Fran Kompar

ALA advocates walking towards the Capitol Building in Washington, DC

That's a wrap on National Library Legislative Day!

To every advocate who showed up #ForOurLibraries and brought your voice to Capitol Hill: thank you. From coast to coast & beyond, libraries are stronger because of you.

Stay tuned for more photos from #NLLD26 (& ways to take action from home 👀)

ALA praises bill to protect passport acceptance services in nonprofit libraries The American Library Association (ALA) endorsed bicameral and bipartisan legislation that would allow nonprofit public libraries to continue providing passport acceptance services.

ALA is proud to support bicameral, bipartisan legislation to protect passport acceptance services in nonprofit public libraries. ALA Pres. Sam Helmick: "Any public library currently authorized to provide passport acceptance services should be able to continue doing so."
www.ala.org/news/2026/02...

Love this! Our dog also has the confidence necessary to be quite successful in rapid-response squirrel displacement - cannot be replaced by AI!!

Libraries help communities weather storms. Many are getting snowed under COMMENTARY | The recent winter storms showed how vital libraries are, but they are struggling with deferred maintenance and an uncertain funding future.

New from ALA Pres. Sam Helmick: Libraries are centers of community in difficult moments. But many libraries are facing their own challenges with aging & outdated facilities.

Read more, including new federal research on library facilities, spurred by ALA advocacy: www.route-fifty.com/digital-gove...

Two images at top. Left: photo of Virginia Lacy Jones, circa 1965, a Black librarian who attended the Richmond Conference. Right: the Advance Attendance Register for the Richmond Conference displaying a rendering of the White House of the Confederacy. Text below reads: "Librarians, Segregated: The 1936 ALA Annual Conference. The conference was held in Richmond, Virginia, a city with Jim Crow-era racial segregation laws. While ALA itself had no segregation or discriminatory policies, up until 1936 it had not established any ruling against holding a conference in a segregated city where members would be subject to discrimination." ALA150, American Library Association

The 1936 ALA Annual Conference was held in Richmond, Virginia, a city with Jim Crow-era racial segregation laws. While ALA had no segregation or discriminatory policies, it had not established any ruling against holding a conference in a segregated city.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3NNV42S

#ALA150

Please share. 💔

Plato Has Been Censored; What Next? PEN America condemns and calls absurd Texas A&M censoring Plato readings and discussions related to race and gender

The works of Plato are now being banned at schools in the United States.

Tell me again how censorship is a European problem? 🤔

Why the Public Library Is the Best Third Place Feeling stuck at home, but not wanting to dip into the weekly budget when leaving the house? Well, you’re not the only one.

Feeling stuck at home, but not wanting to dip into the weekly budget when leaving the house? Well, you’re not the only one.

I’m excited to co-host a conversation entitled “The Metamorphosis of the School Library in an Age of AI” with Prof David Loertscher at EduCon 2026 in Philadelphia- look for us on the schedule on February 1st, 11 am

2026.educon.org/conversation...

Library Agency Reinstates Grants Canceled by Trump Administration

From the New York Times: IMLS has reinstated all federal grants to libraries following a federal court ruling. More: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/a...

But we can't stop making noise for libraries. Tell Congress to #FundLibraries in FY26: app.oneclickpolitics.com/campaign-pag...

'The Librarians' To Premiere on PBS on February 9 | School Library Journal Calling the documentary an Oscar contender, Deadline reported that The Librarians will headline the PBS' Independent Lens series.

The Librarians documentary will premiere on PBS on February 9

www.slj.com/story/The-Li...

More Americans need to learn about the benefits of libraries, so help spread the word.
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📚 🦸🏻‍♀️RUTHERFORD COUNTY — “Go and thank your librarian. Absolute heroes.”

Library director Luanne James gets thunderous applause for bravely blowing the whistle on library board director Cody York, the latest front in the right-wing war on books in Tennessee.

Full: www.threads.com/@thetnholler...

ALL IMLS grants restored in every state & territory.

In response to a ruling from a federal judge in Rhode Island, the Institute of Museum and Library Services reinstated all previously canceled grants in every state and territory. It's a huge win for libraries and our communities.

"The reinstatement of all IMLS grants means that libraries across the country will be able to resume vital services for learning, imagination, and economic opportunity. We are breathing a sigh of relief, but the fight is not over." ALA President Sam Helmick. Show up for our libraries, American Library Association.

NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.

This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!

Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...

Check this out - digitalcourses.afp.com/courses/veri...

Best Books 2025 We hope that SLJ’s Best Books of 2025, filled with adventurous and fantastical stories, silly and breathtaking picture books, true-crime mysteries and stirring romances, and universally consumed manga...

This might be an author-first for me - TWO books on @slj.com's Best Books of 2025 List!! So grateful to the librarians who selected THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES and HISTORY SMASHERS: ANCIENT EGYPT to be part of this amazing collection! www.schoollibraryjournal.com/page/best-bo...

The return of dumb things: Why young people are ditching their smartphones for MP3 players and digital cameras Young people are using dumb phones, MP3 players and digital cameras in lieu of iPhones. Experts explain why.

One of the reasons I love retro-SF futures is because they speak to this increasing trend of turning shit off and disconnecting devices. When AWS goes down and bricks your bed, fridge, and thermostat, the appeal of analog is keenly felt.

www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/th...

One Useful Thing | Ethan Mollick | Substack Trying to understand the implications of AI for work, education, and life. By Prof. Ethan Mollick. Click to read One Useful Thing, by Ethan Mollick, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands o...

Excellent post by Ryan Mollick

One Useful Thing
www.oneusefulthing.org?utm_source=n...

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.

OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

librarians are generals in the war on ignorance

Everything you do online is tracked, saved, and shared for what feels like a lifetime. But there are some steps you can take to minimize what data is out there. ssd.eff.org/module/how-...

Watchdog Finds Trump Administration Broke Law by Withholding Library Funds

Good news for libraries.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

St. Francis schools to put banned books back on shelves • Minnesota Reformer St. Francis Area Schools will place banned books back on library shelves and rewrite its library policy to comply with state law, according to a settlement reached in a lawsuit filed by the teachers…

Book banners are costing tax payers millions of dollars just to lose.

St. Francis Area Schools will place banned books back on library shelves and rewrite its library policy to comply with state law.

buff.ly/pyuHl1b

#BookSky

In rare move, Congress pushes back on Trump over Library of Congress Lawmakers are raising separation-of-powers concerns as the White House seeks to install a Justice Department official at the legislative-branch institution.

This is good news - and shouldn’t be so rare. In the case of Library of Congress - it’s right there in its name - “of Congress” should make it easy.

White House MAHA Report may have garbled science by using AI, experts say The report, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was intended to address the reasons for the decline in Americans’ life expectancy.

So, our government leaders unsurprisingly lack AI Literacy skills.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Join the Truth Brigade

Never argue with lies or misinformation. Instead, “Cause a Pause” in the misinformed person's way of thinking. Online, start a new thread with the truth. Offline, listen with empathy, then genuinely express interest in the source of the misinformation. truthbrigade.indivisible.org/s/Rr0uxZuJ

Dystopian books to read!

1984 - George Orwell
Brave New world - Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Circle - Dave Eggers

I'm sure there are many more so add yours if you feel like it. The one that really gave me pause was The Circle.