More stories about Belle da Costa:

Check out this collection of essays on women in library history by the Feminist Task Force of the American Library Association!:

"Highlight of my academic career was getting a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in 2008-9 to research a history of one of America's most ubiquitous and beloved civic institutions. The book was the result. This morning's NYT carries a story about what the Trump administration has done to NEH, which (when combined with its elimination of funding for the Institute for Museum and Library Services) convinces me my 2008 project proposal wouldn't stand a chance in 2025. Perfect example of 'controlling the narrative'"

Thanks, Dr. Wiegand, for sending his Facebook comment about recent events at universities to the blog: "Article in this morning's NYT about Texas A&M establishing rules re:teaching about gender and race ideologies gave me pause. For a course in American library history, if I assigned my latest book--which taps CRT to demonstrate that the nation's library profession entirely ignored the subject of segregated public school libraries 1954-1974--would I be called into the Provost's office at Texas A&M, or Kentucky, Wisconsin, or Florida State (institutions at which I taught 1976-2010) for attempts to "indoctrinate" my students?"

Check out the funded digitization projects for 2025!:

The School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, Missouri’s iSchool, invites you to engage with our faculty and students at the upcoming ASIS&T Conference. First, thanks to Professor Jenny Bossaller, who served as the Papers Chair for the 2025 ASIS&T Annual meeting. Papers Sessions Associate Professor Heather Moulaison-Sandy and Doctoral Student Heather Thach: "The Wicked Problem of ChatGPT: Information Avoidance, Uncomfortable Knowledge, and AI in Scholarly Communication."

"Rodney Freeman Jr. is a librarian and executive producer of the forthcoming documentary “Are You a Librarian: The Untold Story of Black Librarians.”"

Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Pexels.com

"Margaret Armstrong was one of the most celebrated and prolific book cover designers of the late 19th and early 20th century, with more than 300 known designs published over her 40-year career. Madison Good, of The Ohio State University's Thompson Library Special Collections, will discuss Armstrong's career, highlights of her work, and some of the Armstrong books held in Ohio State's special collections."

Books for Old Soldiers. The Pensioners' Library at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, 1833-1929 Jason McElligott, Marsh’s Library

This year ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Round Table is soliciting nominations for articles on the topic of intellectual freedom. This can include matters of ethical, political, or social concerns related to intellectual freedom. The article should have been published on the local, state, or national level in English or English translation in the 2024 or 2025 calendar years up through the end of December 2025.

Sadie Stein looks at the publisher Assouline's "Library Collection" which offers classic historical library accouterments for a private library such as bookends, book stands, magnifying glasses, backgammon sets and more!:

"You probably don’t know the name Paul Fasana. But the librarian was instrumental in preserving hundreds of thousands of artifacts of queer history." And check out Paul Fasana's wikipedia page at

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Here is an example of how library history can help libraries in the present...The Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship cites history in its fight against book banning: "Since 2021, we have closely followed the escalating censorship efforts and resulting lawsuit over book removals in Llano County, Texas. Throughout this fight, we have stood firmly with Leila Little and her fellow plaintiffs, who have courageously defended every American’s First Amendment right to access information.