The amount of requested funding ranged from a $22 million bond for two new libraries and renovations in Spokane Valley, Washington, to a no-cost advisory referendum in Colfax, Wisconsin, to assess voter preferences for its library facility. The Spokane Valley bond failed narrowly, with 57% of the 60% required voters saying yes. Colfax voters preferred … Continue reading Referenda Roundup
Data licensing. The common practices that LAM communities have created to develop open source tools and support of open access are now influencing how we publish open data. Even though institutions are choosing different open-use licenses, open data is supporting new and broader uses of data. The Getty Museum, University of Pennsylvania, and University of … Continue reading A Linked Data Landscape
Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library (KCPL) is among the latest to link public school students’ identification numbers to the public library system, allowing students to use their school IDs in place of library cards to check out books and access online databases of downloadable content. Courtney Lewis, a KCPL spokesperson, says the program, launched in … Continue reading Linking Students to Libraries
Larger institutions also got involved in attempting to preserve digital ephemera. That includes the Library of Congress (LC), which reached an agreement with Twitter in 2010 to build an onsite research archive. “Archiving and preserving outlets such as Twitter will enable future researchers access to a fuller picture of today’s cultural norms, dialogue, trends, and … Continue reading Saving Digital Ephemera
Enter Christy Karpinski, who has since turned that internship into a permanent position as digital librarian and museum manager at Busy Beaver’s Button Museum, which now displays 9,000 pinback pieces of cultural history and ephemera. Karpinski’s background is in photography, but she has also made websites and organized digital collections of photos, which spurred an … Continue reading Bookend: Pushing Buttons
Early January can test even the sturdiest of Bostonians. Luckily, there’s no better way to battle Mother Nature’s winter assault than with New England’s most famous culinary export: a bowl of hot clam chowder. You’ll find options aplenty, as well as diverse dishes that vary from vegetarian food-truck snacks to luxurious steakhouse feasts. These listings … Continue reading Boston’s Best Eats
In many ways, Boston and librarians are a lot alike. They are innovators, educators, and revolutionaries. They are creators and curators, abetting progress, expanding services for their communities, and standing on the front lines when change is brewing—whether it’s taxation without representation or legislation that threatens how we use and share information. And they like … Continue reading 2016 ALA Midwinter Preview
September 30 Christine McConnell, communications specialist for the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, left ALA.
Leslie Burger retired as director of Princeton (N.J.) Public Library in January.
