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Illustration: David Alvarado Perhaps you’ve read about the new funding available for libraries to purchase laptops and hotspots, or you’re familiar with digital equity concepts but aren’t sure what they mean for your library. We talked with librarians and experts from the Public Library Association (PLA) and ALA’s Committee on Literacy about practical steps to […]
During the pandemic, Long Beach (Calif.) Public Library launched Tech To-Go, a Chromebook and hotspot lending service, while Digital Durham (in North Carolina) created fliers in English and Spanish that explain the Emergency Broadband Benefit program. Coalition, alliance, task force, committee, collaborative. The digital equity coalition is a model that goes by many names, but […]
What Is Broadband? Broadband, or high-speed internet, is internet with a minimum download speed of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) and a minimum upload speed of 3 Mbps—known as 25/3 Mbps speed. There are 6 main types of broadband: broadband over power lines (BPL), cable modem, digital subscriber line (DSL), fiber, satellite, and wireless. Fiber […]
Illustration: ©Sylverarts/Adobe Stock Grant proposals that include partnerships have a significant competitive advantage. Whether these partnerships are with other departments within the same library or with external groups that allow the funder to invest in multiple groups through one grant, collaborations can give you a leg up. But most people have little or no training […]
Photo: Stephen Voss Since the breakout success of his National Book Award–winning Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America in 2017, historian Ibram X. Kendi has continued to research and write about antiracism for new audiences. In early 2020 he partnered with author Jason Reynolds to adapt the book for […]
Northwestern University Library workers marched across the Evanston, Illinois, campus to declare their union. Photo: SEIU Local 73 At noon on October 12, 2021, more than 130 library workers at Northwestern University met at the Rock, a well-known gathering space on the Evanston, Illinois, campus. They had decided to march to the provost’s office to […]
Elgin (Ill.) Area Pandemic Team members Anamaria Mora (seated, left) and Susan Tuominen provide information at Gail Borden Public Library District. They are part of a broader program set up by the state’s health department to connect communities with resources related to pandemic challenges. Photo: Laura Espinoza In spring 2021, a family of eight from […]
This post was co-authored with Dinah Handel, Digitization Service Manager Digitization Services is thrilled to announce new digitization capabilities for photographic negatives, slides, glass plates, and any transmissive materials. In late 2021, the Digital Production Group purchased a Digital Transitions Film Scanning Kit, to digitize photographic materials of most sizes and types. The image above […]
We are so pleased to introduce Khadijah Camp, who has joined us temporarily from the Library Collections Service Group’s Employee Resources Management & Planning Team. She is working as an Innovation Specialist on the Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud (CCHC) initiative. Khadijah Camp. Khadijah is working on the Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud […]
More than 2,100 people attended the American Library Association’s (ALA) inaugural LibLearnX virtual conference January 21–24. The format of LibLearnX is designed to motivate, inspire, and enable discussions that shape the future of libraries and communities, emphasizing active and applied learning in a variety of formats. The lineup also included familiar ALA conference components: high-profile […]
Who is Rhone Talsma? On January 26, Talsma earned a spot in Jeopardy! history when he unseated fellow contestant Amy Schneider, who had racked up a 40-game winning streak, the second highest on the iconic game show. Talsma, multimedia librarian at Chicago Ridge (Ill.) Public Library, was the most recent in an impressive line of […]
January 2022 LC LABS LETTERA Monthly Roundup of News and Thoughts from the Library of Congress Labs Team News from the Connecting Communities Digital Initiative Marya McQuirter joins the Library of Congress as Director of the Connecting Communities Digital Initiative Marya McQuirter has joined the Digital Strategy Directorate as Director of the Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI). […]
One of the most well-written podcasts (oh, and I guess it’s a radio show too) out there is Terry O’Reilly’s Under The Influence. Terry tells stories of how marketing works (and sometimes doesn’t), and it’s always an entertaining and fascinating half-hour. His most recent episode, Season 11, episode 3, is Long Overdue: The Creative Boom […]
I have never given a second thought to ensuring I’ve chosen the correct/most recent version of a creative commons license. That’s changed, because I just finished reading Cory Doctorow‘s post, A Bug in Early Creative Commons Licenses Has Enabled a New Breed of Superpredator. In it, he outlines the emergence of the Copyleft troll, someone […]
One of my more popular posts from the past few years was Thoughts on building my first bar chart race with Flourish, so HT to @ResearchBuzz, who recently pointed to this post on Hongkiat: 5 Tools to Create Bar Chart Race Without Coding. They mention Flourish, but there are four more you might explore. They […]
Interested in learning more about what’s new in the Library of Congress’ digital collections? The Signal will now be sharing out semi-regularly about new additions to publicly-available digital collections and we can’t wait to show off all the hard work from our colleagues from across the Library. Read on for a sample of what’s been […]
Chinese studies scholars and Stanford Libraries are celebrating the digitization of a selection of Chinese rare books in a collaboration with the National Central Library of Taiwan (NCL). As mentioned in a previous blog post introducing the 6 month long project, a selection of 210 volumes from 26 titles in the holdings of the East […]
Chinese studies scholars and Stanford Libraries are celebrating the digitization of a selection of Chinese rare books in a collaboration with the National Central Library of Taiwan (NCL). As mentioned in a previous blog post introducing the 6 month long project, a selection of 210 volumes from 26 titles in the holdings of the East […]
Marlo is a developer who believes technology should increase access to information and resources, and that engagement with history and culture is empowering. Marlo has a background in web development and an MLIS from San Jose State University. He’s completed projects for Black Lunch Table, Canyon Cinema, Lyon-Martin Health, and the Metropolitan New York Library Council. […]
For many years, the leadership of the American Library Association (ALA) has been working to reimagine—and ultimately replace—the Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits event traditionally held in January. ALA’s planning, which has involved gathering member input and incrementally tweaking the conference’s format, reflects the shifting dynamics in how associations conduct business and engage members, moving away […]
