16m
ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee announced July 7 the release of “Content Controls and Access Guidelines for Vendors,” a new guiding document designed to help library staff make informed, principled decisions when selecting third‑party digital content providers. The guidelines equip library workers with essential tools to safeguard the intellectual freedom of their communities. Key considerations include: How content is curated, filtered, or restricted; access considerations for minors; labels and ratings used by vendors to categorize content; and patron privacy protections.
ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, July 7
3h
Sabrina Cofer writes: “In the three and half years since ChatGPT’s launch, we’ve experienced a massive influx of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that promise to solve problems that don’t exist and deliver ever-increasing efficiencies. A major topic of ALA’s 2026 Annual Conference was what AI can accomplish, and presenters had answers. Speakers shared that AI excels at tasks like writing code, generating tags, sorting through massive amounts of data, assisting with web development projects, and creating metadata. What is AI, as one panelist delicately put it, ‘garbage’ at? Reference services, reader advisory, and traditional catalog search.”
Choice 360 LibTech Insights, July 1
19h
“In 2022, Livingston Parish (La.) Amanda Jones sued Michael Lunsford; Citizens for a New Louisiana, a conservative policy research group that Lunsford founded; and blogger Ryan Thames after they equated her opposition to banning books about LGBTQ+ subjects to supporting child pornography and grooming children. On June 15, 21st Judicial District Court Judge Erika Sledge said Jones’s attorneys’ fees must be paid by Lunsford and his organization.” Jones previously settled her lawsuit against Thames for $1 and an apology in which he acknowledged that his claims were not true.
WBRZ-TV (Baton Rouge, La.) July 3; Louisiana Voice, Nov. 3, 2025; American Libraries feature, Sept./Oct. 2023; Instagram, Nov. 2, 2025
1d
Jamillah R. Gabriel et al. write: “Library users today are as diverse as their questions. We meet graduate and international students, faculty, alumni, and visitors from all walks of life, and each brings unique identities and experiences into our space. Traditional approaches to reference services, while helpful, can miss critical opportunities to dismantle structural inequities or to recognize trauma, cultural context, and the full spectrum of knowledge traditions. Without intentional change, libraries can unintentionally reproduce the very exclusions we seek to challenge.”
College & Research Libraries News, vol. 87, no. 7 (July/Aug.)
1d
Karen Lindell writes: “It wasn’t her usual workplace attire, but Katherine Bunker was really looking forward to donning a pair of glittery green fairy wings. Bunker, children’s librarian at Centennial Park Library in Greeley, Colorado, had that opportunity as she prepared for one of her most popular summer programs last year. She also set out twigs, moss, leaves, pine cones, acorns, rocks, grass, berries, and other items gathered from her own home and around the library grounds. Her workshop invited children to create fairy houses: tiny, whimsical structures made mostly out of natural materials.”
American Libraries Trend, Summer
5d
Alex Young writes: “Dua Lipa, who in 2023 launched her Service95 Book Club, has now partnered with the Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto, Portugal, to open a physical library. Opening June 27, the 100-book Manifesto Library is dedicated to books ‘that challenge power, censorship, exclusion, and dominant narratives.’ Lipa explained in a statement that ‘This library is a shrine to books that have disappeared, to authors whose courage unmasks structures of power and control, and to readers who refuse to be told what book they are allowed to read.’”
Consequence, June 26
5d
Angela Hursh writes: “For years, conventional wisdom in library marketing has been clear: You need to be on Facebook because that’s where your community is. But what if that’s no longer true? The staff at Lucius Beebe Memorial Library in Wakefield, Massachusetts, asked themselves that question. They stopped using Facebook altogether. Several months later, Library Director Catherine McDonald says the results have been surprisingly uneventful. Program attendance remained steady, website usage remained strong, the library’s newsletters and blog continued to perform well, and community engagement did not decline.”
Super Library Marketing, June 29
