May 2018

Features & Trends

Nancy Down, head librarian of the Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies at Bowling Green (Ohio) State University Libraries.

Bookend: Pop Culture Paradise

When researchers need to study these or other pieces of American ephemera created after 1876, they head to the Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University Libraries. Founded almost 50 years ago, the library holds one of the largest comics collections in the country, as well as … Continue reading Bookend: Pop Culture Paradise →

Library Systems Report 2018

By Marshall Breeding

Academic libraries are looking beyond efficiencies in collection management or improvements in library-provided discovery services. Instead, they are addressing broader education needs by inserting relevant resources into platforms that support the curriculum and enhance their institutions’ research activities. Public libraries seek technologies that improve engagement with their communities. These libraries value reliable and feature-rich automation … Continue reading Library Systems Report 2018 →

2018 Annual Conference Must-Dos

By Donna Hunter

Use the Annual Conference Scheduler to start planning. Speakers who inspire ALA President Jim Neal welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, filmmaker, immigrant rights advocate, and CEO of Define American Jose Antonio Vargas as his President’s Program speaker (June 24). This year’s slate of Auditorium Speaker Session presenters includes presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin … Continue reading 2018 Annual Conference Must-Dos →

Emerging Leaders 2018
By Phil Morehart
Notable Dissertations 2018
By Kathy Rosa
Bringing Wikipedia into the Library
By Alex Stinson and Jason Evans
By the Numbers: Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
By Terra Dankowski
Newsmaker: Junot Díaz
By Phil Morehart
Wide World of E-Sports
By Timothy Inklebarger
Learning Spanish First
By Cathay Reta
Adulting 101
By Anne Ford

Columnists

Latest Library Links

16h

Amy Hardin writes: “Library renovations can feel overwhelming—especially when you’re juggling tight budgets, big community expectations, and a building that’s showing its age. The good news is you don’t have to choose between ‘do nothing’ and ‘tear it down.’ Most successful library upgrades live somewhere in the middle: a smart, phased plan that protects your long-term vision while making meaningful improvements right now. Here are a few practical ways to think about approaching a library renovation.”

American Libraries Online, Sept. 15
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Violet Fox writes: “In March 2025, I wrote about anticipatory obedience at the Library of Congress (LC), describing how LC fast tracked changes to the Library of Congress Subject Headings relating to the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali. When Trump issued an executive order on August 27 directing federal agencies to change Lake Ontario to Lake America, catalogers around the world waited to see how LC would handle the changes. On September 3, LC scheduled a proposal to change the subject heading, and on September 11, the change was approved. The speed with which this happened is astounding.”

ACRLog, Sept. 12; Mar. 28, 2025
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In the 15 years since Fayetteville (N.Y.) Free Library opened the first recognized public library makerspace, similar creative hubs have spread to libraries throughout the country. In our By the Numbers feature, learn more makerspace facts, including details about DC Public Library’s Dance Studio, how University of Utah’s Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library used its makerspace to contribute to pandemic relief, and how Paul Smith Elementary School in Franklin, New Hampshire, taught students to make pillows perfect to lounge on while reading.

American Libraries Trend, Fall
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Ann Medaille writes: “With the advent of new technologies and rapid social and economic shifts, library workers’ jobs are being transformed. Compared with a decade ago, library workers now spend more time consulting on complex research tools, teaching digital literacy classes, supporting virtual learning environments, helping users troubleshoot devices, and codesigning projects with community partners. The pace at which library staffers are called upon to learn new skills is accelerating, and workers may struggle to keep up. While corporations may embrace upskilling to stay competitive, libraries will have to support upskilling to remain relevant.”

American Libraries feature, Fall
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Nicky Martin and Tracee Haupt Fugate write: “Preserving a website is complicated. Even a simple webpage can depend on dozens of images, videos, scripts, style sheets, and other resources scattered across the web. If some of those pieces are missed, the archived version may look or behave differently than the original. That is why quality assurance (QA) is an important part of web archiving.” They report on a project to evaluate an automated QA tool for website archiving.

Library of Congress: The Signal, Sept. 8
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Daly Barnett writes: “Doxxing is the deliberate disclosure of personal information to bully, harass, intimidate, or instigate a chain of harms against someone. The responsibility is on each of us to protect ourselves, but the good news is that there’s a lot you can do to reduce your digital footprint and take control of your data. In this two-part series, the first part focuses on prevention and ways to reduce your overall footprint, while the second focuses on incident response.”

Electronic Frontier Foundation, Aug. 31
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Kari Kivinen writes: “Finland’s Faktabaari EDU digital information literacy project has published a draft English version of a total of 286 task cards for teaching artificial intelligence (AI) literacy, covering early education through higher education. The cards are organized by level of education and, within each level, by subject. Each card is based on the principle of AI as supporting tool in which AI can be used to support human thinking, learning, and action, not as a source of information or a substitute for decision making.”

Kivinen, Sept. 2

View more Latest Library Links

May 2018

Features & Trends

Bookend: Pop Culture Paradise

Library Systems Report 2018

2018 Annual Conference Must-Dos

Emerging Leaders 2018

Notable Dissertations 2018

Bringing Wikipedia into the Library

By the Numbers: Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month

Newsmaker: Junot Díaz

Wide World of E-Sports

Learning Spanish First

Adulting 101

Columnists

Hope, Power, Action

Institutional Neutrality Isn’t Reality

Get Out of the Library

Helping Hands

The Last Story

Futureproofing Your Library

Coding for Fun

Learning Outside the Box