April 2019

Books on Indigenous communities often get looped into the history section. As a result, information on Native peoples literally gets left in the past. Xwi7xwa Library (pronounced whei-wha) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, is working to change that. The library aims to counter Western, colonial bias and better reflect the knowledge of Indigenous peoples. By offering an alternative to the widely used Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification systems, this...

Months before its release, friends and family began sending me links to the movie trailer for “The Public.” It made them think of me, they said. In the film, a passion project of actor-director Emilio Estevez, homeless patrons, unable to face another night in the subzero Cincinnati winter, refuse to leave, and “occupy” the public library. While critics and moviegoers may view aspects of “The Public” as dramatic license, for me it was the first time I ever saw my job reflected on the screen...

Community rallies around library with art after vandalism incident March 30, 2019 — The Siuslaw Public Library turned an act of vandalism into an opportunity for art and free speech this week, as community members of all ages helped create public art to place over the library’s recently broken windows. A total of eight pieces of “pop-up” art were hung over the library’s recently destroyed windows, with each panel representing differing questions such as “What do you love about the library?”...