Libraries exist to serve their communities. Said communities should include those who are traditionally looked at and treated as outsiders; people who are incarcerated. The time inmates spend in jail is not a pleasant one for many reasons, the lack of access to information and education being one of them. But that is something that […]
Every year, voters from small towns and big cities alike decide on ballot measures that affect libraries. This year is no different—and as in past years, American Libraries and the Public Library Association have partnered to look at some of the wins and losses across the country. While libraries notched many victories in 2022, some […]
This past weekend, we had the amazing chance to see the New York City Center production of Parade. I knew the plot of the show, but had never heard the music prior to going in Saturday evening and finding our seats. We knew we were in for something special…this was a fundraiser, the show is […]
Let’s face it: Having “2022 election” in the headline above is probably the only reason anyone might read this story today. Still, while most of us here in the United States are anxiously awaiting the results of how well we’ve patched our Democracy, it seems fitting that Microsoft Corp. today released gobs of security patches […]
Responding to a recent surge in AI-generated bot accounts, LinkedIn is rolling out new features that it hopes will help users make more informed decisions about with whom they choose to connect. Many LinkedIn profiles now display a creation date, and the company is expanding its domain validation offering, which allows users to publicly confirm […]
Even more on artificial intelligence. I’m going to create a new category for this blog! I just finished reading An AI toolkit for libraries, by Michael Upshall, in UKSG Insights. I found it to provide a really good background on what artificial intelligence is, and isn’t, including some examples of some basic narrow AI currently […]
I’ve been poking a bit at the multitude of AI image-generation tools, and just ran across this tool that allows one to do a little exploring of the algorithmic bias that’s pretty much baked-in, but otherwise not really visible. I learned about it via this article in Vice, and thanks to @ResearchBuzz. Here’s what I […]
A 25-year-old Finnish man has been charged with extorting a once popular and now-bankrupt online psychotherapy company and its patients. Finnish authorities rarely name suspects in an investigation, but they were willing to make an exception for Julius “Zeekill” Kivimaki, a notorious hacker who — at the tender age of 17 — had been convicted […]
Social media is everywhere. In the “Western world” it would be difficult to find someone who does not have a social media account on at least one platform, let alone someone who is not aware of the existence of social media. As such, regardless of who your services are aimed at, you will most likely […]
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will soon update the data management and sharing requirements associated with grant-funded research. On January 25, 2023, a new NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy will go into effect, replacing the current policy that has been in place since 2003. The new policy expands the NIH’s commitment to make […]
Illustration: Chelsea Feng High-profile book banning and boycott stories have included everything from Susan Meyers and Marla Frazee’s Everywhere Babies to Pizza Hut’s Book It! program, which some attacked in June for featuring LGBTQ books in celebration of Pride Month. These stories, especially when shared on social media, have accelerated the culture wars and negatively […]
Illustration: Chelsea Feng As libraries, schools, and universities continue to confront unprecedented attacks on the freedom to read, the Public Library Association (PLA) invited library colleagues to participate in “Facing the Challenge,” a virtual town hall held March 4. As those who have endured book-banning attempts and related legislative efforts know, the experience is often […]
Ihor Poshyvailo, founder of Maidan Museum in Kyiv, holds the ceramic cockerel that has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Photo: Bohdan Poshyvailo/Maidan Museum Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has dominated headlines since February, and the conflict has affected people globally—including American librarians. While it’s easy to feel helpless when war breaks out in another country, […]
Photos: ©Adobe Stock Language in the media—whether through visuals, audio, or traditional text—has the power to influence our beliefs about people, groups, and even how we see ourselves. When it comes to media, white men have historically and predominantly been the creators of the language that we have consumed for many years. This has created […]
Bedford (Tex.) Public Library hosted a Halloween-themed goat yoga program during fall 2021, in which goats were dressed in silly costumes. Photo: Mary Woodward/Bedford (Tex.) Public Library It’s not every day that patrons dodge prancing barnyard goats while navigating instructor-led yoga sessions, but goat yoga (exactly what it sounds like—yoga in the company of goats) […]
Kelsey Bogan, library media specialist at Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, uses her school library ’s TikTok account to create videos of book reviews, tutorials, and more. Ring lights, check. Tripod, check. Phone camera, check. Ideas for what trend to hop on, check. Librarians are making the most of the video-sharing social media […]
In March, Hickory (N.C.) Public Library held its Sheep to Sweater program series, designed to take patrons through five different stages in the wool and clothing production process. Photos: Hickory (N.C.) Public Library Hickory (N.C.) Public Library (HPL) Community Engagement Librarian Dacy Shute was looking to host a program that would celebrate the city’s agricultural […]
Photo: Allison Shelley/NPR In 1971, reporter Nina Totenberg called then–law professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg for help making sense of a legal brief. That conversation launched a decades-spanning friendship and Totenberg’s career. The journalist joined NPR in 1975 and currently serves as the non-profit media organization’s legal correspondent; Justice Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court […]
A 26-year-old Ukrainian man is awaiting extradition from The Netherlands to the United States on charges that he acted as a core developer for Raccoon, a popular “malware-as-a-service” offering that helped paying customers steal passwords and financial data from millions of cybercrime victims. KrebsOnSecurity has learned that the defendant was busted in March 2022, after […]
On October 10, 2022, there were 576,562 LinkedIn accounts that listed their current employer as Apple Inc. The next day, half of those profiles no longer existed. A similarly dramatic drop in the number of LinkedIn profiles claiming employment at Amazon comes as LinkedIn is struggling to combat a significant uptick in the creation of […]
