[Editor's note: The Week in Libraries will be off next week, Friday July 6.]
Great news from the ALA's Washington Office: Following a House vote earlier this month, a Senate appropriations committee this week approved level funding for libraries in the FY2019 federal budget. "The funding levels in both bills should encourage us, and remind us, that the most impactful advocacy comes from year-round engagement with the elected leaders who make decisions, not only about federal funding, but also about policy issues that affect library professionals and the people we serve," writes Kevin Maher on the ALA's District Dispatch blog.
In addition, more good news from the Hill: the Senate has finally passed the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (S. 2559). As ALA's Carrie Russell explains, the Marrakesh Treaty provides an international copyright exception to facilitate works being made available to the blind and print disabled.
The 2018 American Library Association Annual Conference wrapped up in New Orleans on Tuesday. This year’s program was packed with great speakers and authors, and there were a few national headlines to come out of the show, including:
Michelle Obama, who talked about her upcoming memoir, Becoming, due out from Crown in November.
The ALSC’s decision to strip the name Laura Ingalls Wilder from a popular childrens book award, which the national media seized on, and in some cases completely misrepresented.
At the ALA conference on Tuesday, Loida Garcia Febo was inaugurated as ALA president, and introduced her “Libraries = Strong Communities,” campaign. “Libraries provide more than just books,” Febo said in a statement. “They support community engagement and the delivery of new services that connect closely with patrons’ needs.”
American Libraries has the most complete coverage by far of what went on at the 2018 ALA Annual conference, via the magazine’s blog.
IFLA (the International Federation of Library Associations) has announced the five finalists for the 2018 International Public Library of the Year. The Austin (Texas) Central Library is the only American library among the finalists. A total of 35 libraries from 19 countries applied to be considered for the international 2018 Public Library of the Year Award. The other four finalists include: the Villa-Lobos Park Library, Sao Paulo, Brazil; KopGroep Bibliotheken, Den Helder, Netherlands; Deichman Biblo Toyen, Olso, Norway; Tampines Public Library, Singapore. This year’s winner will be announced on Aug. 28, during the IFLA Annual Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The New York Times reports on California passing the most sweeping laws in America to protect users' online privacy.
This is the third year in which libraries will be doing book drives in remembrance of Cynthia Hurd, the South Carolina library who was among those murdered by Dylan Roof in a hate-fueled mass shooting in Charleston, in 2015.
The latest report from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism’s ongoing study on the relationship between large-scale technology companies and news organizations focuses on the ways in which technology companies are attempting to “pivot to civics."
In a guest post for the website Technically titled “I’m a Public Librarian. This Is Why I’m Also a Civic-tech Advocate,” Tess Wilson details the innovative ways the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh incorporated data literacy into youth programming with workshops for teens like the Civic Data Zine Camp, which actually looks like a lot of fun.
As pride month comes to a close, Rhonda Evans, electronic resources librarian at NYPL, tours a selection of excellent electronic resources on LGBTQ history, highlighting projects like NYC Trans Oral History Project, the Archives of Sexuality and Gender, and Independent Voices database.
From Westword: Apparently Elon Musk appropriated an artist’s “farting unicorn” design for his own purposes without payment, permission, or attribution, and in a twitter exchange with the artist’s daughter, suggested the artist should thank him, not sue him.
Meanwhile, From the Japan Times, the Japanese government last week issued a report calling for an “emergency measure” to block access to websites that pirate anime and manga.
Writers in the U.K. report that their incomes are declining fast.
From Wired: 'ICE Is Everywhere': Using Library Science to Map the Separation Crisis.
Lastly, a two-year-old video of a librarian saving a waterlogged book from the Syracuse University Libraries resurfaced online this week on Jezebel, providing the Jezebel writer—and this writer—an oddly calming break from a very overwhelming week of news in the library world and elsewhere.
