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In her memoir My Beloved World (Knopf, 2013), US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (right) paints a vivid picture of her Bronx childhood—a challenging but meaningful time that saw her diagnosis with type 1 diabetes, the death of her father, her delight in discovering the Encyclopedia Britannica, and her eagerness to earn gold stars for good schoolwork. American Libraries spoke with Justice Sotomayor while she traveled to an appearance at Chicago Public Library....
American Libraries feature, Oct. 16 |
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Alyssa Diekman writes: “One of the best things a prospective LIS student can do is take advantage of all of the opportunities offered through professional organizations. The Student Chapters of ALA offered at LIS schools across the country are an excellent way for students to jump-start their careers while building new relationships and getting hands-on experience. This opportunity offers a wide range of possibilities for all students looking to strengthen their library and information skills.”...
ALA Chapter Relations Office |
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The Santa Barbara (Calif.) Public Library and four local bars have teamed up to create ghoulish drinks for Santa Barbara Reads in honor of the bicentennial of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In the 17 years of running the program, this is the first time the library has asked bars to create special concoctions. Each bar was given the task to create its own Frankenstein-themed cocktail. Alcazar Tapas Bar created the “Modern Prometheus,” while Viva created “The Frankenstein,” a mix of Midori, vodka, and lemon....
KEYT-TV, Santa Barbara, Calif., Oct. 14 |
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For most readers and writers—and book lovers in general—the library holds a special place of honor and respect. The New York Times asked 12 authors to describe their local public libraries or share a memory of a library from their past. Here is what Barbara Kingsolver, Curtis Sittenfeld, Neil Gaiman, Amy Tan, Kiese Laymon, Diana Abu-Jaber, Chris Bohjalian, Annie Proulx, Julia Alvarez, Ramona Ausubel, Charles Frazier, and Jerry Pinkney have to say about their libraries....
New York Times, Oct. 15 |
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Bill Gates once was on his way to becoming a new Carnegie for libraries, but his foundation has been winding down his Global Libraries initiative. How can libraries find other receptive billionaires? A good strategy would be a well-structured national library endowment with a tight focus on the needs of the poorest communities, as well as on the encouragement of innovation benefiting all kinds of libraries. Download a LibraryEndowment.org presentation (PDF) to the National Information Standards Organization on the need for such an endowment and how to make it a reality....
TeleRead, Oct. 16 |
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Lyz Lenz writes: “According to US News and World Report, Iowa is the most connected state in the nation, which presumably means it has a high percentage of households with access to high-speed internet. But the data used for that analysis is deeply flawed. It is easy to find yourself completely unconnected from the wires and signals that pull us all together through our computers and mobile devices. Despite bipartisan support on the issue, the crisis of America’s digital divide has failed to become a headline grabber.”...
Columbia Journalism Review, Oct. 15; US News and World Report |
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Roger C. Schonfeld writes: “The scholarly publishing sector has struggled to address the problems that users face in their discovery-to-access workflow and thereby stave off skyrocketing piracy. The top-line impact of these struggles is becoming clearer, starting with Elsevier’s absence from Germany. This makes the efforts to establish seamless single-platform access to all scholarly publications—equal in extent as Sci-Hub but legitimate—all the more urgent. The technical solutions are challenging.”...
The Scholarly Kitchen, Apr. 24, May 3, Oct. 15 |
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During the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections, many college students are just as apt to get their news by talking to friends and professors as from social media, challenging conventional wisdom claiming 20-somethings are distracted and disinterested in staying current. That is just one of the findings of a new research study into the news consumption habits of the nation’s youngest voters, who are coming of age at a time of fake news, polarization, and an ever-increasing number of information sources. The yearlong study was commissioned by ACRL and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation....
Project Information Literacy, Oct. 16; Inside Higher Ed: Library Babel Fish, Oct. 15 |
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The HathiTrust Digital Map is an interactive map that allows you to browse and explore the 14 million volumes in the HathiTrust repository of digitized texts. The map not only provides a visual interface with which you can navigate the books in the HathiTrust digital library, it also includes a fascinating discussion about how the texts are organized on the map—a discussion that explores how organizing digital texts may require a whole new system of library classification....
Maps Mania, Oct. 12 |
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Maureen Schlosser writes: “Why is mindfulness worth exploring with learners? Mindfulness is a practice in breathing, relaxing, and appreciating the present moment. Our minds stop racing. We become centered and focused. This relaxed state prepares us to contribute to learning in a meaningful way and meet the AASL Standards. Here are seven resources to help you teach your learning community about mindfulness.”...
Knowledge Quest blog, Oct. 12 |
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Jen Sherman writes: “I moved to America from Australia almost three years ago. I knew that there are children’s authors and publishers from countries all around the globe, and that some of the Australian authors I knew and loved as a child probably weren’t as big here. But I didn’t realize that many British authors didn’t make it either. The reverse is also true: There are many American classics that I had never heard of until I had a baby. Here are some classic children’s titles from all three countries.”...
Book Riot, Oct. 15 |
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Rob Marvin writes: “Video streaming services are taking over the entertainment world, and the high bandwidth that comes with them is eating up an increasingly massive chunk of internet traffic around the world. According to Sandvine’s 1H2018 Global Internet Phenomena Report, Netflix is now responsible for 15% of worldwide downstream traffic by megabytes, followed by YouTube at 11.4%. Together, the two streaming video platforms make up over a quarter of global internet traffic.”...
PC Magazine, Sept. 19, Oct. 15 |
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