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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 […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed today that its fbi.gov domain name and Internet address were used to blast out thousands of fake emails about a cybercrime investigation. According to an interview with the person who claimed responsibility for the hoax, the spam messages were sent by abusing insecure code in an FBI online […]
Today’s guest post is from Hana Beckerle, a 2021 Librarian-in-Residence at the Library of Congress. I graduated with my MSLIS from Catholic University of America (CUA) in May 2021 and joined the Library’s Digitization Services Section (DSS) as a Librarian-in-Residence in June. While at CUA, I worked as an Electronic Resources Assistant at the University […]
Libraries are great and trustworthy sources of knowledge, and most of the time, part of the backbone of our communities. Their existence ensures that knowledge and technology are available to everyone, not just to those who can afford them. Libraries have survived and thrived through the expansion of digital media, the rise of e-books and […]
Most of us have probably heard the term “smishing” — which is a portmanteau for traditional phishing scams sent through SMS text messages. Smishing messages usually include a link to a site that spoofs a popular bank and tries to siphon personal information. But increasingly, phishers are turning to a hybrid form of smishing — […]
Today’s guest post is from Abby Shelton, a community manager for the By the People crowdsourced transcription program. 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 collections. When transcriptions are completed by […]
Microsoft Corp. today released updates to quash at least 55 security bugs in its Windows operating systems and other software. Two of the patches address vulnerabilities that are already being used in active attacks online, and four of the flaws were disclosed publicly before today — potentially giving adversaries a head start in figuring out […]
The U.S. Department of Justice today announced the arrest of Ukrainian man accused of deploying ransomware on behalf of the REvil ransomware gang, a Russian-speaking cybercriminal collective that has extorted hundreds of millions from victim organizations. The DOJ also said it had seized $6.1 million in cryptocurrency sent to another REvil affiliate, and that the […]
The holiday shopping season always means big business for phishers, who tend to find increased success this time of year with a lure about a wayward package that needs redelivery. Here’s a look at a fairly elaborate SMS-based phishing scam that spoofs FedEx in a bid to extract personal and financial information from unwary recipients. […]
A library is the first place you get to experience the sweetest joys of reading. Growing up my weekly visit to the library would be an opportunity to thoroughly and meticulously go through all the carefully curated new books put out on the display. Handpicked by a librarian with a keen eye for what was […]
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, […]
A number of publications in September warned about the emergence of “Groove,” a new ransomware group that called on competing extortion gangs to unite in attacking U.S. government interests online. It now appears that Groove was all a big hoax designed to toy with security firms and journalists. “An appeal to business brothers!” reads the […]
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 […]
