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American Library Association selects new 2024-2025 President-Elect
From an ALA email:
The American Library Association (@ALALibrary) Council decided on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, that Sam Helmick will be the 2024-2025 president-elect effective immediately. Helmick, who is Community & Access Services Coordinator at Iowa City Public Library, was recommended by the ALA Executive Board and confirmed by the Council. ALA bylaws specified the process for replacing Ray Pun, who stepped down in June for health reasons after being elected as ALA’s president-elect by members. “I am honored to be appointed as president-elect of the American Library Association,” Helmick said. “Together, we will continue to elevate the essential work of ensuring informational access for all and upholding intellectual freedom. The collective efforts of ALA members and library workers around the globe empower communities, enrich lives, and safeguard the principles of open knowledge and free expression.” Helmick was a member of the ALA Executive Board until earlier this month, at the end of their term, and is immediate past president of the Iowa Library Association. They previously served as former chair-elect on the Intellectual Freedom Round Table and chair of the Iowa Governor’s Commission of Libraries. They have served on committees for the Network of the National Library of Medicine, the Stonewall Book Awards, the ALA Policy Monitoring Committee, Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Michael L. Printz Committee, the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) Sophie Brody Award Committee, and the YALSA Fundraising Task Force. Helmick is a 2016 Emerging Leader, as well as an author, consultant, and instructor for social media marketing and graphic design. Helmick holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Services from Iowa Wesleyan University and a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois. Congratulations and welcome to Sam! |
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Book Flood Podcast (Ep 7): Deborah Salyer Showcases Amazing Library Resources
As librarians and educators, improving our craft and choosing quality resources are two pieces of the career puzzle. If you want to learn how to use the best resources and how to find the best books, you often end up in one of Deborah Salyer’s many presentation.
Deborah Salyer is an international speaker with 30 years of experience in the classroom and school libraries. Deborah spent a handful of years in the bookseller market and professional development with Media Source.
She is currently the California TeachingBooks Implementation and Training Specialist, which brings her back to work with her former librarian colleagues. She is also a senior presenter with 21 years of experience at the Bureau of Education and Research. Her current seminar is the annual, What’s New in Children’s Books, K-6 where she travels across the country doing book reports.
You can register for her seminars at BER.org. Contact her about your TeachingBooks access at dsalyer(at)overdrive.com (insert the @ symbol).
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ALA Releases Preliminary Censorship Data for 2024
From the American Library Association on social media:
As #BannedBooksWeek kicks off, ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has released new preliminary data documenting attempts to censor books, materials, and services in public, school, and academic libraries during the first eight months of 2024.
Between January 1 and August 31, 2024, ALA tracked 414 attempts to censor library materials and services. In those cases, 1,128 unique titles were challenged. In the same reporting period last year, ALA tracked 695 attempts with 1,915 unique titles challenged. Though the number of reports to date has declined in 2024, the number of documented attempts to censor books continues to far exceed the numbers prior to 2020.
Additionally, instances of soft censorship, where books are purchased but placed in restricted areas, not used in library displays, or otherwise hidden or kept off limits due to fear of challenges illustrate the impact of organized censorship campaigns on students’ and readers’ freedom to read. In some circumstances, books have been preemptively excluded from library collections, taken off the shelves before they are banned, or not purchased for library collections in the first place.
Read more: https://lnkd.in/d_QhXa6a
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Book Flood Podcast: Award-winning author Margarita Engle
Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of books such as Enchanted Air, Drum Dream Girl, Dancing Hands, and The Surrender Tree, which received a Newbery Honor. She served as the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate. Other awards include Pura Belpré Medals, the Golden Kite Award, Walter Honors, Américas Awards, Jane Addams Award, PEN U.S.A., and NSK Neustadt Prize. Recent young adult verse novels include Wings in the Wild and Wild Dreamers. Recent picture books include Eloísa’s Musical Window and Water Day. Engle’s next verse novel is Island Creatures.
Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives on the island. She studied agronomy and botany along with creative writing, and now lives in central California with her entomologist husband and squirrel-chasing Border Collie.
Podcasts
Book Purchases
Title | Author | Illustrator | Amazon Purchase |
Wild Dreamers (4/2024) | Margarita Engle | Hardcover | Paperback | |
Eloísa’s Musical Window (8/2024) | Margarita Engle | John Parra | Hardcover | Kindle |
Eloísa y su ventanita musical (8/2024) | Margarita Engle | John Parra | Hardcover | Paperback |
Social Media
Website | Twitter/X | ||
www.margaritaengle.com | Margarita Engle | @margaritapoet | @engle.margarita |
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