technology Archives | Page 8 of 33 | American Libraries Magazine

ALA and Libraries Win the Day on Net Neutrality

By John Windhausen | June 20, 2016

This landmark decision confirms that internet service providers (ISPs) cannot engage in “paid prioritization” and must keep the internet open to all users, content providers, and application developers. This decision has a direct impact on library services: It ensures that libraries and library patrons can post and distribute information over the internet without having to … Continue reading ALA and Libraries Win the Day on Net Neutrality →

Streamlined Software

By Patrick Burke | May 31, 2016

Apollo automation at Biblionix Public library automation provider Biblionix has updated its award-winning integrated library system, Apollo, with new functions to make life easier for librarians. Apollo helps public librarians streamline their day-to-day tasks such as circulation management, collection management, and new patron sign-up. Because of its multi-tenant design, changes and updates are available as soon … Continue reading Streamlined Software →

Protecting Patron Privacy

By Marshall Breeding | May 31, 2016

Secure communication on the web provides two important benefits: identifying the website authoritatively enabling encrypted communications between the user’s browser and the server that provides the resource Encryption algorithms transform the data into a seemingly garbled form that, if intercepted, cannot be deciphered. The use of a secure communication protocol (HTTPS) provides the best approach … Continue reading Protecting Patron Privacy →

Library Systems Report 2016

By Marshall Breeding | May 2, 2016

Libraries have much at stake in products that align well with their strategies, resonate with their patrons, and facilitate the work of their staff. Previously established products are evolving to gain long-overdue modernization. In an era of web-based and cloud computing, library technology has held fast to aspects of the previous age of client–server computing. … Continue reading Library Systems Report 2016 →

John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson: Dispatches from the Field

Learning Management

By John J. Burke and Beth E. Tumbleson | May 2, 2016

The largest LMS companies in the United States in terms of numbers of institutions served are (in ranking order) Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, BrightSpace (D2L), and Sakai, as reported in an October 22, 2014, post in the e-Literate blog. Blackboard currently is the market leader in the US, even without including installations of ANGEL Learning, a … Continue reading Learning Management →

Psychologist, author, and MIT professor Sherry Turkle encouraged attendees at the Public Library Association 2016 conference in Denver to put down their phones in favor of face-to-face conversation.

Time to Put Your Phone Away and Talk

By Laurie D. Borman | April 8, 2016

In speaking at the early morning Big Ideas session today at the Public Library Association 2016 conference in Denver, sponsored by Penguin Random House, Turkle drove home her point with numerous studies and anecdotes about people of all ages who find their phones have interfered with developing personal relationships. In the last 20 years, she … Continue reading Time to Put Your Phone Away and Talk →

Librarians in the Digital Age

By Sari Feldman and Julie Todaro | January 19, 2016

In response to a controversial January 10 opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal by librarian Steve Barker, librarians around the country wrote to the paper to set the record straight about their real roles in the age of Google. ALA President Sari Feldman and President-Elect Julie Todaro also wrote in, though only a small portion of … Continue reading Librarians in the Digital Age →

A woman using the card catalog at the main reading room of the Library of Congress, circa 1940.

The Evolving Catalog

By Karen Coyle | January 4, 2016

Today when we say “technology,” it is often shorthand for “computer technology.” Of course this is not the only technology in our lives, but it is the one that defines our modern age. A century and a half ago, the defining technology was electricity and all things electric. The light bulb was literally the bright … Continue reading The Evolving Catalog →

The Right Technology

By Sarah Strahl | January 4, 2016

Technology staffers at public libraries should be asking themselves continually: How do we make this technology fit the library? How do we make and keep technology nimble and adaptable? Can we ever make technology dynamic enough to ensure we can keep up with unforeseen problems? How do we do this so we can help patrons … Continue reading The Right Technology →

The New Digital Divide

By Meredith Farkas | January 4, 2016

But ask someone to fill out a form, search a library database, or edit a term paper, and it quickly becomes clear that a phone is not a perfect replacement for all of a computer’s functions. According to a recent Pew Research Center study of smartphone use, for approximately one in five Americans, their mobile … Continue reading The New Digital Divide →

Saving Digital Ephemera

By Adam Doster | January 4, 2016

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 →

Wild Colorado Wildlife Discovery App

By Joseph Sanchez | October 30, 2015

American Libraries invited Joseph Sanchez of Mesa County (Colo.) Libraries to talk about a project he has been working on: a wildlife app managed by the library. Like fly-fishing? See photos of fish, flies, books, river locations, upcoming seminars, as well as other content in the app, all eventually to be cross-referenced in the library’s … Continue reading Wild Colorado Wildlife Discovery App →

Latest Library Links

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Alvin Wanjala writes: “The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots has popularized the term large language model (LLM), the underlying AI tech working behind the scenes. LLMs generate output based upon a predicted set of language in response to the user input, making it appear as if the AI is capable of thinking for itself. But LLMs aren’t the only large models in town; large action models (LAMs) could be the next big thing in AI. An LAM is an artificial intelligence system capable of understanding human input and performing a corresponding action.”

MakeUseOf, July 11
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Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, was partially evacuated July 15 after university officials received an email claiming “In the name of Donald Trump I have hidden highly lethal lead azide devices in the library and cafeteria.” Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, evacuated its library and dining halls after receiving bomb threats July 11. Evacuation orders in both cases were lifted after searches found no bombs. Many public libraries in Illinois, Minnesota, and other states have experienced threats over the past year, most recently at River Forest (Ill.) Public Library.”

WDRB-TV (Louisville, Ky.), July 15; WGAL-TV (Lancaster, PA), July 15; Book Riot, July 16; WLS-TV (Chicago), July 9
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C. Allison Sills writes: “In the dance between safeguarding patron privacy and navigating the law, community colleges confront a pivotal question: How do we fulfill our legal obligations without compromising the ethical and legal bedrock of our profession? In North Carolina, where I work, since the Parents’ Bill of Rights became state law in December 2023, community colleges have been pressured to compulsorily activate all patron checkout history for the first time in decades. The need to shield individuals’ privacy from potential abuse is paramount.”

College & Research Libraries News, July
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Steph Campbell writes: “From a combination of hype from Stranger Things, captivating performances on Critical Role, acceptance of ‘nerd culture,’ and so many other reasons, tabletop role-playing games have greatly increased in popularity over the past few years, and youth activities are reflecting this. Running games is often seen as the core for facilitating this interest, but you can connect your library’s book collection to this too. By displaying books that focus on themes from your library’s game sessions, you can help players find other stories that they relate to.”

ALA Games & Gaming Round Table, July 11
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Share innovative strategies and resources with your peers by submitting an education program proposal for the 2025 LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience, taking place January 24–27, 2025, in Phoenix. The submission site is open now through August 12. The programmatic theme of LibLearnX 2025 is Reimagine, Refocus, Reset: Charting a Path for the Future. The LibLearnX Program Submission Guide provides detailed explanations of the learning formats and step-by-step instructions for submitting a proposal. Consult the Program Proposal Rubric for evaluation criteria and scoring and view a video on using the submission site to create and submit your proposal.

ALA Conference Services, July 15
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Summer is in full swing. This means getting outside, soaking up some sunshine, and listening to our favorite tunes—from oldies-but-goodies to today’s hits. In Episode 97, Call Number covers music. This episode includes conversations with librarian and Grammy Award–winning French horn player Joy Worland, as well as librarians who have organized programs for local patrons who love Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and K-Pop. Attendees of ALA’s 2024 Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego also share memories of the first concert they attended.

AL: The Scoop, July 15
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Sheila Craft-Morgan writes: “Citations are a key measure of the impact of a researcher’s work. However, research in a variety of disciplines has found that women are less likely to be cited than men; citations contain geographic bias; and the Matthew effect—in which those who begin with advantage continue to gain advantage—leads to more citations for prominent scholars in a specific discipline. These findings contribute to the notion that scholarly knowledge comes from a homogenous group of researchers, thereby overlooking the contributions of other groups.”

American Libraries column, June

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