Author Archive: George M. Eberhart

Media Literacy in an Age of Fake News

By George M. Eberhart | November 1, 2019

Librarians can ensure patrons make informed decisions in local, state, and national elections by helping them think critically. Libraries of all types can promote media literacy by providing handouts, LibGuides, training, and programs about separating fact from online fiction. The following resources can assist. The National Association for Media Literacy Education, a nonprofit organization based … Continue reading Media Literacy in an Age of Fake News →

Citizen Science

By George M. Eberhart | June 24, 2019

Lillich added that these projects are neither clinical trials nor social science surveys, but represent the real involvement of the public in scientific research. George Strawley, community engagement coordinator with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Midcontinental Region, said that citizen science projects “definitely lend themselves to K-12 students,” but colleges and communities can … Continue reading Citizen Science →

Nnedi Okorafor on Writing, Rage, Bugs, and Aliens

By George M. Eberhart | June 23, 2019

Then came “The Breaking,” as she called it. Diagnosed with scoliosis at age 13, the disease progressed and when she was 19 she went in for spinal surgery and woke up paralyzed. “I went from being an athlete to being in a hospital bed unable to move,” she said. “I lost my faith in science … Continue reading Nnedi Okorafor on Writing, Rage, Bugs, and Aliens →

Left to right: OCLC's Cathy King, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, and Jay Holloway

User-centric Library Services

By George M. Eberhart | June 23, 2019

Cathy King, executive director of OCLC Delivery Services, said that with the rise of virtual assistants like Alexa, library users now expect technology to respond immediately to simple commands. “Take Jill, for example,” she said. “Jill is a real university undergraduate English major who does not use the library. It’s Friday, and she needs to … Continue reading User-centric Library Services →

Jarrett Dapier, Nora Flanagan, Emily Knox, and Eric Ward at the ALA Annual Conference and Exhibitions June 22, 2019.

Confronting White Nationalism

By George M. Eberhart | June 22, 2019

Confronting White Nationalism in Schools was published by the Western States Center in Portland, Oregon, and is available for free download. The toolkit inspired Jarrett Dapier, young adult librarian at Skokie (Ill.) Public Library, to look at how libraries should respond to similar events. He said he was motivated by the rise of incidents involving “alt-right, white … Continue reading Confronting White Nationalism →

Authors Gennifer Choldenko and Varian Johnson

The Urgency of History

By George M. Eberhart | June 22, 2019

All six panelists admitted that they had not read history when they were kids. But they were inspired to write historical fiction or nonfiction when they encountered something special—comic books, family oral histories, or primary sources in college. Varian Johnson, author of the Coretta Scott King honor book The Parker Inheritance (2018), said that the common … Continue reading The Urgency of History →

Newsmaker: Emma Boettcher

By George M. Eberhart | June 11, 2019

When did you first try out for Jeopardy? I first auditioned for the show when I was just about to graduate from high school. At the time, I was trying to get on the show’s College Championship. (I could audition for that as a high school student because the tournament would tape and air when … Continue reading Newsmaker: Emma Boettcher →

Bookend: Finding Flora and Fauna

By George M. Eberhart | June 3, 2019

Martin R. Kalfatovic, BHL’s program director, estimates that its 20 member libraries and 22 affiliates have scanned upwards of 147,000 titles, ranging from the 15th century to the present, with information on more than 180 million species. “Though most of them are scientists,” he says, “about 72% of our users are also interested in the … Continue reading Bookend: Finding Flora and Fauna →

Award-winning graphic novelist Alison Bechdel closes out the 2019 Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in Cleveland on April 13. Photo: Laurie DeWitt/Pure Light Images

Alison Bechdel: A Life in Books

By George M. Eberhart | April 13, 2019

Internationally renowned cartoonist Alison Bechdel was the closing keynote speaker. She illustrated her talk throughout with panels from her graphic novels Fun Home (2006) and Are You My Mother? (2013), as well as her long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. Bechdel said she realized at age 19 that she was a lesbian, “though … Continue reading Alison Bechdel: A Life in Books →

From left: Yasmeen Shorish, Nathan Hall, and Rebecca Kennison present the new ACRL research agenda.

ACRL’s New Research Agenda

By George M. Eberhart | April 13, 2019

On April 13 at the 2019 ACRL Conference in Cleveland, three members of ReSEC described their process for creating the research agenda and what they hope to accomplish with the new document. ReSEC Chair Yasmeen Shorish, associate professor at James Madison University Libraries in Harrisonburg, Virginia, said the committee’s charge was to “help identify actionable … Continue reading ACRL’s New Research Agenda →

Fobazi M. Ettarh at the 2019 Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in Cleveland April 13.

Why Being Bad Is Good

By George M. Eberhart | April 13, 2019

Most librarians, she said, believe in this dominant narrative, but the process of “examining those elements and decolonizing them can be uncomfortable for many people, causing defensive reactions and revealing blind spots in one’s perspective.” Ettarh took the traditional characteristics of the library narrative and recast them slightly to give them a realistic perspective: Libraries … Continue reading Why Being Bad Is Good →

Mies Martin (left) and Beth Martin present their findings at the Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in Cleveland on April 12.

The Impostor Phenomenon

By George M. Eberhart | April 13, 2019

At an April 12 session at the Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in Cleveland, Beth Martin, head of professional programs at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and Mies Martin, electronic resources and serials librarian at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, described their own recent IP research. Beth Martin said IP is … Continue reading The Impostor Phenomenon →

Latest Library Links

2d

Genevieve Trainor writes: “The Guinness World Record holder for Most Prolific Book Thief is Ottumwa (Iowa’s) Stephen Blumberg. The 23,600 volumes he accumulated between the 1970s and his arrest in March of 1990 were all stashed in his 17-room home. Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, got involved with Blumberg as part of the FBI’s efforts to return the stolen manuscripts and rare books to their museums and libraries. Referred to as the Omaha Project, the information science proving ground involved four weeks, 44 catalogers and reference librarians and 600 volunteer hours to determine who might be the rightful owners.”

Little Village (Dubuque, Iowa), Dec. 4
2d

Casey Newton writes: “At the moment, no one knows for sure whether the large language models that are now under development will achieve superintelligence and transform the world. And in that uncertainty, two primary camps of criticism have emerged. The first camp, which I associate with the external critics, holds that artificial intelligence (AI) is fake and sucks. The second camp, which I associate more with the internal critics, believes that AI is real and dangerous. Today I want to lay out why I believe AI is real and dangerous.”

Platformer, Dec. 5
3d

Latia Ward writes: “One way to keep current with what students think of the library and its services is through Student Library Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are a way to gather feedback and reinforce the library as a welcoming place. How do librarians create a welcoming environment within Student Library Advisory Committee meetings? Librarians create a welcoming environment through community, purpose, and dedicated space.” Also see part 1 of this blog post.

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 13, Dec. 5
3d

Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
4d

Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
4d

Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
5d

Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9

View more Latest Library Links