ALA First-Timer: Going to the Movies

June 29, 2014

Coming from a small town with just one movie theater (showing only commercially predictable films), I was especially excited to check out the “Now Showing @ ALA” series.

Saturday’s viewing of Defiant Requiem was high on my list since my book club has read several Holocaust fiction titles in the past few years. Alyson Richman’s The Lost Wife was one such title, with discussion spent long past our book club time as we talked about the plot twists that included new information on the Terezín camp in the Czech Republic. Similarly, Defiant Requiem did not disappoint.

This documentary, narrated by actor Bebe Neuwirth, shares the gift of Czech composer Rafael Schächter and his fellow community of artists, lecturers, and musicians who were held by the Nazis in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Terezín. Celebrating knowledge and the arts at a time of severe persecution, prisoners of Terezín chose to study and perform after long days of cripplingly hard labor, lack of food, and separation from family members.

While the documentary was stunning, it was producer Murry Sidlin’s discussion that made the ALA experience. Sidlin’s opening and closing points illuminated the film by providing updates on survivors featured in the story (all still living) and efforts of the Defiant Requiem Foundation to support “inspiration of why we study … learn,” he said, even when presented with challenges to our survival.

As he pointed out for the librarians in attendance, of the 2,300 lectures that the prisoner-scholars gave during their detention, the lectures most often given were on literature. Books would’ve been too heavy to carry in the 55-kilogram weight limit for luggage coming into the camp but not too heavy to share with others through the Terezín lecture circuit.

Libraries offer an ideal place to screen this film, and Sidlin gave fair-use permission for just this purpose during the screening. If you missed this event, check the Defiant Requiem website for information on screening and educational connections.

JENNIFER WHITLEY is media coordinator at Tanglewood Elementary School in Lumberton, North Carolina.

See, hear, and read more about what’s going on at Annual—in real time and after.

Twitter: @alaannual and #alaac14
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/489205011101981/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmLibraryAssociation
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/alaac14/
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/alaannual/
Tumblr: http://ala-con.tumblr.com

4h

Joe Árvai writes: “As artificial intelligence (AI) creeps further into people’s daily lives, so do worries about it. At the most alarmist are concerns about AI going rogue and terminating its human masters. But my own research as a psychologist who studies how people make decisions leads me to believe that all these risks are overshadowed by an even more corrupting, though largely invisible, threat. That is, AI is mere keystrokes away from making people even less disciplined and skilled when it comes to thoughtful decisions.”

The Conversation, Apr. 12
7h

Tess Prendergast writes: “As someone who teaches contemporary children’s literature, I have been following the surge of picture books about climate and environment topics for several years. While there has been some great scholarly research about such books, I have devised a simple framework for grouping these kinds of books. This four-tiered categorization may help you decided what to read, suggest, or display in various scenarios and for different audiences.”

ALSC Blog, Apr. 11
1d

Max Eddy writes: “It’s a nightmare scenario: You’ve protected all of your online accounts with two-factor authentication (2FA), but then your phone is broken, lost, or stolen, and you’re locked out of everything. Past You’s effort to protect Future You has made Present You’s life a living hell. 2FA is supposed to keep attackers and scammers out of your online accounts, but what if something happens to your second factor? With a little planning, you can reduce that risk and still keep your accounts safe.”

New York Times Wirecutter, Apr. 12
1d

Nik Altenberg writes: “About 100 librarians and their supporters rallied outside San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library on April 9 to demand the city hire security guards for every branch. Workers decried a lack of security at most of the city’s branches and said they are often forced to de-escalate volatile situations and step into the role of providing security themselves. The rally is the latest in a series of union actions [from 10 unions representing more than 25,000 city workers across city departments] seeking to draw attention to what they say is a pervasive understaffing crisis.”

KQED-TV (San Francisco), Apr. 9
2d

“Two years after Brooklyn Public Libraries’ (BPL) launch of Books Unbanned, an initiative to protect the freedom to read for young people, In Their Own Words: Youth Voices on Books Unbanned gives new insight into the impact of censorship on teen and young adults across the US and how restrictions and other barriers to access build upon and reinforce each other. The new report, published April 11 by BPL and Seattle Public Library, analyzes 855 stories shared by young people who signed up for a free Books Unbanned ecard from April 2022 through December 2023.”

Seattle Public Library, Apr. 11
2d

Samantha Guss, Sojourna Cunningham, and Jennifer Stout write: “Recruitment and retention are both critical to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in academic libraries, and failing to improve retention has and will continue to derail these initiatives. Research that addresses retention tends to focus on proposed strategies, such as stay interviews (structured interviews aimed at strengthening employee and employer relationships) and mentorship programs. But there is no agreed-upon definition of retention that would allow us to assess these strategies. We should recognize that involuntary staying can be just as negative an outcome for the individual and the organization as leaving, setting the stage for legacy toxicity.”

In The Library With The Lead Pipe, Apr. 10
3d

Jackie Edwards writes: “As spring rolls around, seasonal allergies can flare up among library workers, resulting in symptoms like sneezing; runny or stuffy nose; itchy eyes, ears, and nose; coughing; and asthma. Not only are these symptoms detrimental to well-being and productivity, but they can also mean you’re less able to provide excellent customer service to library users. Fortunately, by purifying the air, preventing mold, and keeping your work area clean, you can improve indoor air quality and combat allergies in your library.”

Library Worklife, Apr.