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Last week, I tripped across a couple of posts from MIT that I thought included the clearest explanations I’d seen of the cost and *reasons* for the cost of training and using Generative AI. Explained: Generative AI’s environmental impact and The multifaceted challenge of powering AI I added those to my list of bookmarks on […]
The 2025 recipients of the I Love My Librarian Award (ILMLA) are 10 standout librarians. They include a bookmobile librarian serving a community in crisis, a school librarian bridging gaps for low-income students, a youth detention facility librarian creating a more inviting and inclusive space, and other notable community figures. On January 24, the American […]
Johnson City (Tenn.) Public Library Marketing Coordinator Hannah Kiger (right) pours barley into the first batch of the 1895 lager at Johnson City Brewing Company in April 2020.Photo: Johnson City Public Library While creating one of their in-house brews, employees at Johnson City (Tenn.) Brewing Company brought in some unexpected assistants to pour barley into […]
Fourth-grade students at George A. Jackson Elementary School in Jericho, New York, work on podcasts. The project was spearheaded by their librarian and teachers.Photo: Lauren Kawasaki At George A. Jackson Elementary School in Jericho, New York, educators wanted to help students discover the power of their voices. During the 2023–2024 school year, as part of a […]
Photo: Mike Brown Acclaimed author Pam Muñoz Ryan has been a fixture of the children’s literature scene for more than 25 years, winning the Pura Belpré Award in 2002 for Esperanza Rising, a Newbery Honor in 2016 for Echo, and the Children’s Literature Legacy Award in 2024. We spoke with Muñoz Ryan about her career […]
Photo: University Library Special Collections and Archives/University of California, Santa Cruz International Workers’ Day is May 1. 8Date in April that National Library Workers Day was celebrated this year. Since 2004, it has been commemorated on the Tuesday of National Library Week. 25,000Number of library workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and […]
Photo: John Black Photography In July 1925, the US was transfixed by State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, also known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. Held in Dayton, Tennessee, the proceedings examined whether high school teacher John T. Scopes violated the law by teaching evolution in a state-funded school. Then, as now, the trial […]
Our profession, and our humanity, are in jeopardy. As we saw with the White House’s executive order calling for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to be eliminated, libraries—and everything we value as information professionals—are under attack. Make no mistake: The American people need to brace for more waves of uncertainty and oppression. […]
We have all been impacted in both anticipated and unpredictable ways following the sweeping changes in Washington, D.C., since the January inauguration. These actions—including the March 14 executive order calling for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)—have been an affront to our profession and the people we serve. Across the […]
At this point in the year, almost everyone on campus seems to be thinking about the end of the term. But this span of time doesn’t necessarily look or feel the same to everyone. Some of us who have disabilities move through time a little differently, experiencing it as particularly nebulous and abstract. I am […]
This week marks 100 days since President Trump’s January 20 inauguration. It has also been approximately 45 days since Trump signed the March 14 executive order that called for stripping the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) down to its “non-statutory and component functions.” In response, the American Library Association (ALA), along with the […]
In this interview, Natalie Burclaff describes the Industry Associations Web Archive and the variety of content it preserves. She also offers insights into the challenges of curating the collection and explains why it serves as a crucial resource for understanding how industry has evolved and responded to global events. This is part of a series […]
Lucie Faulknor (left) and Dawn Logsdon, codirectors of the PBS Independent Lens documentary Free for All: The Public Library For filmmaker Dawn Logsdon, summers in the 1960s and 1970s were filled with road trips in her family’s Volkswagen. A common stop on those travels included public libraries, which meant that by age 12, she had […]
OK, that’s a clickbait title, but only a little. They’re actually amongst the heaviest users of Claude, according to Anthropic (PDF), via the 2025 AI Index Report from Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI. The report itself is a 456-page PDF, so do start with the key takeaways, but then either search for specific words of […]
On March 20, 2025, the DC Chapter of AI4LAM held its first meeting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, and Library of Congress staff were excited to take part in the event. AI4LAM is an international, collaborative community focused on advancing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in, for, and […]
Inside the Haskell Library, a black line on the floor marks the border between the United States and Canada, which patrons from both countries can freely move across. courtesy of Sylvie Boudreau For more than a century, Canadians have used nothing but a narrow sidewalk to cross their national border into Vermont and enter the […]
Today’s blog post is an interview with Hanna Fogle, a 2024-25 Librarian-in-Residence here at the Library of Congress. Carlyn: Hi Hanna, could you tell us a bit about what you do as a Librarian-in-Residence (LIR)? How would you explain your job to someone outside the Library of Congress? What do you like most about your […]
This is a very current report, with questions being collected between Feb 19-March 1, 2025. From the Social Media Lab at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), The State of Generative AI Use in Canada 2025: Exploring Public Attitudes and Adoption Trends. 1,500 Canadians were asked questions about their use and knowledge of generative […]
During a February 2025 meeting of the Huntington Beach, California, City Council, former NFL player Chris Kluwe spoke out against installation of a plaque referencing MAGA to commemorate the town library’s 50th anniversary. Former NFL player Chris Kluwe put down the pigskin in 2013, when he retired from professional football after eight seasons with the […]
The following is a guest post by 2025 Innovator in Residence Vivian Li, an illustrator, comics artist and web developer from Macomb, Illinois, who currently lives in Seattle. This is the second blog post in a series following Vivian’s project, Anywhere Adventures. Check out the LC Labs Anywhere Adventures experiment page to learn more about the […]
