Press Releases

Apr 24: AASL President’s Program Brings Together “Freedom to Read Ambassadors”

CHICAGO – Kathy Lester, AASL President, will convene a panel of Freedom to Read Ambassadors for a conversation on why it is important for all learners to have access to a wide variety of books and information.

“As school librarians, we know how critical it is...

Apr 24: ALA Announces 2024 Carnegie Committee

The 2024 selection committee is starting work on choosing the longlist for the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. The 2024 committee includes the following experts who work...

Apr 24: Kelvin Watson Wins ALA Medal of Excellence Award

CHICAGO — Kelvin Watson, Executive Director, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District has been awarded the ALA Medal of Excellence Award.  This annual award, presented by the American Library Association (ALA) and sponsored by OCLC recognizes creative leadership of high order, particularly in the...

Apr 24: Lance Werner wins ALA’s Ernest A. DiMattia Award for Innovation and Service to Community and Profession

CHICAGO — Lance Werner, Executive Director of Kent District Library (KDL) MI, has been named the 2023 winner of ALA’s Ernest A. DiMattia Award for Innovation and Service to Community and Profession. The award, supported by the DiMattia Family, recognizes a librarian...

Apr 24: National Library Week kicks off with the highly anticipated annual list of Top 10 Most Challenged Books and State of America's Libraries Report

CHICAGO — Today, the American Library Association (ALA) kicked off National Library Week with the release of its highly anticipated list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2022 and the...

Apr 20: Dolly Parton Awarded Honorary Membership in the American Library Association

CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) is set to confer an honorary lifetime membership upon award-winning singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist Dolly Parton for her longstanding support and commitment to inspiring a love of books and reading...

Apr 20: Virtual Forum on Ways to Use the Newly Revised ALA Core Competences of Librarianship - May 17

The ALA Committee on Education invites you to join us for a Virtual Forum, May 17, 2023, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm (Eastern) for a conversation discussing ways to use the newly revised ALA Core Competences of Librarianship....

Apr 19: 2023 Core Election Results

On April 12, it was announced that Amber Billey had been elected President-elect of Core, and Miranda Bennett and Angie Ohler had been elected Directors-at-Large. Upon notification, Billey regretfully declined due to “an unexpected and beautiful turn of events in her life” that prevented her...

Apr 18: Library services for people with dementia

CHICAGO — Libraries have enormous potential to support people with dementia and their caregivers. Demand for dementia-friendly library services is only likely to increase in the future as the numbers of people affected by dementia rise and there is greater emphasis on community-based care....

Apr 17: American Library Association celebrates National Library Week, April 23-29

CHICAGO — Libraries support communities by providing more than just books and access to information. Communities can take advantage of internet and technology access, literacy and skill-building tools, professional development courses, job training, and so much more. This year, the...

Apr 17: ALA Announces Building Library Capacity Fund Grants for Minority Serving Institutions

CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) announces the opening of the ALA Building Library Capacity Grants that will provide grants to assist libraries at...

Apr 17: ALA calls for national day of action to protect the freedom to read, designates Right to Read Monday for 2023 National Library Week

Unite Against Book Bans virtual event to honor a lifetime of free expression through story...

Apr 17: Three public libraries awarded ALA’s 2023 Peggy Barber Tribute Grant

CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) has awarded its 2023 Peggy Barber Tribute Grant, a programming grant named after the transformative ALA leader, to Brookings (S.D.) Public Library, Gill Memorial...

Apr 17: Carlsbad (N.M.) Public Library and Lexington (Neb.) Public Library Awarded ALA’s Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant

CHICAGO  — The American Library Association (ALA) has awarded its fourth Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant to Carlsbad (N.M.) Public Library and Lexington (Neb.) Public Library to support the libraries’...

Apr 14: YALSA Names New Editor for Quarterly Journal, YALS

CHICAGO - The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA) has appointed Joni Bodart, editor of Young Adult Library Services (YALS).  She will serve a twelve-month contract from February 1, 2023 through January...

Apr 14: Yvette Garcia Elected 2024-2025 YALSA President

CHICAGO — Yvette Garcia, Assistant Director, Sulzer Regional Library, at the Chicago Public Library, has been elected as YALSA’s 2024 division president-elect. Garcia will begin her three-year term as president-elect in July of...

Apr 14: Michael Lambert named PLA 2024-2025 president 

CHICAGO — The Public Library Association (PLA) has announced the results of its 2023 Election. Members elected...

Apr 13: Robert Bittner elected ALSC vice-president/president-elect

Robert Bittner, independent consultant and educator, Langley, British Columbia (BC), has been elected vice president/president-elect of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). He will become president-elect in July 2023 and...

Apr 13: Elisandro (Alex) Cabada elected vice-president/president-elect

CHICAGO ⎯ Elisandro (Alex) Cabada, Assistant Professor, Emerging Technologies and Immersive Scholarship Librarian, and Director of the Grainger IDEA Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been elected ACRL Vice-President/President-Elect. Cabada will become president-elect in...

Apr 13: Tracie D. Hall named to TIME’s Annual TIME100 List of the 100 Most Influential People in the World

CHICAGO – TIME has named Tracie D. Hall to the 2023 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes appear in the April 24 issue of TIME, available on newsstands on Friday, April 14, and now at...

Apr 12: Calzada Elected 2024-2025 AASL President

CHICAGO – Becky Calzada, Library Services Coordinator in the Leander Independent School District (ISD) based in Leander, Texas, has been elected the 2023-2024 president-elect of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). She will serve as the AASL President...

Apr 12: Public Libraries magazine announces 2023 Feature Article Contest winners

CHICAGO - Public Libraries, the official magazine of the Public Library Association (PLA), is pleased to announce the 2023 recipients of the Feature Article Contest for articles published in the...

Apr 12: Core Webinar: Secrets to Crafting a Winning Webinar Series

CHICAGOJoin Core on July...

Apr 12: 2023 IRRT Mission Enhancement Grant winner announced

The “Capacity Building for LIS Professionals in Cambodia and Maldives through Continuing Professional Development (CPD) project is this year’s recipient of the American Library Association’s International Relations Round Table (...

Apr 12: Hohl wins 2024-2025 ALA presidency

CHICAGO — Cindy Hohl, director of policy analysis and operational support at Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library has been elected 2023-2024 president-elect of the American Library Association (ALA).

Hohl received 4,965 votes, while her opponent, Eric Suess, director of...

Apr 11: ALA remembers Bill Ott (1947-2023), Booklist Editor and Publisher

CHICAGO - The American Library Association and Booklist Publications are deeply saddened to share the news of the death of Bill Ott on April 8th, 2023 after a brief illness. Ott made innumerable contributions to both Booklist Publications and to ALA during his 39 years on the Booklist...

Apr 11: The social future of academic libraries

CHICAGO — The current focus in higher education on student engagement, holistic education, social responsibility, and community partnerships demands a significant mindshift for academic libraries to reclaim their place at the heart of academic institutions that are reinventing themselves as...