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On April 9, ALA released
The State of America’s Libraries
report for 2018, an annual summary of library trends released during National Library Week, April 8–14, that
outlines statistics and issues affecting all types of libraries. The report found
that libraries continue to face challenges that carry with them the potential
for censorship to a variety of books, programs, and materials. Overall in 2017,
416 books were targeted. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom has produced
a list of “Top Ten Most Challenged Books” in 2017....
AL: The Scoop, Apr. 9 |
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Alison Marcotte writes: “Every year since 2004, ALA
has celebrated librarians, support staff, and others for their valuable contributions
on National Library Workers Day, which this year falls on April
10. The ALA–Allied Professional Association asked patrons throughout the
US to nominate stellar library workers for their hard work, dedication, and expertise.
Here are some of the many nominations honoring library workers in the Galaxy of Stars on ALA’s NLWD website.”...
American Libraries feature, Apr. 10 |
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Tax season is here, and money, investing, and financial matters
are on everyone’s mind. For some, making sense of it all can be intimidating
and scary. Episode 24 of Dewey Decibel features
interviews with two librarians who developed successful financial literacy programs
to help their communities overcome money fears: Lori Burgess, director of operations
at Fond du Lac (Wis.) Public Library, and Heather McCue, children’s librarian
at Richland Public Library in Columbia, South Carolina....
AL: The Scoop, Apr. 9 |
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The University of Texas
at Austin will not move tens of thousands more items out of its Fine Arts Library
to repurpose the 5th-floor stack space, it announced April 9. Doug Dempster, dean of fine
arts, proposed the relocation of the library’s remaining books, music, and
other items last semester, saying that circulation was down and the space might
be put to better use. But many faculty members opposed the idea, saying that
it was unconscionable to further dismantle a regionally noted collection....
Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 28, Apr. 9; University of Texas Libraries, Apr. 6 |
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The role of so-called
social media bots—automated accounts capable of posting content or interacting
with other users with no direct human involvement—has been the subject of
much scrutiny and attention in recent years. Pew Research Center set out to better
understand how many of the links shared on Twitter are being promoted by bots
rather than humans. A key finding: Of all tweeted links to popular websites, 66%
are shared by accounts with characteristics common to automated bots, rather than human users....
Pew Research Center, Apr. 9 |
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Are you one of the 87 million people affected by the Cambridge Analytica data leak? Starting April
9, Facebook is adding a note at the top of news feeds that will let you know if
your information was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. Facebook will
show you one of two messages: If your data was included in the leak, you will
see the message on the right; if not, you’ll see the one on the left. (Some
users may have to visit the Help Center page to find out.)...
PC Magazine, Mar. 21, Apr. 4, 9 |
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James
Somers writes: “The more sophisticated science becomes, the harder it is
to communicate results. Scientific papers are longer than ever and full of jargon
and symbols. Scientific results today are as often as not found with the help
of computers. That’s because the ideas are complex, dynamic, hard to grab
ahold of in your mind’s eye. And yet by far the most popular tool we have
for communicating these results is the PDF—literally a simulation of a piece
of paper. Maybe we can do better.”...
The Atlantic, Apr. 5 |
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The Association of University
Presses on April 10 issued a statement of guiding principles addressing
attempted censorship in a global network of scholarly communications. The board
of directors approved the statement to affirm “the fundamental importance
of the integrity of the scholarship entrusted to us and the essential role of
university presses in supporting the values which safeguard that integrity.”
It added, “All attempts to censor the scholarly record must be met with the deepest concern.”...
Association of University Presses, Apr. 10 |
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The National Endowment
for the Humanities on April 9 announced $18.6 million in grants for 199 humanities projects across the US. These
grants will provide digital access to the personal papers of Helen Keller and
enable the creation of a new permanent exhibition at the Delta Blues Museum on
the history and influence of this quintessential American musical genre. Other
grants will support the digitization of artifacts excavated at Plimoth Plantation
and making the Thomas Edison phonograph recordings available online through LC’s National Jukebox archive....
National Endowment for the Humanities, Apr. 9 |
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Brodie Waddell writes:
“Palaeography—the art of reading old handwriting—is a specialized
skill that will not be any use to 99.9% of the population. However, if you want
to explore original sources produced before 1750 for a dissertation, genealogy,
or local history, it could be essential. The problem is that the script shown
here was a perfectly normal way to write in the 17th century. A huge number of
helpful resources are available, many of them free and online. Here are some of the best.”...
The Many-Headed Monster, Mar. 1
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In celebration of the
100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, the Library of Congress
has made available online—for the first time—musical manuscripts and
scrapbooks from the legendary composer’s personal and professional archives
housed in the nation’s library. These digital offerings and others nearly tripled
the existing content. The public can now access for free more than 3,700 items,
including photos, writings, correspondence, scripts, musical sketches, scrapbooks, and audio recordings....
Library of Congress, Apr. 10 |
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Kansas City–area
children’s musician Jim Cosgrove (author of Everybody Gets Stinky Feet)
has produced a YouTube video (2:37) called “Rockin’ the Library”
in honor of National Library Week. The video was done in cooperation with the
Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Missouri, and directed and edited
by Eric Smith at Majestic Rhinos LLC. Cosgrove urges librarians to use it however
they see fit to promote reading and summer reading programs....
mrstinkyfeet YouTube channel, Apr. 8 |
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