Capital Librarian

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer. This summer the DCLA Board has been at work planning an eventful year starting in September. In July, the Board met at the ALA Washington office for a retreat and strategic planning session that was both productive and energizing. The Board has planned a number of activities that will support the professional development of its membership. Some of the programs planned this fall include the Fall Membership Reception, Demystifying ALA, DCLA Leadership Workshop, Interviewing and Resume Writing, and Intellectual Freedom 101.
 
In addition to these exciting programs, the Board’s capstone effort will be dedicated to reinvigorating the Chapter’s mentoring efforts. In May, the Board called for all members who wanted to be a mentor and heard from many of you who are willing to share their time and experiences. In September, we plan to have our first Mentor-Mentee workshop. I am calling for all DCLA members who want a mentor to contact me by email at the address listed below. 
 
The success of our association begins with your active participation. I look forward to seeing you all next month at of Fall Membership Social.
 
Sincerely,
Julius C. Jefferson Jr., 2015-2016 DCLA President

 

As DCLA’s representative to the ALA Council, it is my pleasure to offer the following report from the 2015 ALA Annual Conference. Council sessions at this year’s meeting covered a lot of important issues to the library community and others. Among other things, Council passed the new strategic directions of the Association, signed on to a statement of solidarity with those affected by the tragic events in Charleston, SC, and passed a resolution on improving access to bi-lingual books for children in detention centers. 

The report below covers all of the action items on which council voted and offers highlights of several of the key reports offered to council this session. All action items and reports are listed in alphabetical order. Full text of all of those reports as well as other reports not mentioned in this document are available from the ALA council documents webpage.

 

[Click here to read the report.]

By Lisa Rowan, Washington City Paper
Photo by Darrow Montgomery

This article was originally published on the Washington City Paper on July 24, 2015.

The staircases at the D.C. Public Library’s main branch, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, are winding and dark. You’re likely to hear an unfamiliar patron say, “Am I supposed to be in here?” as she wanders between floors, double checking that she’s not pushing open an alarmed fire exit door.

But on a second-floor landing, behind an unmarked door and a badge reader, lies a bright, open room filled with long, high worktables. This is DCPL’s Fabrication Lab.
 

By Amanda Teuscher, American Prospect
Photo by Mike Maguire

This article was originally published on the American Prospect.

One Thursday evening in December, beyond the signs for Microsoft Word tutorials and panel discussions on language immersion, a popular local punk band named Priests delivered a blazing performance in the basement of Washington, D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. public library.

Before the doors opened, attendees gathered in a hot and crowded hallway, next to tables displaying books curated to the night’s guests: an oral history of punk, a Bob Dylan biography, a chronology of the riot-grrrl movement. When the doors finally opened, parents with children on their shoulders and teenagers with dyed-blue hair and safety-pinned jackets filed past librarians who stamped their hands with “WITHDRAWN.”
 

 

The Department of Library and Infomration Science, Catholic University of America requests proposals for the 8th Annual "Bridging the Spectrum" Symposium!

The Symposium offers a knowledge-sharing forum and meeting place for practioners, students, and faculty in all sectors of Library and Information Sciences and Services, Your participation is the key to making it happen!

Accepted presentation formats include briefings, 15-20 minute description of an innovative practice, initiative, or research activity, posters, exhibits describing a practice, project, or research activity, and panels, discussion of a single topic by a series of speakers.

Important dates:

The 2015 National Book Festival will take place on Saturday, September 5, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center located at 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW, Washington, DC. 

Volunteers must meet two requirements. All volunteers must commit to at least one shift and must attend a mandatory briefing session. At the briefing session you will receive your volunteer assignment, a detailed instruction packet and a Festival T-shirt that identifies you as a volunteer. To volunteer contact faye.levin@ketchum.com.