Page 322 – American Libraries Magazine

Bookmobiles on display at the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services conference in Pittsburgh, October 25–27, 2017.

Library Outreach Services: Bridging the Gap

By Tina Williams | November 3, 2017

ABOS President Ann Plazek opened the conference by reading a proclamation from Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto declaring October 25 as Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services Day. Opening speakers included Mary Frances Cooper, director, and Holly McCullough, assistant director of programs and partnerships, at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. They spoke about the lasting legacy of … Continue reading Library Outreach Services: Bridging the Gap →

Bagley, Michelle

November 1, 2017

July 1 Portland (Oreg.) Community College appointed Michelle Bagley library dean.

Baxter, Isabella

November 1, 2017

Isabella Baxter became agriculture and natural resources librarian at the University of Tennessee Libraries in Knoxville July 1.

Brammer, Charissa

November 1, 2017

Charissa Brammer started as e-resources access librarian at University of Colorado Denver’s Auraria Library June 11.

Darnell, Heather

November 1, 2017

In July Heather Darnell was appointed multimedia literacy librarian at George Mason University Libraries in Fairfax, Virginia.

Davis, Terri

November 1, 2017

Rapid City (S.Dak.) Public Library appointed Terri Davis director, effective August 14.

DeLanty, Cindy

November 1, 2017

In June Cindy DeLanty joined Shasta (Calif.) Public Libraries as director.

Dollar, Patrick

November 1, 2017

August 1 Patrick Dollar joined the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Libraries as processing archivist in the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives.

Enright-Miller, Katy

November 1, 2017

In August Katy Enright-Miller became director of Milton-Union Public Library in West Milton, Ohio.

Gipson, Tiffney

November 1, 2017

Tiffney Gipson joined University of Louisville (Ky.) Kornhauser Health Sciences Library as head of collections July 1.

Greenstein, Becca

November 1, 2017

Becca Greenstein became STEM librarian at Northwestern University Libraries in Evanston, Illinois, in July.

Hale, Meredith

November 1, 2017

Meredith Hale joined University of Tennessee Libraries in Knoxville as metadata librarian July 10.

Latest Library Links

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Stephanie Buffamonte writes: “Altamonte Springs (Fla.) residents came together to save their local library. In an Altamonte Springs City Commission meeting July 18, commissioners voted to keep the city’s local library after the city announced it would close. The city held a special meeting to discuss the library shutting down, and residents came out in droves. Most argued to commissioners that the library should not shut down and is vital to the city.” Commissioners voted at the meeting to raise the city’s property tax rate from 3.01 mills to 4 mills.

WRBW-TV (Orlando), July 19; WESH-TV (Orlando), July 9; Orlando Sentinel, July 19
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ALA applauded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s July 18 vote allowing libraries and schools to use federal E-Rate funding to purchase Wi-Fi hotspots for lending. The new policy is a keystone of FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s Learn Without Limits proposal, announced at ALA Annual Conference in June 2023, to meet increasing connectivity needs nationwide by expanding and modernizing the E-Rate program. The move comes amid concerns about the impact of recently sunset pandemic-era programs, including the Emergency Connectivity Fund, which helped more than a thousand libraries provide Wi-Fi hotspots during the past three years.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, July 18
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$Sheep doing math wrong$ Heather Kelly writes: “Anyone with an internet connection can watch breaking news unfold in real time, or at least some version of it. Across social media, posts can fly up faster than most fact-checkers and moderators can handle, and they are often an unpredictable mix of true, fake, out of context, and straight propaganda. The risk is higher immediately after politically charged incidents such as the Trump rally shooting, which has already flooded social media with incorrect information and spawned a number of conspiracy theories. Here are some basic tools everyone should use when consuming breaking news online.”

Washington Post, July 15
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Martin Appel writes: “Sometimes small news can reveal big truths. When Microsoft released its annual sustainability report in May, the numbers hid something interesting: the company has increased its emissions by 30% since 2020. Why? One key explanation can be summarized in two letters: AI. Microsoft’s massive investment in artificial intelligence (AI) has led to proportionally massive climate emissions. AI and cloud computing are here to stay and there’s nothing we can do to stop that. In that case, how long can we—the consumers and people of the world—continue to use them without paying?”

PC World, July 10
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Brown University’s John Hay Library in Providence, Rhode Island, has acquired the contemporary papers of poet, musician, playwright, author, and activist Joy Harjo, the 23rd US poet laureate. Harjo, who served in that role from 2019–2022, was the first Native American to hold the position. The acquisition primarily includes materials from 2021–2024, and Harjo will continue to send materials to the library throughout her life. Harjo received an honorary degree from Brown in May, and had been mentored by Brown’s late Professor of Literary Arts and English Michael S. Harper.

Brown University, July 11
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Kyle Pfannenstiel and Mia Maldonado write: “House Bill 710—which passed in April, following years of similar attempts by the Idaho Legislature—requires Idaho public and school libraries to move materials deemed harmful to children, or face lawsuits. Libraries across Idaho are reworking policies to comply with the new law that some call vague. But many are waiting to see if there’d be a formal challenge to books in their collections, which they said community members have rarely filed before the law. Some libraries planned and then canceled new policies limiting access.”

Idaho Capital Sun (Boise), July 15, Apr. 10
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Alvin Wanjala writes: “The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots has popularized the term large language model (LLM), the underlying AI tech working behind the scenes. LLMs generate output based upon a predicted set of language in response to the user input, making it appear as if the AI is capable of thinking for itself. But LLMs aren’t the only large models in town; large action models (LAMs) could be the next big thing in AI. An LAM is an artificial intelligence system capable of understanding human input and performing a corresponding action.”

MakeUseOf, July 11

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