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December 31, 2020 1977 × 2560 2020 Year in Review

New ALA headquarters

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Charles Q. Choi writes: “Artificial intelligence chatbots such as ChatGPT and other applications powered by large language models have found widespread use, but are infamously unreliable. A common assumption is that scaling up the models driving these applications will improve their reliability—for instance, by increasing the amount of data they are trained on, or the number of parameters they use to process information. However, more recent and larger versions of these language models have actually become more unreliable, not less, according to a new study,” largely because recent models are less likely to acknowledge if they don’t know an answer for certain.

IEEE Spectrum, Oct. 3; Nature, Sept. 25
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Charlie Barlow writes: “Roger Schonfeld’s latest piece in Scholarly Kitchen, ‘Lessons Learned from a Fair Use Defeat,’ feels unnecessarily defeatist in assessing libraries’ controlled digital lending (CDL) efforts. From my perspective, CDL has significant potential. The recent Second Circuit Court ruling against the Internet Archive marked a setback for one interpretation of CDL, but as the Authors Alliance explains, it does not prohibit CDL universally. It leaves room for future implementations that could better meet fair use standards, especially given the lack of a digital first-sale doctrine.”

Library Futures, Oct. 7; Scholarly Kitchen, Sept. 30; Authors Alliance, Sept. 5
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Jeannette Boner writes: “After eight years, Teton County (Wyo.) Library has been forced to cancel its free Harry Potter-inspired programming for children and adults. This year’s events—A Night at Hogwarts, Harry Potter Trivia for Adults, and Harry Potter Family Day—had all been scheduled for later this month. The library said in a press release October 3 that it acted in response to a cease-and-desist letter from legal representatives of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., the owner of copyright and other intellectual property rights related to the films featuring child wizard Harry Potter.”

Jackson Hole News & Guide, Oct. 4
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Sonny Albarado writes: “A federal judge on September 30 ordered Crawford County (Ark.) officials to stop placing certain library materials, mostly on LGBTQ+ themes, in a separate section with color labels. US District Judge P.K. Holmes III ordered the defendants to move the materials in those sections to ‘appropriate sections in general circulation without consideration of whether they approve or agree with the viewpoints expressed in such materials, and without consideration of whether the viewpoints expressed in such materials are unpopular or controversial.’” County parents filed the lawsuit regarding the books’ relocation in May 2023.

Arkansas Advocate, Oct. 1; May 26, 2023
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Michelle N. Amponsah and Joyce E. Kim write: “More than 12 pro-Palestine student protesters were banned from entering Widener Library for two weeks after they staged a silent ‘study-in’ protest. Roughly 30 activists staged an ‘emergency study-in’ at Widener on September 21 to protest the Israeli military’s airstrikes in Lebanon. For an hour, students donned keffiyehs and studied with posters taped to their computers. The demonstration was silent, and other students in the Widener reading room continued to study alongside the protesters. During the study-in, library staff passed out sheets of paper stating that libraries are not permissible spaces for student protests.”

Harvard Crimson, Oct. 3, Sept. 23
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ALA President Cindy Hohl participated in an October 8 discussion with White House officials and national leaders about efforts to save lives from overdose. ALA is one of more than 250 organizations and businesses that have committed to the White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose. The Challenge, launched earlier this year, is a nationwide call-to-action to increase training on, and access to, life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone. ALA, led by its Public Library Association division, has developed resources to help libraries respond to the overdose crisis.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, Oct. 8
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“The 25 Finalists for the 2024 National Book Awards for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature were announced with the New York Times October 1. The five finalists in each category were selected by a distinguished panel of judges, and were advanced from the longlists announced in September with The New Yorker. Winners will be announced November 20 and broadcast on YouTube, Facebook, and the Foundation’s website.”

National Book Foundation, Oct. 1; The New Yorker, Sept. 13

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