Episodes of AJL

Managing Volunteers in Synagogue Libraries

In 1982, after moving to a planned community thirty miles north of Houston, Dede Fox Ducharme and her family joined a small congregation that met with visiting rabbis in various locations. As Beth Shalom of The Woodlands grew into a synagogue w

Place of Gathering: Synagogue Archives at Yeshiva University

Susan Freiband outlines some ideas for effectively managing volunteers in synagogue libraries, including recruiting and promoting volunteers from within the congregation, and training new volunteers. The importance of communication and feedback

Early American Judaica: The Gershwind-Bennett Isaac Leeser Digitization Project

This session provides a description and overview of collections of synagogue archives at Yeshiva University, with an emphasis on describing and providing examples of different types of records which typically comprise synagogue archives. There

Using Library Automation Software to Organize All of Your Resources

Over seven years in the making, the Gershwind-Bennett Isaac Leeser Digitization Project uses digital technologies to make accessible on-line the physically dispersed corpus of over 2,100 handwritten letters, monograph and serial publications, a

Uncovering the History of the Cairo Genizah Manuscript Collections - The Story So Far

A library is more than a collection of books found within the library walls. It extends out into every area of the synagogue and school, including the administration office, music department, gym and sports area, and to each classroom. Each are

History of Jewish Archives and Libraries in the Middle Ages and the Medieval Educational Curriculum

This paper focuses on the ongoing research being carried out by Rebecca Jefferson on the history of the Cairo Genizah manuscript collections. Since 2008, Jefferson has been examining letters and documents held in various libraries around the w

Recreating Cataloging Culture: Backlog Reduction as Empowerment

The evolution of Jewish medieval classification of library collections evolved over the Tannaitic (70vCE to 200 CE), Amoraic (200-500 CE), Savoraim (500-600 CE), Geonic (600-900 CE), Rishonim (900-1450 CE), Achronim (1450-Shoah) periods as the

Jewish Legal Materials in Libraries

When new library initiatives were paired with space limitations, staff and librarians in the Cataloging and Metadata Center at UCLA became concerned about their growing backlogs, especially those in non-Roman scripts. Sharon Benamou was appoint

Technology Tools for your Library

Under Library of Congress rules, the Law Library, rather than the Hebraic section's reading room, gets all materials pertaining to the Israeli legal system, the legal status of Jews regardless of place, and works on Mishpat Ivri (aspects of hal

What Do We Do with the Books?

Get creative! Embrace technology in your library and learn about 21st entury tools that can be used by students, teachers, and librarians. Learn about useful tech tools to help promote, collaborate, and share with your faculty, parents, communi

Library of Congress Panel: Israel and Judaica Section Update

As the e-revolution rolls on, and Kindles and tablets begin to rule the world, how are librarians to deal with the material we already have? This talk discusses some of the questions we are discussing in Oakland, and suggests some concepts that

Feb 18th, 2014

Representatives from the Israel and Judaica Section at the Library of Congress discuss developments in acquisitions and cataloging during the past year, including a presentation by Joan Biella on progress in RDA implementation as it relates to

Finding Rebecca: The Memoir of Rebecca Cohen-Mayer, 1837-1930

Feb 18th, 2014

While doing research at the Jacob Rader Marcus archive in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kay Goldman discovered the memoir of entrepreneur Henry Mayer. After reading it, she realized it was the memoir of Henry's wife, Rebecca. This remarkable woman who marr

Jews in the Early History of Texas

Feb 18th, 2014

This session is dedicated to the memory of Bernard Rapoport, 1917-2012, a Texas Jew who made great contributions in many areas including education in the US and Israel; local and national politics; philanthropy, general and Jewish in the US and

2013 Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award

2013 STBA Silver Medalists

The winner of the 2013 Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award was Karen Propp, for her work in progress, Freestyle. Hear her award acceptance speech from the 2013 Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Houston, Texas.

2013 STBA Speech: Intentions

Two of the silver medalists who won Sydney Taylor Honor Awards in 2013 were present at the conference in Houston, Texas. Hear the award acceptance speeches by Doreen Rappaport (Beyond Courage) and Sheri Sinykin (Zayde Comes to Live).

2013 STBA Speech: His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg

The winner of the 2013 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Teen Readers Category was Intentions by Deborah Heiligman. Hear her award acceptance speech from the 2013 Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Houston, Texas.

2013 STBA Speech: Hannah's Way

The winner of the 2013 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers Category was His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg by Louise Borden. Hear her award acceptance speech from the 2013 Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Houston, Texas.