Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month
Boston Public Library

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month! This month, many public libraries will host events and programming to celebrate the history and contributions of Asian and Pacific Americans.

Boston Public Library is releasing its Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month booklist, a booklist of recent titles commemorating the diversity of the Asian American and Pacific Islander experience and highlighting these cultures' representation in print. The BPL will also observe AAPI Heritage Month by hosting special events for all ages across branches and by highlighting notable items in the BPL collections.

How will your library be celebrating? Learn more about BPL's programming here.

San José Public Library Participates in the National AI Literacy Day Summit
San José Public Library

Last month, San José Public Library participated in the National AI Literacy Day Summit hosted by The Tech Interactive, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. San José City Librarian Jill Bourne was invited to join a panel of tech experts and educators to discuss how libraries are adapting AI and providing access to AI learning opportunities for students, teachers, and the overall community.

Over 200 people, including educators from Stanford University, California public schools, tech non-profits, and tech leaders from Google, IBM, and Microsoft attended and participated in the conference. San José was the only city on the West Coast to host the AI summit. The other events were held in New York and Washington D.C.

Learn more about the Summit from The Tech Interactive website.

Milwaukee Public Library Nominated for 84th Annual Peabody Awards
Milwaukee Public Library

What do "Bluey," "The Bear" and the Milwaukee Public Library have in common? They’re all nominees for the 84th annual Peabody Awards! The library is nominated for its innovative use of Instagram and TikTok. To the delight of social media users, for two years MPL has leaned on popular culture references and humorous videos to promote the city’s library system and its events.

The Peabody Awards, designed more than a half-century ago as the radio industry’s equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize, recognize the best and most important public service in electronic media. MPL is a nominee in the Interactive & Immersive category.

“Milwaukee Public Library uses TikTok and Instagram to educate their community on what libraries offer and get young people excited about books at a time when book bans are increasing across the country. Using memes, trending music, and pop culture references, the library’s accounts highlight real library users, librarians, and library features in fresh and fun ways,” says the nomination.

Read the full press release.

"Missing: Red Dress Exhibit" Opens in Hamilton
Hamilton Public Library

The “Missing: Red Dress Exhibit” opened Wednesday at the Central Branch of the Hamilton Public Library. The exhibit is designed to provide an opportunity for the community to come together in reflection and solidarity to end the ongoing national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit persons.

Installed by the city’s Indigenous relations team, the first-floor display will include 21 red dresses that help tell the stories of 12 victims of violence.

All branches held a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m. on May 5 for the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People, also known as Red Dress Day.

See photos of the exhibit via The Hamilton Spectator.