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Today’s guest post is from Caitlin Haynes, the Program Coordinator for the Smithsonian Transcription Center in Washington, D.C. You can read Caitlin’s original post from the Smithsonian here.* During the month of August 2021, we teamed up with the community managers and volunteers at By the People, the Library of Congress’s crowdsourced transcription program, to focus […]
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 […]
By Phil Morehart | September 1, 2021 The following libraries are winners of the 2021 Library Building Awards, sponsored by Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures (a division of the American Library Association) and the American Institute of Architects. The awards recognize the best in library architecture and design and are open to any architect licensed in […]
Special Report: The Legacy of 9/11 It’s been 20 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, flashed on our TV screens and left an imprint on our memories. Nearly 3,000 people died at the World Trade Center in New York City, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and aboard four hijacked airplanes. For […]
The Sphere, a sculpture by Fritz Koenig, survived the collapse of the Twin Towers partially intact. The unrestored sculpture now sits in New York City’s Liberty Park near the National September 11 Memorial Museum. Photo: Michael Rieger/FEMA Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, many archivists […]
Illustration: green2/AdobeStock Islamophobia in the US existed long before the September 11 attacks. But as a traumatized country mourned and searched for someone to blame, fear and suspicion of those perceived to be Muslims or Arab Americans intensified. The FBI reported a 17-fold increase in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim crimes in 2001 over the previous year, […]
Photo: ©cnky photography/Adobe Stock (globe); Gander (Newfoundland) Public and Resources Library (exterior) Imagine you’re on an island in the middle of the ocean, and you’ve never heard of it, and you’re trapped there.” That’s what Pam Soucy, a library assistant at Gander Public and Resource Library (GPRL), and her coworkers told themselves in the days […]
The Internet Archive’s Understanding 9/11 video archive features footage from 20 news outlets spanning the period from the morning of September 11 to September 17, 2001. Like Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, the events of September 11, 2001, have left a […]
The Connecticut Four. From left: Barbara Bailey, Peter Chase, George Christian, and Janet Nocek When the FBI approached George Christian in 2005 with a national security letter (NSL) and lifetime gag order, the then–executive director of the Library Connection—a Connecticut library consortium—convened a meeting with the organization’s executive committee. The NSL would have forced them […]
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. […]
Map indicating the 50 countries that participated in the UN Conference on International Organization at San Francisco in 1945. Photo: ©United Nations (2021), digitallibrary.un.org 50Number of countries represented at the United Nations (UN) Conference on International Organization in San Francisco from April 25 to June 26, 1945. Representatives wrote a charter for the UN with […]
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 […]
For the prosecution of such acts, preserving and recovering digital evidence is absolutely critical. In the same way a “traditional” detective or law enforcement agent explores crimes in the physical or material sense, a cybercrime investigator delves into internet-based crimes. A cybercrime investigation is the process of investigating, analyzing and recovering digital forensics data from […]
Ryan*, a librarian working in New England, was confused when she received an email from library administration about a man who had been banned from the building. When she asked a colleague what had happened, she learned there had been a “First Amendment audit.” “My heart sank,” Ryan says. She had learned about these encounters […]
Recording history, and preserving ancient knowledge is something libraries have been doing for centuries. However, this isn’t limited to written resources only, as some meaning will inevitably be lost when written down. Recurring guest writer, Edgardo Civallero, shares different initiatives from across Latin America that are aimed at preserving the indigenous languages of the regions. […]
In 2018, Andrew Schober was digitally mugged for approximately $1 million worth of bitcoin. After several years of working with investigators, Schober says he’s confident he has located two young men in the United Kingdom responsible for using a clever piece of digital clipboard-stealing malware to siphon his crypto holdings. Schober is now suing each […]
August 2021 LC LABS LETTERA Monthly Roundup of News and Thoughts from the Library of Congress Labs Team Our Projects 2021 Innovator in Residence Speculative Annotation tool now live 2021 Innovator in Residence Courtney McClellan and the LC Labs team are proud to announce the launch of Speculative Annotation a public art project designed for […]
For our new blog series Blast Radius, security professionals, researchers and experts deep dive into different attacks and vulnerabilities, explore how they can impact the entire internet ecosystem, and examine what they mean for organizations of all sizes, across all industries. To talk about the emerging properties of self-registration services bundled with devices provided by […]
In today’s post, By the People community manager Lauren Algee interviews members of the Douglass Day team about their February 2021 transcribe-a-thon for the Mary Church Terrell Papers. Launched in 2018, By the People is a volunteer engagement and collection enhancement program at the Library of Congress that invites the public to explore and transcribe Library of Congress digital […]
Criminal hackers will try almost anything to get inside a profitable enterprise and secure a million-dollar payday from a ransomware infection. Apparently now that includes emailing employees directly and asking them to unleash the malware inside their employer’s network in exchange for a percentage of any ransom amount paid by the victim company. Image: Abnormal […]
