Since our last report, libraries have continued to experience significant upheaval from President Trump’s actions. In May, the Trump administration fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. We also saw legal cases challenging the administration’s defunding of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) continue to make their way […]
In this interview, Tim St. Onge and Meagan Snow explain how web archiving is preserving documentation essential to understanding the evolution of modern cartography. They outline the motivations behind the Geospatial Software and File Formats Documentation Web Archive, describe their curatorial approach, and highlight the collection’s value for both current and future researchers. This is […]
Late last year, security researchers made a startling discovery: Kremlin-backed disinformation campaigns were bypassing moderation on social media platforms by leveraging the same malicious advertising technology that powers a sprawling ecosystem of online hucksters and website hackers. A new report on the fallout from that investigation finds this dark ad tech industry is far more […]
Today’s guest post is from Kate Murray, Liz Caringola, Genevieve Havemeyer-King and Liz Holdzkom of the Digital Collections Management & Services Division at the Library of Congress. This is the eighth installment of our File Format Friends series! You can start at the very beginning with Fun with File Formats from December 2021 and work […]
Microsoft today released security updates to fix at least 67 vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems and software. Redmond warns that one of the flaws is already under active attack, and that software blueprints showing how to exploit a pervasive Windows bug patched this month are now public. The sole zero-day flaw this month is […]
Image: Mark Rademaker, via Shutterstock. Ukraine has seen nearly one-fifth of its Internet space come under Russian control or sold to Internet address brokers since February 2022, a new study finds. The analysis indicates large chunks of Ukrainian Internet address space are now in the hands of shadowy proxy and anonymity services that are nested […]
Since founding the Internet Archive in 1996, Brewster Kahle has helped preserve nearly three decades of digital history—along with millions of books, audio recordings, videos, images, and software programs. But in 2023, four major publishers successfully sued the Archive, forcing it to remove their copyrighted books from its digital lending library. Now the Archive is […]
Photo: John Sterling Ruth/Visit Philadelphia The City of Brotherly Love is also a city of firsts: The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731, is considered the country’s first public library. Philadelphia was the original capital of the United States. And the American Library Association (ALA) held its inaugural Convention of Librarians […]
Steak with onions at Pat’s King of Steaks Photo: Pat’s King of Steaks No one was more surprised than Philadelphians when our restaurants and chefs started raking in James Beard Awards over the past half a dozen years. We knew we had good food, but we figured the rest of the country had long since […]
Martha Hickson, a recently retired media specialist who fought censorship at North Hunterdon High School in Annandale, New Jersey, shakes hands with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (seated) after he signed into law last winter a measure to limit book bans and protect librarians from liability in the state. Photo: Dana DiFilippo/New Jersey Monitor Last December, librarian Martha […]
Author Leanne Su holds up her sci-fi novel, Peri Peri Paprika, published in 2024 by Fifth Avenue Press, the imprint of Ann Arbor (Mich.) District Library. Photo: Lia Giannotti Libraries typically provide books—not publish them. But eight years ago, Ann Arbor (Mich.) District Library (AADL) had some voices it wanted the world to hear. “We’ve […]
A young presenter shares slides about the history of basketball at Vestavia Hills (Ala.) Library’s summer 2024 PowerPoint Party. Photo: Derek Anderson/Vestavia Hills (Ala.) Library At Hewitt (Tex.) Public Library (HPL), teens enthusiastically shared slideshows on the history of roads and the comparative merits of doors and wheels. None of this was schoolwork. PowerPoint is […]
Des Moines (Iowa) University students play The Euphorigen Investigation, an escape room designed to help people better understand misinformation, as part of MisinfoDay in October 2024. Photo: Des Moines (Iowa) University Misinformation: It seems to be everywhere, is getting increasingly sophisticated, and can have dangerous consequences. So how do librarians adapt their instruction to keep […]
Photo: Danielle Tait In early May, bestselling author-illustrator Grace Lin published her first novel in nearly nine years. Based on Chinese folklore, The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) tells the story of an irrepressible stone lion cub and a girl who must open a portal for the spirits. […]
99%Percentage of public libraries that offer a summer reading program for kids, teens, or adults, according to the Public Library Association’s 2022 Public Library Services for Strong Communities Report. 61%Percentage of school-age kids who enjoy summer reading, according to the 2024 Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report. 20%Percentage of school-year gains in reading that students […]
Edible Alphabet at Free Library of Philadelphia’s Culinary Literacy Center. Photos: Kriston Jae Bethel It’s Thursday morning, and the fourth floor of Parkway Central Library is alive with bubbling jollof rice, crisping empanadas, and stir-frying japchae. Welcome to Edible Alphabet, the flagship series of Free Library of Philadelphia’s (FLP) Culinary Literacy Center. Since 2015, the […]
Wopida Tanka! (Many thanks!) As I reflect on my story wheel coming full circle, I am blessed to be surrounded by humble leaders who are the true helpers of society. In my final column as ALA president, I am taking this opportunity to recognize them, as it is always right to celebrate the human spirit […]
Image: Shutterstock, ArtHead. The U.S. government today imposed economic sanctions on Funnull Technology Inc., a Philippines-based company that provides computer infrastructure for hundreds of thousands of websites involved in virtual currency investment scams known as “pig butchering.” In January 2025, KrebsOnSecurity detailed how Funnull was being used as a content delivery network that catered to […]
Interested in learning more about what’s new in the Library of Congress’s digital collections? The Signal shares updates on new additions to our digital collections and we love showing off all the hard work of our colleagues from across the Library. Read on for a sample of what’s been added recently and some of our favorite highlights. Click here for […]
Interested in learning more about what’s new in the Library of Congress’s digital collections? The Signal shares updates on new additions to our digital collections and we love showing off all the hard work of our colleagues from across the Library. Read on for a sample of what’s been added recently and some of our favorite highlights. Click here for […]
