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Piecing together archival maps and photographs, with guidance from historians, The New York Times constructed a 3D model of the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma—known as America’s Black Wall Street—as it was before the destruction that took place in 24 hours in 1921. The paper also analyzed census data, city directories, newspaper articles, and survivor tapes and testimonies from that time to show the types of people who made up the neighborhood and contributed to its vibrancy.
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Kier Clarke writes: “Brood X cicadas have this month been spotted in Washington, D.C., and in surrounding areas such as Virginia and Maryland. They have also emerged in Pennsylvania. You can keep up with the latest sightings of Brood X cicadas for yourself on Mount St. Joseph University’s Cicada Map, which shows all the locations where cicadas have been reported using the university’s citizen science app, Cicada Safari.”
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Christina Simon writes: “Everyone in L.A. seemed to be in a book club, except me. I’ve never been invited to join one and every time I asked friends about their clubs, I was met with responses like ‘We’re full,’ or ‘It’s only moms from our school.’ Once a friend told me her book club was ‘the absolute best,’ but when I asked if they had openings, she told me, ‘I’ll give you the name of our moderator so you can start your own.’ This reinforced my suspicion that book clubs were mysterious get-togethers for social types—and I didn’t fit the part.”
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London’s Science Museum and Cambridge University’s library announced on May 26 that they have acquired a large collection of items belonging to late physicist Stephen Hawking, from his personalized wheelchairs to landmark papers on theoretical physics and his scripts from his appearance on The Simpsons. The entire contents of Hawking’s office at Cambridge—including his communications equipment, memorabilia, bets he made on scientific debates, and office furniture—will be preserved as part of the collection belonging to the Science Museum Group.
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The May 26 episode of Atlas Obscura’s podcast visits the Library of Mistakes in Edinburgh, Scotland, a carefully curated collection of miscalculations that serves as a warning for human gullibility, especially when it comes to money.
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Ian Paul writes: “The time has come and the free ride is over. As of Tuesday, June 1, your Gmail messages, Google Drive files, and Google Photos will count against a hard cloud storage limit. No more loopholes, no more ignored files, no more unlimited storage of photos (unless you’re on a Pixel) and documents. Nearly everything counts. We’ve identified five things you should do before Google’s new data cap hits.”
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Sanhita SinhaRoy writes: “On May 20, President Biden signed into law the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which addresses the increase in hate crimes and violence against Asian Americans during the pandemic. Three ALA member leaders who have helped blaze the trail for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander library workers—Maria Taesil Hudson McCauley, Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, and Patricia ‘Patty’ M. Wong—discussed with American Libraries their goals for the Association, their experiences with bigotry, and what libraries and library workers can do to counter hate.”
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Wanda Whitney writes: “This week marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, in which a mob of whites invaded and burned to ashes the thriving African American district of Greenwood, also known as Black Wall Street. I had heard about the Greenwood massacre before but didn’t know much about its history. Then late last year, a patron contacted our Ask a Librarian service with a question about racial massacres. That spurred me to investigate the library’s collections to see what I could find out about the Tulsa massacre and similar events that occurred in the United States in the post-World War I era.”
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Librarian’s Library columnist Allison Escoto writes: “After more than a year of living and working during through a pandemic, libraries around the country have been called on to do what they do best: adapt. The following titles offer insights on coping during a time of change, whether dealing with the difficulties of providing important public services remotely, keeping community members informed, maintaining productive work environments, or staying creative through challenging times.”
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Carrie Smith writes: “From housing former military installations to settling neighborhood squabbles over lighthouse design to becoming overpopulated with wild peacocks, Palos Verdes Peninsula, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles, is full of history. Monique Sugimoto, an avid bicycle commuter—and archivist and librarian for Palos Verdes Library District’s Local History Center—enjoys pairing her expertise in the region’s past with her rides to work. Thus, Pedal PV—a series of four-minute videos—was born.”
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Marshall Breeding writes: “On May 17, research information company Clarivate announced it will acquire ProQuest for $5.3 billion—the largest transaction in the library sector to date. The acquisition means a change of ownership for ProQuest but will not substantially affect the products and services purchased by libraries since Clarivate’s products and services do not typically compete in the library market. As part of Clarivate, ProQuest and its technology businesses Ex Libris and Innovative Interfaces potentially gain access to resources that will strengthen its capacity in product development and support.”
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ProctorU announced on May 24 it is discontinuing services that rely solely on artificial intelligence for exam proctoring. Instead, it will use human proctors for every test session. “We believe that only a human can best determine whether test-taker behavior is suspicious or violates test rules,” said CEO Scott McFarland. “Depending exclusively on AI and outside review can lead to mistakes or incorrect conclusions as well as create other problems.”
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