Resources

A logo of a pink triangle over an open book, followed by the word 'RAINBOW' in rainbow colors (including brown and black), followed by the words 'est. 1970.'
The Rainbow Round Table is a national organization, part of the American Library Association. It offers toolkits, media recommendations, awards, volunteering opportunities, and meetings, including a 50th anniversary gala in Chicago. In my future, I am hoping to volunteer on their various committees. These include the Rainbow Book List Committee, Rainbow Project Committee, Stonewall Book Award Committee, and more.

American Library Association. (n.d.). Rainbow Round Table (RRT). https://www.ala.org/rt/rrt

The logo for the Virginia Library Association's LGBTQIA+ Forum, a rectangle with a triangular point on the left side. The text is in rainbow colors and the words 'LGBTQIA+ Forum' appear as a banner in the top right corner.
Next comes the Virginia Library Association, particularly its LGBTQIA+ forum. The forum seeks to foster “an atmosphere of understanding and inclusion,” a goal I share. The association has partners in various areas, cities, and states, offering resources for LGBTQIA+ people and the librarians that serve them. It also includes lists of recommended books and online resources.

Virginia Library Association. (n.d.). VLA LGBTQIA resources. https://sites.google.com/view/vla-lgbtqia-resources/home

The words 'We Need Diverse Books,' all capitalized, where the letters in 'Diverse' are all different colors.
This is a list of various sites containing lists of diverse book recommendations. It covers diversity with respect to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, and more. While I’m already very familiar with various queer resources, I have much less experience with resources that address racial diversity. This source of various awards and recommendations will help me in my professional life.

We Need Diverse Books. (n.d.). Where to find diverse books. https://diversebooks.org/resources-old/where-to-find-diverse-books/

A brown silhouette of an open book.
The Social Justice Books Twitter blog talks frequently about social justice issues in library spaces, as well as recommending diverse children’s and YA books. It follows current events including specific holidays and awareness/diversity months/days. It also regularly shares articles and thinkpieces about diversity in literature. This will be helpful to me as a librarian in promoting diversity.

Social Justice Books. (n.d.). Social justice books. Twitter. https://twitter.com/sojustbooks

A white man with brown hair and a beard wearing a bowtie and pointing to himself with both thumbs.
Jeremy Abbott frequently posts useful librarian-related articles. He is currently researching “the ‘public’ in public libraries” for his PhD, and I intend to work in public libraries, at least at first. He links to the Abolitionist Library Association, which is also a useful organization. Jeremy posts about library-related current events, especially in Los Angeles. It’s important to stay aware of what’s happening in the library community.

Abbott, J. (n.d.). Jeremy Abbott. Twitter. https://twitter.com/librarianjer

A white man with grey hair and a beard standing with arms crossed in front of a computer lab.
I found this blog on a list of recommendations, and it immediately caught my eye because it’s written by the Director of Technology for Omaha’s Do Space, where I used to work! Michael has held a large number of different library-related jobs throughout his past, and has written many articles for magazines and journals. He writes about technology (especially search engines) and hiring practices and frequently posts book recommendations.

Sauers, M. (n.d.). The travelin’ librarian: Home. The Travelin’ Librarian. http://travelinlibrarian.info/

A person with shoulder-length blonde hair and glasses.
At Not So Distant Future, Carolyn Foote discusses various issues relating to libraries and technologies. I think it’s important for people working at public libraries to stay up-to-date on school libraries, as many of the techniques and problems are shared with the children’s and YA sections of public libraries. The author touches on ebooks, databases, diversity, remote learning, and more – all crucial topics.

Foote, C. (n.d.). Not so distant future: Home. Not So Distant Future: Technology, Libraries, and Schools. https://futura.edublogs.org/

A woman with red hair just past shoulder length wearing glasses and lipstick.
Bobbi Newman runs an incredibly popular library blog, Librarian By Day. Recently it has been focused on wellness, but in general it covers topics including technology, transliteracy, and Library 2.0. She is a well-known writer in part because she chooses such important ground to cover. I’m especially interested in her take on transliteracy, using certain various techniques to ‘move across’ and achieve communication goals.

Newman, B. (n.d.). Blog posts. Librarian By Day. https://librarianbyday.net/blog-posts/

A logo of a pipe shaped like an M with various gaps in it. Accompanied by the text 'In The Library With The Lead Pipe. An open access, open peer reviewed journal.'
In the Library with the Lead Pipe is a library-related journal that I actually had heard of before I started classes toward a library degree. Its archives stretch back to October of 2008. Various topics addressed include gender, wellness, disability, hiring practices, intersectionality, leadership, the pandemic, different types of libraries, and more. These useful articles come from different perspectives in the community and address important issues of the day.

In the Library with the Lead Pipe. (n.d.). In the library with the lead pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/

An orange hexagon logo accompanied by the text LUCIDEA.
This blog post discusses a trend that interests me – the use of artificial intelligence in libraries. It also has links to a bunch of other resources concerning the topic. I’m very interested in paying attention to the growing presence of AI in the library community, and I’m especially interested in the field of AI ethics, which is addressed by multiple links on this page.

Hays, L. (2022, February 22). Artificial intelligence in libraries. Lucidea. https://lucidea.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-in-libraries/