Genealogy resources, including 1790-1930 US Federal Census records, genealogical book and periodical indexes, Revolutionary War records, and Freedman's Bank records.
The Alaska State Library is pleased to announce that Kate Enge is our new Online With Libraries (OWL) Librarian I and will start her duties at the Alaska State Library starting Monday 12/6/2021. Kate was formerly the Grants & Marketing Coordinator for the Juneau Public Libraries, and we’re looking forward to having her expertise and experience for the OWL program. After a period of training, she will have day to day responsibility for OWL. She will also be assisting the State Library with digital projects. Kate’s contact information will be announced when it's available.
Long-time Library Technology Consultant and OWL Program Manager Daniel Cornwall has moved to the Alaska State Library’s Information Services section to be their Continuing Resources Librarian and assist with the Federal Depository Library at ASL. This transition became effective 12/1/2021. While Daniel has appreciated his time with Library Development and advising libraries around the state on technology and broadband, he is looking forward to moving from consulting into an operational role with the State Library. He will continue to assist SLED as first-line help on authentication and other SLED database usage issues.
Questions about OWL issues should continue to be directed to Daniel until contact information becomes available for Kate Enge, our new OWL Librarian I. Questions about E-Rate should always be directed to Valerie Oliver or DeAnne Rand.
The Alaska State Library plans to hire for the Librarian III, Library Technology Consultant position. Watch this space and Workplace Alaska for a listing in the near to medium future.
While Daniel will no longer be available to consult with libraries and other institutions on technology issues, you have several options to get information on tech issues while the Alaska State Library searches for a new Library Technology Consultant:
For Everyone
Especially for Small to Medium Libraries
The Alaska State Library is a Federal Depository Library. ASL recently updated their Federal Publications Collection page. Along with links to what the feds consider to be the Basic Collection to federal government information (Laws, Budget, the Constitution Annotated, Outlook Occupational Handbook, etc.) are links to other sources of federal publications. The page also features a list in progress of federal agencies with offices in Alaska. If you know of a web page for a federal agency with offices in Alaska, let us know!
We also wanted to announce that Holly Fogus, our Publications Specialist II/Webmaster, will take over the editing of the Friday Bulletin starting with the 1/7/2022 issue. If you have online exhibits, online events, resources, or write-ups of events you are proud of, we encourage you to send them to Holly.
We hope that you will help Holly create a publication that will remain fresh and relevant to libraries, archives, and museums across Alaska!
On 11/26/2021, the Alaska Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums announced that 114 Alaska cultural organizations will receive $2.2 million in grant funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Twenty-nine museums; 80 academic, public, school, and tribal libraries; three archives; and two related organizations will receive funding that allows these institutions to respond to community needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Projects range from purchasing internet accessible devices so community members can maintain essential internet connectivity, to producing radio and video programs that provide educational offerings at a distance, to sharing books, photographs, and other collections online. ARPA funds will be used for digital projects (41%), pandemic response (27%), purchase of books and other library materials (23%), and for training (9%).
“We look forward to seeing how these projects improve education, promote community healing, and help Alaska’s libraries, archives, and museums to continue serving Alaskans,” says Patience Frederiksen, director of the Alaska Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums.
A list of institutions that will receive these grants is available upon request.
With a $39,807 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Alutiiq Museum will lead a digital asset management project. The project is a collaboration with the Kodiak History Museum. Both organizations will participate in a professional assessment of their digital collections management procedures, enhance their storage capacity, enhance written procedures, and train staff. In addition, the Alutiiq Museum will continue migrating digital collections files to a centralized location on its server.
Funding for this project comes from the American Rescue Plan Act. Alaska received $2,159,310 in ARPA funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support pandemic responses in the state’s libraries and museums. To distribute these funds, the Alaska State Library developed a grants program.
“We are very grateful for this support,” said Alutiiq Museum Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller. “The pandemic accelerated our digital outreach and identified needs for tools to create and share digital content, and to improve the care of digital resources. This grant is helping the museum enhance its management of digital collections to the benefit of our community. The new procedures, training, and an improved storage system will ensure their long-term preservation and make it easier for staff to serve our audience with digital content. Managing digital files is increasingly important in the modern world, and this project helps us align our practices with standards for our industry.”
Counceller added, “We are very pleased to be working with the Kodiak History Museum on this project. We are lucky to have a neighboring professional organization that can work and learn with us. Our museums have very similar goals and needs. And when we grow the capacity of Kodiak’s museums to care for their collections, we enhance the preservation and sharing of Kodiak history for everyone.”
If your library, archives or museum has issued a press release about what you’re doing with the ARPA grant YOU received from the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums, send it our way so we can share with Alaska’s LAM community and beyond!
Another recipient of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds was the Haines Borough Public Library. The Chilkat Valley News recently reported that the library will “upgrade its community room, increase internet capacity, add new e-books and purchase more lending materials after receiving $33,000 in American Rescue Plan Act grant funding.”
Items to be purchased with ARPA funds include:
For more, read Federal COVID-19 grant funding boon to Haines public library. By Kyle Clayton. Chilkat Valley News, 11/24/2021.
Is your ARPA grant generating positive buzz? Let us know where and how!
A post on the Museums listserv by Steve Henrikson of the Alaska State Museum highlighted a beautiful recovery of the past in Haines:
Haines museum reveals centuries-old formline paintings on Tlingit bentwood boxes with infrared photography | KHNS Radio | KHNS FM, 11/22/2021.
The before and after pictures are startling, and you should just go read the whole thing.
If your institution has used a clever technique to bring the past to current life, tell us what you’ve done!
The respected blog American Indians in Children’s Literature (AICL) recently published their Best Books of 2021. The bulk of this list are books written or illustrated by Native writers and is subdivided into the following areas:
The blog post introducing these Native-voiced books also points to two resource pages created by AICL of likely interest to Alaskans:
Native? Or, not? A Resource List. By Dr. Debbie Reese, 2/24/2021 – Addresses the concepts of "playing Indian" and "pretendian." Also discusses the use and misuse of DNA results in establishing Native American Identity.
Resources: Boarding and Residential Schools. By Dr. Debbie Reese, 7/31/2021 – Mix of books for all ages, along with links to website and video programs.
Hat tip to Valarie Kingsland for this item.
Remember last year when we begged, nagged, and begged some more for you to get everyone you know to complete Census 2020? All of the work you have done is beginning to bear fruits of data and insight. The December 2021 Alaska Economic Trends (PDF) provides a good explainer of what is now available from the 2020 Census and compares population data from 2020 to data from 2010 to explore how Alaska has changed in some ways and stayed the same in others. A few facts more fully explained in the article:
For more, read the whole article: A first look at the 2020 Census. By Eric Sandberg, David Howell, and Liz Brooks. Alaska Economic Trends, December 2021.
Have you wondered how your website sounds to a person with low or no vision? It’s important that people with vision issues can use your website as well as your sighted users. At the same time, it can feel overwhelming to test your site with a screen reader. Justine Win provides guidance on how to get started in a 2021 blog post:
A 4-step process for testing the accessibility of your designs: An approachable guide to doing an accessibility audit using a screen reader. By Justine Win. Shopify blog, 2/18/2021.
Government information librarians around the country have a dream – that people’s eyes won’t glaze over when they hear the words “government documents.” So many of them have engaged in providing guides to federal government publications and websites. These guides range from the practical to showcasing oddities.
Weird and Wonderful Government Publications from the American Library Association Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) manages a bit of both at the same time. According to GODORT, “This guide seeks to shine a light on these official oddities and treasures past and present.”
In addition to the regular listings found under “Weird”, “Wonderful,” and “Fun”, the front page highlights current and historical government documents on special topics. As of 12/3/2021, some of the items that could be found under the heading “Get Ready for Holiday Entertaining with Government Publications” were:
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game YouTube Channel features everything from “how-to's” in the field and kitchen to research done by the department. Playlists on the channel as of 12/3/2021 were:
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