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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.
Seattle Public Library, July 17; Cobb County (Ga.) Public Library, July 23; Kitsap Regional Library, July 23; Pima County (Ariz.) Public Library, July 20
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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.”
Library of Congress: Timeless, July 28
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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.”
Futurism, July 25; NL Times, June 25
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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.”
ALSC Blog, July 28
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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.”
How-To Geek, July 24
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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.”
Inside Higher Ed, July 24
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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.”
Association of Research Libraries Views, July 22
