Google Books is indexing AI-generated works | American Libraries Magazine

Stack of books Emanuel Maiberg writes: “Google Books is indexing low quality, AI-generated books that will turn up in search results and could possibly impact Google Ngram viewer, an important tool used by researchers to track language use throughout history. Searching Google Books for the term ‘As of my last knowledge update,’ which is associated with ChatGPT-generated answers, returns dozens of books that include that phrase. Most of the books in the first eight pages of results turned up by the search appear to be AI-generated and are not about AI.”

404 Media, Apr. 4

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Emanuel Maiberg writes: “AI bots that scrape the internet for training data are hammering the servers of libraries, archives, museums, and galleries, and are in some cases knocking their collections offline, according to a new survey from the GLAM-E Lab. The survey is the first attempt at measuring the problem, which in the worst cases can make valuable, public resources unavailable to humans because the servers they’re hosted on are being swamped by bots scraping the internet for AI training data.” The University of North Carolina Libraries in Chapel Hill recently shared its experience with AI bots attempting to scrape its catalog.

404 Media, June 17; GLAM-E Lab, June 17; University of North Carolina Libraries, June 9
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Mark Samuels writes: “Becoming a successful manager is far from straightforward. Leading people requires a series of crucial characteristics, and research suggests one of the most important is positivity. A Harvard Business Review survey found that team members felt more highly respected when leaders expressed positivity during the early stages of a project. So how can leaders develop the right tone and be seen by their staff as positive leaders? Five business leaders give their top tips.”

ZDNET, June 13; Harvard Business Review, Apr. 25
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Adrienne De Luna writes: “Among Us is a multiplayer online game where players work together on a spaceship to complete tasks while trying to identify imposters, who attempt to secretly sabotage the mission and eliminate players. Crewmates must use communication and deduction to vote out suspected imposters, while imposters try to deceive the group and avoid detection.” De Luna shares how Whiting (Ind.) Public Library launched a popular after-hours, real-life Among Us program.

Programming Librarian, June 12
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Noah Biesiada writes: “Huntington Beach (Calif.) voters weighed in on the future of their city’s library June 10, [repealing an approved-but-never-created] book review committee and blocking city leaders from selling the library or privatizing its operations. City Council members have been loudly calling for residents to vote no on both initiatives for months. But library volunteers and residents came out in force at city council meetings, calling for city leaders to keep their hands off the shelves and leave book selection to librarians.

Voice of OC, June 10; American Libraries Online, Apr. 4
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Hannah Weinberg writes: “Since our last report, libraries have continued to experience significant upheaval from President Trump’s actions. In May, the Trump administration fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. We also saw legal cases challenging the administration’s defunding of the Institute of Museum and Library Services continue to make their way through the courts in May and June. Meanwhile, library advocates contacted their legislators to fight for federal library funding in fiscal year 2026. Here are several updates on the attacks against libraries across the US and the ways in which library supporters are pushing back.”

American Libraries Online, June 18, Apr. 30
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Jacksonville (Fla.) Public Library writes: “Considered the longest-running African American holiday, Juneteenth has been celebrated by African Americans since the 1800s and became a federal holiday in 2021. A combination of the words ‘June’ and ‘nineteenth,’ it is celebrated on the anniversary of the order, issued by Major General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, proclaiming freedom for slaves in Texas. If you’re still somewhat new to Juneteenth celebrations or you’d like to share the history with your children, the library has books to help you out!” Lone Star College–University Park (Texas) Library offers a research guide with history, ebooks, primary sources, and more.

Jacksonville (Fla.) Public Library, June 13; Lone Star College University Park (Texas) Library, May 27
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Rob Bittner writes: “ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children and Young Adult Library Services Association are embarking on a new adventure together. We will be reunifying and the two divisions will once again be combined, with a mission to serve both children’s and teen librarians. I know that there will be many questions that I am unable to answer in a blog post or in our FAQ page, but we will be looking to the memberships of both divisions to provide feedback and input that we can use to ensure that we can best serve our newly reunited division starting in 2026.”

ALSC Blog, June 11

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