Page 324 – American Libraries Magazine

Regan, Matthew

November 1, 2017

Matthew Regan became instructional services program leader at the Montana State University Bozeman Library in September.

Roewe, Patrick

November 1, 2017

Patrick Roewe became director of Spokane County (Wash.) Library District September 1.

Teeter, Keith

November 1, 2017

Keith Teeter became department head for access and public services at the University of Colorado Denver’s Auraria Library August 1.

Thomas, Lynne

November 1, 2017

September 1 Lynne M. Thomas became director of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Cox, Kacy

November 1, 2017

Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library promoted Kacy Cox to manager of the Whitehall branch July 16.

Dale, Robin

November 1, 2017

The Institute of Museum and Library Services promoted Robin Dale to deputy director of the Office of Library Services August 23.

Grafakos, Tonia

November 1, 2017

Northwestern University Libraries in Evanston, Illinois, promoted Tonia Grafakos to Marie A. Quinlan Director of Preservation July 1.

Brennan, Deirdre

November 1, 2017

Deirdre “Dee” Brennan, executive director of the Reaching Across Illinois Library System, was inducted into the Illinois Library Luminaries by the Illinois Library Association Executive Board.

Hunter, Ben

November 1, 2017

Ben Hunter, associate dean of the University of Idaho Libraries, has been named 2017 Idaho Library Association Librarian of the Year.

Heckman, Ben

November 1, 2017

Bexley (Ohio) Public Library promoted Ben Heckman to director August 22.

Michel, Kristin

November 1, 2017

Westerville (Ohio) Public Library promoted Kristin Michel to assistant director in July.

Sheehan, Jerry

November 1, 2017

Jerry Sheehan was promoted to deputy director of the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, July 31.

Latest Library Links

5h

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
9h

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
3d

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
4d

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
5d

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

View more Latest Library Links