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Emily Wagner writes: “A five-person panel of Ohio community leaders explored employment issues August 9 during ‘Libraries Educate Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow’s Careers,’ an event organized by four Ohio library partners and the American Library Association. The discussion—which focused on libraries as an essential component in creating, sustaining, and retaining a viable workforce—brought together leaders from all levels of government and community nonprofits.”...
AL: The Scoop, Aug. 14 |
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Broward County (Fla.) Library System has stopped the use of its 3D printers over fears they could be used to print guns or other weapons. The decision was made August 13, a week after a man was shot outside its downtown Fort Lauderdale branch August 7. Broward County is also home to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 people in February. ALA recently released resources for libraries to draft policies on 3D printer use and weapons....
AP, Aug. 13; AL: The Scoop, Aug. 9; Miami Herald, Aug. 7 |
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Jon Brodkin writes: “A US appeals court has blocked the Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to take a broadband subsidy away from Tribal areas. The FCC decision, originally slated to take effect later this year, would have made it difficult or impossible for Tribal residents to obtain a $25-per-month Lifeline subsidy that reduces the cost of internet or phone service for poor people. But on August 10, a court stayed the FCC decision pending appeal, saying that Tribal organizations and small wireless carriers are likely to win their case against the commission.”...
Ars Technica, Aug. 13, July 6 |
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Equality Utah met with Washington County (Utah) Library officials August 9 for a round table discussion at the St. George branch. Library Director Joel Tucker confirmed that LGBTQ displays have been banned at all of Washington County’s libraries. The controversy began when Ammon Treasure, a clerk at the Hurricane branch, alerted human resources when he was asked to take off an LGBTQ Reads button. Tucker says he received complaints about the button and LGBTQ book displays during Pride Month....
KTVX-4, Salt Lake City, Aug. 10, July 31 |
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Ashley A. Smith writes: “A report released August 13 by Ithaka S+R examines what community college students say are their goals and challenges when navigating their institutions and how campus libraries may help them with their needs. The report, Amplifying Student Voices: The Community College Libraries and Academic Support for Student Success Project, found that two-year students see their institutions as accessible and affordable, but they face challenges when balancing work, finances, their classes, transportation to and from campus, and navigating the resources colleges offer.”...
Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 13 |
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Jason B. Jones writes: “Digital projects often bring together many different members of an institution, or several institutions, and those members often have very different statuses: students (undergraduate or graduate), workers in precarious positions, those with permanent positions, etc. Understanding and properly valuing all of this work, and the disparate effects such work has on the different people who perform it, is an ongoing challenge. To help people begin to approach this problem, the Digital Library Federation’s Working Group on Labor in Digital Libraries has produced an invaluable Research Agenda: Valuing Labor in Digital Libraries.”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 13 |
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Maureen Schlosser writes: “I often wonder how young learners synthesize current events. What is their background information about immigration? How do they feel about children who immigrate to America? Learners may want help sifting through the news and their feelings. Below is a list of picture books to cultivate empathy for immigrants.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, Aug. 14 |
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Daniel Funke writes: “It’s a critique that PolitiFact has long been accustomed to hearing. ‘PolitiFact is engaging in a great deal of selection bias,’ The Weekly Standard wrote in 2011. ‘Fact Checkers Overwhelmingly Target Right-Wing Pols and Pundits’ reads an April 2017 headline from NewsBusters, a site whose goal is to expose and combat ‘liberal media bias.’ There’s even an entire blog dedicated to showing the ways in which PolitiFact is biased.”...
Poynter, Aug. 10; Weekly Standard, Dec. 19, 2011; NewsBusters, Apr. 14, 2017; PolitiFact Bias |
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Erin Winick writes: “You might think you have turned off the search giant’s ability to learn your location, but there’s a good chance the company still knows where you are. An Associated Press report out August 13 revealed that Google applications can still collect location data even when you have the ‘location history’ feature turned off. If you want to rescind Google’s permission to monitor your phone’s location in any circumstances, you will need to turn off both ‘location history’ and ‘web and app activity.’ To do this, you can follow these steps.”...
MIT Technology Review, Aug. 13; AP, Aug. 13 |
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After last week’s news that a knot of four snakes was found in D.C. Public Library’s Georgetown branch, causing the building to be closed for two days to remove them, Erin Bartnett began investigating other nonhuman library lovers. She reports on the furred and feathered friends—from cats to bats to lemurs—that have found their way into libraries in recent years, some welcome and some decidedly not....
Electric Lit, Aug. 14; Washington Post, Aug. 7; Duke Today, June 7, 2010 |
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