Latest Library Links
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Jamia Williams writes: “One of my favorite things about working in academic libraries is creating displays. At first glance, they may seem like a simple way to highlight books, but library displays can be so much more. They are opportunities to tell stories, spark curiosity, encourage dialogue, and help members of our communities see themselves reflected in the library. When we intentionally incorporate diverse perspectives into our displays, we send a powerful message: Everyone belongs here, and every story has value.” -
While Jimothy, the Seattle raccoon with an unusually short and rounded shape, may have achieved viral fame, it’s remained a fan of libraries. Jimothy completed the Summer Quest program at Seattle Public Library’s Ballard Branch, visited Cobb County (Ga.) Public Library’s genealogy and local history collections, and inspired booklists at Kitsap Regional Library in Bremerton, Washington, and Pima County (Ariz.) Public Library. -
Maria Peña writes: “Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of The Odyssey introduces the epic poem attributed to Homer to a new generation of moviegoers, turning a nearly 3,000-year-old story into a fresh cultural touchstone. The Library of Congress’s collections, covering centuries of time, document how artists, cartographers, and translators around the world have translated and reimagined Odysseus’s journey anew. The LC’s holdings on work attributed to Homer go back about 2,000 years, with a papyrus fragment from The Iliad, the precursor to The Odyssey.” -
Frank Landymore writes: “Traditionally, books have been good for two things: reading and looking nice on a shelf. But artificial intelligence (AI) companies are interested in neither. To those building large language models, books are nothing more than fodder to be devoured en masse before being spit out like fishbone. Antique books may be endangered. Rare booksellers in the Netherlands are being inundated with bulk purchases they believe are being made by AI companies, though they can’t know for sure.” -
Annaliese Melvin writes: “Many library systems around the country rely on the help of volunteers to make our workflows successful. In my system, this includes teen volunteers, and in the summer paid teen employees. If you are new to working with teens, you may feel apprehensive about how to manage their workflow. Whether you work with teens as summer volunteers or school year employees, these tips can help you set them up for success.” -
Graeme Peacock writes: “Google offers some very convenient and highly advanced software—there’s no doubt about that—but it comes at the cost of pervasive user tracking. For nearly nine years, an anti-Google movement called de-Google has quietly grown on Reddit. It’s a privacy-focused community whose members share how they cope in a world without Google products. I’ve always been pro-privacy, and naturally gravitate toward software that respects it. These are the four ways (of many) I live without Google.” -
Cameron C. Beatty writes: “Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is not a slogan. It is not a branding exercise. It is not a campus accessory to pull out during heritage months and quietly hide when the political weather changes. At its best, DEI education helps people understand history, power, identity, inequality, institutional responsibility, and democratic life. It helps us name harm before harm becomes normalized. As we enter the next academic year, especially for those of us whose work embodies DEI even when the acronym itself is treated like contraband, I offer four considerations.” -
Sally Sax writes: “Twenty-five years after the US Copyright Office’s first Digital Millennium Copyright Act review, libraries operate in an increasingly noncompetitive digital information environment. A lack of digital ownership rights remains a critical barrier to libraries serving their missions as memory institutions. Library leaders can use the reaction to Sony’s announcement [to end sales of physical PlayStation games] and similar cultural moments to showcase our institutional expertise on digital rights issues, and to advance our interests in library-owned digital collections and federal contract override protections.” -
“The absence of clear personnel policies could lead to confusion, conflict, and organizational risk. As you consider your own personnel policy, the following questions and resources may help support your review and identify areas for improvement. These policies may cover areas such as behavior management, privacy, access to information, emergency response, staff training, hiring, scheduling, leave, performance expectations, grievances, and workplace conduct.” -
Amanda Silberling writes: “At Bangor (Maine) Public Library, patrons turn to librarian Hannah Cyrus when they need help with anything involving technology. Usually, Cyrus’s classes like Intro to Computers get about a dozen attendees. But so many people expressed interest in her first Avoiding Artificial Intelligence workshop that she had to cut off registration at 30 people, open a waitlist, and share the workshop on Zoom. Including the livestream, about 70 people attended each of Cyrus’s first two workshops.” -
Anita Coleman writes: “At the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962, ALA showed the world what a library could become. Library 21, as the exhibit was called, imagined a future of networked knowledge, instant retrieval, and universal access. In the summer of 2002, I launched dLIST—the Digital Library of Information Science and Technology—the field’s first open access disciplinary repository for library and information science scholarship. It was built on three convictions that were, in 2002, either ahead of their time or simply unheard of.” -
Amalia E. Butler writes: “As youth librarians, we know how important it is to collect our statistics. We count program attendance, track circulation, tally summer reading participation, document outreach visits, and much more. The numbers are entered, the spreadsheets are filed, and another reporting cycle begins. When we take the time to reflect on the data, it can guide us to meaningful action. Good data helps us ask better questions, understand our communities more deeply, and make more informed decisions about our services.”
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