Latest Library Links
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Leah Rachel von Essen writes: “The first thing to know: the process of choosing and designing a stamp starts with you. As long as the subject matter fits the criteria outlined on the USPS website, the public’s ideas are brought to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee. The criteria includes a few aspects people might not realize before submitting. For example, beginning in 2018, proposals for a deceased individual will be considered three years following their death, and living people are not currently considered.”
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Can you distinguish fake social media accounts from real ones? Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub has designed a new online quiz called Spot the Troll, in which users can examine images of real social media content and decide whether it’s from a legitimate account or an internet troll.
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Richard Byrne writes: “Students in my school district, like students in many other school districts, have more unsupervised time on their hands than ever before. That factor combined with the general ‘cooped up’ feeling that many are having as a result of measures prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community has led to an increase in cyberbullying this fall. In response to that I spent some time on September 30 talking to my students about cyberbullying, how to spot it, and how to respond to it.”
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Join ALA President Julius C. Jefferson Jr for the October ALA Connect Live program, focused on the research project conducted by OCLC, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Battelle. The REALM Project (REopening Archives, Libraries and Museums) is researching how long the COVID-19 virus survives on materials prevalent in libraries, archives, and museums, currently in Phase 5 of testing. Register for the program, which takes place October 22 at 2 p.m. Eastern.
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ACRL’s board of directors announced October 1 that the face-to-face portion of the ACRL 2021 Conference scheduled for April 14–17, 2021, in Seattle has been canceled because of the serious health risks posed by COVID-19. The virtual ACRL 2021 Conference will be held over approximately the same dates in April 2021. More details are forthcoming.
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Aarian Marshall writes: “After the pandemic closed many libraries’ physical branches this spring, checkouts of ebooks are up 52% from the same period last year, according to OverDrive, which partners with 50,000 libraries worldwide. Hoopla, another service that connects libraries to publishers, says 439 library systems in the US and Canada have joined since March, boosting its membership by 20%. But the surging popularity of library ebooks also has heightened longstanding tensions between publishers, who fear that digital borrowing eats into their sales, and public librarians, who are trying to serve their communities during a once-in-a-generation crisis.”
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James Raven writes: “Although we think we know what we mean by a ‘book,’ new digital texts and reading devices are making us reconsider. A book has characters, letters and words, and sometimes images. It can be read, but does it need to have a cover and a spine—and does it need to have what we think of as ‘pages’?”
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Neil J. Rubenking writes: “We call it antivirus, but in truth it’s unlikely you’ll get hit with an actual computer virus. Malware these days is about making money, and there’s no easy way to cash in on spreading a virus. Ransomware and data-stealing Trojans are much more common, as are bots that let the bot-herder rent out your computer for nefarious purposes. Modern antivirus utilities handle Trojans, rootkits, spyware, adware, ransomware, and more.”
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Kirk Siegler writes: “Across the country as American schools struggle with whether to reopen or stay virtual, many rural districts are worried their students will fall even further behind than their city peers. The pandemic has shone a glaring light on a lot of inequalities. The federal government estimates that more than a third of rural America has little or no Internet. In numerous recent interviews, educators have told NPR they’re concerned the rural–urban divide will only worsen if kids can’t get online to learn.”
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Matthew Sperling writes: “Has anything ever caused a faster transformation in our practices of living than social media? Fifteen years ago, it barely existed; today, it occupies a large portion of the waking consciousness of a few billion people. The 10 books I’ve chosen here trace the development of social media across the last decade, explore its effects in everyday life, and place it in its wider context. They share a sense of its enormous dynamism and power, as well as its vertiginous capacity for harm.”
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United for Libraries will designate Joseph Lloyd Manor in Lloyd Harbor, New York, as a Literary Landmark in honor of Jupiter Hammon, the first published African-American poet. Hammon (1711–ca.1806) was enslaved at Joseph Lloyd Manor, where he wrote powerfully about the social and moral conflicts of chattel slavery which he endured most of his life. Hammon’s known works include three essays and six poems, including “An Address to the Negroes of the State of New-York” and “An Essay on Slavery.” The designation will take place at 2 p.m. ET on October 17, which recognizes Hammon’s 309th birthday as well as Black Poetry Day.
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The podcast 99% Invisible looks at the 125th anniversary of New York Public Library and its list of the 10 most checked-out books in its history, which had an odd footnote—that Margaret Wise Brown’s classic Goodnight Moon was not included. The story behind that footnote involves a powerful librarian, a progressive school, and the creation of library spaces for children.
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