It can be tough to know what to do if your library has a potential censorship situation. But you are not alone!! The ALA is here for all libraries, whether or not you are a member. Being part of a profession means you have resources and support – a good thing when problems happen!
The Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) introduced upgraded tools that make censorship easier to report and easier to track. We’ve rolled out a simpler form to document censorship and hate crime and a web page exclusively for challenge support.
At CMLE Headquarters we are all about library advocacy!! So we are excited to pass on to you the chance to do some fun, and valuable, advocacy work for your library!
In this article from American Libraries, Troy University in Alabama is featured because of their awesome new additions – six exercise bikes with tables for laptops that were purchased for student use!
Three bikes are available in the library’s student space at the main campus in Troy, and three are available at the university’s extension campus in Dothan, AL. The additions have been so popular and well-received that the university has ordered three more bikes and six elliptical machines that can be used under tables while students are seated!
poster presentations are a fun way to meet people who do what you do!
CMLE libraries have a lot of great things to offer their communities and the library profession. And we would like to see you showing it off!
Do you have an interesting program? An exciting event? A neat way to organize, arrange, display, or circulate your materials?? Make a poster, and share it!
Posters are very simple to make, and at Headquarters we can give you all the help you need. It is a great way to share information with colleagues, and you have the chance to learn all kinds of interesting ideas from your fellow presenters – who will all be sharing information on a topic similar to yours.
You do not need to have a completed poster when you submit the application, so you have plenty of time to think about graphic ways to show your neat stuff! (The design element is pretty low key; everyone there just wants to hear about your work!)
And if you want to go to the Annual Conference (you do not need to be an ALA member to attend!), exhibiting a poster is a good way to help convince your supervisor you should attend!
Earlier this week, I was able to attend an ALA webinar called “Liven up Baby and Toddler Storytimes with Sign Language” presented by Kathy Macmillan. I was excited to learn about this topic because I am hoping to learn to communicate through signing with my own little one at home, but also because I know many of our member libraries work with small kids and thought this could be a fun addition to their storytime routine!
Kathy began the presentation by laying out the multiple benefits of including ASL (American Sign Language) in your library programs. There were a ton! Some of which were: kids are able to sign before they can speak, signing stimulates language development, it reduces frustration, and learning one form of communication encourages more communication in general. Plus, signing is an instant way to get kids to participate!
