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Coming off the year 2020, we celebrate the rebounding number of Stanford departments and programs engaging the SDR’s services to manage, archive, and publish the work of Stanford students. There were a total of 37 collections active in 2021 – — including 4 new collections — and 264 students deposited their works, including honors theses, […]
As Election Day approaches, American Libraries and the Public Library Association are partnering to track library referenda across the country to measure public support for libraries on the ground. Listed below are results that have appeared since last year’s report. Libraries notched many wins in 2021: In Illinois, the state’s April 6 election saw four […]
Illustrations: Gaby FeBland When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, it exposed the precarious financial situation of many small businesses in the US. About half of these businesses were operating with fewer than two weeks of cash reserves at the time, according to research by JPMorgan Chase. Though federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans […]
A protester at the Save Niles Library rally in July. Organizers met at a local park, then marched to the library for a public hearing on proposed budget cuts. Photo: Niles Coalition On March 18, 2021, the Niles–Maine (Ill.) District Library (NMDL) held a candidate forum for its April board of trustees election—a forum that […]
Small and rural communities face a complex set of intersecting challenges. Individuals in less-populated areas, for instance, are more likely to experience extreme poverty and food insecurity, while their public institutions and facilities are more likely to lack sufficient broadband internet and other crucial resources. In September 2020, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Programs […]
In summer 2020, during the national outcry that followed the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, the concept of antiracism—or actively opposing racism and promoting tolerance and inclusion—gained traction in critical conversations about library work. Earlier this year the American Library Association’s Reference and User Services Association explored this theme further […]
Illustration: Prostock Studio/Adobe Stock Most people think of collaboration as a soft skill and dismiss it with a shrug. Here’s the thing: You don’t collaborate to make people feel okay, because it’s expected of you, or to earn brownie points. You collaborate because on large-scale projects, you have no choice. This is an excerpt from […]
Padma Lakshmi. Photo: Anthony Jackson Model, author, and television host and producer Padma Lakshmi is having a productive year: The 18th season of her reality competition show Top Chef concluded this summer, snagging five Emmy nominations; she released a children’s book, Tomatoes for Neela (Viking Books for Young Readers, August), with illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal; and […]
A Charlie Cart mobile kitchen. Illustration: The Charlie Cart Project 350Number of classes offered annually through Free Library of Philadelphia’s (FLP) Culinary Literacy Center. According to FLP, this kitchen classroom is the first of its kind created at a public library in the US. $9,000Amount that Chattanooga (Tenn.) Public Library spent on a Charlie Cart—a […]
T-Kay Sangwand, digital collection development librarian at UCLA Library and host of radio show The Archive of Feelings.Photo: Amanda Lopez When T-Kay Sangwand named her radio show The Archive of Feelings, she wasn’t just being cute. In addition to being a DJ, Sangwand is librarian for digital collection development at UCLA Library, where she helms […]
The Virtual Interview Lab at Do Space in Omaha, Nebraska, is equipped with a computer, webcam, microphone, and ring light.Photo: Do Space An estimated 19 million Americans—or 6% of the population—still lack access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds. And as more job interviews have moved online during the pandemic, those without access face a […]
Stanford’s Open Access (OA) Policy, approved by the Faculty Senate in November 2020, established the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR) as the home for open access articles at Stanford. Over the past year, Stanford Libraries has created and released an improved web application for depositing content into the SDR. With this new application, it’s now easier […]
It’s my pleasure to share the news that Cory Lown and Nick Budak are joining the staff of Digital Library Systems and Services as Digital Library Software Developers on the Access and Discovery Team. Cory and Nick’s first day will be October 4, and they will be working alongside Chris Beer, Gary Geisler, and Camille […]
September 2021 LC LABS LETTERA Monthly Roundup of News and Thoughts from the Library of Congress Labs Team Big news about the Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI) Apply now to CCDI grants! The Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI) currently has three open grant opportunities including 1) a higher education grant and 2) a library, archives, […]
Today’s guest post is from Kate Murray, Digital Projects Coordinator in Digital Collections Management and Services at the Library of Congress and Bertram Lyons, Partner and Managing Director for Software at AVP. Note: This is the last in a series of updates from the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) Audio-Visual working group. See That’s […]
Today’s guest post is from Tracee Haupt, a Digital Collection Specialist in the Digital Content Management section at the Library of Congress. On the twentieth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, I asked four individuals who were part of the creation of the September 11, 2001 Web Archive to reflect on their experience documenting […]
This is the second in a series of updates from the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) Audio-Visual working group. See That’s Our Cue! Updates for the FADGI Embedded Metadata Guidelines and BWF MetaEdit for the Cue Chunk in Broadcast Wave Files for the first installment. This post is co-authored by Kate Murray, Digital Projects […]
It is my delight to share the news that Kabir Hermon is joining the staff of Digital Library Systems and Services as our new Audio Digitization Specialist. Kabir’s first day will be Monday, September 20, and he will be working alongside Geoff Willard and Michael Angeletti at our media preservation facilities on the Stanford Redwood […]
For thirty years the Library of Congress has offered undergraduate and graduate students from across the country the opportunity to work on projects focused on expanding access to and use of the Library’s collections. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Junior Fellows program continued to be entirely virtual in 2021. The Digital Content […]
Welcome to the 2021 Library Design Showcase, American Libraries’ annual celebration of new and renovated libraries that address user needs in unique, interesting, and effective ways. That this year’s slate features building projects completed during the pandemic makes them even more noteworthy. Despite libraries being temporarily closed or operating at reduced hours because of COVID-19 […]
