Reference and Book Awards

a guest post by Barbara A. Alvarez

Does your library provide information about abortion? If not, it may be attributed to abortion stigma.

CHICAGO — From the ongoing flood of misinformation to the swift changes occasioned by the pandemic, a myriad of factors is spurring our profession to rethink reference services.

Season's Greetings from ALA Editions | Neal-Schuman!

Reference and user services librarians need to be in charge of their own careers. A new book by Jo Bell Whitlatch and Beth S. Woodard aims to help these practitioners do just that, using the RUSA (Reference and User Services Association) Professional Competencies as a framework for reflecting on strengths as well as gaps in expertise.

ALA Editions/ALA Neal-Schuman is pleased to present a selection of free programs at the 2019 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition exploring the profession’s issues and trends. The programs scheduled to take place at the ALA Store, located near the main entrance to the Exhibit Hall on the lower level of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, are:

Saturday, June 22

Shop and browse the ALA Store at the 2019 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition for products that meet the widest range of your promotional and continuing education/professional development needs—as well as fun gift items. Located near the main entrance to the Exhibit Hall on the lower level of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the ALA Store hours are:

An integral resource for students and working professionals alike, Reference and Information Services: An Introduction has served a generation of reference librarians. But authors Kay Ann Cassell and Uma Hiremath aren't resting on their laurels. We spoke to them about the brand new fourth edition which has just been published, discussing their collaboration and why reference librarianship is more important than ever.

More people than ever are using the library to obtain legal information and legal research advice, and library staff need to be able to serve these users efficiently and confidently. Veteran law librarians Virginia M. Tucker and Marc Lampson just published an update of Finding the Answers to Legal Questions, their benchmark text. We caught up with them to hear their perspective on what's new in the field and to get some handy reference tips.