Latest Library Links
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Dami Lee writes: “Twitter is rolling out a new desktop design July 15 that adds more customization options and a completely rearranged navigation experience. The redesign has been open to testers for the past few months, but it will be available to everyone over the next few days. Unlike previous redesigns, however, opting into the new experience will be mandatory, and there will be no legacy Twitter to fall back to. The biggest, most noticeable change is that the top navigation bar has been moved to the left sidebar, which contains bookmarks, lists, your profile, and a new explore tab.”
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J. D. Sartain writes: “Protecting yourself from online scams is a fact of life now. According to the FBI’s 2018 Internet Crime Report, internet scams from 2014 through 2018 cost consumers $7.45 billion. Scams include nondelivery of products ordered, identity theft, credit card fraud, and denial of service attacks. Other threats include ransomware, malware, scareware, and viruses, along with a few dozen other categories of crime. I got hit with ransomware twice and learned from the remedies I tried, as well as the experiences of friends who were hit. Read on to see what I did. We wrap up with a checklist that will help you fend off online scams of all kinds.”
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Chris Hoffman writes: “Windows PCs freeze for a variety of reasons. One instance might be a fluke, but repeated freezes suggest a problem you’ll want to fix. Here’s how to unfreeze and recover a stuck PC—and stop it from freezing again. Sometimes, all you have to do is wait a few seconds—the PC might get hung up while doing some work and unfreeze itself a few seconds later. If a full-screen application freezes and prevents you from leaving it, press Alt+F4. This closes the application if a game, for example, is experiencing graphical problems, but it won’t work if it has frozen completely. To see if the computer is still responding, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.”
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Wallace High School in Silverton, Idaho, has banned the graphic novel series The Walking Dead and removed all copies from its library, despite the review committee’s recommendation to retain the books. The ban includes asking students not to bring the comic to school grounds and plans to change students’ access to interlibrary loans. Following a complaint, Principal Chris Lund convened a review committee to make a recommendation to the school board. The committee voted overwhelmingly to keep the series in the school library, but Superintendent Bob Ranells ignored the committee and removed the comics from the school library. -
Libraries across the country are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing this July with a variety of programs, but how many library professionals can say they’ve worked on the first archive that was sent to the moon? Paul Jones, professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science, is one of a few who worked on the Lunar Library, a 30-million-page archive in the size and shape of a DVD. Jones, who will be retiring from UNC in 2020, spoke with American Libraries on his contribution to the Lunar Library and his 40 years in information science and journalism instruction.
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Elgin and Glencoe, Illinois, recently were welcomed into Dementia Friendly America, said Mary Ek, interim project director for the network. If you think dementia doesn’t affect your family or friends, you’re missing the big picture, says Glenna Godinsky, a staff member at Elgin’s Gail Borden Public Library, whose initiatives in the past year led to the city’s inclusion as a dementia-friendly town. A dementia-friendly advisory council in Elgin includes the library, the mayor, an elder law firm, home care providers, a state senator’s office, a hospital, the police department, and the fire department.
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Elizabeth Pelayo writes: “As we close down our school libraries and think ahead to the next school year, all of us are thinking about our summer reading list. What will we bring home to read? What should we read first? How can we balance professional reading and reading for fun during summer break? All these questions call to us as school librarians and book lovers. Here are five tips to manage the large task of summer reading lists.”
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Niranjana Iyer writes: “One of my son’s activity groups had other kids who loved to read just as much, and they would all talk about books after class. After witnessing this rare phenomenon, one of the parents had a brainwave—would the kids like to do a book club? And would I lead it? They said yes, and so did I. The kids conducted a poll over Google Docs, and decided to read Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer’s novel about a 12-year-old criminal mastermind who plots to replenish his fortune by kidnapping a fairy and holding her to ransom. At the end of the hour-long session, I had learned a few things about running a book group for children.” -
Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Roger C. Schonfeld write: “The leakage of scholarly content is a major factor driving down the value of subscriptions and enabling major library and university groups to cancel their Big Deals. ResearchGate has by far the largest traffic of any of these sites and has built a growing bundle of services for those seeking access. Some publishers have responded with lawsuits, while others see an opportunity to leverage this leakage and stabilize the academic library sales channel. Springer Nature is leading in the effort to preserve library subscriptions by syndicating its content and establishing ResearchGate as the foremost service for the distribution of scholarly content.”
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ALA President-Elect Julius C. Jefferson Jr. encourages members to volunteer to serve on ALA, council, and joint committees for the 2020–2022 term (beginning July 1, 2020). Serving on a committee provides leadership training, networking opportunities, and experience in working on specific Association topics. The online committee volunteer form opened on July 15. To volunteer, complete and submit the form electronically (select “ALA” in the drop-down menu on the main form). To be considered for the 2020–2022 term, forms must be submitted no later than September 30. -
The ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table has published four videos to engage nonlibrarians in the fight to protect intellectual freedom. These brief explainer videos cover the basics of intellectual freedom, censorship, and privacy for a nonlibrary audience with key definitions and everyday language. The videos were created as part of the 2019 Emerging Leaders project sponsored by IFRT and showcased at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. These resources are for community members to share on social media and use as general advocacy tools to make sure that library ideals are upheld. The videos can also be found on YouTube.
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Chantry Westwell writes: “Everyone loves a picture of a medieval lion. The Twitter hashtag #notalion celebrates how amusingly unrealistic they often look, frequently resembling cuddly housecats more than the king of beasts. In medieval manuscripts, lions are found not only in bestiaries but also in illuminated bibles and other religious works, and sometimes in images of St. Jerome who, believe it or not, once befriended a lion.”
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