Page 864 – American Libraries Magazine

TechSource Gaming, Libraries, and Learning Symposium, Day 2

November 3, 2008

Today was the major day of the symposium, with a keynote and seven rounds of concurrent sessions. Because of the sheer number, today's post is going to cover highlights rather than a comprehensive review. Keynote "Grand Theft Childhood? Real Data on Violent Video Games and Youth" Lawrence Kutner, Center for Mental Health and Media, Department … Continue reading TechSource Gaming, Libraries, and Learning Symposium, Day 2 →

ALA TechSource Gaming, Libraries, and Learning Symposium, Day 1

November 2, 2008

ALA TechSources Gaming, Libraries, and Learning Symposium runs through Tuesday in Oak Brook, Illinois. I'll be posting recaps every evening. There were no concurrent sessions today; all of the speeches adressed the full symposium. Opening Keynote Marc Prensky "Don't Bother Me Mom, I'm Learning: How Computer and Video Games are Preparing Kids for 21st Century … Continue reading ALA TechSource Gaming, Libraries, and Learning Symposium, Day 1 →

Games as Art, Games as Education

October 31, 2008

Gaming is much on my mind, with gaming programming at the recent LITA Forum, American Libraries' December issue having a gaming theme, and the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium beginning on Sunday. (I’ll be attending, so check here for daily reports.) The idea of gaming in libraries gets a lot of pushback. (All together now: … Continue reading Games as Art, Games as Education →

Gaming at Oak Park Public Library

October 28, 2008

During the summer and autumn this year, Oak Park (Ill.) Public Library has held monthly teen gaming tournaments. This is a video of sights and sounds from the September tourney, as well as an interview with Young Adult Librarian Monica Harris, who explains why and how the library got into gaming and the benefits it … Continue reading Gaming at Oak Park Public Library →

The Vindication of Bernard Margolis

October 24, 2008

The ALA Council discussion list was abuzz this week with praise and congratulations for councilor Bernard Margolis following the October 21 announcement that the embattled former president of Boston Public Library had been appointed state librarian of New York. “We welcome you with open arms,” said Barbara Stripling, director of library services for the New … Continue reading The Vindication of Bernard Margolis →

LITA National Forum Video

October 22, 2008

One last bit from LITA: the video. It features Tim Spalding, Michael Porter, Dinah Sanders, Nicholas Schiller, Conference Chair Dale Poulter, and LITA president Andrew Pace, as well as a very brief snippet (under the opening title) of the blackjack-for-grapes game that broke out at the Open Gaming Night. From AL Focus.

LITA National Forum: Technology and Community

October 22, 2008

A video review of the Library and Information Technology Association’s 2008 National Forum, “Technology and Community: Building the Techno Community Library”, held October 17-19 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Included are general session speakers Michael Porter and Tim Spalding, session presenters Dinah Sanders and Nicholas Schiller, Conference Chair Dale Poulter, and LITA President Andrew Pace. More ALA … Continue reading LITA National Forum: Technology and Community →

LITA Forum, Day 3

October 19, 2008

Concurrent Session 6 "Participation and Power: Combining Community Features with Existing Metadata in Next Generation Public Interfaces" Dinah Sanders, Innovative Interfaces, and Kelly Vickery, University of Kentucky Sanders and Vickery discussed using community tagging to complement existing library catalogs. In 2007 the University of Kentucky installed Innovative's Encore system, which incorporates community tagging features. "[Libraries] … Continue reading LITA Forum, Day 3 →

LITA Forum, Day 2

October 18, 2008

General Session Michael Porter, WebJunction "Hi-Fi-Sci-Fi Library: Technology, Convergence, Content, Community, Ubiquity, and Library." There's a decent chance you've seen the "Hi-Fi-Sci-Fi Library" video that Porter and David Lee King of Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library made in August. If not, or if you just want the catchy hook again, see it here. … Continue reading LITA Forum, Day 2 →

LITA Forum, Day 1

October 17, 2008

I'm in Cincinnati for the Library and Information Technology Association National Forum. Here's my first report; I'll be posting every evening. Opening General Session Tim Spalding, LibraryThing.com "What is Social Cataloging and Where is it Going?" Spalding got a laugh off the bat by promising not to define the term "Social Cataloging"—accompanying his villainy with … Continue reading LITA Forum, Day 1 →

Vartan Gregorian on Library Funding

October 16, 2008

I talked with Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, yesterday afternoon about the library funding outlook. The view from the man often credited with making library fundraising chic (as president of the New York Public Library for eight years from 1981 to 1989) was optimistic but modulated by some pretty shocking numbers. … Continue reading Vartan Gregorian on Library Funding →

A Patron-Eye View

October 16, 2008

I recently saw an excellent proposal from Brian Herzog at Swiss Army Librarian for "Work Like a Patron" day. As the name suggests, the day entails librarians working, as much as possible, as patrons—using public computers, meeting in public meeting rooms, and using public restrooms, to help see the library as patrons do. One addendum … Continue reading A Patron-Eye View →

Latest Library Links

9h

Willem Marx writes: “Sometimes it’s not about catching up on the newest news or the hottest debut. Sometimes it’s about taking a bath with a cup of tea on a Sunday morning and listening to famous writers laugh about their MFA students while going nuts about their favorite short story writers. Sometimes it’s about taking a plane across the Atlantic just to visit a bookstore and pretend it’s still 1922 and Ulysses is all the rage. The book life is about a lot of things and these podcasts cover every single one.”

Electric Literature, July 19
16h

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
19h

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
5d

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
5d

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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