Sunday, April 29, 2018

IRRT Pre-conference at ALA Annual 2018

"Librarians and libraries play an important role in serving and advocating for immigrant and refugee populations. The American Library Association (ALA) International Relations Round Table (IRRT) invites you to their pre-conference workshop:

Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses: How libraries are serving immigrant and refugee populations.

This workshop will focus on practical and real-life examples of services and outreach to immigrants and refugees. Librarians who have successfully implemented programs and services to this targeted population in the USA and internationally will share their experiences and advice. Pre-conference workshop attendees will be able to leave with concrete ideas of programs to implement at their home institutions including, for example, how to reach out to immigrants and refugees, how to develop programs featuring social, economic, health, literacy, and technology areas, and how to work out with decision makers to secure support for these programs.

We hope you will join us for this great pre-conference. Presentations include:
  • America’s Invisible Refugees: Incarcerated Unaccompanied Children from Central America by Oralia Garza de Cortes
  • ¿Cómo lo hago?: Demystifying Selection of Spanish Language Materials by Adan Griego, Sonia Bautista, Madeline Peña
  • I’m just afraid about this little one: The Information Needs and Lived Experiences of Resettled Refugees from the Central African Republic Living in the United States and Their Implications for Family Health and Well-Being by Natalia Taylor Bowdoin
  • Library Services to Immigrants and Refugees by Adriana Blancarte-Hayward, Eva Raison, Helen V. Chou, Madeleine Ildefonso, Nicanor Diaz
  • Refugees as colleagues in Bremen Public Library (Germany) by Britta Schmedemann
  • Sustainability as a Challenge – Experts Called by Anne Barckow
  • Virtual Language Classroom for Refugees by Silke Taubert-Vikuk

Register at http://bit.ly/preIRRT2018 for this workshop on Friday, June 22, 2018 from 8am-1pm.

Registration includes lunch.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

International Public Library of the Year Award

The “Public Library of the Year” award is is presented to a library anywhere in the world that best combines open, functional architecture with creative IT solutions and also takes into account both digital developments and local culture. To qualify, the library must be newly built or housed in buildings not previously used as a library and must have been completed between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2017.

The award is presented at the IFLA annual meeting and is accompanied by a USD 5,000 prize.

Public Library of the Year Award 2018 application deadline is 15 May 2018.

More information is on the IFLA website and with the online application.

Monday, April 16, 2018

Free webinar: Can the library do everything?

 IFLA and ALA present “Can the library do everything? The changing role of librarians and the library as a space of social inclusion.” 

April 20, 2018 at 11am CT/ 12pm ET/5 pm UTC


The growth of political polarization throughout the world has prompted many librarians to reexamine various professional roles within the library and in relation to social justice and community engagement. This webinar will examine the changing role of the library and ways to engage and account for the needs of users from marginalized communities, as well as those who are veterans, transfers, and scholars from diverse backgrounds.

Please join us for a discussion on this timely topic here: http://ala.adobeconnect.com/r3srpr16iuhn/

For more information about this webinar, visit https://npsig.wordpress.com/2018/04/16/can-the-library-do-everything/
Speakers: 

Kelly McElroy is the Student Engagement and Community Outreach Librarian at Oregon State University Libraries & Press. 

Magali Sanchez works in Latinx/Spanish outreach services at the Newberg, Oregon Public Library.

Dr. Mei-Mei Wu is a Professor and the founding chair of the Graduate Institute of Library & Information Studies of National Taiwan Normal University.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

2018 IRRT election results

Congratulations to our incoming and continuing IRRT Executive Board members:
    •    Chair-Elect: Richard Sapon-White
    •    Member-at-Large: Florence N. Mugambi
    •    Round Table Councilor: Sandy Hirsh

In addition, the following IRRT members were elected as ALA Councilor-at-Large:
    •    Chris Corrigan
    •    Julius C. Jefferson Jr.
    •    Alexandra Rivera
    •    Eric D. Suess
    •    Joan Weeks

Thank you to all IRRT members for voting in this year’s ALA Election.

We also wish to thank the IRRT nominating committee (Laila H. Moustafa, Ambrogino A. Giusti, Samantha Thompson-Franklin, and Julia Warga) for providing a strong slate of candidates.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Call for submissions: IFLA Metropolitan Libraries Short Film Award 2018

The IFLA Section on Metropolitan Libraries announces the 3rd IFLA Metropolitan Libraries Short Film Award for 2018, sponsored by the Free Library of Philadelphia and Pikes Peak Library District.

The award is part of A Corto di libri, a contest for short films about libraries and librarians, organized by Associazione Italiana Biblioteche (AIB). The contest has three Sections: Fiction, Documentary and Advertising.

The IFLA Metropolitan Libraries Short Film Award is given to the best short film about public libraries in large cities and metropolitan areas, among all the submitted films.

Both individuals and institutions are eligible to apply.

The short films competing for the 2018 IFLA Metropolitan Libraries Short Film Award will be projected and voted by the participants of the IFLA MetLib Conference in Belgrade, Serbia (May 13-18). In addition, the Chair (or a delegate) of three IFLA Sections (Audiovisual and multimedia, Metropolitan Libraries and Public Libraries) have the right to vote on-line.

The winner of the IFLA Metropolitan Libraries Short Film Award will receive:
  • if a library, € 1,000 as a contribution to travel expenses to the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Kuala Lumpur (August 24-30, 2018);
  • if an individual film-maker, € 1,000 in film-making equipment.
The winner will be announced and awarded at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Kuala Lumpur. An event is planned to be organized at a local public library branch during the Congress.

Read the complete Submission Rules for A Corto di Libri.

Applications must be submitted by email before 28 April 2018 to acortodilibri@gmail.com  

Full information about the award can be found here.

Monday, April 2, 2018

New book: Asian American Librarians and Library Services: Activism, Collaborations and Strategies

IRRT member Ray Pun (with Janet H. Clarke and Monnee Tong) has recently co-edited a new book on the experiences and perspectives of librarians, particularly Asian Pacific Americans supporting the Asian Pacific American community.

Asian American Librarians and Library Services: Activism, Collaborations and Strategies covers best practices, case studies and perspectives of library leaders in supporting diversity efforts from digitization programs to professional development to public programs for the APA community including international students from Asia. The foreword, written by Dr. Clara Chu on how this “first” book on Asian Pacific American librarianship will inspire future scholarships and research on this topic, and extend community engagements and resources for diversity and inclusivity efforts in libraries and the profession at large. Other notable IRRT contributors include John Hickok (Past IRRT Chair, CSU Fullerton), Haipeng Li (UC Merced), and others!

 Find more information about the book here: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442274914/Asian-American-Librarians-and-Library-Services-Activism-Collaborations-and-Strategies