News

Join the Unite Against Book Bans campaign. Unite Against Book Bans is a national campaign to protect the rights of everyone to access information. Leveraging the reach of a national coalition, we connect, support, and mobilize both library workers and concerned community members to fight book bans in their communities and states.

The Maine Library Association is a proud State Partner. 

Read Amanda Geduld's Maine Monitor article, Twenty-two challenges to school library books have been filed in Maine since January 2022. Just one book has been removed (September 2023). 

The conference schedule for 2023 Annual MLA Conference is live! Please visit our conference page to view the program of sessions and speakers. Session descriptions are forthcoming.

Advocacy in Action: The 2023 Maine Library Association Annual Meeting and Conference will take place on May 22-23 at Sunday River Ski Resort - Grand Summit Hotel in Newry, Maine. Our keynote speakers will be Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association, and author Monica Wood. 

MLA members and conference attendees are eligible for a discounted ticket price to the pre-conference fundraiser dinner on Sunday, May 21, with special guests and speakers Stephen and Tabitha King!

Early Bird registration ends April 16th. Learn more and register at www.mainelibraries.org today!

We have completed our 2021-2022 Impact Report, which can be viewed here. 

Have you found yourself wondering, “what would happen if libraries went away, even for a day?” This is the driving question asked back in 2007 by New Jersey library workers that gave us Library Snapshot Day. The MLA Legislative Advocacy Committee is pleased to present Library Snapshot Day 2022 and we hope you’ll join us!

Library Snapshot Day is about collecting data, yes, but it also aims to shine a light on the impact libraries have on communities. And we want to share that impact with elected officials, decision-makers, and other community leaders. The best advocacy work we can do is proactive and Library Snapshot Day is one more tool for raising awareness in our quiver. Please plan to join us for Library Snapshot Day 2022 and let others know what awesome things you do everyday by sharing one day.

What you will do:

• Pick any day during the week of September 25 - October 1, 2022

• Take a picture of your library in action

• Track the data and fill in this quick survey 

• Attach your picture at the end of the survey

That’s it!

What we will do:

We’ll send you a personalized, snappy little one-pager to share with your elected officials and we’ll put together a complete report for the Maine State Library to share with state and national leaders. 

For more information and to register, visit: https://www.mainelibraries.org/event-4972418

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, please email advocacy@mainelibraries.org. We can’t wait to read your stories!

We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2022 Phyllis E. Ainsworth Scholarship is Wendy West, a student at San Jose State University.

The Phyllis E. Ainsworth Scholarship was named in 1979 in honor of Mrs. Ainsworth, a Maine librarian who had recently been the first Southern Maine Library District Consultant. The $2,000 scholarship is awarded annually to a student member of MLA in order to defray the cost of graduate school.

At the recent MLA conference, we also announced the winners of annual awards. The Outstanding Librarian of the Year is Angie Herrick of the Skowhegan Free Public Library. The Outstanding Library Advocate (a new award this year) is Evelyn Adelson of York, Maine.

Please welcome the recently elected officers who will begin their new two-year terms this year.

• Treasurer -- Amy Wisehart, Director of Northeast Harbor Public Libary, was re-elected for another term
• Member-at-large 1 -- Kate Wing, Course Materials and Collections Specialist at Bowdoin College, was re-elected for another term
• Secretary -- Anna Faherty, Archivist at the Franco-American Collection at the University of Southern Maine's Lewiston-Auburn College, was elected

Please also welcome Samantha Duckworth, Law Librarian at Verrill, as Intellectual Freedom Chair. Thank you to Joanna Breen and Matt Delaney, the outgoing Intellectual Freedom Chair and Secretary, for their dedication and hard work.

Click here to access the ballot - you must log in to your account to access the ballot page.

The MLA Board has proposed some changes to our bylaws. These would typically be discussed and voted on by members at the Annual Business Meeting, but due to the COVID pandemic complications this year, we were unable to get the changes ready in time. 

We will be holding a (brief) special meeting on Thursday, August 6th at 10:00am, which is open to all active members who wish to discuss and vote on the proposed bylaws changes. This email shall serve as the required 30-day notice of such a meeting. The Bylaws with proposed changes can be viewed here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GxDTsVwtArMjKkg7f8rupyweUkvkRO-4/view?usp=sharing_eil&ts=5efdefb9

There are track changes in the document made by Rob Levin, who is the attorney MLA has retained, in order to assist us with our transition to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. 

Your registration confirmation email will include a Zoom invite.

The Maine Library Association stands against all forms of racism and hatred. Racism has no place in libraries or society. It is unacceptable and divides our communities. Libraries are committed to creating physical and virtual spaces that are welcoming to all. We stand for diversity, equity, inclusion, and open access to information in all of our programs and services in our libraries. The events of this past weekend are the latest in our nation’s painful history and they are indicative of a much larger, systemic problem of racism and oppression that must end. We have more work to do. Libraries have a critical role to play in confronting racism and creating equity.

The Maine Library Association stands with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) and the American Library Association (ALA) in their condemnation of violence and racism toward Black people and all People of Color. We must listen, amplify the voices of Black people and People of Color, and be better allies. This is what libraries do: listen, convene, and support all our community members.

Here is a compiled list of resources, books, and websites to help drive change and promote healing:

University of New England AntiRacism Reading List

Children’s books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance

Anti-Racism for Kids 101: Starting to Talk About Race

Teaching Tolerance - Free Webinars

Advancing Racial Equity in Your Library

Jennifer Alvino
Maine Library Association, President 2019-2021