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Larra Clark writes: “Several federal funding issues are currently under debate in Congress and could adversely affect libraries and library workers. These include a possible government shutdown if Congress doesn’t pass the fiscal year (FY) 2025 spending bill by March 14, President Trump’s proposed FY 2026 budget, and threats to broadband funding for libraries. The following is what library workers need to know—and what they can do to advocate for libraries.”...
AL: The Scoop, Feb. 26
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Rachel Newlin and Aaron Bock write: “Over the past decade, librarians and archivists have become increasingly concerned with outdated and offensive language in metadata and collections. In 2022, Schaumburg Township (Ill.) District Library adopted a harmful-content statement—also called a ‘harmful-language statement’ or a ‘statement on harmful content’—to recognize and reckon with problematic language in the library catalog. Harmful-content statements help libraries focus on describing materials in a way that is respectful and informed by their communities. The statement should be a catalyst for meaningful conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion.”...
American Libraries feature, Jan./Feb.
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Rosie Newmark writes: “It’s not every day you find a group of teens gathered around a table at a library, fashioning thin slices of salami into roses and creating charcuterie boards fit for elegant dinner parties—unless you’re at Carroll County (Md.) Public Library (CCPL). Inspired by the library’s popular how-to charcuterie events for adults, staffers Amanda Krumrine and Nancy Farace have hosted two teen snack-board classes to engage young patrons. In these classes, teens learn how to make the boards by laser-cutting wood in CCPL’s makerspace and later assembling the meats, cheeses, and other bites into appealing arrangements.”...
American Libraries Trend, Jan./Feb.
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Host an online Follett Book eFair this spring to set students up for summer reading success. Schedule your Book eFair today, and make sure the only summer slide your students experience is the one at their local playground.
Book your Spring 2025 dates today!
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Kelly Depin writes: “If you are like me, you look at award-winning children’s books and wish, ‘One day I want to be on the Newbery or Printz or (insert award name here) committee.’ In 2024, I was honored and thrilled to be placed on the 2025 Newbery Award committee. It was the most amazing and fulfilling experience of my professional career! How do you get to be on a committee like this? Book award committee work involves intense interpersonal work, and the best place to get your chops is in regular committee work.”...
ALSC Blog, Feb. 23
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Luisa Clausen writes: “For the past 11 years, Bartlesville (Okla.) has funded [citizenship classes at Bartlesville Public Library] with a $14,000 grant from the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. According to stats from the library, the program has helped 52 immigrants pass their citizenship test and supported hundreds in learning English. In January, the program’s future came into question as the city council weighed whether to renew the grant. With one councilor absent,
the grant failed in a 2–2 tie. After a public outcry, the city council decided to revisit the decision with all five members present.”...
KOSU-FM (Stillwater, Okla.), Feb. 18; City of Bartlesville, Jan. 14
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Alison Mortensen-Hayes, Donna Baluchi, and Olivia Kavapalu write: “Free menstrual products at libraries are no longer a new phenomenon. More often than not, these initiatives center around disposable period products. We argue that libraries should explore the distribution of reusable menstrual products, such as menstrual cups and discs, cloth pads, and period underwear. With $10,000 of grant funding, [the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City provided] 701 menstrual cups for low cost on campus,” potentially saving each recipient $2,395 over the product’s anticipated 10-year lifespan....
In the Library with the Lead Pipe, Feb. 19
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Joy Hollerbach writes: “Working with the public can be intense. Many of the patrons who walk through our [law library] doors are at their wits’ end—they’ve lost their case and are desperate to appeal or they are in the middle of a complex legal dispute. Often, they’re representing themselves and struggling to navigate a legal system they are not equipped to understand. The last thing they want is to hear another ‘no, we can’t help you.’ So how do we set limits without saying ‘no’ outright?”...
RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Feb. 19
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Steve Brooks writes: “A
new state law requires California’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to post the
Centralized List of Disapproved Publications [by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)]. CDCR has disapproved over 1,600 books. Books that are banned seem to be disproportionately written by Black and Latino authors and activists, according to Assembly Member Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles), who authored the bill.” The new law includes provisions for incarcerated people and others to request OIG review of disapproved books....
Bay City News Service (San Francisco), Feb. 15
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Nathalie op de Beeck writes: “Global information services provider Clarivate, which owns data and analytics resource ProQuest as well as other library and education brands including Ex Libris and the Web of Science, announced on February 18 that it would pursue a ‘subscription-based access strategy for academia.’ The approach, the company said in a press release, would ‘phase out one-time perpetual purchases of digital collections, print, and digital books for libraries’ in 2025. EBSCO Information Services, a provider of research databases and library technologies,
responded by assuring customers that it will continue its perpetual access policy.”...
Publishers Weekly, Feb. 24; Clarivate, Feb. 18; EBSCO Information Services, Feb. 18
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Eduard Kuric writes: “Unmoderated usability testing has been steadily growing more popular with the assistance of online user experience research tools. But the lack of adaptive questioning means that a lot of the information will remain unsaid, especially with regular people who are not trained in providing user feedback. Generative artificial intelligence could present a new, potentially powerful tool for addressing this dilemma.” The article presents the
results of a case study using a GPT-4 bot as a website usability test moderator....
Smashing Magazine, Feb. 19; International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Nov. 21, 2024
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