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Celebrating the accomplishment1

Anqi Xu, pictured above, is one of 240 students who deposited their work to the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR) as part of completing their programs of study at Stanford in 2020. Xu received her MA in East Asian Studies. Her thesis, available at PURL and SearchWorks, is a case study using a combination of business and […]

Expanded discovery now availab1

We’re pleased to announce expanded discovery for Spotlight at Stanford exhibits is now available via library.stanford.edu and searchworks.stanford.edu. Our colleagues on the DLSS Access Team have recently added an Exhibits tile to the bento search options, adding another discovery point for Spotlight at Stanford. There are different ways to conduct a search that will yield […]

2020 Library Design Showcase

The year’s most impressive new and renovated libraries By Phil Morehart | September 1, 2020 Library Learning Center at Texas Southern University in Houston. Photo: Kayla Hartzog Welcome to the 2020 Library Design Showcase, American Libraries’ annual celebration of new and renovated libraries. These shining examples of architectural innovation—completed before the COVID-19 pandemic—address user needs […]

Virus-Responsive Design

A floor plan for furniture removal at Hennepin County (Minn.) Library’s Eden Prairie branch. Illustration: MSR Design Libraries have always been spaces for discovery. But in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been tasked with transforming themselves into places that allow users to physically distance while being more digitally connected than ever. As some […]

Ready for Action

A worker installs solar panels on the roof of Ledding Library in Milwaukie, Oregon. Photo: Katie Newell/Ledding Library in Milwaukie, Oregon Sarah Preskitt has lived in Alaska for almost 40 years—and seen its climate change in ways the Lower 48’s hasn’t. “We used to joke that you had to arrange your Halloween costume over your […]

2020 ALA Award Winners

Each year, the American Library Association (ALA) recognizes the achievements of more than 200 individuals and institutions with an array of awards. This year’s winners, chosen by juries of their colleagues and peers, embody the best of the profession’s leadership, vision, and service as well as a continued commitment to diversity, equality, education, and outreach. […]

Encoding Space

In 1956, Abraham Maslow published a seminal paper on the influence our physical surroundings have on us. Participants viewed photographs of people’s faces and evaluated them based on different attributes. Maslow wanted to test how people reacted to this content while located in different physical environments. Some viewed the images while seated in a beautiful […]

By the Numbers: Rural and Smal1

Graves County (Ky.) Public Library’s bookmobile. Photo: Graves County (Ky.) Public Library 1982Year the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) was founded by Bernard Vavrek, director of the Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship at Clarion (Pa.) University. 5Number of days the ARSL Conference will take place, September 28–October 2. Previously scheduled for […]

Bookend: The World on a String

Top: Puppeteer Morgan Matens (left) and Children’s Librarian Greg Hall pose with puppets from Nashville Public Library’s in-house troupe, Wishing Chair Productions. Below: Scenes from their viral Facebook video “Curbside Baby.” Photo: Samantha Saldana/Nashville Public Library (Matens and Hall) When Greg Hall and Morgan Matens met and fell in love as graduate students over a […]

Can You Hear Me Now?

Illustration: Kwun Yee/Adobe Stock When Boston College Libraries was forced to close its doors this spring during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodrigo Castro, head librarian for access services, made a list. “I started identifying the tasks that individuals could do remotely versus tasks they could do onsite,” he says. “When you are in this situation, your […]

Web Archiving Virtually In Res1

Meghan Lyon, Librarian in Residence with the Web Archiving Team. Meghan Lyon recently joined the Web Archiving Team in the Digital Content Management section as a Librarian in Residence. In support of developing the next generation of librarians and information professionals, the Librarians-in-Residence program (LIR) gives early-career librarians the opportunity to gain meaningful work experience […]

School Librarians Face Reopeni1

BOOKHUB offerings available from Van Meter (Iowa) Community School District. In Park County, Wyoming, the number of COVID-19 cases is relatively low—only 31 reported as of August 11—and K–12 schools plan to open in-person on August 30. That’s with the understanding that the plans could change at any moment and teaching could shift online. “Part […]

Buckminster Fuller on a long t1

Buckminster Fuller has loomed large over the Stanford Media Preservation Lab ever since his archives were fully processed and described in the mid-2000s. Over the past eight years we’ve been slowly reformatting the extensive media component of this collection, but there was one media format that remained elusive: wire. A magnetic recording format that predated […]

Interactive Maps, Oral Histori1

Each summer, the Library of Congress welcomes a cohort of Junior Fellows to its Summer Intern Program.  The 10-week paid fellowship allows undergraduate and graduate students to embark on special projects with in Library collections and services, while learning about work in a large cultural heritage organization.  This year, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, […]

10 Weeks of Digital Content Ma1

Randi Proescholdt, 2020 Junior Fellow in the Digital Content Management Section. Every year the Library of Congress brings on a cohort of junior fellows to help expand access and use of collections. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic this program shifted to be entirely virtual in 2020. We are thrilled to have Randi Proescholdt, a […]

LC LABS LETTER: A Special Edit1

LC LABS LETTER: A Special Edition from the Library of Congress Labs Team

This time-sensitive message about open procurements comes between our normal monthly updates. Please share widely share with any lists, people, or groups who might be interested! Note: Federal hiring and procurement rules prohibit us from answering questions about open opportunities – please use the contact info provided in the listing. Current Opportunities Humans in the Loop: […]

Version 1.0 of the Oxford Comm1

Version 1.0 of the Oxford Common File Layout (OCFL) Released

We are pleased to share the news about the first release of the Oxford Common File Layout (OCFL), officially announced earlier this month. This milestone is the cumulation of almost three years of steady collaboration between the Bodleian Library of Oxford University, Emory University, Cornell University, Lyrasis and Stanford Libraries. The OCFL is an application-independent […]