American Libraries

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 ALAPUBLISHING Check out our upcoming alastore.ala.org workshops and eCourses! 142--WWEEEEKKEECCOOUURRSSEE 9150--WMEINEKUTEECOWUORRSKESSHEORPIES 29-0P-AMRINT UWTOERWKOSHROKSPHOP T4W-WOE1E2K-WECEOEUKRESCEOURSES SELF-PACED ECOURSE LInaturondchuicntgioannd GToepttSinogciSatlarted DGrisaapshteicr Craetatloingging Be a Great tEoxpMaunsdicing wMeitdhiaMTurseincds DPleasnignninSgkfiollsr fEoffreNcteiwvebOiensline Boss During VReirfteuraelnScervices aLinbdraSrtiarantsehgipies LfoibrrAalrlieLisbrary LeeCaorunrisnegBundle a Crisis ewiCthoLuaurrsa eSolBomuonn dle wEimth MpalroyyGreaceesFlaherty wAitChoSmarapJl.eBteeutGteur ide with Dor.mMianriyquBeolTiunrnbow with Catherine MfoarnuCshaandlleLinzagWinegisbrod wWitehdthneeMsdusaiyc ,Library Twhituh rAsadroany,Schmidt and Amanda Roth Hakala Ausperk MBCiearcgrucinhms2sM2t,oa2nn0dc2aey1s, MAsasorccihati3o1n, 2021, April 1, 2021, Begins Monday, Self-Paced with Ellyssa Kroski 2:30pm Eastern 2W:3e0dpnmesdEaysste, rn FBeebgrinusarMyo1n, 2d0ay2,0 Begins Monday, January 6 & 13, 2021 April 5, 2021 Begins Monday, January 4, 2020 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 BOOKS 44 FEATURES 30 38 30 How User-Friendly Is Your Website? 34 Usability lessons for libraries in a remote world BY Greg Landgraf 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 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 Readers 49 Visualize This Health librarians quell pandemic ALA panic with webinars BY Monika Glowacka-Musial 4 From the President BY Timothy Inklebarger YOUTH MATTERS A Place within ALA 20 Think Inside the Box 50 It’s Okay to Be Wrong BY Julius C. Jefferson Jr. Librarians turn to a Japanese form BY Linda W. Braun of storytelling during pandemic 5 From the Executive ON MY MIND Director BY Diana Panuncial 51 Bookmobiles for Justice Revolutions SPOTLIGHT Where We Stand BY Lesley Garrett 22 A Movement Grows in Brooklyn BY Tracie D. Hall LIBRARIAN’S LIBRARY Oral histories highlight one neighborhood’s 8 Update environmental issues and activism 52 Engagement at a Distance What’s happening BY Acacia Thompson BY Araceli Méndez Hintermeister at ALA NEWSMAKER PEOPLE 12 Candidate 54 Announcements Statements 24 Kazuo Ishiguro THE BOOKEND Campaign statements Celebrated author on how technology 56 Clues You Can Use from the candidates for may alter our humanity 2022–2023 president BY Alison Marcotte BY Stacey A. Aldrich, Ed Garcia, and Lessa PLUS Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada 17 By the Numbers 23 Global Reach 25 Noted & Quoted 16 Academy of American Poets Poster | GEICO 11 | Univeristy of California Press 21 | University of Nebraska 19 | American Library Association Editions Cover 3 eLearning Solutions Cover 2 | Graphics Cover 4 | JobLIST 15

THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Address: 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1300 Spring into Action Chicago, IL 60601 Website: March marks the one-year anniversary of most Email: americanlibraries.org states’ ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns. While Phone: [email protected] pandemic life has, of course, taken a drastic Career Ads: 800-545-2433 plus extension toll on virtually everyone over the past year, JobLIST.ala.org Favorite EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Creating Emily Udell reports on some of the specific challenges spring Sanhita SinhaRoy sidewalk activity? chalk art this period presents to patrons with disabilities, as well [email protected] | x4219 Kayaking MANAGING EDITOR Terra Dankowski [email protected] | x5282 SENIOR EDITORS as the library workers who provide accessible services Amy Carlton and programs (cover story, p. 26). Enjoying the [email protected] | x5105 Morning At the same time, the pandemic has also provided lilac bush under coffee on my Phil Morehart back porch opportunities to examine how we can innovate. In my window [email protected] | x4218 “How User-Friendly Is Your Website?” (p. 30), Greg ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sanhita SinhaRoy Spring Sallyann Price Keeping an Landgraf talks with library workers who offer practical cleaning [email protected] | x4213 eye out for migrating birds tips for improving—and welcoming patrons into—your EDITOR-AT-LARGE Anne Ford library’s digital world. [email protected] Continuing the theme of user experience and design: EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING ASSOCIATE “Users at the Center of Everything” (p. 44), an ALA Edi- Carrie Smith tions excerpt from coauthors Callan Bignoli and Lauren Looking for [email protected] | x4216 the first flowers ART DIRECTOR Stara, who discuss how “design thinking” can identify Baseball Rebecca Lomax Planting effective ways for reaching and retaining users. spring training [email protected] | x4217 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. The renowned author of The Remains of the Day talks ALA reserves the right to refuse advertising. A bike ride PUBLISHING DEPARTMENT with Alison Marcotte (p. 24) about his new novel, Mary Mackay Going Klara and the Sun, which examines the ethics of tech- Associate Executive Director for walks Mary Jo Bolduc 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 of living in a timely articles in this issue, including one related to community Melissa Kay Walling, Director digital world, environmental awareness and activism (“A Movement Grows in Brooklyn,” Spotlight, p. 22) as well as an garden ADVISORY COMMITTEE Susan H. Polos (Chair), Helen Ruth Adams, Jason K. Alston, uplifting story about the emergence of library butterfly Crystal Chen, Janie L. Hermann, Jasmina Jusic, and Shelley read how 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 workers, and season, consider joining digital humanities librarian Available full text from ProQuest, EBSCO Publishing, H. W. Wilson, communities Laura Braunstein in constructing crossword puzzles LexisNexis, Information Access, JSTOR. (Bookend, p. 56). SUBSCRIBE are coming What’s a nine-letter word for an ALA conference that Libraries and other institutions: $74/year, 6 issues, US, Canada, and together to just celebrated its 107th—and final—meeting? Visit Mexico; international: $84. Subscription price for individuals included americanlibraries.org to read highlights from our cover- in ALA membership dues. 800-545-2433 email membership@ ala.org, or visit ala.org. Claim missing issues: ALA Member and keep our age of the historic 2021 Midwinter Virtual—including Customer Service. Allow six weeks. Single issues $7.50, with 30% discount for five or more; contact Carrie Smith, 800-545-2433 recaps of talks by civil rights pioneer Ruby Bridges and x4216 or [email protected] First Lady Jill Biden. Our team put together almost 40 PUBLISHED humanity American Libraries (ISSN 0002-9769) is published 6 times yearly with occasional supplements by the American Library connected. posts, and as always, we welcome your feedback. Association (ALA). Printed in USA. Periodicals postage paid at 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 On 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. since 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 ushers in with a sense of hope, opportunity, and ful transfer of power with the inauguration of optimism. our 46th president and the historic swearing in There is no better time than now to be the Association that the library field and our public of our 49th vice president, who is the first Black need. There is a way for every member to be Julius C. Jefferson Jr. person, first Asian American, and first woman to engaged. Maximize the value of your membership by participating in ALA divisions and round tables hold the job, and who was sworn in by the first that focus on the specific needs of our profession, or by serving on Council committees of ALA, divi- Latina Supreme Court Justice. Our democracy sions, or round tables. Other opportunities can be found in the work of the 28 ALA affiliates (bit.ly/ prevailed and our country has evolved. ALAaffiliates) and in the work of ALA offices. What do these events mean for libraries and Join the Association’s extensive advocacy network and partner with the Public Policy and the Association? Advocacy Office as well as state chapters to influ- ence legislation and policies of importance to the Libraries and library workers had an important library field. Work with ALA’s Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services to navigate issues role leading up to the 2020 presidential election of diversity and literacy in the library field. Take a stand for privacy and the First Amendment by encouraging and supporting voter registra- using the resources and services of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. tion, which led to more than 66% of eligible I look to the hope of reenvisioning our collec- voters participating—making 2020 the most tive identity as a member-driven Association, in which all members can see themselves as leaders, engaged election since 1900. No matter who you mentors, and partners. I hope that ALA will meet the needs of all members, and all members will voted for, as an ALA member you understood the have a place within ALA. significance of engaging in our democracy and I hope for optimism, so that all ALA members understand we are one Association with many the democratic process. parts, and we are strongest when we are engaged, work together, and speak with one voice. Participation in the democratic process and JULIUS C. JEFFERSON JR. is president of the Ameri- Only 20% the governance of our nation is important to the can Library Association. of members citizens we serve. The governance of ALA should be equally important to our members. participated An essential part of being an ALA member is in the 2020 being engaged in our governance structure. On March 8, when the election opens, each member ALA election, will have an opportunity to participate in shaping compared the governance structure of ALA. This is the moment when all members have a with 66% voter part to play by voting to elect those will lead ALA in 2022–2023, as well as the presiding officers of engagement our divisions and round tables, and those on our during the governing body, Council. These elected members recent national will have the responsibility of representing your interests. Our elected member leaders are vital to election. the current and future success of ALA. However, 4 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

from the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Revolutions Where We Stand We must connect the fights against library and community disinvestment Audre 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 and the arena and the manner of In his 2005 Jean E. Coleman Library Out- our revolution, but more usually we must do reach Lecture “Classism in the Stacks,” librarian Sanford Berman reflected on the responsibility battle wherever we are standing.” libraries have to eliminate rules that further disenfranchise the poor. Berman roundly called Those words seem especially prescient now as out “the hostility—or at least lack of sympathy— toward low-income people [that] manifests in we look across the country at the libraries that various barriers and kinds of discrimination” and can lead to a library services orientation Tracie D. Hall have struggled most during this period of wide- that ultimately ends up “valuing middle and spread library defunding and service reductions. upper classes more highly than people at or below the poverty level.” To disrupt antipoverty Though the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated policy, “everyone’s priority should be getting public libraries financed more generously and the issue, there has long been an unmistakable continuously,” Berman recommended. correlation between communities that navigate Advocacy as disruption? Yes! What if we revolutionize the way we fund and equip our high rates of poverty and those that limit spend- libraries in order to confront head-on the ineq- uities that we often decry on our protest posters ing on libraries, a correlation antithetical to the and in our institutional committees? What if our lowest-income neighborhoods become home to baseline understanding of why libraries exist and our most well-funded and well-staffed school libraries? What if universities that serve the what they can offer users, and one that over time highest percentage of first-generation college students shift a larger portion of their bud- cannot help but feel negligent—if not willful. gets to their libraries? What if library trustees become adamant that their mayor or city man- As I write this, I am compiling research notes ager help them respond to rising high school dropout rates by establishing a standalone on the role of libraries in interrupting the school- public library for young adults in a shopping center facing low tenancy? What if we connect to-prison pipeline, as I am more than certain that the dots between library and community disin- vestment and position our advocacy efforts to if we were to identify the communities across the counter them both? country with the highest per capita rates of incar- I believe we can. What’s more, I believe we must. ceration, we would almost universally observe TRACIE D. HALL is executive director of the Ameri- limited investment in school and public libraries can Library Association. Reach her at [email protected]. There has in those same zip codes. long been a This investigation led me to an August 2019 broadcast of a WOSU Public Media story, “The correlation Decline of School Libraries” (bit.ly/AL-WOSU), between featuring Liz Deskins, former school librarian and adjunct professor at Kent (Ohio) State Univer- communities sity; Koby Levin, reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit, that navigate a nonprofit that covers education news; and Mary Keeling, former president of the American Associ- high rates of ation of School Librarians. Noting that the disap- poverty and pearance of school libraries is happening in front of our eyes, the story cites research findings that those that limit “one in five school librarian posts was eliminated spending between 2000 and 2016 across the country.” on libraries. Each speaker reiterates the point that this policy of library disinvestment hurts low-income americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 5

from our READERS Sigh, another Personal Is Political Measuring the Virus powerful resource in hand that I awesome-looking can use. Thank you. paper to read. “Tarnished Legacies” (Jan./ During these times of uncertainty, Can my great Feb., p. 28) is a great reminder it is helpful to receive guidance K. C. Boyd colleagues take that all types of libraries are on procedures that impact your Washington, D.C. a break for a bit? mired in politics and the history workflow, and more importantly, The number of of politics, not just presidential your health. When I received my Insufficient open tabs is ones. Every type of library— January/February issue of Ameri- Condemnation getting hard school, public, academic, and can Libraries, I was pleasantly sur- to manage. special—showcases its politics prised to see the REALM project I am writing in response to the /end sarcasm by how it develops collections, chart as a pullout in the magazine recent statement from the Amer- (about asking what metadata it uses to catalog (“REALM Test Results: How Long ican Library Association’s (ALA) them to stop) items, what programs it does or SARS-CoV-2 Lives on Common Executive Board (“ALA Condemns does not allow, and how it cre- Library Materials,” p. 32). Violence on Capitol Hill, Calls for @METAGEEKY, in ates a strategic plan to serve its Advocacy,” The Scoop, Jan. 7). response to “Call to community. The challenge is to The chart serves as a guide but The Board’s statement falls short Action” (Jan./Feb., p. 54) identify politics so that equity, also as a tool of leverage when of upholding the Core Values representation, and an honest entering discussions with your of Librarianship, as outlined on I’ve been interpretation of the past can be school and district administrators. ALA’s website and reiterated in its enjoying starting a proactive goal. For school librarians, the REALM Intellectual Freedom resources. to catch up with chart helps back our position @CallNumberPod Libraries are imperfect institu- that we must have best practices The Executive Board mem- episodes. Just tions populated with imperfect to follow when receiving books bers forcefully condemned the listened to Ep. 52: people. This sentiment in no way back into our collections and violence, destruction, looting, Libraries and excuses these imperfections; quarantining and storing mate- and threats that occurred at the Sustainability. rather, these imperfections ought rials. These guidelines are to be US Capitol on January 6, but they Great! to be constant reminders that adhered to and taken seriously. chose not to condemn the white libraries still have a long way supremacist and anti-Semitic @BOOKPLUSCOFFEE, in to go to be truly representative To date, it is uncertain if my symbols, language, and actions response to Call Number of the people and communities school district will or will not that framed that violence and podcast’s Episode 52, they serve and how history has return to in-person learning, gave it context. Library users who “Libraries and Sustain- shaped these institutions, places, or when that might happen. read the statement will gather ability” (July 17, 2020) and people. Through open and Because of the forward think- that the Executive Board made honest assessment, libraries ing of OCLC, the Institute of a clear choice not to condemn can be leaders in recognizing Museum and Library Services, the white supremacist and anti- how our institutions’ culture and American Libraries, I have a Semitic nature of the violence and needs to change. It is important will make the logical assumption to reflect on the past and be that white supremacist and anti- mindful of the present so we can Semitic acts that are not violent recognize the opportunities of and do not subvert the democrat- the future. I believe that libraries ic process are accepted by ALA. are up to the task of addressing these challenges. I stand with a growing number of library workers who believe it Gavin J. Woltjer is possible to respect intellectual Billings, Montana freedom without sacrificing our responsibilities to those who 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 for clarity, style, and length. Send to [email protected] or American Libraries, From Our @amlibraries Readers, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60601. facebook.com/ 6 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org amlibraries

on our WEBSITE genocidal violence. As I read the members tried to get the crowd What You’re Reading Core Values of Librarianship, I moving out of the library. One see values that are being ignored heckler reached for their camera 1 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 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 2 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 bit.ly/AL-AcadInsights public good. to fragments. 3 REALM Project Infographic Results from Nicholas Schiller The outcome was that the the first five rounds of tests show how Vancouver, Washington library reaffirmed the public’s long SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes right to meet in the library and COVID-19, lives on common library Welcoming Police discuss current issues. From that materials. bit.ly/AL-REALMresults time on we paid more atten- I appreciated “Rethinking Police tion to security, finally hiring In Case You Missed It Presence” (Sept./Oct. 2020, a uniformed security guard p. 46). I had an occasion in 1966 for meetings that we thought Can a Patron Who Gets Sick when police were called to help might lead to trouble, though Sue the Library? Our ongoing quell a disturbance at Hunting- none occurred. ton (N.Y) Public Library on Long legal issues column addresses remote Island. I was director there from Stanley A. Ransom learning, exculpatory agreements, 1956 to 1974, a period marked Plattsburgh, New York and other topics. bit.ly/AL-LegalMail by high tension in the community around the war in Vietnam and CORRECTIONS COVID-19 Mitigation Measures nuclear energy policy. In “Mitigating Implicit Bias” Episode 58 of our Call Number pod- One of the organizations meet- (Jan./Feb., p. 44), UCLA Libraries cast looks at library efforts to curb the ing at the library was SANE (the was erroneously referred to as virus’s spread. bit.ly/AL-CallNumber58 Committee for a Sane Nuclear the site of a patron experience Policy), a group dedicated to pre- involving racism at an academic ALA Midwinter Virtual Complete venting the use of nuclear bombs. archive. The institution in ques- On the night of March 15, 1966, an tion is the Vietnam Center and coverage of this year’s speakers, invited speaker addressed alter- Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at sessions, award ceremonies, and natives to the war in Vietnam. I Texas Tech University. on-demand events. bit.ly/AL-MWV21 was at our regular library board meeting in another room. When “Drawing the Line” (Nov./ Coming Soon our meeting was done, I stopped Dec. 2020, p. 18) incorrectly in to see how it was going, arriv- asserted that four murals at Our annual Library Systems Report looks at the ing during the Q&A period. University of New Mexico’s Zimmerman Library had been latest moves from the library technology industry. There were heckling and dis- temporarily covered while the ruptions from the audience. The university awaited state permis- How is the library job market trending, and what SANE officers asked if they could sion to remove them. The murals call the police to help keep order, had not been covered. are best practices for job hunting in a pandemic? and I assisted them in making the call. The police came, the heckling A Global Reach item (Nov./ AMERICANLIBRARIES.ORG ceased, and the police left. Dec. 2020, p. 19) mistakenly stated that Of Mice and Men was americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 7 The meeting finally broke set in the American South. It up at around 11 p.m., and SANE takes place in California.

IMLS Receives FY2021 Budget Increase The 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 appropriations 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 for library funding. The FY2021 appropriations bill contains increases for other 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 meet community needs in the long run,” Jefferson continued. program, an increase of $1 million “At the same time, I won’t hide ALA’s disappointment that ■ $167.5 million each in funding for the National Endowment there is no direct funding for America’s libraries in the new emergency relief package. ALA stands firmly behind libraries’ for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the need for additional resources.” Arts, marking a $5.25 million increase over last year ■ $462.8 million for the National Library of Medicine, While the relief package did not include direct emergency an increase of $5.9 million funding through IMLS, the bill does provide library-eligible ■ $757.3 million for the Library of Congress, an increase measures, including $81.9 billion for K–12 schools and higher of $32 million education. Congress also expanded the Paycheck Protection ■ $117 million for the Government Publishing Office Program to include eligibility for 501(c)(6) organizations that ■ $377 million for the National Archives and Records are tax-exempt, such as library associations. Administration, an $18 million increase 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. wider world around us. But I’m buoyed The call for presentations opens in April. ALA’s Executive Board announced in by the incredible determination, resil- Additional information is available at a January 28 statement that the 2021 ience, and community-building I’ve seen alaliblearnx.org. Annual Conference and Exhibition, in the past year,” said ALA Executive scheduled for June 24–29 in Chicago, Director Tracie D. Hall in the statement. SustainRT Seeks Nominations will take place virtually. for Wellness Citation Announcing LibLearnX “We hoped that by this summer, it ALA’s Sustainability Round Table would be safe to meet again in person,” After 107 occurrences, ALA retired its (SustainRT) is seeking nominations for its said ALA President Julius C. Jefferson Jr. Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits with Citation for Wellness in the Workplace, a in the statement. “However, that is a virtual event in January. Moving way of recognizing libraries that go above clearly not the case. Despite the promise forward, ALA members will have the and beyond in meeting the wellness needs of vaccines, the pandemic continues to opportunity to attend LibLearnX (LLX), of their staff. devastate our country. For the safety of the Association’s new library learning everyone involved, we will be moving our experience, kicking off January 2022 in ALA members are invited to nomi- Annual Conference to a virtual format. San Antonio. nate any library that has made efforts in Given the success of our just-wrapped 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

New Business Advisory Group APR. On January 15, ALA announced the formation of a Business Advisory Group School Library Month representing libraries, civic life, technology, and academia. The 13 advi- ala.org/aasl/advocacy/slm sory group members have agreed to serve terms of 12–24 months and will explore strategies related to ALA’s new business development. APR. 4–10 The advisors are Charles Adler, Kickstarter cofounder; Adam Bush, cofounder National Library Week and provost of College Unbound; Amy Eshleman, former director of the inau- ala.org/nlw gural YOUmedia Center at Chicago Public Library; Mae Hong, vice president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Sandee Kastrul, president and cofounder of APR. 6 i.c.stars; Eric Klinenberg, social sciences professor and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University; Jim Neal, university librarian National Library Workers Day emeritus at Columbia University in New York City; Marie Oestergaard, director ala-apa.org/nlwd of Dokk1: Aarhus (Denmark) Public Library; Veronda Pitchford, assistant direc- tor of Califa Group; Harper Reed, chief technology officer of Barack Obama’s APR. 7 presidential campaign; Pam Sandlian Smith, director of Anythink Libraries; Joyce Valenza, associate teaching professor at Rutgers University School of National Bookmobile Day Communication and Information; and Kelvin Watson, executive director of Las bit.ly/bookmobileday21 Vegas–Clark County (Nev.) Library District. APR. 10–17 “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, Money Smart Week business, and public practice,” said ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall. “Each moneysmartweek.org one of them brings a fresh way of thinking about libraries that will challenge and enrich ALA’s business development strategies going forward.” APR. 13–16 salaries and status of librarians and other Institutions Library Reference Model and ACRL 2021 Virtual Conference library workers, via the online form at compliance with accessibility standards. conference.acrl.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 APR. 25–MAY 1 winning library will be notified April 23. and for international exchange of Additional information regarding award bibliographic data. RDA Toolkit sub- Preservation Week criteria and the selection process is avail- scribers will have access to both versions ala.org/preservationweek able at bit.ly/SustainRTcitation. of RDA Toolkit going forward. Visit rdatoolkit.org for subscriptions and more APR. 30 New RDA Toolkit Available information. Día: Children’s Day/Book Day In December 2020, Resource Description Free educational resources are also dia.ala.org and Access (RDA) elevated the beta RDA available at rdatoolkit.org and via the Toolkit to official status. The redesigned RDA Toolkit YouTube channel at bit.ly/ JUNE toolkit—a subscription-based online RDAYouTube. platform that provides catalogers across Rainbow Book Month the world with data elements, guidelines, Call for Mission ala.org/rt/rrt and instructions for creating metadata— Enhancement Proposals aims to bring the RDA standard into JUNE 24–29 alignment with the International ALA’s International Relations Round Federation of Library Associations and Table (IRRT) is seeking proposals for 2021 ALA Annual Conference its 2021 Mission Enhancement Grant, and Exhibition 2021.alaannual.org SEPT. Library Card Sign-Up Month ala.org/librarycardsignup SEPT. 26–OCT. 2 Banned Books Week bannedbooksweek.org SEPT. 29 Banned Websites Awareness Day ala.org/aasl/advocacy/bwad OCT. TeenTober ala.org/yalsa/teentober OCT. 21–23 AASL National Conference Salt Lake City national.aasl.org americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 9

UPDATE established to fund member-initiated ALA Condemns Violence international activities that contribute to on Capitol Hill ALA’s role in international librarianship. The grant’s goals are to promote interna- I n a January 7 statement, ALA’s Executive Board condemned the violence that tional projects or partnerships, promote occurred in Washington, D.C., the previous day. It reads, in part: global dialogue about librarianship, “ALA forcefully condemns the violent attempts to undermine the integrity increase visibility of international of our electoral process and our democracy. The threats, destruction of govern- librarianship, and increase international ment buildings, and looting witnessed on January 6 do not constitute peaceful collaboration in librarianship. Grants protest, but domestic terrorism. vary, with a maximum of $1,000. “Libraries in America defend the constitutional rights of all individuals and Proposals must be submitted by are cornerstones of the communities they serve. We celebrate and preserve current IRRT members of two or more our democratic society so that all individuals have the opportunity to become years in good standing. Each member lifelong learners and engaged residents—informed, literate, educated, and may submit only one proposal per year. culturally enriched. Proposals are due by March 15, and submitters will be notified of decisions “A growing number of elected officials are awake to the value of their before May 15. libraries; but many have yet to understand the role libraries play in the educa- tion and employment of their constituents and the economic empowerment of For examples of proposals and to their communities. There is much more work to do. To preserve our democratic apply, visit bit.ly/IRRTgrant. 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. AASL Conference ALA reaffirms our commitment to advocating for libraries, library workers, and Registration Opens the profession.” Registration is open for the 2021 Amer- The statement calls on library workers and supporters to join ALA’s advocacy ican Association of School Librarians network at bit.ly/AL-advocacy. (AASL) National Conference, planned for October 21–23 in Salt Lake City. Reg- needed equipment, connect families to CPPL’s outreach department, branch istration rates and date-sensitive promo low-cost internet, and offer programs to staff, and IT quickly put together a plan codes can be found at national.aasl.org. teach community members tech skills. to provide a once-a-week pop-up library service. But unpredictable weather The conference will feature keynotes, With Microsoft’s support, PLA’s new conditions have made the pop-up more than 140 sessions, author panels, initiative will focus on connecting com- service less than ideal for users who research into practice sessions, more munity members to online training and need to find work, do schoolwork, or file than 100 exhibitors, an ideas lab for certifications that can lead to new claims for insurance, unemployment, sharing best practices, author signings, and improved employment in the post- and FEMA funds. and networking opportunities. Confer- coronavirus economy. ence content will be rooted in AASL’s Thanks to a $20,000 donation from National School Library Standards PLA encourages public library staffs ALA’s Disaster Relief Fund, those for Learners, School Librarians, and to learn about, promote, and incorporate communities will now receive portable School Libraries. the new learning paths, low-cost certifica- library buildings that will allow them to tions, and other tools offered by Micro- resume full service, plus new technology Full conference registration allows soft, LinkedIn Learning, and GitHub. For kits to enhance mobile printing, copying, school librarian attendees to invite their more information, visit bit.ly/PLA-skilling. faxing, scanning, and Wi-Fi services. administrator to attend at no extra cost. Through May 1, AASL is offering no-risk Louisiana Libraries To contribute to the ALA Disaster registration and full refunds. Reopen with ALA’s Help Relief Fund, visit ec.ala.org/donate. PLA Initiative Prepares The record-setting 2020 hurricane Community Engagement Workforce for In-Demand Jobs season hit parts of Louisiana espe- Grants Awarded cially hard, damaging three of Cal- The Public Library Association (PLA) casieu Parish Public Library’s (CPPL) ALA’s Public Programs Office (PPO) and Microsoft are teaming up to promote 13 branches beyond use. announced on January 5 the first tools that help libraries better support job seekers. Since 2018, PLA and Microsoft have collaborated to help libraries secure 10 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

UPDATE 200 recipients of ALA’s Libraries Trans- Executive Board Urges forming Communities: Focus on Small Libraries to ‘Stand Strong’ and Rural Libraries grants. The first 200 grant recipients—which represent public, The week before the 2020 US presidential election, ALA’s Executive Board academic, school, and tribal libraries issued a statement of solidarity with the library community, acknowledging in 43 states—will each receive $3,000 the unrest and uncertainty that led up to Election Day. to tackle issues that range from media “Despite the unique difficulties faced in 2020, ALA and the more than literacy to COVID-19 safety to unemploy- 300,000 library workers across America continue to demonstrate the core values ment. Library workers will complete a of librarianship, which have stood the test of time,” the October 29, 2020, state- free ALA e-course on basic facilitation ment reads. “America’s libraries have weathered seasons of turmoil and stability. skills and host at least one conversation Library professionals have proven their tenacity and emerged with renewed vigor with community members on a chosen from the most challenging times, economically, socially, and politically. topic. Grant funds may cover a range of expenses, including staff time and collec- \"Libraries are one of the few places where people of diverse backgrounds can tions and technology purchases. For the gather.... ALA supports the right of every eligible individual to cast their ballot full list of grant recipients, visit bit.ly/ without the threat of intimidation or reprisal [and] remains a steadfast advocate LTCgrants. for libraries and library workers. The Executive Board urges ALA members to stand strong. The core values of librarianship transcend the vicissitudes of politics PPO also invites applications for a and will remain our polestar as we advocate for ourselves and our communities second funding round that will award an from a position of strength and moral courage.” additional $1.4 million to a maximum 450 grantees. Library workers may apply online for grant funding until March 4 at ala.org/LTC. DO YOU LIKE SAVING MONEY?
 


  
     
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from the CANDIDATES Stacey A. Aldrich State librarian, Hawaii State Public Library System, CANDIDATE FOR ALA PRESIDENT Honolulu | bit.ly/ALAAldrich Aloha, 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. for 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. contribute to their communities? I have worked in academic, special, The second is to develop a program 4. What is the role of libraries in the public, and state libraries, and each of ideas, conversations, and actions future of communication, ideas, has provided unique opportunities to that help create the future of our and the social dilemma? Have you positively contribute to the communi- profession. seen the film The Social Dilemma? ties we serve and our profession. Creators of the digital age are I’d like us to have real conversations, questioning the humanity of social I have spent the majority of my debate, and futures-building sessions media and its impact on our society. professional career in state libraries around four starting questions: Libraries have a role to play in and have been the state librarian of 1. Do ALA members feel heard and engaging our communities and California, Pennsylvania, and now helping define the future. Hawaii, where I am also director of feel as though they have a place in I am curious about the big future the 51-branch public library system. the organization? Do we under- questions that you think we should be In between, I worked for a futuring stand one another’s stories? talking about, and I want to start infor- think tank in Washington, D.C., and 2. What is the future of collections mal, deep-dive discussions or actions have continued to facilitate, train, and in libraries? What will be phys- around them. present on future-forward thinking. ical? What is our place in the I would consider it an extreme priv- I have been president of the Associa- ilege to represent and work with our tion of Specialized and Cooperative It would be an community to build a future that will Library Agencies and served on various nourish and support our members, ALA and national advisory groups for extreme privilege libraries, and the places we call home. projects like the Edge Initiative, Project Let’s create a year of future-forward Outcome, and Grow with Google. to build a future thinking and action together. Most recently, I completed two years as Want to learn more and start chat- president of the Chief Officers of State that will support ting? Check out my Instagram (bit.ly/ Library Agencies. ALAAldrich). members, libraries, Mahalo for your consideration! I believe there are two important responsibilities of an ALA president. and the places we call home. 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 Before 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 ciation. 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. which has had such a positive impact We should strive for a more inclu- on my professional life. I have significant advocacy expe- sive library community, which means Our Association is facing internal rience and have worked extensively continuing to promote equity, diver- and external challenges that can only with members of Congress. As sity, and inclusion. But this should be overcome by strong leadership and legislative action chair for the Rhode also include a strong commitment to collaborative effort. I bring proven Island Library Association, I have accessibility. As president, I will focus leadership and experience in corpo- fought for increased state funding on member engagement, effective rate, nonprofit, and library settings for libraries and statewide adoption governance, and sustainability. to help navigate these challenges. of the AASL Standards for school I was a 2010 Emerging Leader and I believe in bringing people have served three terms on Council. As libraries reopen, together. I have a proven track record I was a member of key committees at ALA and in my community, work- and boards such as the Committee on the safety, job ing with varied groups to bring about Diversity, Spectrum Scholar selection positive change. The decision to run jury, Finance and Audit Committee, security, and was less about personal ambition and Reference and User Services Associa- more about a sense of commitment tion board, and ALA Executive Board. wellness of library and belief that I can help address Under my leadership, our team the challenges we all face. I have at Cranston (R.I.) Public Library workers should be a passion for public service, which received the 2020 Jerry Kline Com- my work within our Association has munity Impact Prize of $250,000 at the top of our nurtured. I will bring that passion and commitment as your ALA president. 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 CANDIDATE FOR ALA PRESIDENT Library District in Rolling Hills Estates, California | lessaforlibraries.com Now 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 in 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, By leading together responsive to our members. ALA can live up to its full potential 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 your voice heard as I ask for your vote antiracist. I have been proud to help the Association we and support—not just in this election, lead ALA’s commitment to diversity, but in our Association every day. need it to be today. ALA ELECTION VOTE: March 8–April 7. More information at bit.ly/ALAelection21 14 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

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Human visitors explore the butterfly garden at Kokomo–Howard County (Ind.) Public Library’s South branch. Where Monarchs Reign such as monarchs, which play an important part in Earth’s ecosys- Library butterfly gardens emphasize tems. Libraries around the country sustainability, community partnerships have dedicated outdoor space to these gardens, which serve as pro- BY Emily Udell W hen members of the marketing director. “That shows gramming and education venues Photos: Kokomo–Howard County (Ind.) Public Library (garden); ©thawats/Adobe Stock (butterfly) Howard County (Ind.) how important it is for libraries to as well as tranquil settings where Master Gardener be community partners and focus patrons can enjoy a book or relax. Association became enchanted by not just inside their walls but out- Butterfly gardens not only attract the idea of creating a local but- side their walls.” their namesake insects but also can terfly habitat, their first stop was serve as havens for other pollina- Kokomo–Howard County Public KHCPL’s garden came to fruition tors such as moths, bees, birds, and Library (KHCPL). Not for books and in September 2020. Fipps says the bats; together, they pollinate nearly information but to get the project garden has been well received as a 80% of flowering and crop plants, off—and into—the ground. site for staff and the public to take according to the US Forest Service. a break and the library and local Drawing on their existing rela- groups to host programming. It has “People have trashed the planet,” tionship with KHCPL, the gardeners also inspired other projects, such as says Jeffrey Glassberg, president discussed planting a community a local scouting group that plans to of the North American Butterfly butterfly garden—a sanctuary install a rain garden. “It continues Association (NABA), a nonprofit designed to attract and support to grow and evolve because the conservation organization. “If the colorful winged creatures at all community sees the potential and we can save butterflies, we can stages of life—on the grounds of wants to be a part of it,” she says. save ourselves.” the system’s South branch. “That’s a great sign of success when it comes to libraries.” NABA offers a program that “What I love best is that when allows individuals and institutions they wanted this for their com- Climate change and habitat to certify their gardens of any size munity, they first thought of the destruction have caused a decline in by including at least three plants library,” says Lisa Fipps, KHCPL the populations of butterfly species that host butterflies and support caterpillars, as well as three plants that serve as nectar sources, which vary by region. In the northeast, for example, a host plant could be blue wild indigo and a nectar plant could be golden alexander. The advocacy group encourages the use of native plants, which require less water and maintenance, and discourages the use of pesticides. “We try to set out conditions that are realistic and encourage people, and not be the plant police,” Glassberg adds. Certified gardens can display signage declaring their NABA affil- iation. “By certifying your garden 16 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

Photo illustration: YouTube (screenshot); ©R. Gino Santa Maria/Adobe Stock (television) In this time of garden] gets people Deaf History interested in their and Culture pandemic, outdoor town library who might not have 15 been before.” spaces become In this time of pandemic—when Number of years National Deaf History Month many libraries are forced to limit has been celebrated. In 2006, the American even more their indoor services—outdoor Library Association and National Association spaces become even more vital to of the Deaf announced the month would be vital to patron patron engagement. Minot-Sleeper observed March 13–April 15. Library (MSL) in Bristol, New engagement. Hampshire, allocated funding from 466 million its CARES Act award last summer to and having a sign out there, it’s a host a butterfly garden StoryWalk Number of people worldwide with disabling way of starting that conversation featuring the picture book In a hearing loss. Approximately 34 million are with the public,” he says. Garden by Tim McCanna. children. “We saw quite a few people Five libraries around the country walking through,” says Brittany 1976 feature NABA-certified gardens, Overton, director of MSL. “It wasn’t including Fletcher Memorial Library just children with young families, Year that Alice L. Hagemeyer became DC Public in Hampton, Connecticut. Anne but older adults as well.” Library’s first full-time librarian for the Deaf com- Christie, the library’s program direc- Staffers at libraries with butter- munity. Hagemeyer went on to cofound the group tor, says NABA certification was a fly gardens say establishing and Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action in 1986. goal from the garden’s inception. maintaining these habitats require working hand in hand with local 12,750 “The sooner I got that, the more master gardener organizations interest the community would and gardening clubs. The Comal Number of books, media programs, and assistive have,” says Christie, who used her Master Gardener Association communication devices in the Library Services background in landscape design planted the butterfly garden at for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing collection to plan the project. “A lot of people Mammen Family Public Library administered by Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library. were already interested in gar- (MFPL) in Bulverde, Texas, and its dens, but I think having a NABA- volunteers weed beds and check 31 certified garden got people more the irrigation. in the native plant and pollinator Originally planted in 2009, Number of years award-winning Deaf actor direction.” MFPL’s garden had to be replanted Linda Bove played Linda the Librarian on Sesame in 2019, when the library under- Street, the longest-running television role for a Monarchs, skippers, swallow- went an expansion to nearly Deaf person. tails, and fritillaries are among double its size. Susan Herr, MFPL’s the butterfly species that visit director, says some members of the americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 17 the garden, which debuted in community found the disruption of 2013 with plants that are almost the original plot “really painful.” exclusively native. The garden has “It was important to reestablish become a home for programming the garden,” she says. “We worked to educate visitors about its pur- hard to create a spot for it in the pose, as well as a peaceful setting new space, and I think it’s been to host speakers and performers successful. This summer we had so and a place where hors d’oeuvres many butterflies again.” can be served preceding concerts in an adjacent area. EMILY UDELL is a freelance writer based in Indianapolis. “We view this as a valuable resource in keeping interest in the library alive,” Christie says. “[The

Fighting the Spread “You may have read some really scary things [that] people did Health librarians quell pandemic panic with webinars because they were just so afraid,” Daly says. “A lot of people think BY Timothy W hen the COVID-19 pan- Webinars proved to be an ideal they can mix cleaners, especially Inklebarger demic started spreading method for reaching patients with bleach. But you never mix throughout the US in who had health questions or were bleach and ammonia. A lot of early 2020, Jessica Daly, consumer afraid to travel to their physician’s people do not know that.” (Combin- Illustration: ©wei/Adobe Stock health librarian at hospital network office, Daly says. ing bleach and ammonia produces Orlando (Fla.) Health, knew it was toxic, potentially fatal gases.) time for her—and other infor- “A lot of families reached out to mation specialists in the medical me saying, ‘How can I keep us safe? Daly also hosted a webinar on field—to step up. What can I do?’ Having a trained things to consider before leaving medical librarian at their disposal the house during the pandemic, “As medical professionals and free of charge was and continues to with advice on wearing proper librarians, we tell people what to be a valuable resource for so many face coverings, maintaining social do, but we don’t often explain why,” during this most difficult time,” distance, and getting tested after she says. “A lot of times people are Daly says. Her first COVID-19 webi- coming into contact with an like, ‘I don’t want people telling me nar, Germ Prevention: Protecting infected person. The webinar’s goal what to do.’ But if they understand Your Family, was presented in June was to inform and also to provide the science behind it, I think it 2020 on Orlando Health’s website peace of mind for viewers. really helps.” in response to community queries like these. “I never wanted people to be In response to the unfold- afraid to go out,” Daly says. “If they ing crisis, Daly, as well as other In that webinar, Daly gave tips had to, I wanted them to feel confi- consumer health librarians across on home and personal hygiene, dent when they did.” the country, began offering free from proper handwashing webinars in hopes of educating techniques to the best cleaners Correcting misinformation the public about the virus—and for sanitizing household objects. perhaps saving lives in the process. Some of the information may The COVID-19 pandemic has also Topics ranged from establishing have seemed basic, she says, but prompted an increase in fake news, and maintaining basic cleanliness it was important to reiterate— especially surrounding the virus’s routines to more specific concerns, especially since certain cleaning origins and transmission. That such as combating fake news about products or methods may be has spurred some librarians to use the pandemic. new to some people. webinars as a means of countering misinformation. Antonio P. DeRosa, oncology consumer health librarian at Weill Cornell Medicine Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center in New York City, produced a webi- nar last May titled Fighting the “Infodemic” of Misinformation on COVID-1  9. Webinars are nothing new for DeRosa, who typically focuses on oncology, but the World Health Organization’s decision in February 2020 to call the phenom- enon of rampant misinformation an “infodemic” inspired him to highlight the topic, he says. DeRosa says questions to his office have skyrocketed since the onset of the coronavirus. “I’ve received more questions about 18 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

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

Think Inside the Box Librarians turn to a Japanese form of storytelling during pandemic BY Diana T he performance begins like Panuncial this: Erica Siskind, librarian at Oakland (Calif.) Public Library, rides her bike to the front of A kamishibai box is a small stage containing a sequence of cards that the room, parks it, and pulls from illustrate traditional folktales. her basket two sticks and a small wooden box. theater sets and cards, while others “I grew up in a kamishibai story- Photo: Geo1208 make their own out of cardboard and telling world,” says Skow, who was Clack, clack! paper. “It’s keeping the art form alive born in Japan. She wanted to bring Siskind hits the sticks and [growing] it,” she adds. the art form to RPL to teach patrons together, sets them down, about other cultures. and opens the flaps on the During the pandemic, many front of the box to create librarians have uploaded and ‘Another world’ a small stage showing the streamed videos of their story- illustrated cover of that times online. Keiko Skow, youth Siskind compares the audience’s day’s kamishibai storytime. services librarian at Racine (Wis.) experience of kamishibai with the Kamishibai, or “paper Public Library (RPL), posted a new entertainment they would get from theater,” is a form of storytelling kamishibai storytime every Friday watching television. “The difference that originated in Japan in the late last fall. “Virtual storytelling is quite here is that you can touch it,” she 1920s. Storytellers would ride into new to me,” she says. “But slowly, says. “There’s a live person talking villages on bikes, bang wooden I got used to it.” to you. But it has the same capacity sticks together, and gather an audi- to take you to another place—a ence around the kamishibai box, a Kamishibai flourished in Japan window into another world.” small stage containing a sequence in the 1930s and 1940s, offering of cards that illustrate traditional storytellers and artists an easy way Kamishibai creates a triangle of folktales. One by one, the storyteller to make money during a period of emotional connection between the pulls each card from the top of the economic depression, according storyteller, the audience, and the box—either slowly to build suspense to the website Kamishibai for Kids world of the story, McGowan says. or quickly to make the audience (kamishibai.com). During World Creating that connection virtually gasp. Text on the back of the cards War II, kamishibai storytellers is a challenge, she adds, but when it can help the storyteller along. traveled through neighborhoods and works, it’s powerful. “Even if there’s “Once you have that little stage, bomb shelters to offer entertainment text on the back of the card, the when you put that in front of the kids, to all ages. The rise of television audience doesn’t see it,” she says. they think it’s like a puppet show, like in the 1950s pushed kamishibai “The storyteller is bringing it to life. something fabulous,” Siskind says. aside, McGowan says, but histori- If you use the stage, that accentuates The form has become popular in ans, schools, librarians, publishers, even more the way you can manip- libraries for its flexibility and acces- and storytellers are working to ulate the cards in ways that aren’t sibility, says storyteller and artist keep it alive. possible with picture books.” Tara M. McGowan, author of The Kamishibai Classroom: Engaging Mul- tiple Literacies through the Art of Paper Theatre. McGowan says library work- ers are particularly receptive to trying kamishibai storytimes because paper theater works well with existing programming. Some purchase the 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 triangle of emotional instruments can convey atmosphere grant money to purchase a theater connection between the and tone in Japanese folktales. But and some cards from kamishibai storyteller, the audience, Skow says the most effective tool is publisher Leaf Moon Arts. and the world of the story. her voice. “Happy, sad, low, high,” she says. “I’m not just reading the As libraries continue to exper- When diving into a historic form of stories. My voice is actually alive.” iment with virtual programming, storytelling like kamishibai, librarians McGowan recommends implement- recommend an open mind, a Getting started ing kamishibai storytimes through respectful attitude, and a willingness the pandemic and beyond. “Libraries to learn and teach others. “When you Lisa Leuck, director of Elgin (Iowa) play a crucial role where children can are choosing which stories to buy, use Public Library, says kamishibai create kamishibai themselves, and the same thoughtfulness in respect- has helped broaden her town’s the art form can grow as a culture in ing the authentic representations of horizons. Leuck’s library the US,” she says. [Japanese] culture.” serves a remote town of about 700 people. “We’re Siskind, who has collected around DIANA PANUNCIAL is a writer in Zion, extremely rural and iso- 24 different story sets, calls the Illinois. lated here, not just during kamishibai box an investment with the pandemic, but all the solid returns. “The stage is important time,” she says. because that’s what makes it different One of Leuck’s goals from a book,” she says. “It’s sturdy, at the library is to offer [so] you can use it over and over, patrons experiences they share it with a group of librarians, and make your own stories.” 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 www.ucpress.edu americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 21

A Movement Grows community’s long arc of environ- in Brooklyn mental activism. Through the voices of community members, this project Oral histories highlight one neighborhood’s shares the environmental story of environmental issues and activism a neighborhood and how it fought against both the gross negligence of G reenpoint, New York, a historically working-class Polish immigrant community, industry and the indifference of local sits at the confluence of the East River and Newtown Creek, at the northwest and state authorities. edge of Brooklyn. This neighborhood of more than 34,000 has also been home to decades of industrial pollution. In the 19th century, the neighbor- hood became a hotbed of industrial The Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center, a branch of Brook- oil refining. With few environmental lyn (N.Y.) Public Library (BPL), opened in fall 2020 to highlight and give testimony laws or regulations created until the to Greenpoint’s relationship with its natural surroundings and promote awareness of latter part of the 20th century, oil climate change and sustainability. Both a full-service library and a community hub for and other manufacturing concerns environmental awareness, activism, and education, it houses the Greenpoint Environ- created one of the worst environmen- mental History Project (bit.ly/BPLenvcollection), a collection of oral interviews and tal disasters in US history. In 1978, personal items chronicling the ecological past of a neighborhood contaminated by authorities determined what locals industry. The goal of the project is that future generations may better understand the long suspected: Greenpoint was history of the area, its struggles, and its grassroots advocacy. sitting on a pool of oil leaked into the soil and groundwater. The spill con- BY Acacia I n the Greenpoint neighborhood children in her school have suffered sisted of 30 million gallons—more Thompson of northwestern Brooklyn, New unusually high levels of allergies and than twice the amount the Exxon York, Laura Hoffman’s family asthma. Other residents have com- Valdez leaked in Alaska in 1989. and neighbors have experienced dis- plained of bad odors in their homes. turbingly high rates of rare cancers In 2010, an activist-initiated and other illnesses. School super- These stories are threads of lawsuit against ExxonMobil over a broader narrative—one BPL the Brooklyn cleanup was settled intendent Alicja aims to document and preserve with New York State. It included an Winnicki, a Polish through oral histories as part of the award of $19.5 million through the immigrant, says Greenpoint Environmental History Greenpoint Community Environ- Project, which comprises 300 unique mental Fund (GCEF), created to support local sustainability projects Photos: Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library, Brooklyn Collection digital items and including the construction of BPL’s 59 interviews Greenpoint Library and Environmen- with more than tal Education Center and its history 100 local subjects. project under the supervision of BPL’s Outreach Services. While many of these stories show As the library’s outreach archi- the impact of vist, I began my research in BPL’s decades of indus- Brooklyn Collection, where I found trial pollution in books, newspaper articles, photos, Greenpoint, others and ephemera that gave me an demonstrate the overview of Greenpoint’s history. I created strategies to find oral history Items from the Greenpoint col- subjects and formulated a project lection, including a newspaper, a narrative, aiming to encompass as photo of an implosion of natural many perspectives as possible. I gas storage tanks, and an award announced the project and a call for presented to Greenpoint Against oral history subjects through social Smell and Pollution. media, press interviews, and fliers. I reached out to community boards, senior centers, religious institutions, and local environmental groups. 22 March/April 2021

Oral histories from Greenpointers Joseph Museum of Censorship highlighted several concerns spanning Maximillian a century and a half of industrial pollu- Dunnigan, ESTONIA Banned Books—a museum dedicated to prohibited, tion: vapor intrusion from the oil spill; founder bad odors from the waste treatment of Banned destroyed, or otherwise censored books from around the world—has facility, waste transfer stations, and fat- Books opened in the capital city of Tallinn. The museum is also researching rendering plants; fine-air particulate the history of censorship in Estonia, particularly under Soviet rule Photo: Banned Books from a toxic waste incinerator; exhaust from trucks, especially from the adja- (1944–1991). “With the museum, we cent Brooklyn–Queens Expressway; want to raise people’s awareness of hazardous manufacturing facilities the long history of censorship and the next to residential communities; and importance of freedom of speech,” says the many brownfields and state and founder Joseph Maximillian Dunnigan. federal Superfund sites peppered “Freedom of thought and expression is throughout the neighborhood. not a universally accepted human right to this day.”—Estonian World, Dec. 8. Several oral history subjects saw the environmental state of the neighbor- SRI LANKA During his leisure hood as “just how it was,” with little to be done about it at the time. This time, government child protection thread weaves through the project: officer Mahinda Dasanayaka packs People were busy trying to feed their his motorbike with books and rides families and create new lives in the across mostly muddy roads through the US and didn’t feel like they could fight mountainous tea plantations northeast what the city and local businesses were of Colombo to provide books to under- doing to the air and water quality. privileged children in rural areas. Having witnessed the hardships faced by children in villages without libraries, Dasanayaka started his Many of the residents interviewed program, called “Book and Me,” in 2017, and his collection includes were relatively recent arrivals, having about 3,000 books on a variety of subjects. So far, his program has lived in Greenpoint less than 30 years benefited more than 1,500 children and 150 adults.—AP News, Nov. 26. but in that time having become ardent environmental activists. They fought AUSTRALIA Staffers at the National Library of Australia were against toxic incinerators, illegally operating waste transfer stations, and sorting through the recently acquired papers of author and journalist proposed power plants. For example, A. B. “Banjo” Paterson (1864–1941) when they discovered a 120-year- activists Kim and Scott Fraser speak old tin of Cadbury chocolates, still in its straw and foil wrapping. The of their time fighting against poor air souvenir sweets were commissioned by Queen Victoria and sent quality. Other contributions included to British troops in South Africa during the Boer War. Researchers group interviews of local environmen- believe that Paterson bought the chocolates from a soldier while tal organizations and their fights. serving as a war correspondent.—National Library of Australia, Dec. 22. Unrecorded history often becomes ITALY More than 300,000 books were donated to school libraries forgotten history. With the fast pace of changes taking place in the Greenpoint during the fifth annual “Why I Read” (#IoLeggoPerché) campaign, community, we’ve worked to preserve sponsored by the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione its oral histories while living witnesses Italiana Editori, AIE). “Despite the travel limitations, the gathering are still around to share it. Future bans, the upper secondary schools and many of the lower secondary residents, who will likely continue the schools being in distance learning, and the shopping centers closed fight against industrial harm, can look in many regions during the two weekends of our initiative [Novem- to this archive for education and ber 21–29], the act of donating a book at a school is now considered inspiration. a civic duty by many citizens who see reading as an indispensable right for our children and teenagers,” said AIE President Ricardo ACACIA THOMPSON is outreach archivist Franco Levi.—Publishing Perspectives, Jan. 4. for the Greenpoint branch of Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library. americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 23

Kazuo Ishiguro fill a need that’s deeper than just exchanging books, which is an Celebrated author on how technology important enough function. may alter our humanity What role have libraries played in M any may know Kazuo Ishiguro as author of The Remains your life? In the south of England, of the Day (1989) and Never Let Me Go (2005). Now, with in Guildford, where I grew up, the March release of Klara and the Sun (Alfred A. Knopf)—his first novel parents there thought it was good since receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017—Ishiguro tells the story of Klara, their children went to the library an “Artificial Friend” for sale who hopes to be chosen by a customer. With the aid of its on the weekend. And at first I really unforgettable narrator, the novel explores what it means to be human—to love, to feel resented this—bringing back books loneliness, and everything in between. American Libraries spoke with Ishiguro about his I thought my parents would approve new work, the parallels between Klara’s world and ours, and being knighted. of, about ancient Egypt or some- thing. But that whole business about BY Alison Klara and the Sun is a powerful predicted and mapped out by Big just hanging around browsing, it did Marcotte Data and algorithms. So that comes actually work on me. You look at all commentary on the ethics of tech- up in the novel: Can you replace these spines, and after a while, you somebody you love? If you could get fascinated. The first time I got nological advances and artificial reproduce that personality algorith- into reading was when I was about mically, would that work? 9 years old, when I went through all intelligence. What inspired you the Sherlock Holmes short stories. A to address those themes? It was What similarities do you see lot of my friends did as well. an opportunity to have a narrator between our world (particularly with an interesting perspective. during the pandemic) and Klara’s? You received a knighthood in 2019. The Artificial Friend is almost like a The world of Klara and the Sun is baby at the beginning: completely just slightly in the future. This is one What’s it like being a knight? The fresh, completely open, but taking of the things that we’re going to face things in at a phenomenal rate. very rapidly. If you move to a model person who gave me the knighthood where you say, “Well, we only need As [Klara] very rapidly absorbs a small percentage of human beings was Prince Charles. I first met him the world around her, she to actually work; machines can do starts to take on qualities a lot of it,” then we’re going to have when I was a grouse beater for his of human beings, to rethink our social values and how including their self- we value one another. grandmother, the Queen Mother. I deceptions, hopes, dreams, and fears. One of the positive things that would bring up bloody bits of shot We increasingly might come out of [the pandemic] think algorithms is that it highlights how important grouse, and and data can human contact is, not just emo- define people— tionally but even in terms of the MORE ONLINE he would say, that somebody’s economy. I hope people realize For the extended “Oh, thank personality, that, along with what we can do, interview, visit you so much, somebody’s char- the pandemic is highlighting what acteristics can be we can’t do with technology. bit.ly/AL-Ishiguro thank you.” Libraries being closed has He would presented a real problem. People come and have a chat with us, depended on going to these places during their day. because there were only 14 of us. They’re important common areas. They It’s like the Nobel; [being a knight] doesn’t make any difference in my day-to-day life. I don’t go around calling myself Sir Kazuo Ishiguro. It doesn’t encourage people to read your work in an intimate way. But on the other hand, I’m pleased to have been honored. It’s a recognition of my vocation and of what we all do. And Photo: Andrew Testa that would include all the people involved with books—publishers, booksellers, librarians. It’s an affirmation of what we do. 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. Screenshot: davidlankes.org “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 thin and sugary highs followed by long and ROB WHITEMAN, chief executive of the Chartered Insti- unenlightening lows. The library is, with its tute of Public Finance and Accountancy, “Libraries Are careworn and temporary offerings, as lovely Vital to Tackling Loneliness,” The MJ, Dec. 8. and as poignant a reminder of our actual human condition as the tides or a forest in fall.” “In an era of fake news, disinforma- tion, alternative facts, politicized BEN DOLNICK, “Library Books: A Small Antidote to a Life of science, cookies, and spyware, has 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 Their Knowledge from Virus,” Star Tribune, Dec. 27. Freedoms,” Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News and Guide, Dec. 16. americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 25

A DISPROPORTIONATE PANDEMIC Librarypatrons with disabilities face compounded challenges BY Emily Udell 26 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

Before 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- education 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 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 at home,” says his mom, Rebecca Miller. “Being able to able to go to the do these things at home is not the same to him at all.” library has made In addition, using the computer lab gave Jack a taste of what his mom calls “sheltered independence.” Jack very sad,” Jack Miller dusts shelves at the main loca- “There are not very many places in the world you can his mother says. tion of Gail Borden Public Library District go that are free, safe, and predictable, and a place to “It adds to his in Elgin, Illinois, pre-pandemic. practice your independence skills as a young person with a disability,” she says. confusion and The COVID-19 pandemic and its shifting limitations fear right now.” She adds that even in non-pandemic on GBPLD’s hours and services have taken a big toll on Jack and his family. So has the movement of his voca- times, “large parts of the world don’t make sense” to him, tional studies program to an all-virtual model. so having one of his comfort zones removed is signifi- “I feel shocked about the changes at the library,” Jack says. “I feel confused. I miss my job.” cant. “Not only does he miss that comfort zone, he begins Photos: ©wavebreak3/Adobe Stock (braille); Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin, Illinois (Miller) Since the pandemic began, GBPLD has at times to question all his other comfort zones,” she says. “For reopened its buildings with social distancing mea- sures and mask requirements, but Miller’s routine has example, every time his dad takes the dogs for a walk, not resumed. Even in periods when the main location has been open, its computer lab has mostly remained Jack exclaims ‘You came back!’ when he returns. I see closed—so his family has taken him to a branch location instead, to avoid the distress he might feel upon seeing him losing confidence in what he thought were rules and his familiar computer lab without being able to use it. predictable things in the world.” “Mom and Dad make me go to the little library [branch] because of COVID-19,” Jack says. “I like the SERVICE SLOWDOWNS little library, but I like the big one better.” Another thing rendered less predictable by the COVID-19 Of course, it would be difficult to find a library-goer pandemic: the ease and speed with which people with whose visits haven’t been affected by COVID-19. But for low vision or blindness (or other physical disabilities that Jack and many other people with disabilities, the effects prevent them from reading or holding a printed page) are reaching even further. Losing independence, social- can access braille and audio materials from the National ization, cognitive stimulation, and other library benefits Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Print Disabled’s is, in many cases, leading to emotional, intellectual, and free service by US mail. other difficulties. For decades, NLS has made books and magazines in braille and audio formats available to patrons who qualify, along with devices needed to read or listen to them. NLS relies on a national network of about 100 partner libraries, as well as two warehouses stocked with talking-book machines and other resources, plus an app called Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD), to circulate materials to about 350,000 users. Parts of that service experienced slowdowns in 2020. americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 27

Elena Ozment and While the year receive login credentials, download BARD and use it to her brother Joey saw much media transfer NLS catalog items onto a smart device. In some celebrate com- coverage of mail cases that means downloading a braille file and syncing pleting the Harry delays caused it to a device that features a refreshable braille display; Potter series. 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 Photo: Erin Ozment materials came The push to increase BARD use did help, Fernekes about primarily says, though she’s not sure by how much. She notes because of local, that people who would not have otherwise taken the COVID-related leap to try BARD saw it as “a pretty good alternative” restrictions affect- and that some partner libraries reported seeing “very ing NLS’s partner significant increases” in the number of users. libraries, says Kristen Fernekes, But, she says, some patrons prefer to read hard-copy NLS head of communications and outreach: “Starting braille content instead of using BARD. “I’m afraid that in mid-March, it was hard to keep up.” those people were probably the ones who were the Some libraries that closed to the public because of most impacted as far as getting materials,” she says. COVID-19 found that with staff members working from The lengthy process of transcribing and maintaining home, they couldn’t receive or send out shipments quality of that content is done by outside vendors, she of braille or talking-book materials. At one Califor- says, and many of those vendors shut down because of nia library, staffers who would normally download the pandemic. audio files onto special cartridges for patrons to use with NLS-lent playback machines instead took the Despite any service delays they may have encoun- cartridges home with them and downloaded the files tered, NLS users have continued to send messages of there for distribution. gratitude to the service and its partner libraries, like In addition, one of NLS’s two warehouses was forced this one from an anonymous patron: “I really wish to to close for several months because of COVID-19. For- express my appreciation for what you and your col- tunately, the other warehouse remained open, and NLS leagues have been doing for me these past years. I have staffers were able to hastily rework processes so that been an avid reader all of my life, so when my vision patrons whose libraries had closed were able to receive dimmed, I was devastated. The Talking Book program materials directly from the warehouse instead. “Some has been a true blessing! In these perilous times I really of our libraries were able to work remotely and receive appreciate your willingness to continue working.” messages from their patrons, and then everybody worked together to get them stuff,” Fernekes explains. THE VAGARIES OF GOING VIRTUAL Even in non-pandemic times, many NLS users experience isolation because of age, ability, and health The pandemic has also pushed much in-person library status. “We hear all the time that our materials are life- programming online. For some patrons with disabili- lines for our patrons,” Fernekes says. “We take that very ties, that change represents a mixed bag. seriously.” That’s why, she says, as soon as the pandem- ic’s ramifications for NLS services became clear, “the One of the groups that has gone all-digital as a result staff at NLS and the folks we were talking to from our of the COVID-19 pandemic is the Next Chapter Book network libraries immediately went into the mode of: Club (NCBC) at Nevada County (Calif.) Community ‘We’ve got to figure out some way to get this to work.’ ” Library’s Truckee branch. As part of the national NCBC For example, NLS asked partner libraries to train program, the club gives people with developmental and as many users as possible on BARD. NLS-registered intellectual disabilities the chance to gather, read, and patrons can, after contacting their local library to discuss books. When the branch halted its in-person services in March 2020, the book club began meeting online with the assistance of staffers from local non- profit Tahoe Ability Program (TAP), who help promote and facilitate the club among TAP clients and distribute the chosen books to participants. 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 a position at Grand Prairie (Tex.) Public Library System, “Our patrons with special needs, who are unable to where she plans to continue the virtual play group. drive and depend on others to assist them, have been 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 social connections.” Garcia and her daughter certainly are. While they’ve 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 pandemic for her: “I’m a social person. I miss all The disruption in their library routine, along with my friends.” interruptions to Hannah’s schooling and therapy, has 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 clients struggle to comprehend what may be happening Pre-pandemic, Erin Ozment frequented two in the story or become lost on where they are within branches of Orange County (Fla.) Library System the book.” An in-person setting would permit her or (OCLS) in Orlando, with her 13-year-old daughter, another staffer to attend meetings “to explain on the Elena, who uses a wheelchair, has visual impairments, side and help people feel involved,” she says. Whereas and is nonverbal. now, “I’m not there [in the room] with people. Overall, it’s a huge loss.” There Elena enjoyed checking out books in her favor- ite genre—fantasy—and occasionally participating in CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES arts and crafts programming. Her younger brother took advantage of the library’s free classes, which allowed Before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, Arlington Ozment to spend valuable one-on-one time with Elena (Tex.) Public Library (APL) hosted a weekly play group in other parts of the building. for children with disabilities, featuring stories, songs, and activity stations. Five-year-old Hannah Garcia, who Since Elena’s medical issues put her at high risk for was born with Down syndrome, attended regularly. COVID-19, the family now relies on an OCLS service “It was a safe environment for her to go, where she that allows patrons to receive materials by mail. While could be herself and play and interact, where she was grateful for that, Ozment says not being able to visit the accepted for who she is and for the attention span she library has taken a toll on Elena’s state of mind. “I know has,” says her mother, Nora Garcia.   she loves me, but she’s tired of not seeing other people. The library is part of that,” she says. “Having a welcom- Once the pandemic made in-person programming ing place with other people is important. It’s just been a impossible, the play group’s creator, librarian Ashley huge reminder of how integral libraries are—for my Faith Wyche, converted it to a virtual format. “I think family in particular.” that by going virtual, my disability programming has been able to reach a more widespread audience,” EMILY UDELL is a freelance writer based in Wyche says. “Additionally, I think that even when we Indianapolis. feel like [it might be safe] to do in-person programs, americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 29

How User- As the pandemic has limited in-person library Illustration: ©PureSolution/Adobe Stock Friendly services this year, many libraries are rely- is Your ing on their websites more than ever to Website? deliver the services their communities need and expect. But a website is useful only Usability lessons if it enables patrons to find and do what they need. for libraries in The increased importance of library websites during a remote world the COVID-19 era has highlighted common usability shortcomings—and opportunities. BY Greg Landgraf “I get the feeling that many people think usability 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 same. There’s a seemingly endless supply of interfaces competing for our attention, so users are less willing to put up with a website that doesn’t work well.” 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. Accessibility and readability The pandemic has also affected the ways users look 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 reviewing YouTube tutorials to get a more concrete under- Illustration: © Elenabs/Adobe Stock improvements standing of its capabilities. M any of these approaches require a Nuccilli recommends employing browser extensions major investment of time and energy, that flag accessibility issues, like Axe or Siteimprove. and pandemic-necessitated safety “They often show small things that will make a big dif- measures may render some impossible, at ference,” she says. Other tools, like the Colour Contrast least for now. But smaller steps can signifi- Check (bit.ly/AL-Contrast), can help evaluate whether a cantly boost a site’s usability. Some possibil- color combination will be readable by people with color ities include: vision deficiency or who are reading a site on a black-and- white screen. ■ Prioritize your goals. “Map out how you’ll get the maximum impact with the smart- Manzo, who has conducted usability tests on a variety est application of effort,” Wilkinson says. of library websites, says “many patron interviews specif- ically mention language” as a UX challenge. Some users ■ Evaluate chat questions, FAQ views, and find terms like “research” vague, for example, while searches for trends. Miller says these will nonlibrarians may not be familiar with terms like “inter- reveal user information needs that should receive more prominence on the website. library loan.” Wilkinson says that ■ Communicate regularly with library staff who work directly with users. “A lot of writing specifically for the ideas come from colleagues and issues web—where people tend that bubble up when people are working to scan copy rather than the reference desk,” Wilkinson says. reading it word by word— enhances a site’s readability. ■ Make it easy for users to get help. “When I was working at a small library, all of our And features like front- error pages had my email address on loaded information, them,” Manzo says. While that may not bulleted lists, and be appropriate for all libraries, a promi- clear subheads help nently displayed forum or complaint box readers find the infor- may be an effective alternative. mation they’re looking for, ■ Apply technology creatively. “We did a according to a report from virtual study hall with two librarians and the Nielsen Norman Group our students over Zoom,” Miller says. (bit.ly/AL-Nielsen). Faculty also rotated in throughout the day to answer questions. “One guiding prin- ciple 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.” That means that constantly •Nuccilli says.  incorporating feedback from library staff and users is critical 32 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org to keeping a website usable.

Testing solutions “As a librarian, you know your system and its limitations. A new “When everything shut down in March, our priorities imme- patron doesn’t have the benefit diately changed, and we needed to deliver information to of that perspective—they just users as quickly as possible,” Nuccilli recalls. Under normal know if the website isn’t returning circumstances, she would conduct brief, in-person usabil- the information they need.” ity tests weekly when introducing new services. During the pandemic, however, she relies more on feedback from CHRISTINA MANZO, user experience librarian librarians and analytics data in Google and Springshare at Radford University Carilion in Roanoke, Virginia (the digital platform behind LibGuides and LibAnswers) to evaluate how well new services are meeting user needs. help librarians keep multiple perspectives in mind. Personas generally include a name, job title and responsibilities, and “Pre-pandemic, there were a lot of microtransactions in demographics, as well as goals for using the site and the reference, instruction sessions, and circulation that could environment in which it’s being used. “Being aware of what lead to ideas for usability improvements,” says Miller. information is most useful to different groups can really Student circulation workers, for example, might note that allow librarians to meet many user needs without informa- students were having problems logging into their accounts. tion dumping,” Manzo says. “Those interactions couldn’t happen this year, so it’s harder to define the problems that users are having.” Personas should be supported by user research and ana- lytics data (bit.ly/AL-personas). Once created, they not only To counter this, the outreach librarian and other library shape decisions about what information meets the broadest staffers met with student groups and clubs over Zoom to range of needs but also identify any information gaps. ask how they use the library and whether they encounter any obstacles. The library used this feedback to prioritize Card-sorting exercises can also be a useful practice for information on the website. When a student mentioned that organizing websites, Manzo says. Users sort physical cards finding theses and dissertations was difficult, for example, with subjects or menu labels into groups that make sense the library created a finding aid for them. to them. The evaluator can define categories for users to sort cards into, or let users come up with their own. In some “In some ways, the pandemic has made testing easier cases, users are also given blank cards to include informa- because users don’t need to be in the building,” Miller says. tion they want on the website but don’t see represented. “There’s less setup, and students are comfortable online, because they’ve been doing that in their classes.” Nuccilli has helped launch several initiatives at Wayne State, including a new iteration of the online archive Using multiple methods for testing and blending classic space for the Walter P. Reuther Library, which holds the usability tests with guerrilla methods (wherein users are campus’s labor archives. “We’re super grateful that we approached rather than recruited) may be appropriate in had already spent a lot of time observing users because it this landscape. Miller has applied and published research gave us a framework to build on,” Nuccilli says. Because on a mixed-methods approach to usability testing, which of the library’s specialized focus, doing so required careful combines techniques for assessing and improving usability recruiting of participants and coordination with Reuther’s (such as focus groups, analytics analysis, prototyping, and reference staff. “But it was valuable because when they first-click testing) at all phases of a site’s development went remote,” she says, “we were able to provide a better (bit.ly/AL-Hollins). This approach can provide a fuller research experience.” picture of user needs and enhance resiliency in the face of events like the pandemic. One technique that will always serve you well: continu- ally asking questions. As Manzo says, “The good news about Making enhancements usability is that curiosity doesn’t cost you anything.” An important first step: exploring perspectives beyond your GREG LANDGRAF is communications and mar- own. “As a librarian, you know your system and its limita- keting coordinator at Georgetown University tions,” Manzo says. “A new patron doesn’t have the benefit Libraries in Washington, D.C., and a regular con- of that perspective—they just know if the website isn’t tributor to American Libraries. returning the information they need.” Creating a handful of personas—descriptions of fictional 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 The American Library Association’s (ALA) annual Emerging Leaders lessons learned, (ELs) program recognizes the best and brightest new leaders in the 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 look at ALA structure, and serving in leadership capacities early in their careers. BY Phil Morehart At each ALA Midwinter Meeting, new ELs divide into groups to complete proj- ects for their host units and affiliates. However, because of the COVID-1  9 pan- demic, 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 Tom Bober of bigger conversations, 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 Raemona Little Taylor Director of library services at Medicine Spring Library, Senior librarian and education Blackfeet Community College in initiatives coordinator at Marin Browning, Montana County (Calif.) Free Library What did you learn during your time as an EL? First, What did you learn during your time as an EL? I was able to meet people “at the top”: then–ALA I learned about the importance of investing President Barbara Stripling and other ALA staff. I in mentorship and support for early-career would never have had the courage to walk up to any librarians, particularly with a focus on BIPOC of these people and introduce myself before becom- librarians. I am eternally grateful to ALA and the ing an Emerging Leader. It was important to learn Black Caucus of the American Library Association how to network! I also learned how to collaborate for believing in me and sponsoring my participa- with librarians not in my region. The experience has tion. I learned so much about how ALA functions really helped in other collaboration efforts over the as a professional organization, the difference past six years and helped me prepare for the work- between leadership and management, and how to at-home situation we are currently in. lead from wherever you are regardless of your job classification or title. How has your EL experience influenced your You’ve been working with incarcerated teens for career? I became an EL before I entered library the last few years. How did your EL experience school, and at times it was intimidating. I learned help guide you to this point? The project I worked how to advocate for myself, and I’m sure the schol- on was the 2016 Resource Guide for Underserved arships I received were a result of the confidence I Student Populations. This toolkit emerged out of a gained from being an EL. In my career, I have made concern from the American Association of School many connections outside my community, making Librarians (AASL) Affiliate Assembly that high- me an active member in the larger tribal, state, and lighted the need for additional resources to sup- national library communities. I am currently vice port school librarians who work with underserved president/president-elect of the American Indian and historically marginalized students, such as Library Association (AILA), and in my time on the those with incarcerated parents. This project lit a fire deep in my soul, which inspired my passion to board, I’ve had the ability to expand the focus of my partnerships and outreach extend the experience efforts to engage and support incarcerated teens. of EL and AILA leadership to americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 35 other tribal librarians.

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 Candice Wing-Yee Mack Online High School; served 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 experi- ence 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 New York Public Library's as all work-related meet- Schomburg Center for ings and meetings for my Research in Black Culture theater-related projects 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 2014 Class of 2013 Annie Pho Kathleen Riopelle Roberts Instruction coordinator and assessment librarian at University of San Francisco School librarian at Rivers Edge Elementary, How has your EL experience influenced your career? After Henrico County (Va.) participating in the program, I felt more empowered to get Public Schools involved with ALA and solidify my professional “homes” with the Association of College and Research Libraries and APALA. How did your EL experience help I decided to run for a position on the APALA executive board lead you to your current position? as a member-at-large and serve on the executive board again It brought me in contact with the as secretary. My EL experience helped encourage me to pursue leadership and administration at those opportunities. AASL. I realized that I enjoyed being involved at the professional organi- Was there any aspect of training or career development you zation’s national level, which fueled wish had been better addressed in your Emerging Leader me to pursue further opportunities. cohort? One thing that I think should have been better covered What have you been up to since was equity, diversity, and inclusion within libraries. I don’t graduating with your EL class? I think it was addressed whatsoever, and leadership opportuni- was selected as one of two building- ties are not the same for BIPOC librarians. I hope that future level school librarians to serve on ELs will have more training and discussion around equity, the National School Library diversity, and inclusion and antiracism. Standards Guidelines Editorial Board. I also was selected for the Since your time in the EL program, you’ve coedited Pushing 2018–2021 Fulbright Specialists the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS Roster. I coauthored the book (Litwin Books/Library Juice Press, 2018)—a volume in the Leadership: Strategic Thinking, Critical Race Studies and Multiculturalism in Library and Infor- Decision Making, Communication, mation Studies book series, which you also coedit. Did your and Relationship Building (ALA time as an EL help prepare you for projects like these? Yes, my Editions 2019), with Ann M. Martin. I was also voted James Region experience doing survey design and Librarian of the Year by the Virginia learning about the research pro- Association of School Librarians for cess with my EL team helped the 2019–2020 school year. prepare me for a project on intersectionality at the americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 37 reference desk, which in turn led to the Pushing the Margins book. When I participated in the EL program, I didn’t have any experience with collecting data or research. The group project helped me get a better understanding of that process.

BOOKS Illustration: ©Ivan Baranov, Zoran Milic/Adobe Stock 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 coun- ty’s inconsistent internet service meant ebooks were not a workable substitute, Vaughn says. 38 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

Photo: Susan Vaughan “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 continuity amid the challenges of COVID-19. Out- They put out word of their plan to give away reach staffers and literacy stewards have watched books, and soon teachers, churches, school libraries, their responsibilities change, sometimes dramati- families, and even the local YMCA were donating cally, as they strive to keep up traditional offerings books for the effort. Goochland County govern- while covering service gaps and even assuming ment loaned them a van. And so, every other week second-responder roles. from June through August, the three volunteered to travel to six predetermined spots—parking lots FILLING IN THE GAPS of churches, schools, and fire departments—that 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- vices at one location, staffers were concerned about In order to cover as much territory as possible, patrons who would inevitably be left out. each stop lasted about 20 minutes. The librarians 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. could get free meals and books in a single visit. “You should [have seen] the joy on their faces after being The Goochland County (Va.) in quarantine so long,” Vaughn says. Public Schools bookmobile makes a stop at a fire station Despite the challenges—summer heat, heavy in the village of Manakin to lifting, and coronavirus precautions such as wearing distribute books and ice pops. masks, social distancing, and using hand sanitizer— Fliers in English and Spanish Parrish, Smith, and Vaughn distributed around 2,800 announced stops in advance. 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- mobiles can bring a little continuity into every- body’s life.” In the past year, ABOS, an American americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 39

A Different Kind of Lending F 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 in 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 then delivered it to nursing the food to about 10 branch libraries. Milligan, delivery manager at Pima homes and other facilities. Though the buildings were closed, County Public Library (PCPL) for the library staffers coordinated to redis- last seven years, normally supervis- His work didn’t stop there. Pima tribute the produce to area residents es employees who move materials County Jail, which had released in their parking lots. Additionally, between the system’s 26 locations. some inmates in the early months Amphitheater Public Schools, which But after PCPL closed on March 17 of COVID-19 as a social-distancing had also closed, had a supply of extra because of the pandemic, Milligan measure, suddenly found itself with food. Every week or two, Milligan and officially went on loan to the Pima surplus food. Rather than dispose of the handful of library drivers who had County Health Department, where it, inmates on kitchen duty prepared returned to work delivered that food he oversaw distribution of personal more than 600 lunches, which to those same library branches. protective equipment (PPE). Milligan picked up around 6 or 7 a.m. every day and delivered to Casa Maria Between other activities, Milligan The county’s 17 fire stations Soup Kitchen in Tucson. regularly visited the branch libraries. collected and donated PPE, which Isleb began by doing her research. She found a Photo: Reading to Go Places 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, includ- ing 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. 40 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

“I would check for graffiti and damage Brandon Milligan, delivery manager at Pima County (Ariz.) Public Library, used the library’s to buildings and empty book drops so vehicles to distribute personal protective equipment and meals during the lockdown por- they wouldn’t overflow,” Milligan says. tion of the pandemic. PCPL reopened with limited ser- vice 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- ity that I had not previously been •able to do.”  Photo: Randy Metcalf/Pima County (Ariz.) Communications 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,” says Oehler. “They don’t know about the library system if they 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 assistance and children require it for remote learning Between August 17 and September 4, the bookmobile and homework. gave away 1,100 books. (Before coronavirus, the book- 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 every Friday and making three community stops lasting Before the pandemic, 50% of residents served by the up to two hours each. The van also has computers and a five-county Southern Oklahoma Library System (SOLS) small number of books, and it can issue library cards. didn’t have access to a library branch, and 36% of the 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 gotten even worse. The number of residents who show up for the Wi-Fi 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 read- BOOTSTRAPPING BOOKMOBILES ers’ advisory. While the majority of the roughly 800 bookmobiles in the United States are affiliated with libraries, says Zimmer- During the visits, Wood’s adult volunteers wore masks, man of ABOS, there are exceptions. Among them is one in Cobb County, Georgia. supplied hand sanitizer, disinfected the bookmobile, and Kelli Wood, a literacy specialist at Fair Oaks Ele- quarantined any returned books. mentary School in Marietta, first considered starting a bookmobile in fall 2019. “We always saw a ‘summer “Georgia is hot and rainy during the summer,” Wood slide’ in our students from not reading during the summer,” Wood says. says. “Even with that, we had kids and families come But when schools stopped in-person learning after out in the rain to get March 14, 2020, and the public library closed, Wood realized it was time to take action. “When the pandemic “We have whole books. We would pull hit, it made it even more important,” she says. populations into stops, and kids would be jumping up Wood’s father donated a cargo utility trailer that he had used on construction jobs. He and Wood’s husband that have not and down. I think this installed shelves and flooring, her sister painted it, and offered some hope and local residents and teachers donated books. By May 27, Wood’s homemade bookmobile was ready. left their homes a time they could get since March. out of their houses and Every Wednesday, she and her husband made four to have a socially dis- six stops—usually at mobile home parks and apartment buildings—where a librarian from her school met them. Bookmobiles tanced, safe activity.” Stops were advertised through text messages and fliers To the northwest, posted at the leasing offices of these communities, and each lasted about three hours. Volunteer organization can bring a little the nonprofit Reading MUST Ministries provided free lunches for students, continuity into to Go Places (RTGP) in Bartow County, Geor- while Wood and her team everybody’s life.” gia, had to adapt its read a story and bookmobile operation handed out ice pops to enjoy CATHY ZIMMERMAN, past to the pandemic. in the summer president of the Association of Valerie Gilreath and heat. Students Bookmobile and Outreach Services were invited her wife, Kim Dennis, to go into the started RTGP in 2017, bookmobile—a few kids or one when an assessment by the regional health district found Southern Oklahoma high rates of unemployment, low rates of education, and Library System uses signage to adver- generational poverty in the southern part of the county. tise its bookmobile services, including “Government and school efforts were not quite getting at Wi-Fi funded by a federal CARES the problem,” Gilreath says. Act grant. While RTGP is an independent nonprofit, the library is among its partners. Bartow County Library System Direc- tor Carmen Sims acts as an advisor, RTGP enrolls children in the library’s summer reading program, and Friends of the Bartow County Library System contributes books. Reading to Go Places normally operates from March Photo: Southern Oklahoma Library System through December; in 2020, it started in April. “[By then] we realized [the pandemic] would go on for quite a while,” Gilreath says. “With children not being in school, the need for our services was greater than ever.” Before starting up again, the nonprofit solicited advice from area food pantries on safety protocols. By late April, RTGP resumed driving its 2008 Freightliner vehicle (originally a bookmobile for the Denver Public Library). While most of its regular stops are made in the southern 42 March/April 2021 | americanlibraries.org

Photo: Kelli Wood 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. third of Bartow, the nonprofit also travels throughout the Though children have fewer choices in what books 470-square-mile county to give children up to age 18 two they get, “we put a lot more time and energy into diversi- or three new books each. fying choices that go into the bags, so they don’t get tired of seeing similar books,” Gilreath says. Operations looked different from pre-pandemic times: Two adults rode in the vehicle, and another one to four She admits the year has felt different. For one thing, adults, usually teachers, met the bookmobile at its stops. she and the volunteers are largely seeing adults rather They set out prepackaged, age-sorted bags of books on a than children. “We don’t get that warm fuzzy feeling table and stepped away so that parents could get out of when you actually hand out books to kids,” Gilreath says. their cars and take the bags. Zimmerman at ABOS says that experience has been For the sake of social distancing, RTGP had to stop common during the pandemic. “We are a group of people offering in-person programs and transporting lunches who are used to being hands-on,” she says. “Now we are through its usual partnership with the USDA Summer reinventing how we work with patrons.” Food Service Program. Still, Gilreath describes the modified program at RTGP Another obstacle has been cost. “Giving away books is as a success. “It’s more important than ever that families a lot more expensive than a [lending] library,” Gilreath have books in the homes if they are not in school or says. “We had to streamline other areas to supply three going to library programs,” she says. “At the end of the times the books we did [in 2019].” day, you are still putting a smile on a child’s face, even if 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; 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 BY Callan In her professional life, coauthor Lauren Stara has worked for three architectural firms, 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, three 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 Photo: ©Monkey Business/Adobe Stock Lauren is in her early 60s now and still remembers the crushing defeat when she received her first User experience (UX) design is the philosophy of C, in 9th-grade algebra. She’s done pretty well at considering spaces, services, and processes from pleasing most of her employers, but not all. And the end user’s point of view. The term originated it’s been only in the past several years that she’s in the digital world in the field of human–machine begun seeing and truly understanding the value of interaction, was picked up by product designers, those failures. and from there has filtered into every aspect of life, including the library. Trial and error has been part of the scientific method for centuries, but for many years, Lauren Design thinking means looking at a process or focused on the right answer rather than the unex- project with a fresh perspective, an approach that pected one. Opening her mind to other possibilities can change the outcome dramatically. If your pro- gave her the freedom to try new ways of thinking cess isn’t getting results, a simple design-thinking and achieve surprising results. Wrong answers can exercise can get your creative juices flowing. lead to breakthroughs in every part of life—if we embrace and then learn from them. You can put these ideas into practice incremen- tally, starting with tiny changes and building up to larger, system-wide innovations. The concept at 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, This is an excerpt look at a situation with a beginner’s mind—putting how we arrange our homes and workspaces, and from Responding aside your years of education and experience in which books we read and TV shows we watch. These to Rapid Change librarianship and seeing your library from a new are all design decisions, conscious or not. Whether in Libraries: A user’s point of view—is the key. we’re using spreadsheets, oil paints, or words, or User Experience singing in the shower, we are all inventive. The maker Approach (ALA Realistically, most people who walk into your movement, for instance, is just the newest recogni- Editions, 2021). building aren’t familiar with your procedures and pol- tion of the human need to express ourselves. icies, your cataloging and classification systems, the 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 even slightly, to help them understand the library? solutions for your library. It’s also a mindset, because you start to think like a designer, even if you don’t Get in their heads consider yourself one. Design thinking involves getting out of your own head Any kind of service can be transformed and made and into those of your users. The idea is to employ better. Let’s take one example: the core service of techniques to help shift the human brain out of famil- identifying, finding, and checking out a book. iar ways of thinking and generate new solutions. The end goal is always to foster empathy and see things How do your users identify items they from a different perspective, usually that of the user want to borrow? or service consumer. In this way, design thinking is a ■ word of mouth great method to enhance your library’s UX philosophy. ■ school booklist ■ 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

Design thinking involves procedures in their heads. Things that you can do in getting out of your own your sleep are brand-new and confusing concepts to head and into those many. The point is to make collections and ser- of your users. vices accessible. Describing in words how a design-thinking process or exercise works is tough. There’s almost always a magic moment during the process when everyone looks around with that “eureka!” sparkle in their eyes. The process is experiential, iterative, and a lot 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. Imagine each of these possibilities from the patron’s What’s the problem? and the staff member’s point of view. Think about what the customer wants. Are they a grab-it-and-go kind of Before creating solutions, you must know the prob- person? Do they want to talk to a staffer to seek per- lem. As in the reference interview, you have to dig sonalized service? Do they need an in-depth reference into every situation and make sure you’re asking the interview to determine what they’re really looking for? right questions—keep going until you find the nub. Are they a digital native who likes chat-based reference? Assessing your needs comes first; coming up with a Or do they want to get up close and personal? plan of attack follows. Once the item is located, what checkout options are Identifying the user. One of the critical steps in available? Is your ebook and e-audio service user- the UX process is identifying your users. Depending friendly? Can a person in a hurry grab their DVD from on the type of library you work in, these groups the hold shelf, use the nearby self-checkout station, and might include patrons, students, faculty, nonresi- be on their way? What happens when the material they dents, and staff. want isn’t on the shelf or isn’t in the collection at all? Each group can be broken down further or com- Responding to each of these scenarios requires a bined, if necessary. For example, in an academic different approach and series of steps. In public libraries, library, you might have undergraduate students and we are blessed and cursed with the full gamut of person- graduate students or students from different colleges alities, ages, and skill levels. The ability to read a patron or disciplines. Staff may encompass faculty and and tailor services to that patron’s needs is not some- nonfaculty, such as professional and support staff. thing most people are born with; it takes practice. Patrons in public libraries are wildly diverse: Here are a few simple places to start: seniors and adults; young adults, teens, and tweens; ■ Ask up front how much time the patron has. This can children and preschoolers; new residents; early readers; people with disabilities; and more. Lauren help set the tone of the interaction. worked for more than 20 years in public libraries in ■ Ask the patron if they would rather have you look up resort towns with special patron categories such as second homeowners and seasonal workers. Every something for them or show them how to use search one of these groups has differing and sometimes techniques themselves. competing needs and preferences. ■ If the patron wants a particular item or books on a specific subject, offer to walk them to the appropriate Assessing community needs. Before you can area in the shelves. effect positive change, it’s important to assess where ■ If self-checkout is a new service at the library, make you are and what you need. What services might you sure a staffer is nearby to help newbies through the provide if you had more money, resources, or space? process. Always offer at least one traditional staffed checkout station for those who prefer it. As common sense suggests, the community you Try to remember that most people using the library serve is the best starting point for developing any are not well versed in classification systems and public amenity, including libraries. Wherever you don’t keep detailed knowledge of your materials and are, there are people who can provide a historical perspective, valuable insights into how the area functions, and an understanding of the critical issues and what is meaningful to people in the community. 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 and what the community wants and needs. By asking the As part of your library’s strategic plan (yes, you right questions, you’ll find both big really do need one of these), you should gather and small things that need attention. opinions and information from the public regarding In turn, start by fixing the small prob- its preferences and desires for services, as well as lems, then contend with the medium- your local context. Don’t limit yourself to just that, sized ones, and finally put the bigger though; most library patrons—much less people who ones on a schedule. As you go along, don’t use the library at all—are not aware of forward- toss aside suggestions that don’t fit, or thinking ideas in the library field. Do some research save them to reevaluate later. to find out what’s going on in other libraries, either in your area or far afield. If you’re like us, every trip, Make things whether for business or pleasure, is an opportunity to investigate new libraries and see what their facilities intuitive and easy and services are like. Are they doing something suc- cessful that you might copy? Most librarians are eager Steve Krug’s renowned web design to share their experiences and ideas, so feel free to ask questions. book Don’t Make Me Think: A Start small, think big Common-Sense Approach to Web This way of working is not easy for many people. It Usability is about the importance of RESOURCES requires a major mindset shift in which we embrace usability and findability in the digital uncertainty, look at situations with a beginner’s mind, accept a constant state of incompletion, and world—qualities that are just as valid ■ Dokk1, the public library allow ourselves (and others) to fail. Remember that we are all designers, whether we know it or not, and in physical environments. How many and cultural center in we can step outside of our comfort zones to make our libraries better. times have you seen patrons walk in Aarhus, Denmark, and Simple incremental steps go a long way toward the library entrance and then stop Chicago Public Library effecting change. Start with a new voicemail mes- sage, or venture out from behind the desk to help to gaze around with a lost look on collaborated on the patrons on the floor (or at the curb). Try something new. If it doesn’t work, try something else. There are their faces? Think about ways to help free Design Thinking no mistakes. people navigate their world. for Libraries toolkit Continuous gradual improvement Remove clutter and work toward (designthinkingfor It’s weird to think about the timelessness of libraries. They can exist in a way that other types of institutions providing clear and consistent visual, libraries.com), which and businesses can’t because the library is a concept as well as a collection and a building. Libraries don’t auditory, and tactile cues. Meet introduces design think- have to try to grow or change in any particular way to please their stakeholders—at least not in a way that people where they are, not where ing basics to librarians. is concretely governed by measures like profits in a given quarter. Similarly, the standards we use to eval- you think they should be. Listen to ■ The Association of uate the quality of our libraries are not universal. This what people really need. Librarians College and Research is why we say you need a strategic plan: You have to are great at the reference interview, Libraries offers a design define your own goals and standards of quality. so shift that technique a bit and use thinking primer (bit.ly/ it in every single interaction. Tweak design-thinking-AL) as In the absence of such a plan, or if a plan is outdated your approach to accommodate the a part of its Keeping Up or ignored, libraries tend to just … stop. Best case, person in front of you, who is sure to With … series. this means they’re functioning well enough but aren’t appreciate the personal service. expanding their services or evaluating what they’re missing. Worst case, it means they’re not functioning Following traditional ways of operating, dictated by huge policy manuals and complicated procedures, serves only to reinforce the old-fashioned stereotype of librarians in buns. We’re not advocating anarchy, but libraries are no longer the only game in town. We have to make our libraries comfortable and responsive—places where people want to spend time. CALLAN BIGNOLI is director at Olin College of Engineer- ing Library in Needham, Mas- sachusetts. LAUREN STARA is library building specialist with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. americanlibraries.org | March/April 2021 47

PERSPECTIVES in practice Building Morale in a Pandemic and coping skills. They later added a monthly game hour with explicit support from administration. How to support library Quiballo says DSJEC’s efforts workers as whole people BY Meredith Farkas worked because the group was flexible about altering its existing The COVID-19 pandemic has been traumatic for many library structures to meet emerging needs. workers, especially those expected to continue coming to work At University of Washington as cases have risen in their communities. Even for those with the privilege of working from home, the experience has been stress- Tacoma, staffers began creating morale boosters such as weekly online teatimes to connect with ful; many have had to add isolation, home-schooling children, and fear- and support each other, accord- ing 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.) support their workers as whole people. online ice cream social. The impact Community on morale was significant. “For a College. Follow Early in the pandemic, administrators at University of Oklahoma in 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 weeks before [the retreat] to hear how they were doing as many events take an 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 significant impact encouraged to address these.” The theme of the retreat became “finding 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. productivity. but we can’t pretend our feelings don’t Library workers at University of Arizona in Tucson have 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