandemic made in-person programming huge reminder of how integral libraries are—for my impossible, the play group’s creator, librarian Ashley family in particular.” Faith Wyche, converted it to a virtual format. “I think that by going virtual, my disability programming has EMILY UDELL is a freelance writer based in been able to reach a more widespread audience,” Indianapolis. Wyche says. “Additionally, I think that even when we feel like [it might be safe] to do in-person programs,

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 29 s the pandemic has limited in-person library services this year, many libraries are rely- How User- ing on their websites more than ever to deliver the services their communities need Aand expect. But a website is useful only Friendly if it enables patrons to find and do what they need. The increased importance of library websites during the COVID-19 era has highlighted common usability is Your shortcomings—and opportunities. “I get the feeling that many people think usability Website? comes second to utility,” says Christina Manzo, user experience librarian at Radford University Carilion in Roanoke, Virginia. “I think they’ve become one and the Usability lessons same. There’s a seemingly endless supply of interfaces for libraries in competing for our attention, so users are less willing to

a remote world put up with a website that doesn’t work well.” Stock ©PureSolution/Adobe Illustration:

BY Greg Landgraf

30 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org Manzo says the pandemic has not changed user needs, still going online more than ever,” Nuccilli says, which but amplified them. “Exhaustion and frustration are demonstrates the importance of effective interfaces. She driving people today, because almost everything—even also notes that the share of users who access websites going to the grocery store—takes more time and energy,” via mobile devices has increased, making responsive she adds. As a result, users may be less patient if they are design—which allows for easy viewing on smaller forced to, for example, refine searches several times in screens—more important than ever. order to find the information they seek. The pandemic has also affected the ways users look Accessibility and readability for information, says James Miller, discovery and sci- One critical factor in user experience (UX) design for ences liaison librarian at Hollins University in Roanoke, websites is accessibility for people with visual impair- Virginia, who notes that students are seeking online ments and other disabilities. For example, moving, finding aids more often. Hits for a webpage housing the flashing, or blinking content can present obstacles to library’s videos doubled last fall, and online chat and users with attention deficit disorder or visual processing ebook usage are also up. Meanwhile, he’s noticed that disorders, while insufficient color contrast between text article downloads are down, possibly because burned- and background can make content illegible to low- out researchers are looking elsewhere. vision users. Maria Nuccilli, web developer at Wayne State The World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content University Library System in Detroit, reports increased Accessibility Guidelines (bit.ly/AL-WCAG) are impres- website usage across the board. In the last week of the sively thorough; many institutions have distilled them fall 2020 semester, the library’s LibGuides had 6,300 into easy-to-implement directives and folded them into visits, up from 3,900 in the same period the year before. their own accessibility guidelines. To start, Jaci Wilkin- “Even now that the library is partially open, people are son, head of discovery and user experience at Indiana University Bloomington Libraries, suggests getting a demonstration of screen-reading technology to see firsthand how it works with your website—or at least

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 31 Low-overhead improvements any of these approaches require a reviewing YouTube tutorials to get a more concrete under- major investment of time and energy, standing of its capabilities. M and pandemic-necessitated safety Nuccilli recommends employing browser extensions measures may render some impossible, at that flag accessibility issues, like Axe or Siteimprove. least for now. But smaller steps can signifi- “They often show small things that will make a big dif- cantly boost a site’s usability. Some possibil- ference,” she says. Other tools, like the Colour Contrast ities include: Check (bit.ly/AL-Contrast), can help evaluate whether a ■ Prioritize your goals. “Map out how you’ll color combination will be readable by people with color get the maximum impact with the smart- vision deficiency or who are reading a site on a black-and- est application of effort,” Wilkinson says. white screen. Manzo, who has conducted usability tests on a variety ■ Evaluate chat questions, FAQ views, and of library websites, says “many patron interviews specif- searches for trends. Miller says these will ically mention language” as a UX challenge. Some users reveal user information needs that should find terms like “research” vague, for example, while receive more prominence on the website. nonlibrarians may not be familiar with terms like “inter- ■ Communicate regularly with library staff library loan.” who work directly with users. “A lot of Wilkinson says that ideas come from colleagues and issues writing specifically for the that bubble up when people are working web—where people tend the reference desk,” Wilkinson says. to scan copy rather than ■ Make it easy for users to get help. “When reading it word by word— I was working at a small library, all of our enhances a site’s readability. error pages had my email address on And features like front- them,” Manzo says. While that may not loaded information, be appropriate for all libraries, a promi- bulleted lists, and nently displayed forum or complaint box clear subheads help may be an effective alternative. readers find the infor- ■ Apply technology creatively. “We did a mation they’re looking for, virtual study hall with two librarians and according to a report from our students over Zoom,” Miller says. the Nielsen Norman Group Faculty also rotated in throughout (bit.ly/AL-Nielsen). the day to answer questions. “One guiding principle is to meet the ■ Use resources in new ways. user where they are, Wayne State uses LibAnswers whether it’s figuring for its FAQ, and librarians often out where to put a reference it when helping stu- button or what kind dents. “We realized that instead of terminology to use,” of putting COVID information Nuccilli says. “I don’t on our website statically, we think there’s any such could use our LibAnswers thing as a perfect account for a COVID FAQ, and library website, and make it visible when we need you can’t make it once and it and hide it when we don’t,” have it stand indefinitely.” Nuccilli says. • That means that constantly incorporating feedback from library staff and users is critical

to keeping a website usable. Stock © Elenabs/Adobe Illustration:

32 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org “As a librarian, you know your system and its limitations. A new patron doesn’t have the benefit Testing solutions “When everything shut down in March, our priorities imme- of that perspective—they just diately changed, and we needed to deliver information to users as quickly as possible,” Nuccilli recalls. Under normal know if the website isn’t returning circumstances, she would conduct brief, in-person usability tests weekly when introducing new services. During the information they need.” the pandemic, however, she relies more on feedback from librarians and analytics data in Google and Springshare CHRISTINA MANZO, user experience librarian (the digital platform behind LibGuides and LibAnswers) to at Radford University Carilion in Roanoke, Virginia evaluate how well new services are meeting user needs. “Pre-pandemic, there were a lot of microtransactions in reference, instruction sessions, and circulation that could help librarians keep multiple perspectives in mind. Personas lead to ideas for usability improvements,” says Miller. generally include a name, job title and responsibilities, and Student circulation workers, for example, might note that demographics, as well as goals for using the site and the students were having problems logging into their accounts. environment in which it’s being used. “Being aware of what “Those interactions couldn’t happen this year, so it’s harder information is most useful to different groups can really to define the problems that users are having.” allow librarians to meet many user needs without informa- To counter this, the outreach librarian and other library tion dumping,” Manzo says. staffers met with student groups and clubs over Zoom to Personas should be supported by user research and ana- ask how they use the library and whether they encounter lytics data (bit.ly/AL-personas). Once created, they not only any obstacles. The library used this feedback to prioritize shape decisions about what information meets the broadest information on the website. When a student mentioned that range of needs but also identify any information gaps. finding theses and dissertations was difficult, for example, Card-sorting exercises can also be a useful practice for the library created a finding aid for them. organizing websites, Manzo says. Users sort physical cards “In some ways, the pandemic has made testing easier with subjects or menu labels into groups that make sense because users don’t need to be in the building,” Miller says. to them. The evaluator can define categories for users to “There’s less setup, and students are comfortable online, sort cards into, or let users come up with their own. In some because they’ve been doing that in their classes.” cases, users are also given blank cards to include informa- Using multiple methods for testing and blending classic tion they want on the website but don’t see represented. usability tests with guerrilla methods (wherein users are Nuccilli has helped launch several initiatives at Wayne approached rather than recruited) may be appropriate in State, including a new iteration of the online archive this landscape. Miller has applied and published research space for the Walter P. Reuther Library, which holds the on a mixed-methods approach to usability testing, which campus’s labor archives. “We’re super grateful that we combines techniques for assessing and improving usability had already spent a lot of time observing users because it (such as focus groups, analytics analysis, prototyping, and gave us a framework to build on,” Nuccilli says. Because first-click testing) at all phases of a site’s development of the library’s specialized focus, doing so required careful (bit.ly/AL-Hollins). This approach can provide a fuller recruiting of participants and coordination with Reuther’s picture of user needs and enhance resiliency in the face of reference staff. “But it was valuable because when they events like the pandemic. went remote,” she says, “we were able to provide a better research experience.” Making enhancements One technique that will always serve you well: continu- An important first step: exploring perspectives beyond your ally asking questions. As Manzo says, “The good news about own. “As a librarian, you know your system and its limita- usability is that curiosity doesn’t cost you anything.” tions,” Manzo says. “A new patron doesn’t have the benefit of that perspective—they just know if the website isn’t GREG LANDGRAF is communications and mar- returning the information they need.” keting coordinator at Georgetown University Libraries in Washington, D.C., and a regular con- Creating a handful of personas—descriptions of fictional tributor to American Libraries.

Illustration: © Elenabs/Adobe Stock © Elenabs/Adobe Illustration: people who represent your site’s major user groups—can

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 33 EmerginG LeADErS: Where Are They Now?

Past participants on he American Library Association’s (ALA) annual Emerging Leaders (ELs) program recognizes the best and brightest new leaders in the lessons learned, library profession, allowing them to get on a fast track at the Associa- experience gained tion by participating in planning groups, networking, gaining an inside Tlook at ALA structure, and serving in leadership capacities early in their careers. At each ALA Midwinter Meeting, new ELs divide into groups to complete proj- BY Phil Morehart ects for their host units and affiliates. However, because of the COVID- 19 pandemic, the program has been postponed for the class of 2021. Instead, American Libraries asked several past ELs to share their thoughts on the program—and its influence on their accomplishments. Read more about past Emerging Leaders at bit.ly/AL-EmergingLeaders.

Class of 2015

What did you learn during your time as an EL? There are two lessons I think back to, one more structural and the other philosophical. First, learning more about ALA as an organization—how it was organized and how I could be involved— was important to me. It helped me envision being an active member of ALA. The second was that I could be involved in big things. There was a place for me, and I had something to contribute. You’re an author, most recently of Elementary Educator’s Guide to Primary Sources: Strategies for Teaching (Libraries Unlimited 2018). How did the EL program influence that experience? Being in the EL program encouraged me to not be afraid of being part of bigger conversations, Tom Bober and it showed me that my District library coordinator at School District voice had value. Sharing of Clayton in Missouri and library media my work with students and specialist at R. M. Captain Elementary School advocating for the roles that all school librarians can take on led me to opportunities to speak and write for a variety of audiences. Those experiences directly led to my opportunity to write my book, something I’m very proud of.

34 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org Class of 2014 Class of 2016 Aaron LaFromboise Director of library services at Medicine Spring Library, mergin Blackfeet Community College in Em G Browning, Montana What did you learn during your time as an EL? First, I was able to meet people “at the top”: then–ALA ADEr President Barbara Stripling and other ALA staff. I eADErS would never have had the courage to walk up to any L S: of these people and introduce myself before becom- L ing an Emerging Leader. It was important to learn how to network! I also learned how to collaborate with librarians not in my region. The experience has really helped in other collaboration efforts over the past six years and helped me prepare for the work- at-home situation we are currently in. How has your EL experience influenced your Raemona I became an EL before I entered library career? Little Taylor school, and at times it was intimidating. I learned how to advocate for myself, and I’m sure the schol- Senior librarian and education arships I received were a result of the confidence I initiatives coordinator at Marin gained from being an EL. In my career, I have made County (Calif.) Free Library many connections outside my community, making me an active member in the larger tribal, state, and What did you learn during your time as an EL? national library communities. I am currently vice I learned about the importance of investing president/president-elect of the American Indian in mentorship and support for early-career Library Association (AILA), and in my time on the librarians, particularly with a focus on BIPOC board, I’ve had the ability to librarians. I am eternally grateful to ALA and the extend the experience Black Caucus of the American Library Association of EL and AILA for believing in me and sponsoring my participa- leadership to tion. I learned so much about how ALA functions other tribal as a professional organization, the difference librarians. between leadership and management, and how to lead from wherever you are regardless of your job classification or title. You’ve been working with incarcerated teens for the last few years. How did your EL experience help guide you to this point? The project I worked on was the 2016 Resource Guide for Underserved Student Populations. This toolkit emerged out of a concern from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Affiliate Assembly that highlighted the need for additional resources to support school librarians who work with underserved and historically marginalized students, such as those with incarcerated parents. This project lit a fire deep in my soul, which inspired my passion to expand the focus of my partnerships and outreach efforts to engage and support incarcerated teens.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 35 Class of 2012

How has your EL experience influenced your career? It really helped me frame project management, particularly for volunteers, students, and interns. As a former coordinator of volunteer services at my library, I incorporated my experience into my system’s volunteer handbook. It has also helped when mentoring a diversity and inclusion apprentice and in my current position as president of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA). What have you been up to since graduating with your EL class? I can’t believe it’s been eight years since I participated in the program! Since then, I’ve managed system-wide volunteer services and currently manage system-wide teen services; applied for and managed several grant-funded initiatives totaling several million dollars; helped establish a yearly budget to recruit, retain, and recognize library volunteers; led the first public library launch of Career Online High School; served Candice Wing-Yee Mack as president of the Young Managing librarian of teen services Adult Library Services Asso- at Los Angeles Public Library ciation; joined the inaugural ALA Policy Corps; and was a juror for the 2018 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award and the 2019 We Need Diverse Books’ Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature.

Class of 2018

What did you learn during your time as an EL? The project that my team worked on was about helping public library staff identify resources for learning how to work with data, such as collecting, analyzing, curating, and using it for storytelling purposes for advocacy. It was a great experience to learn about these resources and to collaborate with some talented and brilliant librarians around the country. You’re actively involved in New York City’s theater scene. How has your experience as an EL influenced that work? When I did the EL program, it was in a pre-pandemic world. There were members of our group in Chicago, Colorado, Kansas, and New York, and our A. J. Muhammad meetings were held via Google Librarian for the Jean Meet. In a way, it helped prepare Blackwell Hutson Research me for life during the pandemic, and Reference Division of as all work-related meet- New York Public Library's ings and meetings for my Schomburg Center for theater-related projects Research in Black Culture are remote. Of course, the program was another opportunity to develop collab- orating skills, which are applicable to everything.

36 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org Class of 2013 Class of 2014

Annie Pho Instruction coordinator and assessment librarian at University of San Francisco

How has your EL experience influenced your career? After participating in the program, I felt more empowered to get involved with ALA and solidify my professional “homes” with the Association of College and Research Libraries and APALA. I decided to run for a position on the APALA executive board as a member-at-large and serve on the executive board again as secretary. My EL experience helped encourage me to pursue those opportunities. Was there any aspect of training or career development you wish had been better addressed in your Emerging Leader cohort? One thing that I think should have been better covered was equity, diversity, and inclusion within libraries. I don’t think it was addressed whatsoever, and leadership opportunities are not the same for BIPOC librarians. I hope that future Kathleen ELs will have more training and discussion around equity, Riopelle Roberts diversity, and inclusion and antiracism. School librarian at Since your time in the EL program, you’ve coedited Pushing Rivers Edge Elementary, the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS Henrico County (Va.) (Litwin Books/Library Juice Press, 2018)—a volume in the Public Schools Critical Race Studies and Multiculturalism in Library and Infor- mation Studies book series, which you also coedit. Did your time as an EL help prepare you for projects like these? Yes, my How did your EL experience help experience doing survey design and lead you to your current position? learning about the research pro- It brought me in contact with the cess with my EL team helped leadership and administration at prepare me for a project AASL. I realized that I enjoyed being on intersectionality at the involved at the professional organi- reference desk, which in zation’s national level, which fueled turn led to the Pushing me to pursue further opportunities. the Margins book. When What have you been up to since I participated in the graduating with your EL class? I EL program, I didn’t was selected as one of two building- have any experience level school librarians to serve on with collecting data or the National School Library research. The group Standards Guidelines Editorial project helped me get Board. I also was selected for the a better understanding 2018–2021 Fulbright Specialists of that process. Roster. I coauthored the book Leadership: Strategic Thinking, Decision Making, Communication, and Relationship Building (ALA Editions 2019), with Ann M. Martin. I was also voted James Region Librarian of the Year by the Virginia Association of School Librarians for the 2019–2020 school year.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 37 BOOKS

The Road to Normal

Bookmobiles and outreach staffers take on new roles in a year of COVID-19

BY Mark Lawton

hen Goochland County (Va.) Public Schools abruptly stopped in-person learning at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last March, school librarians Zoe Parrish, Sarah Smith, and Susan Vaughn worried that their students would be left without access to books. Public libraries had also closed, and the county’s inconsistent internet service meant ebooks were not a workable substitute, Vaughn says. Illustration: ©Ivan Baranov, Zoran Milic/Adobe Stock Milic/Adobe Zoran Baranov, ©Ivan Illustration:

38 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org “Would it be crazy if we packed our cars with Library Association affiliate organization that will books and drove them around?” Parrish remem- celebrate its 15th year in 2021 (as well as Bookmo- bers proposing. bile Day on April 7), has seen libraries maintain that They put out word of their plan to give away continuity amid the challenges of COVID-19. Out- books, and soon teachers, churches, school libraries, reach staffers and literacy stewards have watched families, and even the local YMCA were donating their responsibilities change, sometimes dramati- books for the effort. Goochland County govern- cally, as they strive to keep up traditional offerings ment loaned them a van. And so, every other week while covering service gaps and even assuming from June through August, the three volunteered second-responder roles. to travel to six predetermined spots—parking lots of churches, schools, and fire departments—that FILLING IN THE GAPS covered the length of their district, from the outskirts In March 2020, Manchester (N.H.) City Library of Richmond’s northwest suburbs up to the foothills (MCL) shuttered its two locations. By July, the main of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Stops were advertised library had reopened for curbside pickup, but its through the school’s website and social media, and West Manchester branch has remained closed. With fliers were created in English and Spanish. a city of 112,000 people relegated to reduced ser- In order to cover as much territory as possible, vices at one location, staffers were concerned about each stop lasted about 20 minutes. The librarians patrons who would inevitably be left out. placed bins of books outside, setting the stations far “The main building is not on a bus route, and apart from one another, and students were invited to some people don’t have a car or are too far away,” select and keep three titles each. Books were given to says Karyn Isleb, MCL’s head of youth services. She all kids who wanted them—not just those enrolled and her colleagues began to consider if the library in the school district. Eventually the team adjusted could use its bookmobile to provide outdoor services its route to coincide with Goochland County Public in a safe manner during the summer, as it had done Schools’ Sunshine Food Bus program, so children in past years. The Road to Normal could get free meals and books in a single visit. “You should [have seen] the joy on their faces after being in quarantine so long,” Vaughn says. Despite the challenges—summer heat, heavy lifting, and coronavirus precautions such as wearing masks, social distancing, and using hand sanitizer— Parrish, Smith, and Vaughn distributed around 2,800 books to more than 700 children, ranging from newborns to middle school students. “We felt strongly that our kids need to have books, both as a connection to us and to normalcy,” Parrish says. Cathy Zimmerman, past president of the Associa- tion of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS), agrees. “We have whole populations that have not left their homes since March,” she says. “Book- The Goochland County (Va.) mobiles can bring a little Public Schools bookmobile continuity into every- makes a stop at a fire station in the village of Manakin to body’s life.” distribute books and ice pops. In the past year, Fliers in English and Spanish ABOS, an American announced stops in advance. Photo: Susan Vaughan Susan Vaughan Photo:

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 39 A Different Kind of Lending rom mid-March to mid-May Milligan picked up twice a week and On top of that, the National Guard 2020, perhaps the busiest man brought to the health department. brought pallets of produce from a local Fin Pima County, Arizona, was There, the health department exam- food bank to the main library once a Brandon Milligan. ined and sorted the equipment, and week. Milligan and his drivers delivered Milligan, delivery manager at Pima Milligan then delivered it to nursing the food to about 10 branch libraries. County Public Library (PCPL) for the homes and other facilities. Though the buildings were closed, last seven years, normally supervis- His work didn’t stop there. Pima library staffers coordinated to redis- es employees who move materials County Jail, which had released tribute the produce to area residents between the system’s 26 locations. some inmates in the early months in their parking lots. Additionally, But after PCPL closed on March 17 of COVID-19 as a social-distancing Amphitheater Public Schools, which because of the pandemic, Milligan measure, suddenly found itself with had also closed, had a supply of extra officially went on loan to the Pima surplus food. Rather than dispose of food. Every week or two, Milligan and County Health Department, where it, inmates on kitchen duty prepared the handful of library drivers who had he oversaw distribution of personal more than 600 lunches, which returned to work delivered that food protective equipment (PPE). Milligan picked up around 6 or 7 a.m. to those same library branches. The county’s 17 fire stations every day and delivered to Casa Maria Between other activities, Milligan collected and donated PPE, which Soup Kitchen in Tucson. regularly visited the branch libraries.

Isleb began by doing her research. She found a newspaper article about a bookmobile in Georgia operating during COVID-19 and called to get advice on safety measures. Manchester School District, which partners with MCL on the bookmobile, secured a grant of more than $10,000 to buy new books. A local Rotary club, Barnes & Noble, and an area grocery store also contributed funds. The books have always been free to students, Isleb says, “to help the kids build a library in their homes.” It was a labor-intensive process but a worthwhile one, Isleb says. She, a driver, two library staff members, and up to 10 volunteers facilitated six stops per week, including at two of the city’s largest public housing buildings. Staffers and volunteers read a story or conducted a craft activity, distributed prepackaged bags of books, and, through a partnership with social service organization Southern New Hampshire Services, handed out lunches. Book bundles were matched to students based on grade level and interests.

Reading to Go Places volunteer Madison Cowart distributes books

and meals at a stop in Bartow County, Georgia, in April 2020. Go Places to Reading Photo:

40 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org “I would check for graffiti and damage to buildings and empty book drops so they wouldn’t overflow,” Milligan says. PCPL reopened with limited service on May 18, and Milligan returned to his usual duties soon after. Looking back, he found coordinating between the various county departments and agencies highly challenging, Milligan says, as was the sheer number of tasks. “I was slammed and running at full blast and loving every minute of it,” Milligan says. “I was able to help the community in a way and at a capac- Brandon Milligan, delivery manager at Pima County (Ariz.) Public Library, used the library’s ity that I had not previously been vehicles to distribute personal protective equipment and meals during the lockdown por- able to do.” • tion of the pandemic.

The bookmobile engaged more than 100 children The 990-square-mile Otoka County, for example, has ranging from babies to high school students during each only one library branch. “The people who live in rural 60-to-90-minute stop. Among the patrons were refugees areas lack the ability to get Wi-Fi because there is no who are learning English. cellular service or because of their low economic status,” “They don’t know about the library system if they says Oehler. are new to the city,” Isleb says. “Many are uneasy about Like many libraries nationwide, SOLS has seen the anything that has to do with government. You have to put digital divide exacerbated at a time when adults urgently them at their ease” by coming to them, she says. need internet access to apply for jobs or government Between August 17 and September 4, the bookmobile assistance and children require it for remote learning gave away 1,100 books. (Before coronavirus, the book- and homework. mobile typically ran six to seven weeks from July through In August 2020, SOLS received a $12,100 grant from August.) “Kids needed something,” Isleb says. “They need the federal CARES Act, which was distributed by the Okla- a sense of normalcy during the summer.” homa Department of Libraries. The library system used the money to convert a library van to a Wi-Fi hotspot. By REMOTE CONNECTION November, two staff members began taking the van out Before the pandemic, 50% of residents served by the every Friday and making three community stops lasting five-county Southern Oklahoma Library System (SOLS) up to two hours each. The van also has computers and a didn’t have access to a library branch, and 36% of the small number of books, and it can issue library cards. system’s rural residents lacked broadband internet at “By having access to [Wi-Fi] in these rural communi- home. But with school and library closures brought on by ties, we are living up to the American Library Associa- COVID-19, SOLS Executive Director Gail Oehler believes tion’s [code of ethics],” says Oehler. access to digital devices and broadband internet has The number of residents who show up for the Wi-Fi

Photo: Randy Metcalf/Pima County (Ariz.) Communications Communications (Ariz.) County Randy Metcalf/Pima Photo: gotten even worse. van in rural locations might be small by city standards,

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 41 she acknowledges. “In a very rural community, having family at a time—to pick out one or two books to keep, 11 people is a very big deal.” with volunteer teachers on hand to assist with readers’ advisory. BOOTSTRAPPING BOOKMOBILES During the visits, Wood’s adult volunteers wore masks, While the majority of the roughly 800 bookmobiles in the supplied hand sanitizer, disinfected the bookmobile, and United States are affiliated with libraries, says Zimmer- quarantined any returned books. man of ABOS, there are exceptions. Among them is one in “Georgia is hot and rainy during the summer,” Wood Cobb County, Georgia. says. “Even with that, we had kids and families come Kelli Wood, a literacy specialist at Fair Oaks Ele- out in the rain to get mentary School in Marietta, first considered starting “We have whole books. We would pull a bookmobile in fall 2019. “We always saw a ‘summer into stops, and kids slide’ in our students from not reading during the populations would be jumping up summer,” Wood says. and down. I think this But when schools stopped in-person learning after that have not offered some hope and March 14, 2020, and the public library closed, Wood left their homes a time they could get realized it was time to take action. “When the pandemic out of their houses and hit, it made it even more important,” she says. since March. have a socially dis- Wood’s father donated a cargo utility trailer that he tanced, safe activity.” had used on construction jobs. He and Wood’s husband Bookmobiles To the northwest, installed shelves and flooring, her sister painted it, and can bring a little the nonprofit Reading local residents and teachers donated books. By May 27, to Go Places (RTGP) in Wood’s homemade bookmobile was ready. continuity into Bartow County, Geor- Every Wednesday, she and her husband made four to gia, had to adapt its six stops—usually at mobile home parks and apartment everybody’s life.” bookmobile operation buildings—where a librarian from her school met them. to the pandemic. CATHY ZIMMERMAN, past Stops were advertised through text messages and fliers president of the Association of Valerie Gilreath and posted at the leasing offices of these communities, and Bookmobile and Outreach Services her wife, Kim Dennis, each lasted about three hours. Volunteer organization started RTGP in 2017, MUST Ministries provided free lunches for students, when an assessment by the regional health district found while Wood high rates of unemployment, low rates of education, and and her team generational poverty in the southern part of the county. read a story and “Government and school efforts were not quite getting at handed out ice the problem,” Gilreath says. pops to enjoy While RTGP is an independent nonprofit, the library is in the summer among its partners. Bartow County Library System Direc- heat. Students tor Carmen Sims acts as an advisor, RTGP enrolls children were invited in the library’s summer reading program, and Friends of to go into the the Bartow County Library System contributes books. bookmobile—a Reading to Go Places normally operates from March few kids or one through December; in 2020, it started in April. “[By then] we realized [the pandemic] would go on for quite a Southern Oklahoma while,” Gilreath says. “With children not being in school, Library System uses the need for our services was greater than ever.” signage to adver- Before starting up again, the nonprofit solicited advice tise its bookmobile from area food pantries on safety protocols. By late April, services, including Wi-Fi funded by RTGP resumed driving its 2008 Freightliner vehicle a federal CARES (originally a bookmobile for the Denver Public Library). Act grant.

While most of its regular stops are made in the southern System Southern Oklahoma Library Photo:

42 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org Valerie Wagley, counselor at Fair Oaks Elementary School in Cobb to buy discounted books from the nonprofit First Book County, Georgia, reads to kids at a bookmobile stop in summer 2020. National Book Bank. Though children have fewer choices in what books third of Bartow, the nonprofit also travels throughout the they get, “we put a lot more time and energy into diversi- 470-square-mile county to give children up to age 18 two fying choices that go into the bags, so they don’t get tired or three new books each. of seeing similar books,” Gilreath says. Operations looked different from pre-pandemic times: She admits the year has felt different. For one thing, Two adults rode in the vehicle, and another one to four she and the volunteers are largely seeing adults rather adults, usually teachers, met the bookmobile at its stops. than children. “We don’t get that warm fuzzy feeling They set out prepackaged, age-sorted bags of books on a when you actually hand out books to kids,” Gilreath says. table and stepped away so that parents could get out of Zimmerman at ABOS says that experience has been their cars and take the bags. common during the pandemic. “We are a group of people For the sake of social distancing, RTGP had to stop who are used to being hands-on,” she says. “Now we are offering in-person programs and transporting lunches reinventing how we work with patrons.” through its usual partnership with the USDA Summer Still, Gilreath describes the modified program at RTGP Food Service Program. as a success. “It’s more important than ever that families Another obstacle has been cost. “Giving away books is have books in the homes if they are not in school or a lot more expensive than a [lending] library,” Gilreath going to library programs,” she says. “At the end of the says. “We had to streamline other areas to supply three day, you are still putting a smile on a child’s face, even if times the books we did [in 2019].” you don’t see the smile.” RTGP put off buying supplies and reduced the hours of Dennis, its program director and single part-time MARK LAWTON is a writer in Chicago. staff person. In August, the nonprofit began an Adopt- a-Reader campaign to financially support its efforts;

Photo: Kelli Wood Kelli Photo: by mid-December, it had raised $3,500, which it used

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 43 A CRASH COURSE IN UX FOR YOUR LIBRARY Users at the Center of Everything

n her professional life, coauthor Lauren Stara has worked for three architectural firms, BY Callan Bignoli and one zoo, one multinational corporation, two museums, five universities, three public Lauren Stara libraries, and one state library agency. She has also done freelance work or consulting in both architecture and librarianship. Over those 32 years, she has worked in 10 US states, Ithree Canadian provinces, and one eastern European country. And all of those experiences have presented a lot of opportunity for failure. For a long time, failure was unacceptable. First, some jargon Lauren is in her early 60s now and still remembers User experience (UX) design is the philosophy of the crushing defeat when she received her first considering spaces, services, and processes from C, in 9th-grade algebra. She’s done pretty well at the end user’s point of view. The term originated pleasing most of her employers, but not all. And in the digital world in the field of human–machine it’s been only in the past several years that she’s interaction, was picked up by product designers, begun seeing and truly understanding the value of and from there has filtered into every aspect of life, those failures. including the library. Trial and error has been part of the scientific Design thinking means looking at a process or method for centuries, but for many years, Lauren project with a fresh perspective, an approach that focused on the right answer rather than the unex- can change the outcome dramatically. If your pro- pected one. Opening her mind to other possibilities cess isn’t getting results, a simple design-thinking gave her the freedom to try new ways of thinking exercise can get your creative juices flowing. and achieve surprising results. Wrong answers can You can put these ideas into practice incremen- lead to breakthroughs in every part of life—if we tally, starting with tiny changes and building up

44 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org the core of the UX movement is empathy. Learning to simply by living our lives—what we choose to wear, look at a situation with a beginner’s mind—putting how we arrange our homes and workspaces, and aside your years of education and experience in which books we read and TV shows we watch. These librarianship and seeing your library from a new are all design decisions, conscious or not. Whether user’s point of view—is the key. we’re using spreadsheets, oil paints, or words, or Realistically, most people who walk into your singing in the shower, we are all inventive. The maker building aren’t familiar with your procedures and pol- movement, for instance, is just the newest recogni- icies, your cataloging and classification systems, the tion of the human need to express ourselves. building layout, or the incredible range of services Design thinking is a creative approach, or series you offer. How can your physical space be changed, of steps, that will help you envision meaningful This is an excerpt even slightly, to help them understand the library? solutions for your library. It’s also a mindset, because from Responding you start to think like a designer, even if you don’t to Rapid Change Get in their heads consider yourself one. in Libraries: A Design thinking involves getting out of your own head Any kind of service can be transformed and made User Experience and into those of your users. The idea is to employ better. Let’s take one example: the core service of Approach (ALA techniques to help shift the human brain out of famil- identifying, finding, and checking out a book. Editions, 2021). iar ways of thinking and generate new solutions. The How do your users identify items they end goal is always to foster empathy and see things want to borrow? from a different perspective, usually that of the user ■ word of mouth or service consumer. In this way, design thinking is a ■ school booklist great method to enhance your library’s UX philosophy. ■ social media post or ad As an architect and a librarian, Lauren is surprised ■ browsing that many people don’t consider themselves design- ■ readers’ advisory service ers or creative people. In truth, we are all designers ■ online catalog search

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 45 procedures in their heads. Things that you can do in your sleep are brand-new and confusing concepts to many. The point is to make collections and ser- Design thinking involves vices accessible. Describing in words how a design-thinking process getting out of your own or exercise works is tough. There’s almost always a magic moment during the process when everyone head and into those looks around with that “eureka!” sparkle in their eyes. The process is experiential, iterative, and a lot of your users. of fun. It facilitates suspension of judgment, rampant brainstorming, and the generation of wild moonshot ideas. It requires stepping out of your comfort zone, though, and can feel chaotic and raw.

What’s the problem? Before creating solutions, you must know the problem. As in the reference interview, you have to dig Imagine each of these possibilities from the patron’s into every situation and make sure you’re asking the and the staff member’s point of view. Think about what right questions—keep going until you find the nub. the customer wants. Are they a grab-it-and-go kind of Assessing your needs comes first; coming up with a person? Do they want to talk to a staffer to seek per- plan of attack follows. sonalized service? Do they need an in-depth reference Identifying the user. One of the critical steps in interview to determine what they’re really looking for? the UX process is identifying your users. Depending Are they a digital native who likes chat-based reference? on the type of library you work in, these groups Or do they want to get up close and personal? might include patrons, students, faculty, nonresi- Once the item is located, what checkout options are dents, and staff. available? Is your ebook and e-audio service user- Each group can be broken down further or com- friendly? Can a person in a hurry grab their DVD from bined, if necessary. For example, in an academic the hold shelf, use the nearby self-checkout station, and library, you might have undergraduate students and be on their way? What happens when the material they graduate students or students from different colleges want isn’t on the shelf or isn’t in the collection at all? or disciplines. Staff may encompass faculty and Responding to each of these scenarios requires a nonfaculty, such as professional and support staff. different approach and series of steps. In public libraries, Patrons in public libraries are wildly diverse: we are blessed and cursed with the full gamut of person- seniors and adults; young adults, teens, and tweens; alities, ages, and skill levels. The ability to read a patron children and preschoolers; new residents; early and tailor services to that patron’s needs is not some- readers; people with disabilities; and more. Lauren thing most people are born with; it takes practice. worked for more than 20 years in public libraries in Here are a few simple places to start: resort towns with special patron categories such as ■ Ask up front how much time the patron has. This can second homeowners and seasonal workers. Every help set the tone of the interaction. one of these groups has differing and sometimes ■ Ask the patron if they would rather have you look up competing needs and preferences. something for them or show them how to use search Assessing community needs. Before you can techniques themselves. effect positive change, it’s important to assess where ■ If the patron wants a particular item or books on a you are and what you need. What services might you specific subject, offer to walk them to the appropriate provide if you had more money, resources, or space? area in the shelves. As common sense suggests, the community you ■ If self-checkout is a new service at the library, make serve is the best starting point for developing any sure a staffer is nearby to help newbies through the public amenity, including libraries. Wherever you process. Always offer at least one traditional staffed are, there are people who can provide a historical checkout station for those who prefer it. perspective, valuable insights into how the area Try to remember that most people using the library functions, and an understanding of the critical issues are not well versed in classification systems and and what is meaningful to people in the community. don’t keep detailed knowledge of your materials and Tapping this information at the beginning of the

46 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org process will help create a sense of communal owner- on one or more important levels. Strategic plans aren’t ship in the project that can be of great benefit to both a cure-all, but if they’re done from a user-centered the library and users. perspective, they can dig into both what’s not working As part of your library’s strategic plan (yes, you and what the community wants and needs. By asking the really do need one of these), you should gather right questions, you’ll find both big opinions and information from the public regarding and small things that need attention. its preferences and desires for services, as well as In turn, start by fixing the small prob- your local context. Don’t limit yourself to just that, lems, then contend with the medium- though; most library patrons—much less people who sized ones, and finally put the bigger don’t use the library at all—are not aware of forward- ones on a schedule. As you go along, thinking ideas in the library field. Do some research toss aside suggestions that don’t fit, or to find out what’s going on in other libraries, either save them to reevaluate later. in your area or far afield. If you’re like us, every trip, whether for business or pleasure, is an opportunity to Make things investigate new libraries and see what their facilities intuitive and easy and services are like. Are they doing something suc- Steve Krug’s renowned web design cessful that you might copy? Most librarians are eager book Don’t Make Me Think: A to share their experiences and ideas, so feel free to Common-Sense Approach to Web ask questions. Usability is about the importance of usability and findability in the digital RESOURCES Start small, think big world—qualities that are just as valid ■ Dokk1, the public library This way of working is not easy for many people. It in physical environments. How many and cultural center in requires a major mindset shift in which we embrace times have you seen patrons walk in Aarhus, Denmark, and uncertainty, look at situations with a beginner’s the library entrance and then stop Chicago Public Library mind, accept a constant state of incompletion, and to gaze around with a lost look on collaborated on the allow ourselves (and others) to fail. Remember that their faces? Think about ways to help free Design Thinking we are all designers, whether we know it or not, and people navigate their world. for Libraries toolkit we can step outside of our comfort zones to make our Remove clutter and work toward (designthinkingfor libraries better. providing clear and consistent visual, libraries.com), which Simple incremental steps go a long way toward auditory, and tactile cues. Meet introduces design think- effecting change. Start with a new voicemail mes- people where they are, not where ing basics to librarians. sage, or venture out from behind the desk to help you think they should be. Listen to ■ The Association of patrons on the floor (or at the curb). Try something what people really need. Librarians College and Research new. If it doesn’t work, try something else. There are are great at the reference interview, Libraries offers a design no mistakes. so shift that technique a bit and use thinking primer (bit.ly/ it in every single interaction. Tweak design-thinking-AL) as Continuous gradual improvement your approach to accommodate the a part of its Keeping Up It’s weird to think about the timelessness of libraries. person in front of you, who is sure to With … series. They can exist in a way that other types of institutions appreciate the personal service. and businesses can’t because the library is a concept Following traditional ways of as well as a collection and a building. Libraries don’t operating, dictated by huge policy have to try to grow or change in any particular way to manuals and complicated procedures, serves only to please their stakeholders—at least not in a way that reinforce the old-fashioned stereotype of librarians in is concretely governed by measures like profits in a buns. We’re not advocating anarchy, but libraries are given quarter. Similarly, the standards we use to eval- no longer the only game in town. We have to make uate the quality of our libraries are not universal. This our libraries comfortable and responsive—places is why we say you need a strategic plan: You have to where people want to spend time. define your own goals and standards of quality. In the absence of such a plan, or if a plan is outdated CALLAN BIGNOLI is director or ignored, libraries tend to just … stop. Best case, at Olin College of Engineer- ing Library in Needham, Mas- this means they’re functioning well enough but aren’t sachusetts. LAUREN STARA expanding their services or evaluating what they’re is library building specialist missing. Worst case, it means they’re not functioning with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 47 PERSPECTIVES in practice

and coping skills. They later added Building Morale in a Pandemic a monthly game hour with explicit support from administration. How to support library Quiballo says DSJEC’s efforts worked because the group was workers as whole people BY Meredith Farkas flexible about altering its existing structures to meet emerging needs. he COVID-19 pandemic has been traumatic for many library At University of Washington workers, especially those expected to continue coming to work Tacoma, staffers began creating as cases have risen in their communities. Even for those with the morale boosters such as weekly Tprivilege of working from home, the experience has been stress- online teatimes to connect with ful; many have had to add isolation, home-schooling children, and fear- and support each other, according for themselves and their loved ones to their regular job expectations. ing to instruction and research I’ve heard countless stories of library workers who have gone above help librarian Johanna Jacobsen MEREDITH and beyond to support their communities during this time. But I’ve also Kiciman. Library administration FARKAS is fac- wondered how many libraries surpassed expectations to meet their even distributed gift cards so ulty librarian at staffers’ needs. I spoke with several librarians about what they’ve done to staffers could buy treats for an Portland (Oreg.) Community support their workers as whole people. online ice cream social. The impact College. Follow Early in the pandemic, administrators at University of Oklahoma in on morale was significant. “For a her on Twitter Norman began sending out a weekly anonymous survey to see how their lot of people, this is a comfortable @librarianmer. staff members were doing. They followed up on the results with a weekly format,” Jacobsen Kiciman says. “I call to address concerns. One piece of feedback they received: “I wish want this to continue after COVID.” my supervisor would check in with me as a person instead of just on Of course, the pandemic isn’t my projects.” the only time library workers have That comment stuck with Twila Smith, the library’s chief technology struggled. From personal stresses officer. Since her staff would usually meet for an all-day to collective traumas annual retreat to plan for the coming academic year, she like layoffs or used it as an opportunity to support them, rather than Supporting library colleague deaths, just move the needle on their work. “I met with everyone many events take an weeks before [the retreat] to hear how they were doing as workers as whole emotional toll. So people, to listen, to identify patterns and group needs,” she people can have a often, we are says. “Then everything about the retreat was tailored to encouraged to address these.” The theme of the retreat became “finding significant impact separate our work our why”—getting in touch with the things that motivate on morale and and personal lives, staffers and make them love their work. but we can’t pretend Library workers at University of Arizona in Tucson have productivity. our feelings don’t also found ways of turning existing structures into oppor- affect our jobs. tunities to connect and support staff during the pandemic. Supporting library Members of the library’s Diversity, Social Justice, and workers as whole Equity Council (DSJEC) developed a program for connection and learn- people and giving them opportu- ing based on an intergroup dialogue training they had attended. People nities to connect beyond their paired up to discuss a topic, such as whiteness theory in the workplace. daily work can have a significant The program became popular with staffers, who were enthusiastic about impact on morale and productivity learning and sharing. (bit.ly/AL-EmpMorale). The time When COVID-19 hit, the council used its discussion model to create it takes to create and maintain online cafecitos, where people met for an hour on Fridays in “a safe space structures like these is worth the to share and listen,” according to Kari Quiballo, library information investment for its impact on associate and DSJEC member. In pairs, facilitators planned topics to organizational culture and library discuss—some related to diversity and inclusion, some focused on morale worker well-being.

48 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org dispatches PERSPECTIVES

plus its documents’ text patterns Visualize This and its images’ visual patterns. In addition, graphs may reveal Graphic data opens up hidden patterns that provide insight into the process of collec- digital collections BY Monika Glowacka-Musial tion development. Monitoring collection progress also means ince the 1990s, cultural heritage institutions have been assessing its metadata for com- investing in digital technologies to address growing public pleteness and quality. Computing demand for permanent open access to information resources. applications used for visual- SThis trend continues to accelerate. Because of the pandemic, ization reveal inconsistencies print collections have rapidly become more difficult to access, while and missing values in metadata research and learning activities have moved to an almost entirely vir- fields, meaning that visualiza- tual environment. Even the nature of digital content has tion becomes an MONIKA shifted: Once it represented a preview of a physical collec- effective tool for GLOWACKA- tion; now it’s the primary access point. metadata quality MUSIAL is Digital collections Digital collections, however, are not simply repre- control. Finally, metadata librarian at sentations of physical collections but resources in their are not simply visualization may New Mexico own right. Unlike physical collections, their digital inform the creation State University counterparts feature detailed metadata. Often, they also representations of of metadata. When Library in Las feature full text, thanks to optical character recognition physical collections, we know what Cruces. conversion of text images into machine-encoded data. information pro- Both metadata and data can be mined, analyzed, and but resources in duces useful charts, visualized—not only opening digital collections for active their own right. we can reevaluate exploration and discovery but also providing tools for the metadata ele- content analysis and communication. ments that describe A growing body of literature highlights graphics’ rel- our collections. evance for digital libraries in the context of our culture of ubiquitous At New Mexico State Univer- screens. For example, graphic representations of digital collections are sity Library, we use visualiza- a great alternative to text-based interfaces and search boxes, especially tions primarily to curate digital for nonexperts and casual users. Unlike empty search fields, which rely collections, especially legacy on user input and background knowledge, graphs and diagrams pro- ones. We have just started exper- vide a comprehensive collection overview easily understandable by all. imenting with visualizations Along the same lines, interfaces designed to offer more generous that provide fresh insights into choices than the traditional search prominently display graphs of collections’ content and allow digital collections on web portals in order to spark users’ interest and library users to explore it further. inspire them to explore digitized material. In addition to providing a We’ve also added graphics to holistic overview of a collection’s scope and content, these interfaces digital yearbooks. Creating include the collection’s context, display relationships among its items, visuals for digital collections and offer a quick close-up of selected images.These graphic overviews has been a rewarding process, make natural starting points for browsing large sets of digital items, and we encourage readers to identifying relevant topics and patterns, selecting pertinent documents learn the tools and start experi- and images, and focusing on details. Graphics also foster serendipi- menting with digital collections tous findings. Some interfaces let users navigate digital collections as data themselves. virtual galleries. Adapted from “Data Visualiza- Similarly, archivists and curators find graphics useful when ana- tion with R for Digital Collections,” lyzing large digital collections. Visualization lets curators examine Library Technology Reports vol. 57, a collection’s structure, organization, content, provenance, scope, no. 1 (Jan. 2021). Read more at and size, as well as the number of files it contains and their formats, bit.ly/ALA-LTR.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 49 PERSPECTIVES youth matters

tools, just knowing the technology It’s Okay to Be Wrong doesn’t equate to high-quality teen services. Instead, I focus now on Analyzing our failures leads the outcomes that staffers want to achieve through their services. to better teen services BY Linda W. Braun Once desired outcomes are known, work backward and think about the ver the past two decades, I’ve trained many library staffers on tools needed to reach those results. how to work with teens and have written extensively on the Wrong idea: Library staff- topic. But I haven’t always gotten it right. ers have to be where teens are O With the pandemic prompting us to step back and think online. I also used to talk about set- critically about our users and the programs we bring online, it’s also a ting up social media accounts as a good time to reflect on past missteps. I’d like to share some of the wrong way to get teens to engage with the ideas I’ve had and why some of my original thinking was library. As I look back LINDA W. BRAUN incorrect, as a reminder of the importance of regularly on that, I think, “Why is a California- reassessing how we serve teens through libraries. would I ever suggest based consultant If we’re willing Wrong idea: Teen-only services are essential. Over that?” Just as know- and a past president of ALA’s the years, I’ve talked with library staff about the need to to talk through ing how to use tech- Young Adult provide teen-only services—the logic being that teens do mistakes, we can nology isn’t the key Library Services not want to participate in activities that include parents, to success, being on Association. caregivers, or siblings. While this might be true for some revise the way social media won’t be teens, it is not a universal sentiment. In some cultures, and effective if you don’t for some teens, participating in activities with other family we do our jobs. know what services members is an important part of life. Working with parents teens want or don’t or caregivers to learn a new skill, helping a younger sibling have a relationship in with a project, or simply enjoying time together working on an activity place. Instead of being everywhere of mutual interest is valuable for many adolescents. If libraries do not that teens are online, choose plat- provide programs and services for teens and their families, they are forms thoughtfully and be where putting up barriers for many in the community who would be interested you can assist teens in the activities in what’s available if family participation were encouraged. they care about. For example, if Wrong idea: Off-the-shelf programming works. In my early days you learn through conversations as a library consultant, I would fill workshops with examples of “pro- that area teens have an interest grams that work”—programs that staffers from around the country had in civic engagement, you could implemented. I’d say, “This is something you can do with your teens leverage Instagram to highlight the and be successful.” That was before I realized that the only way to serve activism of other youth and help teens is to get to know their specific interests and needs and then develop them connect with those who share services with and for them that support both. It’s not possible to take an their passions and pursuits. entire program that worked in one community and expect to replicate it I’ve been wrong many more in another community. Customization for a local audience is a must. For times over the past couple example, the rural Cherokee (Iowa) Public Library realized it couldn’t decades—enough to fill multiple launch the type of middle school makerspace programs that worked at columns—but the point is that we libraries in cities and high-tech corridors. Staffers factored in the specific should all be regularly evaluating interests of youth as well as the demographics, infrastructure, commu- our ideas and questioning our nity assets, and available partners in their town. assumptions. If we’re willing to Wrong idea: Learning the technology teens are using leads to talk through our mistakes and better programs. For about 10 years I facilitated workshops that simply find ways to move forward, we focused on how to use a particular application or tool. These included can revise the way we do our jobs. how-to sessions on video and audio software, Google apps, and Face- Join me in being wrong—and book and Twitter. While library staff should have proficiency with these then fixing it.

50 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org on my mind PERSPECTIVES

how might this impact the way Bookmobiles for Justice they access our services? How can we augment our outreach to better What outreach librarians can learn serve this population? Another principle of disability from community organizing BY Lesley Garrett justice, leadership from the most directly impacted, complements efore I was hired as bookmobile coordinator at McCracken the Jemez principles of bottom-up County (Ky.) Public Library and tasked with leading outreach organizing and letting people efforts for a service population of 65,000 people, I had been speak for themselves. This prin- Ba community organizer in western Kentucky for four years, ciple has been key to designing working in environmental, economic, gender, and racial justice. our bookmobile program and During my time as an organizer apprentice with Kentuckians for the outreach strategies, which focus Commonwealth, our chapter led a successful campaign in partnership on being accountable to our com- LESLEY with the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Kentucky Fairness and ACLU of munity and keeping open lines of GARRETT is Kentucky to pass a 2018 civil rights ordinance in the city of Paducah communication. bookmobile that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and I began my bookmobile coordinator at McCracken gender identity. program planning in late 2019 County (Ky.) I’ve since found that applying principles of community organizing by holding meetings with local Public Library. and social justice work to library outreach can make our services more teachers and school administra- They are also inclusive and help us reach many more individuals. In adapting these tors to get input on how book- a community principles, we prioritize improved access for the most marginalized mobile services could best support organizer currently engaged people in our community. them and their students. What we in social move- In my experience, an emphasis on inclusion is more effective when learned was that the need from ments around it coincides with other principles, such as solidarity, mutuality, and surrounding school systems could prison and commitment to transformation. (Read more about the 1996 Jemez not be met with just one book- policing aboli- Principles for Democratic Organizing at bit.ly/AL-Jemez.) This mobile. Our library responded tion, disability process involves critically interrogating existing library structures by creating a school outreach justice, food sovereignty, and and strategies—which have historically upheld oppressive coordinator position. building a soli- systems such as white supremacy—and changing them as When the COVID- 19 darity economy. needed to move toward more equitable services and spaces. An emphasis on pandemic hit, that One example of a supremacist system: the “white savior” inclusion is more staffer worked with complex. A tool of imperialism exemplified by Rudyard schools to success- Kipling’s 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden,” it can show effective when fully troubleshoot up in many ways, such as when we determine services for it coincides access issues related marginalized communities based on our assumption of to virtual learning needs and without input from the people using the services. with solidarity and provide library Outreach to underserved communities can easily become services accordingly. extractive and oppressive if not grounded in solidarity. and mutuality. Public libraries In my daily work, I also apply principles of the disability aren’t here to define justice movement—which includes an emphasis on intersec- and win grassroots tionality and leadership representing those most directly affected. Sins campaigns, but we do have an Invalid (sinsinvalid.org), a performance project led by disabled people active role to play in creating of color, offers a useful guide to these principles. equitable, democratic communi- Foundational in Black queer feminist thought, intersectionality is a ties. By applying social justice method of analysis for understanding the ways that various forms of frameworks to our outreach oppression affect people holding multiple marginalized identities. For efforts, we can build programs example, consider outreach to patrons who have experienced incar- that truly transform lives and ceration. How many overlapping systems may affect their lives, and neighborhoods.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 51 PERSPECTIVES librarian’s library

Engagement at a Distance Tools and tips for virtual programming and services

ARACELI MÉNDEZ HINTERMEISTER is knowledge manager at Uplift Education Pivoting during the Transitioning to Virtual The Collection All Around: in Dallas. Pandemic: Ideas for and Hybrid Events: How Sharing Our Cities, Towns, Serving Your Community to Create, Adapt, and and Natural Places Anytime, Anywhere Market an Engaging By Jeffrey T. Davis Edited by Kathleen M. Hughes Online Experience One of the library’s greatest and Jamie Santoro By Ben Chodor with strengths is its ability to connect This collection includes 22 reflec- Gabriella Cyranski patrons to resources, and this tions from library staffers across Chodor has presented virtual book shows how that skill goes the US on how public libraries programs in the digital media beyond a building’s walls. By have responded to challenges space for more than 20 years. focusing on what surrounds a posed by COVID-19. Whether Drawing on that experience, he library, Davis asks readers to you seek to serve specific patron digs deep into how to become a consider nearby parks, nature, groups, address larger com- more efficient host, understand and places in their community munity needs, or reimagine your audience, and use media as part of their collection. This is programming, you will find beyond videoconferencing. His not to say libraries should embed innovative models and services approach creates an intimacy in the community; rather, it is that many libraries have used that allows event attendees to about making the places around in their communities, including feel directly engaged rather than their users more comprehensible, homebound delivery, virtual ref- just looking at their screens. This familiar, and accessible to every- erence, remote readers’ advisory, book includes comprehensive one. The lessons will assist library and setting up Wi-Fi hotspots. checklists, best practices, and workers as they guide patrons in Pivoting during the health crisis tips for hosting events. Wiley, 2020. discovering the treasures around requires far more than just 208 p. $25. PBK. 978-1-119-74717-8. (Also them. ALA Editions, 2017. 152 p. $57. putting programming online, available as an ebook.) PBK. 978-0-8389-1505-9. (Also available and this collection will help as an ebook.) readers develop new ideas and strengthen existing ones. Public Library Association, 2021. 112 p. $29.99. PBK. 978-0-8389-4974-0. (Also available as an ebook.)

52 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org PERSPECTIVES

BY Araceli Méndez Hintermeister

Healthy Living at the Coronavirus: Leadership Library Services for Library: Programs and Recovery Online Patrons: A Manual for All Ages By Harvard Business Review, for Facilitating Access, By Noah Lenstra Martin Reeves, Nancy F. Koehn, Learning, and Engagement Tsedal Neeley, and Scott Berinato Lenstra provides resources to Edited by Joelle E. Pitts, Laura help integrate healthy living and It can be difficult for libraries Bonella, Jason M. Coleman, and Adam Wathen wellness practices into library to embrace changes instituted programming, whether through because of COVID-19, especially Access, learning, and engage- garden plots, StoryWalks, or when they may be required to ment are at the core of this fitness classes. Healthy Living transition back to traditional manual, which offers a holistic at the Library outlines how to services at any moment. Through approach to initiating and develop a program, engage in the lens of business manage- enhancing library resources and community partnerships, and ment, Coronavirus: Leadership services to online patrons. The eventually run a program, and it and Recovery motivates readers book looks at reference, instruc- concludes with advice on how to to think through these unprece- tion, and marketing through the make new initiatives permanent. dented challenges while main- lens of online users and guides Lenstra includes information taining a foundation that will readers through the process of about liability waivers, strategic allow them to emerge stronger at making intentional consider- plans, and assessment tools that the end of the pandemic. Broken ations. While this book focuses will support these offerings every into sections that address leader- on academic libraries, its lessons step of the way. Libraries Unlimited, ship, management, and strategic on designing services will help 2020. 225 p. $45. PBK. 978-1-4408-6314-1. planning, the book presents case readers navigate and address the (Also available as an ebook.) studies that explore how other needs of any online patron, even businesses in multiple indus- if those needs may not be entirely tries are addressing everything apparent at first. Libraries Unlimited, from workers calling in sick to 2019. 200 p. $55. PBK. 978-1-4408-5952- 6. communicating with customers. (Also available as an ebook.) Harvard Business Review, 2020. 192 p. $23. PBK. 978-1-6478-2049-7. (Also available as an ebook.)

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 53 ON THE MOVE

Elaine Bleisch joined Lied Scottsbluff (Nebr.) Public Library as teen librarian Alan Cornish, 59, director of library technology services at Uni- and children’s assistant in November. versity of Oregon in Eugene since 2018, died November 5. Prior to joining University of Oregon, he served as automation librarian at In January Jonathan Texas A&M University Libraries in College Station; systems librar- O. Cain became associate university librarian ian at National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland; head of for research and library systems at Washington State University Libraries in Pullman; learning at Columbia and program manager for the Orbis Cascade Alliance consortium in Eugene. University Libraries in Ben Emmett Grimm, 96, director of Jersey City (N.J.) Free Public Library until his New York City. 1985 retirement, died November 9. He served as 1968–1969 president of the New Kyle DeCicco-Carey joined Millicent Jersey Library Association, and after retirement worked as a library consultant. Library in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Frank P. Grisham, 92, died October 9. He served as director of Vanderbilt (Tenn.) as director October 19. University Library from 1968 until 1982, then as executive director of the South- Jessica Dorr became director of Boise eastern Library Network in Atlanta until his retirement in 1994. Grisham, who (Idaho) Public Library November 30. established the Vanderbilt Television News Archive in 1968, received many library awards, including the American Library Association’s (ALA) Melvil Dewey Medal J. Eric Ensley was appointed curator of and the Southeastern Library Association’s Rothrock Award. rare books and maps at University of Iowa Libraries’ Special Collections and Janet M. Hauser, 85, who retired from Glencoe (Ill.) Public Library as children’s University Archives in December. librarian in 2010, died December 7.

November 2 Brian Herzog joined Marjorie Lewis, 91, a children’s librarian in schools and public libraries in Mont- Tuscarawas County (Ohio) Public clair, New Jersey; Scarsdale, New York; and London, died December 7. Lewis also Library as assistant director. wrote three children’s books and coedited Waltzing on Water, an anthology of poetry by women. Worcester (Mass.) Public Library named Jason L. Homer executive director, Stephen M. Roberts, 71, associate vice president for university libraries at Uni- effective in December. versity of Buffalo, New York, until his 2010 retirement, died September 21. During his 33 years at the university, he established UBdigit, which made the university’s Allan Kleiman became director of Edison Public Library in Fords, New Jersey, in January.

In October Lacey Love joined Pongrácz Sennyey became associate December 14 Angela Zimmermann Peters Township (Pa.) Public Library dean for discovery, access, and tech- became executive director of Racine as director. nology at James Madison University in (Wis.) Public Library. Harrisonburg, Virginia, in October. Mid-America Library Alli- ance in Independence, Chris Siscoe became director of PROMOTIONS Missouri, appointed Hurt-Battelle Memorial Library in Jane Mulvihill-Jones West Jefferson, Ohio, November 1. Mansfield Public Library in Temple, New executive director, Hampshire, promoted Beth Crooker to effective January 6. Highland Park (Ill.) Public Library director in November. appointed Heidi Smith director, effec- In February Jennifer tive January 4. Columbus (Ohio) R. Nelson was selected Metropolitan Library as state librarian Thomas Vitale started as director of promoted Anne for the New Jersey Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport, Jubera to manager State Library. New York, November 18. of its Shepard branch.

54 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org SUBMISSIONS Send notices and photographs to Amy Carlton, [email protected].

MORE ONLINE americanlibraries.org/currents

for Georgetown University’s Blommer Science Library in Washington, D.C.

Sandra Hussey retired in December digital collections available, and UB Wings, the first campus-wide information as coordinator of library instruction system. His efforts led UB Libraries to receive the New York State Library’s Joseph at Georgetown University Libraries in Washington, D.C. F. Shubert Moving Toward Excellence Award in 1997. director of Dayton Alexander Tscherny, 93, acquisitions librarian at Library of Con- Tim Kambitsch, (Ohio) Metro Library, retired in February. gress (LC) until his retirement in 1993, died May 7, 2020. He had previously held several positions at LC, as well as the position of In November Melissa Kopecky retired junior archivist at the National Archives’ microfilm repository of cap- as director of South Orange (N.J.) tured Nazi records. He also worked internationally, including serving Public Library. as chief of party of Bryant College’s envoy to the Instituto de Estudios Daniel LaRue retired October 31 after Superiores in the Dominican Republic (now known as Universidad APEC). 31 years as a librarian at Hamburg (Pa.) Public Library. Luisa del Carmen Carolina Vigo Cepeda, past director and professor at Escuela Graduada de Ciencias y Tecnologías de la Ann Miller, interim associate dean of Información, the University of Puerto Rico’s library school, died libraries for collection services at Uni- November 26. She cofounded the Association of University, versity of Oregon Libraries in Eugene, Research, and Institutional Libraries of the Caribbean and served at retired November 30. various points as its president and its executive secretary. She also Gina Millsap retired as chief executive served as president of the Sociedad de Bibliotecarios de Puerto Rico. officer of Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library December 1. Everett Wilkie, 73, head librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society until his 1997 retirement, died December 23. He previously served as bibliographer at Brown Bill Olsen, School of Foreign Service University’s John Carter Brown Library in Providence, Rhode Island, and reference and government liaison at Georgetown librarian at Indiana University’s Lilly Library in Bloomington. Wilkie produced University Libraries in Washington, D.C., several descriptive bibliographies and research works on French Americana during retired in December. his library career and in retirement as an independent scholar. He was active in the November 13 Lisa Richland retired as Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Rare Books and Manuscripts director of Floyd Memorial Library in Section, chairing its Security Committee for almost 20 years and serving as section Greenport, New York. liaison to ACRL’s Standards and Accreditation Committee for at least a decade. Ardmore (Okla.) Public Library Public Services Librarian Lorena Smith retired October 23.

Stacey Russell was promoted to Mike Taylor retired December 26 as executive director of Muskingum RETIREMENTS director of Pender County (N.C.) Library. County (Ohio) Library System University of Oregon Law Refer- in November. October 30 Les Valentine retired as ence Librarian Jaye Barlous retired university archivist at University of Sarah Smith was promoted to September 30. Nebraska Omaha. manager of Delta County (Colo.) Mary L. Chute retired as state librarian collection development Libraries’ Cedaredge and Hotchkiss Michele Yellin, for the New Jersey State Library librarian at Memphis (Tenn.) Public branches September 16. in February. Library, retired October 2. Virginia Tech University Roxanna Deane retired October 28 as Libraries in Blacksburg director of Tye Preston Memorial Library AT ALA promoted Patrick Tomlin in Canyon Lake, Texas. to assistant dean and Briana Jarnagin left the Office for director of learning In December Jill Hollingsworth retired Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Ser- environments. as science liaison and reference librarian vices November 6.

americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 55 66 75 1 72 69 61 54 48 42 31 51 45 36 28 25 22 83 98 95 86 32 2 62 87 56 March/April 2021 BOOKEND 33 3 63 Clues You CanUse W the four next week?” notes. “Oh, Ididthat puzzleinfive minutes. Could Idoitin The New York Times digital kicked herhobby into overdrive. “The iPad appfor became partofherdailylife incollege, andtheswitch to were hisway oflearningnew vocabulary. Crosswords her grandfather, whoemigrated from Moldova; thegames elitism andexclusion. puzzles by Dartmouth College inHanover, New Hampshire, and publishing herfirst in2017. has occasionally worked into acrossword puzzlesince Braunstein started doingcrosswords asachildwith Braunstein, digitalhumanities 4 and 5 the about information”? hat’s an libraries library Library 6 eight crossword records your time,” she shedtheirreputations for stuffy -themed answers Laura Braunstein , wants to helpbothcrossword 7 -letter word for “information 99 8 96 Metadata, librarian co at Dartmouth andit’s oneof 9 - lead ofDigital 10 11 spaces. For consideration, email THE BOOKEND my vocation andmy avocation.” fewer gatekeepers inbothareas ofmy professional about increasing access andrepresentation: “Ijust want It now has around 50constructors and1,500subscribers. women and nonbinary subscription service edited exclusively by cisandtrans started The Inkubator New York Times stream crosswords. (Women represent onlyabout27% of she plannedto doaboutthedearthofwomen inmain indie AmericanValues Clubcrosswords, asked herwhat cionados andfound mentors. BenTausig, aneditor for the 12 Braunstein says herdigitalhumanities work isalso So in2018, sheandfellow constructor Tracy Bennett Through “crossword Twitter,” shebefriendedotherafi 13 14 showcases puzzleconstructors, for example.) 15 (inkubatorcrosswords.com librarian gender 16 [email protected] s, theirwork, andtheir work - nonconforming 27 24 17 100 18 97 ), a puzzle ), apuzzle people. life . 39 19 - — - in

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