LHRT NEWS AND NOTES

Enjoy this delicious piece from Sam O’Brien!

A History of Library Hand

By Anna Wichmann in Greek Reporter: https://greekreporter.com/2021/09/03/how-scholars-of-the-islamic-golden-age-saved-ancient-greek-knowledge/

Greetings Library History Round Table colleagues,

I am a member of the ALA Committee on Education (COE) and I am writing to you today to ask for your and LHRT members’ feedback on the newest version of the ALA Core Competences (ALACCs).  We are requesting feedback not only from librarians with MLIS degrees, but from any and all library staff/students across the country.

The ALACCs were last revised and adopted by ALA Council in 2009. In June 2015, stemming from a collaboration of the ALA Executive Board and ALISE leadership, the ALA Executive Board authorized the Task Force on Accreditation Process and Communication and the Task Force on the Context of Future Accreditation. In response to recommendations from these task forces, the ALA Executive Board charged COE with updating the Core Competences in 2017, and the committee has worked since to compile a history of this document, to evaluate competence development methodologies and frameworks, and to develop a 2021 Draft Revision of ALA’s Core Competences of Librarianship.

The ALACCs are not intended as a prescriptive document for library school curriculum development, but can be used to inform the curriculum. Early career library professionals may view the ALACCs as a list of goals that they should aim to achieve through their LIS education and early years of on-the-job experience. Members of library management should view the document not as a list of expectations for new hires, but instead as a set of skills that they can support their employees in developing. We are broadly seeking input as we hope this Statement of Core Competences will have relevance for a variety of audiences. Please share this email with your colleagues–we want and need as much feedback as possible!

The COE will seek ALA Council adoption of this new version of the ALACCs within the next 12 months (either at ALA LibLearnX in January 2022 or at ALA Annual in June of 2022). 

The link I am providing leads to the website which contains the draft document, a feedback form where you and LHRT may provide any input you think will help lead to a stronger set of competences, and dates for upcoming discussion forums (the next one is coming up on September 23^rd): https://www.ala.org/educationcareers/2021-update-alas-core-competences-librarianship

Many thanks in advance for sharing your feedback before October 31, 2021, and please let me know if you have any questions!

-Karen Berry

Karen I. Berry, MLIS, MA

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Instruction Librarian / Instructor

Library Liaison to the College of Visual and Performing Arts

John Preston McConnell Library at Radford University

kiberry@radford.edu

Thanks to Hermina for sharing this timely piece by Melissa Schoenberger in The Conversation:

https://theconversation.com/drink-less-exercise-more-and-take-in-the-air-sage-advice-on-pandemic-living-from-a-long-forgotten-and-very-long-18th-century-poem-166085

Enjoy a walk down Library Way in New York City in this essay from Mad Hatters NYC!

Few things are as intriguing as legendary lost libraries! Search for the library of the Tsars in this piece by Aisling Twomey in Book Riot: https://bookriot.com/lost-golden-library/

Amanda Belantara and I are starting to brainstorm potential titles for LHRT Reads, LHRT’s book discussion group, for 2022. We welcome LHRT members and supporters to recommend items for consideration on this Google Doc:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rymqeeWzHhMARweDFd1NHkHRVQKpYZ6JQmMnUBkm2PM/edit?usp=sharing.  A total of 6 titles will be selected for 2022 based on relevance to library history/book history, inclusion of diverse authors and topics, positive reviews and/or other indicators of quality, titles’ availability and prices, and LHRT member feedback.

Looking forward to your suggestions, and stay tuned for further news about LHRT Reads!

Bernadette  🙂

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2021/08/31/1031802246/the-story-of-j-p-morgans-personal-librarian-and-why-she-chose-to-pass-as-white

Hi all! —

Registration is now open for LHRT’s next “LHRT Reads” book discussion, Regina Anderson Andrews: Harlem Renaissance Librarian. It’s taking place via Zoom on Thursday, October 21st, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Registration is required. To register, please go to: https://nyu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0pfu-qqT0tE9O5h-n_2z7a4YJFN6olL2Wy.  Please hold on to the Zoom URL information that you’ll receive, and stay tuned for other messages from Amanda or me when we get closer to the event.

We hope to see you there!

Bernadette Lear and Amanda Belantara