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Donna Seaman writes: “When poet and writer Hanif Abdurraqib received a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, the foundation observed that he “is forging a new form of cultural criticism, one that is informed by lived experience and offers incisive social and artistic critiques.” This aptly describes Abdurraqib’s new book, There’s Always This Year: Basketball and Ascension (Random House, March), which is, in part, a paean to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Abdurraqib spoke with American Libraries about his forthcoming work, the experience of finding a personal history in the library, and how basketball reflects larger issues in the world.”
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American Libraries reviews some of the types of artificial intelligence now widely available (including text generators, chatbots, image generators, and video generators), as well as the ways libraries may be able to utilize them and the controversies and potential pitfalls that each have faced.
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ALA reported March 14 that the number of book titles targeted for censorship in the US increased by 65% from 2022 to 2023, surging to a new record. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) documented attempts to censor 4,240 unique book titles in schools and libraries in 2023. The previous record was set in 2022, when 2,571 unique titles were targeted. OIF reported 1,247 demands to censor library books and other materials in 2023, many of which targeted dozens or hundreds of titles at a time.
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Beth Skwarecki writes: “Google has gotten worse at showing us useful search results. Google tries to be helpful by searching for words that are similar to those you are searching for (and, more cynically, they may try to be helpful to advertisers by funneling your interests into things that advertisers want to sell you). Lately, those adjustments seem to have gotten a lot broader, giving us off-target searches. Enter the verbatim option. This isn’t new, but it’s become even more important recently.”
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Elisa Shoenberger writes: “It was a hard-won campaign, but you did it. You nurtured a character from the start—made a backstory, rolled the dice, chose your feats, and equipped your character. You met a ragtag group of explorers that journeyed through the continent of Faerûn to defeat evil. And you did it. Putting away your weapons, whether sword and sphere, or offensive magic spells, seems so anticlimactic. What do you do? The answer is obvious: Read books like Baldur’s Gate.”
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Susan Haigh writes: “Whenever bestselling author Robin Cook releases a new medical thriller, the head of the public library in West Haven, Connecticut, knows demand for digital copies will be high. So will the price. Like many libraries, West Haven has been grappling with the soaring costs of e-books and audiobooks. Librarians in several states have been pushing for legislation to rein in the costs and restrictions on electronic material. This year, lawmakers in states including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, Hawaii and New Hampshire have proposed bills aimed at closing the affordability gap. A bill was introduced in Virginia but was tabled in February.”
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Peter Murray writes: “The British Library in London suffered a major cyber attack in October 2023 that encrypted and destroyed servers, exfiltrated 600 gigabytes of data, and has had an ongoing disruption of library services after four months. On March 8, the library published an 18-page report on the lessons they are learning. Their investigation found the attackers likely gained access through compromised credentials on a remote access server and had been monitoring the network for days prior. The library profession should be grateful to the British Library for their openness in the report, and we should take their lessons to heart.”
Disruptive Library Technology Jester, Mar. 9; British Library, Mar. 8
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Sam LaFrance and Kasey Meehan write: “From July 1, 2022, to June 31, 2023, a quarter of over 3,000 book bans that PEN America recorded were books with scenes of rape or sexual assault. Of the 12 most frequently banned titles, five contained scenes of rape or sexual assault. The erasure of books on sexual abuse is striking amid an epidemic of sexual violence. The book-banning movement is efficiently eradicating an already narrow space to learn about sexual violence in public schools. These books aren’t harmful—censorship is.”
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Susan Bond writes: “When the University of Toronto Libraries transitioned to our new library services platform in 2021, we were in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. As the go-live day was approaching, we were worried that people might not be prepared. We initially proposed two weekly Ask me Anything (AMA) sessions as a stopgap: a way to bridge the difference between what we wanted our training to be and what we were able to deliver. In the years since that time, the AMAs have grown into something different: A space where we come together to talk about how we work as a system.”
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Karin Greenberg writes: “How can we get boys to read more often? It’s a question that comes up frequently in my life as a librarian. The literary gender gap is real. During a recent lesson when I was asked to share some titles with a 9th-grade class in preparation for their next independent reading project, I had a realization. It’s not the content that’s the problem, it’s the reading. After listening to several students joke about how bad they are at reading, I compared it to exercise and sports. On the spot, I came up with the idea of a reading workout.”
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Diba Mohtasham writes: “When former librarian and author Jean Armour Polly first introduced the idea of having computers in libraries in the early 1980s, she was met with pushback. [But] in 1981, Polly managed to secure an Apple II Plus into the small library she was working at the time in Liverpool, New York. By 1992, they were offering free internet for the public. Polly would also go around attending library conferences about the internet, excitedly speaking to anybody who would listen about the resource.” She also popularized the phrase “Surfing the internet” in a 1992 Wilson Library Bulletin article.
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ALA has opened applications for the second year of the ALA Building Library Capacity grants, which will provide $10,000 to up to 16 libraries. Each year of the grants focuses on adding capacity to different segments of the library community. This year’s grants will support libraries that serve incarcerated people or those re-entering society. The application deadline is April 12, 2024, with awards announced at the end of May. There will be a virtual grant information session on Tuesday, March 19 at 3 p.m. Central.
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