Tag Archives: ALA

Advocacy, Research

ALA Diversity Research Grant available!

The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services seeks proposals for the Diversity Research Grant program. Applications may address any diversity-related topic which addresses critical gaps in the knowledge of diversity, equity, and outreach issues within library and information science.

The application deadline has been extended to midnight central time on April 15, 2017.

The Diversity Research Grant consists of a one-time $2,500 award for original research. A jury of ALA members will evaluate proposals and select up to three awards. Grant recipients will be announced ahead of the 2017 ALA Annual Conference. Researchers are invited to present interim findings at the News You Can Use Diversity Research Grant Update held each ALA Midwinter Meeting and are asked to publish findings in a publication of their choosing within one year of completing their project.

Continue reading ALA Diversity Research Grant available! →

Communication, General

Notable Date to Celebrate: March 16th is Freedom of Information Day

You probably already know that at CMLE, we offer a service called “Notable Dates for your Noggin” which feature special holidays and birthdays of authors, as well as publications of well-known books. In an effort to help you get more from this service, we’ve decided to select one “Notable Date” each month to feature. We will include a few fun programming and activity ideas too, all for you to use!

Thursday, March 16th is Freedom of Information Day!

“Freedom of Information (FOI) Day is an annual event on or near March 16, the birthday of James Madison, who is widely regarded as the Father of the Constitution and as the foremost advocate for openness in government.”

Make sure to check out all the resources from ALA about this important day. You can sign up for ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom newsletter here, which contains a ton of information including censorship, privacy, academic freedom, and First Amendment issues.

Learn more about the history of Freedom of Information Day and find lessons plans and activities here.

Communication, School Media Specialist

An exciting award for K-8 school librarians!

 

K-8 school librarians are invited to apply now for a $5,000 ALA award recognizing outstanding humanities programming. See below for details, and email ALA’s Public Programs Office with any questions – publicprograms@ala.org. Thanks!

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School libraries are invited to apply for a $5,000 award recognizing outstanding humanities programming in kindergarten through eighth grade, the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office announced.

Nominations for the 2017 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming will be accepted until May 5, 2017. Applications, award guidelines and a list of previous winners are available at: www.ala.org/jaffarian. Continue reading An exciting award for K-8 school librarians! →

Programs, Resources

Is your library serving people with dementia?

In 2015, the Alzheimer’s and Related Interest Group (IGARD) of ASCLA/ALA conducted its first National Survey of Current Practices (Excel spreadsheet).

Since that time, many more libraries across the country have begun offering programs and services directly to persons living with dementia in their communities.  IGARD would like to update its previous survey in order to get an up-to-date picture of what libraries are doing in this important area of service.

If you are one of these innovative libraries, please self-identify by completing this brief survey – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2017-library-dementia-survey.

If you responded to the earlier survey, we would appreciate an updated response.  Results of this updated survey will be accumulated and posted on the IGARD Web page before ALA’s Annual Conference in June.

If your library has not yet begun offering services to this growing segment of your community or is at the beginning stages, please note that IGARD is also hosting a Preconference before the Annual Conference entitled “Becoming a Dementia Friendly Library: Serving People Living with Dementia in Your Community”.  We are bringing in experts from the field of dementia care to provide background information and will be presenting several case studies of successful programs for this too often forgotten population. The preconference has been listed in the Conference Scheduler.

Thank you in advance for your assistance with the survey and for your good work improving the quality of life for those living with dementia!  Feel free to forward this message to any other colleagues who might be interested in responding to the survey.

Conference

Going to ALA? Make a video to apply for a travel award!

Do you know about the ALA Sustainability Round Table (SustainRT)?  Not a SustainRT member? Log into your ALA Connect account and add us to your ALA membership. It’s only $10 to join and right now, SustainRT is looking to grant a $500 Travel Award to one individual (must be member of SustainRT) for the purpose of attending ALA Annual 2017.  The award will come in the form of a reimbursement and may be applied to travel, lodging or conference registration expenses. The theme for this year’s award is “Green is the new Black.” Applicants are invited to submit a 60 second (or less) video explaining how libraries can empower their customers and communities toward a greener, more sustainable future. Creativity is encouraged!  Deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM on March 15, 2017. The Travel Award committee will select the top three videos and post them to the SustainRT Facebook page by March 22, 2017. The video to receive the most “likes” by 11:59 PM on March 31, 2017 will win the $500 Travel Award (in the event of a tie, the Travel Award judges determine the winner). The winner of the Travel Award will be announced on the SustainRT blog (http://olos.ala.org/sustainrt/)on April 1, 2017. To submit your video, go here: https://goo.gl/forms/d9TlSae3ABkQKHdy2

Continue reading Going to ALA? Make a video to apply for a travel award! →