Page 323 – American Libraries Magazine

Holvoet, Kate

November 1, 2017

San Diego State University Library and Information Access appointed Kate Holvoet electronic resources librarian, effective August 2.

Hosein, Sephora

November 1, 2017

Sephora Hosein became head of Toronto Public Library’s Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation, and Fantasy in August.

Johnson, Geoffrey

November 1, 2017

August 1 Geoffrey Johnson joined University of Colorado Denver’s Auraria Library as graduate teaching and learning librarian.

Kepich, Jacey

November 1, 2017

Case Western Reserve University’s Kelvin Smith Library in Cleveland hired Jacey Kepich as research services librarian, music, effective July 3.

Loeffel, Pete

November 1, 2017

June 26 Pete Loeffel joined Wauwatosa (Wis.) Public Library as director.

Madden, Nancy

November 1, 2017

Nancy Madden joined Greene County (Ohio) Public Library as head librarian of Beavercreek Community Library August 21.

Mancuso, Andrew

November 1, 2017

Andrew Mancuso joined Case Western Reserve University’s Kelvin Smith Library in Cleveland as preservation librarian June 26.

McClure, Dan

November 1, 2017

August 28 Dan McClure became director of the Dora Badollet Library at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon.

Huang, Michael

November 1, 2017

Michael Huang became director of global library initiatives at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Libraries in August.

Morris, Sarah

November 1, 2017

September 1 Sarah Morris joined University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries as humanities research and digital instruction librarian.

Owens, Trevor

November 1, 2017

Trevor Owens joined the Library of Congress as head of digital content management in August.

Pattillo, Rebecca

November 1, 2017

July 3 Rebecca Pattillo joined the University of Louisville (Ky.) Libraries as metadata librarian.

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
3d

$Sheep doing math wrong$ 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
4d

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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