Linda White (nee Crichlow) is a 2001 Spectrum Scholar. After graduating from the Catholic University School of Library Science in 2003, Linda went on to serve as a School Library Media Specialist at Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools until her retirement. As Linda and her husband Eric White, an Adult Services librarian for the Washington, D.C. Public Library, were downsizing and preparing to move to a retirement community, they were contacted by Michelle Evans Oliver. Oliver was a consultant for the Legacy List with Matt Paxton television show and President of the Richmond, Virginia...
Intersections
About Intersections
Intersections, the blog of the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services (ODLOS), highlights the work of library and information science workers as they create safe, responsible, and all-inclusive spaces that serve and represent the entire community, as well as initiatives and projects supported by the office that promotes their work. Please note that these blog posts are by individuals and do not reflect the views of their employers.
By: David Kelsey, 2021 ABOS President, and Lori Berezovsky, 2021 ABOS President-Elect On March 23, 2020, during the start of the pandemic, Cathy Zimmerman, the 2020 President of the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS), and David Kelsey, the 2020 ABOS President-Elect, decided to try something new to reach individuals during COVID-19. The solution was to engage individuals through social media since people were at home, isolated for safety. Cathy and David wanted to keep bookmobiles and outreach, as well as the love for the outreach field, at the forefront of...
By: Kate Aubin, Teen Educator, Providence Public Library; Anne Kilkenny, Early Childhood Services Coordinator, Providence Public Library; Bonnie Lilienthal, Senior Children's Librarian, Providence Public Library; Mireille Sturmann, Teen Librarian, Providence Public Library For the past 14 months, Providence Public Library’s (PPL) Children’s and Teen departments, consisting of two librarians and two formal educators, have been following the Project Ready: Reimagining Equity and Access for Diverse Youth curriculum. The Project Ready curriculum is extensive...
By: Kevin Yanowski, Department Head of Cataloging & Metadata Services, UNT Libraries (Kevin.Yanowski@unt.edu); Stacey Wolf, Cataloging & Metadata Librarian, UNT Libraries (Stacey.Wolf@unt.edu); and Kelly Evans, Cataloging and Metadata Associate, UNT Libraries (Kelly.Evans@unt.edu) The University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries recently decided that we no longer want the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) term “illegal aliens” in our catalog. In this post, we will showcase our success in deciding on and implementing this change in the hopes that you can...
By: David Kelsey, President, Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services One thousand and fifteen attendees attended the 2020 Virtual Conference of the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS), the largest conference turnout in the history of the ABOS organization, which celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2020. Attendees gathered virtually from across the United States (plus countries like England and Canada). The 2020 ABOS Virtual Conference broke down barriers, as it permitted individuals who could not attend previous conferences due to cost and travel...
By: Mireille Stürmann, Teen Librarian, Providence Public Library; Kate Aubin, Teen Educator, Providence Public Library; Jordan Goffin, Head Curator of Collections, Providence Public Library; Janaya Kizzie, Events Coordinator, Providence Public Library; Jade Lopez, Information Services Specialist, Providence Public Library; Clara Mendonca, Information Services Librarian, Providence Public Library; Beatrice Pulliam, Director of Technology & Information Services, Providence Public Library This post is a continuation of an earlier post: Early Lessons from the Diversity, Equity, and...
By: Katrina Spencer, Librarian for African American and African Studies, the University of Virginia; and Mara Thacker, South Asian Studies & Global Popular Culture Librarian, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Katrina Spencer (right) interviews Mara Thacker (left) about a new publication, the Journal for Library Outreach & Engagement (JLOE). Katrina Spencer: What is the Journal for Library Outreach & Engagement (JLOE)? Mara Thacker: The Journal of Library Outreach and Engagement (JLOE) was started back in...
By: Kiera Vargas, Owner, ePIFhany Every year my son ages, I become more anxiety-ridden. Whether he drives to the store to pick up an item I forget or whether he goes thrifting with his friend, periodically I check his location. His dad and I brainstormed phrases to put on bumper stickers for his car, I have left my sorority tag on his car, and I purchased his dad's fraternity tag to also place on his car. I want him to be marked because unfortunately, he is a target. I remind him daily that although “your dad is a police officer and your mom holds a Juris Doctorate...
By: Nicholas Alexander Brown, COO for Communication and Outreach, Prince George's County Memorial Library System On July 20, 2020, the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System (PGCMLS), PGCMLS Foundation, and three partners in Prince George’s County convened a timely conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi on his landmark book “How to Be an Antiracist.” While Dr. Kendi participates in events virtually every day, this event proved to galvanize local, national, and international interest. Working with PGCMLS and the Maryland State Library, 19...
By: Jennifer T. Nardine, T&LE Librarian, Coordinator of Int'l Outreach, Libraries at Virginia Tech I didn’t know, when I took this picture below, that it would be something of a running theme this year. It’s been…an adventure, to say the least. At this point, some of us are numb while others feel deeply and overwhelmingly. I’ve heard a lot about self-care in the last months and, as a rising mental health counselor as well as a librarian, it’s a multifaceted concept. The self-care wheel—a visual...