Michigan Library Association

2024 State Budget Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference

In good news, economists painted a positive picture of the state's economic outlook at the Consensus Revenue Estimating conference held on January 12, 2024.

The revenue predictions were made during this twice-a-year meeting in which economists and leaders of the state budget office and the House and Senate fiscal agencies come to a common understanding of how much tax revenue the state will have in the coming years. The estimates are used as guides to develop the annual state budget. Read more

MLA Youth Literary Awards Top Ten Titles

Check out the top titles of the 2024 Mitten, YouPer and Thumbs Up! Awards! MLA Youth Literary Award workgroups spent thousands of hours reading, reviewing and discussing hundreds of books to determine the top titles for youth published in 2023.

Written by Amber Sheerin

PLA 2024 Recap

There was no question to any of the 7,500 attendees at PLA 2024 in Columbus, OH why they were there. Across from the main registration desk was an unmissable 10-foot-tall 3D wall with the Freedom to Read Foundation tagline: FREE PEOPLE READ FREELY.

Library workers from around the nation have been on the front line to protect intellectual freedom for citizens everywhere, and according to ALA’s press release, “PLA 2024 celebrated innovation, inclusivity, and community empowerment, tailored explicitly to cater to the needs of public library professionals,” with standing-room-only sessions focused on leadership initiatives, emerging trends, inclusion, and best practices related to library service. The conference not only celebrated the hard work library professionals do every day to protect and support their communities but also provided attendees with the knowledge, resources, and a network of support to keep improving. For any Michigan library workers unable to make the trip south to Ohio, we want to share some of the valuable ideas we brought home from PLA 2024.

Freedom to Read Legislation Update

Just when Michigan House members were set to introduce the Freedom to Read legislation in November, we stepped back and are taking a pause. Why? In the course of about two months, residents in the state of Michigan experienced a pause in the legislative cycle due to sine die; we saw two House Democrats elected in November to mayoral positions leaving the House evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, which also is leading to a new election being scheduled for these two districts in late April; and adding fuel to the fire, seven of the newly adopted House districts in SE Michigan were challenged and must be redrawn before any further elections can take place.