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Wong’s election makes ALA history At the conclusion of the 2021 Annual Conference Virtual, Patricia “Patty” M. Wong began her term as the first Asian American to serve as ALA president. The American Rescue Plan Act and libraries When President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on March 11, […]
Prince George’s County (Md.) Memorial Library System partnered with pro soccer team D.C. United in 2020 to create Talon’s Workout Tapes. Here, midfielder Russell Canouse and his dog Lola demonstrate an exercise. Last year, when kids were stuck at home during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, staffers at Prince George’s County (Md.) Memorial […]
Photo: Bruce Glikas When the coronavirus first arrived in New York City in early 2020 and theaters went dark, actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein—a self-described hermit, though some would say he’s synonymous with Manhattan’s Midtown theater district—retreated to his home in Connecticut and started work on a memoir. I Was Better Last Night (Knopf, March […]
Stats to honor Valentine’s Day (February 14) and Random Acts of Kindness Week (February 13–19). 1,100Number of public submissions received for Love Letters in Light, a poetry project conceived by artist Leila Hamidi in partnership with Los Angeles County Library (LACL) and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. In May 2021, LED signs were […]
The Afghanistan Ministry of Education homepage, as captured on August 16, 2021. Information about then–Minister of Education Rangina Hamidi (pictured), a women’s rights advocate, has since been removed from the website. When the Taliban breached the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 15, Liladhar R. Pendse knew he had to do something. Pendse, librarian […]
From left: Molly Watson, youth services librarian at Cynthiana-Harrison County (Ky.) Public Library; Hank the Horse; and Hank’s owner Tammi Regan of Equinox Stables. Photo: Molly Evely Photography Cynthiana–Harrison County (Ky.) Public Library’s (CHCPL) first in-person program since before the pandemic made a big impression—a headline-grabbing, 1,300-pound impression, to be exact. Hank, a Tennessee Walker–breed […]
As American Library Association president, I’m often asked, “What does ALA do for library workers?” While it’s true that the L in our name stands for library and not librarian, ALA has a companion organization that provides direct support to library professionals. The ALA–Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), which is committed to improving the status of […]
In an era when our access to education, employment, and public health—our primary quality of life indicators—is increasingly predicated on digital access, libraries are and must be deeply invested in ensuring the greatest level of connectivity for users. This is a critical area of focus for the American Library Association (ALA) and for the LIS […]
December 2021 LC LABS LETTERA Monthly Roundup of News and Thoughts from the Library of Congress Labs Team LC Labs Experiments Humans in the Loop experiment pairs machine learning and human expertise Starting in 2020, our team collaborated with data solutions provider AVP to prototype workflows combining machine learning and crowdsourcing. Our previous work on […]
It’s a premature title, as I don’t actually have access to Project Shasta yet, but this announcement makes it sound very similar to Descript: Adobe’s Project Shasta is an AI-powered, web-based audio editor. I have requested access, though, and will report back when I know more! 🙂 [embedded content] [embedded content] Source of Article
This is a guest post by Kristy Darby, a Digital Collections Specialist in the Digital Content Management Section at the Library of Congress. In March 2020, we first shared about the growing collection of open access e-books available on loc.gov. A lot has changed since then but, in particular, the Open Access Books Collection was […]
The following is co-authored with Joe Puccio, the Library of Congress Collection Development Officer. Digital collections, and the work related to their acquisition, preservation and access, have become increasingly central to Library of Congress processes and our mission to serve Congress and the nation. For the last five years, in accordance with the Library of […]
I am delighted and excited to announce that Lauren Sorensen is joining Stanford Libraries as a new staff member of Digital Library Systems and Services. Lauren’s first day will be Tuesday, January 18, 2022. It’s auspicious to make this announcement today, Human Rights Day, as Lauren will be serving as the Digital Projects and Data […]
2021 Innovator in Residence Courtney McClellan created Speculative Annotation, an experimental browser-based application that encourages students and teachers to have conversations with historic Library of Congress items through annotation and mark-making. McClellan is a research-based artist who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. With a subject focus on speech and civic engagement, McClellan works in a range […]
A pair of wooden sandals carved and worn by Songye people in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, early to mid-20th century (Object IDs 84.599A and 84.599B). Once again the Digital Production Group (DPG) is partnering with the Stanford University Archaeology Collections (SUAC) team to bring 3D scanning technology into the classroom to […]
A big part of my job these days is supporting campus researchers in their use of NVivo, a tool for analyzing qualitative data. While NVivo does offer some data visualization options, in my workshops I describe it as, “Microsoft Office-level”. In other words, not terribly sophisticated, and that’s fine. But I’m always keen to see […]
Kathy McFadden (right), a staffer at Sussex County (Del.) Libraries, hands out rapid, at-home COVID-19 testing kits during a drive-through distribution event at Seaford (Del.) District Library in August 2021. Photo: Delaware Department of Libraries Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, libraries have served both informally and officially as public health partners, from 3D-printing […]
As a second pandemic holiday season rolls in, even the cheeriest folks are fraying a little around the edges. This year, give them effortless presents that will make their lives gentler, simpler, and sweeter. And since you could probably also use a little break, we’ve done most of the work for you by rounding up […]
As in past years, American Libraries and the Public Library Association have again partnered to track library ballot measures and council actions across the country. In 2021, we followed 78 referenda items; results were positive for libraries in nearly 90% of cases. Ohio remains a national leader in supporting libraries at the ballot box, passing […]
Contributors to this issue: Cathy Aster, Hannah Frost, Dinah Handel, Andria Olson and Michael Olson.As always, we are grateful for our many collaborators! Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain digitization project In October, the Digital Production Group began a project to digitize a selection of materials from the Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain papers. Comhaire-Sylvain was the first woman Haitian anthropologist, and conducted anthropological […]
