Kate Deibel opened her session, “Pushing on the Frontier: Disability Access and the Future of Libraries” on Saturday, January 26, at the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Seattle, with this all-too-common question to make a point: “Always use the microphone. It’s one of the most important and easiest things you can do.” It helps … Continue reading Always Use the Microphone
MetroNaps EnergyPod MetroNaps EnergyPods were designed for power-napping, and while they’re most often seen in corporate offices, some academic libraries have adopted them for students. The EnergyPod has a built-in timer that cycles through a 20-minute nap sequence, a length some sleep studies have shown to improve alertness and possibly benefit learning. Through the built-in … Continue reading Pod Help Us
Librarians realized this when their union, the University Council of the American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT) Unit 17, filed grievances against the UC administration regarding disciplinary actions for such things as managers reprimanding librarians over product assessments and conference presentation titles. Their grievances were rejected. The union’s contract expired September 30, and at press time … Continue reading Unions 101
Maschine Maschine is a music controller and sequencing software package by Native Instruments that can be used for creating and performing musical arrangements. It includes 16 pressure-sensitive pads for live performance or sequencing, as well as a “smart strip” that enables slides and pitch bends. The Maschine controller can function as a stand-alone device to … Continue reading Local Music Remix
EverBlock EverBlock took the typical plastic brick toy and made it larger—almost the size of a cinderblock. The bricks fit together with lugs and can be used to build modular furniture, walls, and even small buildings. As a free-play tool, the possibilities are vast, limited mostly by the size of the play space and number … Continue reading Ready, Steady, Build!
Library workers in public, school, academic, and other libraries who are employed through state and local governments in the 22 states that are not already right-to-work states are affected by this decision. Those who are not union members will no longer have agency fees deducted from their paychecks. More than a quarter of librarians (26.2%) … Continue reading Why the Janus Decision Matters to Library Unions
Carvey When Inventables launched Carvey in 2015, it was one of the first fully enclosed desktop computer numerical control (CNC) carvers, solving a problem many other subtractive manufacturing machines posed: They were large, noisy, and produced a lot of dust. Billed as a “3D carver,” Carvey works within many of the same design principles of … Continue reading Make It 3D
Danley is a national and international slam poetry champion, the Maryland Library Association’s 2018 Poet of the Year, and a Kennedy Center master teaching artist. She closed the Auditorium Speaker Series on Monday, June 25 at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibits in New Orleans with a warm and sometimes humorous performance addressing powerful … Continue reading “I Can’t See Not Giving Me to You”
Independent technology consultant Marshall Breeding moderated the discussion, which focused on upcoming technological shifts such as: Quantum Computing Jason Bengtson, assistant director of library IT services at Kansas State University Libraries, kicked things off by explaining quantum computing. While traditional, digital computers use bits (which store a 1 or 0), a quantum computer uses qubits, … Continue reading 2018’s Top Tech Trends
Weimer was joined by two other panelists to provide an introduction to spatial humanities and its potential as an aspect of library instruction and its role in student research at “Understanding and Using Spatial Humanities: Digital Mapping at the Forefront of Scholarly Research,” moderated by Leslie Wagner, chair of the Map and Geospatial Information Round Table, … Continue reading Spatial Humanities in Libraries
For Alicia Kubas, government publications and regional depository librarian at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, it was the government shutdown in 2013—her first year as a government documents librarian—that made it clear how access to government information can be an issue for citizens, and a cause of cynicism. The content of many government websites … Continue reading Should We Be Cynical or Skeptical?
DiscoverMobile by Demco The recently launched DiscoverMobile app connects communities to everything their libraries have to offer. The app is available to all types of libraries and is designed to run on both Android and iOS devices. The app is hosted and maintained by Demco—libraries manage only their own content and branding. Libraries can add … Continue reading Reaching Patrons on the Go
