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James G. (Jim) Neal, university librarian emeritus at Columbia University, New York, has been elected president-elect of the American Library Association. Neal received 3,479 votes, while his opponents Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Christine Lind Hage received 3,317 and 3,248 votes respectively. Susan H. Hildreth, executive director of the Califa Group, Pacific Library Partnership, Peninsula Library System, and administrator of the NorthNet Library System in San Mateo, California, has been elected treasurer with 9,228 votes....
AL: The Scoop, Apr. 29; Office of ALA Governance, Apr. 29 |
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ALA President Sari Feldman applauded the passage on April 27 of the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 699) by the US House of Representatives by an overwhelming majority. The bill, if approved by the Senate, is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama and would modernize the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act (ECPA), closing a loophole that allowed emails and other communications to be obtained without a warrant....
Office of Government Relations, Apr. 27; Electronic Frontier Foundation, Apr. 27; TechCrunch, Apr. 28 |
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The University of Notre Dame and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, or Vatican Library, will formalize a unique agreement of collaboration and exchange in a ceremony on May 9. The only such collaboration between the Vatican Library and any North American academic institution, the agreement will develop visits and exchanges of faculty, scholars, librarians, and administrators; organize joint conferences, lecture series, art exhibitions, and performances; and explore the development of joint programs of research....
Notre Dame News, Apr. 28 |
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Fifty-four of Newfoundland and Labrador’s 95 libraries will close within two years as the province moves toward a regional library system, and more than 60 jobs are expected to disappear with them. While the provincial government and the library board are stressing the benefits of a new system—such as investment in capital improvements and a larger share of the materials budget per facility—they are facing a loud backlash from the public and the provincial library association....
St. John’s (Newf.) Telegram, Apr. 27; CBC News, Apr. 28; Newfoundland and Labrador Library Association, Apr. 27 |
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John Jackson writes: “Since I began managing Instagram accounts for academic libraries three years ago, I’ve discovered there are two types of posts that attract the most engagement from students: idyllic photos of the library and pictures of other students. This year the William H. Hannon Library at Loyola Marymount University invited student employees to ‘take over’ the library’s Instagram account for a day and use the platform to tell followers about their work and what they find useful about the library.”...
Programming Librarian, Apr. 28
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Michelle Green writes: “University libraries in any part of the world can often be thought of as stuffy, boring, or quiet. But Seikei University in Tokyo is changing that image. For its centennial celebration in 2006, the university built a brand-new library. What catches the eye are the five student meeting rooms. Each called ‘Planet,’ they hover high above the users’ heads on thick white pillars, covered in glass domes. Students can reach these study rooms via a series of walkways.”...
Public Libraries Online, Apr. 28 |
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Barbara Fister writes: “There’s a new report out from ACRL summarizing the findings of the second year of a project called Assessment in Action, an ambitious attempt involving over 200 institutions to see how libraries contribute to student learning and how we can measure that contribution. The librarians involved in this massive project offer a trove of ideas about how we can assess a library’s contributions to learning, and it’s all available online, including survey instruments, rubrics, and more.”...
Inside Higher Ed: Library Babel Fish, Apr. 28 |
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Isabel Dunn writes: “Working under a microscope with a tiny brush, paper conservator Jane Boyd applies a solvent and adhesive to the fragile areas of a Miguel Covarrubias painting. The solvent carries the adhesive under the paint layer, which consolidates the paint layer to help prevent further chipping. Boyd becomes closely engaged with her work when she reflects on the significance of the pieces in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, which recently acquired a set of original courtroom drawings for the Washington Post.”...
Cultural Compass, Apr. 27 |
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John Bohannon writes: “In increasing numbers, researchers around the world are turning to Sci-Hub, which hosts 50 million papers and counting. Over the 6 months leading up to March, Sci-Hub served up 28 million documents. More than 2.6 million download requests came from Iran, 3.4 million from India, and 4.4 million from China. The papers cover every scientific topic, and the publisher with the most requested Sci-Hub articles? It is Elsevier by a long shot.”...
Science, Apr. 28
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Glenn Greenwald writes: “A newly published study from Oxford’s Jon Penney provides empirical evidence for a key argument long made by privacy advocates: that the mere existence of a surveillance state breeds fear and conformity and stifles free expression. Reporting on the study, the Washington Post on April 27 described this phenomenon: ‘If we think that authorities are watching our online actions, we might stop visiting certain websites or not say certain things just to avoid seeming suspicious.’”...
The Intercept, Apr. 28; Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 2016; Washington Post, Apr. 27
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Danielle Rosenthal writes: “LibGuides version 2 was released in summer 2014, and built on Bootstrap 3. However, after conducting a simple random sampling of academic libraries in the US, I found that many LibGuides did not display well on phones or mobile devices when it came to images, videos, and tables. Springshare documentation stated that LibGuides version 2 is mobile-friendly out of the box and no additional coding is necessary; however, I found this not necessarily accurate.”...
ACRL TechConnect Blog, Apr. 28
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Jenna Fratello writes: “In 1983, two Scottish fold cats in Minden, Nevada, took up a residence at the Douglas County Public Library and left their paw prints on more than just the bookshelves. Now, their story—The True Tails of Baker and Taylor by Jan Louch and Lisa Rogak—gives a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of the two small-town cats that lifted up a community. Louch credits the pair’s unique sense of humor for making them so lovable.”...
Today: Pets and Animals, Apr. 27
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