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Carrie Smith writes: “While game jams—accelerated game creation events—started as a way to develop videogames, they’re also useful for creating tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs). The best-known TTRPGs, like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and Call of Cthulhu, include rule books that can run to hundreds of pages and have steep price tags, but there are a host of smaller, independently developed games with simple and shareable systems.
Why create games instead of just playing them? Game jams open up the process of game development and make it more accessible.”...
American Libraries feature, Nov./Dec.
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Sam Helmick writes: “In libraries, as in life, we learn to listen closely for the signals that tell us about our health and direction.
In our profession, those signals often come from our chapters, like state library associations.
They are our heartbeat, our first indicators of new trends, the tightening pressure on legislative challenges, and the steady rhythm of community needs.
Library workers and members of the public rely on chapters to interpret these signals and respond effectively.”...
American Libraries column, Nov./Dec.
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Megan Bennett writes: “44,000 is the number of historic radio and TV broadcast recordings in the Miley Collection, part of Indiana University Bloomington Media School’s National Sports Journalism Center.
The collection—started by donor and sports fan John Miley when he was a teenager—dates back to the 1930s and includes decades of Super Bowl, World Series, and Kentucky Derby broadcasts, among others.” Read more statistics about library collections related to sports and athletics....
American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
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Sam Suber writes: “In the world of libraries, every dollar matters.
As budgets tighten and the demand for new services and resources increases, resource allocation increasingly becomes a complex and high-stakes puzzle. Which projects will deliver the greatest return on investment for our patrons, and how do we fund them responsibly? Much too often, these critical decisions rely on intuition or historical spending.
But what happens when you could eliminate the guesswork and use hard data to find the best combination of projects within a fixed budget?
Excel Solver is an often-overlooked tool that transforms spreadsheets into a decision-making engine.”...
Choice 360: LibTech Insights, Nov.
3
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Vikki C. Terrile writes: “When we select books for storytimes and other programs, we consider the race and ethnicity of the characters, their dis/ability, gender identities, and other factors so that our programs are representative and reflective of our diverse communities.
Something we may not consider is how housing and home is depicted in picture books.
Now more than ever, as more and more families struggle to meet their basic needs, we need to consider how we may be sending messages about what a ‘good’ home is when we select and share picture books with children and families.”...
ALSC Blog, Nov. 1
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Amanda Galliton writes: “As school librarians, we often feel pressure to integrate the latest apps, devices, or digital tools into our lessons.
Technology absolutely has a powerful place in our work, but sometimes constraints—budget, access, or bandwidth—limit what we can do.
Sometimes students simply need a break from screens.
That’s where no-tech activities come in: low-prep, student-centered, and often wildly effective.
Here are several tried-and-true activities I have used with middle schoolers that are adaptable for any grade.”...
Knowledge Quest, Oct.
31
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Mark McBride writes: “The recent
National Information Standards Organization Open Discovery Initiative Survey Report on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Web-Scale Discovery reads like a weathervane for higher education.
The question it leaves us with is both urgent and unsettling: Do academic library leaders possess a strategy for responding to artificial intelligence in the library technology and publishing ecosystem? At first glance, the data is reassuring.
Libraries and publishers identify similar hopes for generative AI: improved visibility of content, more accurate recommendations, and time saved for staff.
Yet, beneath this surface consensus, the report uncovers deep fractures.”...
The Scholarly Kitchen, Oct.
30; National Information Standards Organization, Aug.
5
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Kayli Pascal-Martinez writes: “The State of Hawaii launched the Kōkua Food Drive in response to the ongoing federal shutdown and disruptions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The weeklong food collection campaign began Monday, in partnership with the
Hawaii State Public Library System, to support food banks across the islands.
From November 3–7, residents are encouraged to bring any canned goods and other nonperishable food items to their local public library during regular business hours.”
Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Ohio) Public Library is offering free meals to kids and teens and other food resources....
KITV-TV (Honolulu), Nov. 3; Hawaii State Public Library System, Nov.
3; Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Ohio) Public Library, Oct.
30
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Athena Stavrou writes: “Home to more than 170 million items, including Magna Carta, the British Library is one of the world’s largest and most impressive book collections.
However, in October 2023,
a major cyberattack plunged it into chaos, shutting down its digital systems and resulting in the leaking of staff details onto the dark web.
Two years on, staff—who are striking due to a pay dispute—have said the disruption is still creating chaos and considerably increasing their workload.”...
The Independent (London), Nov. 1; The Guardian, Nov. 22, 2023
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Sarah Asch writes: “A new state law,
Senate Bill 13, prohibits school library materials with profane content or indecent content from campuses.
It puts the onus on school staff to make sure materials are in compliance.
For help, school staff are turning to ChatGPT.
But it’s unclear what standards ChatGPT is using to make the determination of which books would violate the law.
There have also been examples of school districts closing their libraries temporarily until staff can better assess what books they have on the shelves.”...
Texas Standard, Nov. 3
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Nikki DeMarco writes: “I spent a lot of years thinking I wasn’t a real reader. The amount of time I spent, and the way I actually read, never seemed to match what counted as ‘real.’ When I became a librarian, I started hearing the same stories echoed back from my students at my new school.
Over and over, people framed their reading life as a failure, because it didn’t look like the neat, linear version we’ve all been sold. That’s when I realized I had to spread the word: The problem isn’t with the readers. It’s with the rules.”...
Book Riot, Oct. 31
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R. L. Maizes and Ali Solomon share a series of cartoons that depict true horrors for book lovers. These hilarious but hair-raising situations include lending a book to a friend who cares for it improperly, the terrible measures you might have to take to avoid spoilers, and the horrifying combination of a toddler, a heavily sauced pasta, and a first edition....
Electric Lit, Oct. 31
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