Route Fifty: How Libraries are Embracing Artificial Intelligence. “In Roanoke County, Virginia, a trip to the public library might include reading, online research, 3D printing—and, since last summer, the opportunity to chat with Pepper, a 4-foot-tall humanoid robot who sings, dances and teaches coding classes.”
libraries
Ars Technica: Verizon demands $880 from rural library for just 0.44GB of roaming data
Ars Technica: Verizon demands $880 from rural library for just 0.44GB of roaming data. “A small library that lends out mobile hotspots is facing a tough budget decision because one of its borrowers accidentally ran up $880 in roaming fees, and Verizon refuses to waive or reduce the charges. The library has an ‘unlimited’ data plan for the hotspots, but Verizon says it has to pay the $880 to cover less than half a gigabyte of data usage that happened across the border with Canada.”
Jisc: Jisc announces three new library services
Jisc: Jisc announces three new library services. “The library hub discover service, which is open to all, is designed to make academic library collections visible through web searches, which means they’re available to a wider audience. The service will feature more than 100 library catalogues at launch but will keep growing over time. Based on data held by the national bibliographic knowledgebase (NBK), it is the most comprehensive aggregation of UK academic, national, and specialist library metadata available and replaces the selective coverage of Jisc’s Copac and SUNCAT services, which are being retired at the same time as the new library hub services are launched.”
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Help Needed on List of Lists: An Index of Diversity Book Lists for Adults Project
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Help Needed on List of Lists: An Index of Diversity Book Lists for Adults Project. “Rachel Ivy Clarke, Assistant Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies and Sayward Schoonmaker, MLIS, Syracuse University are asking public libraries across the United States to contribute to their indexing project, List of Lists: An Index of Diversity Book Lists for Adults. You can contribute your library’s diversity books lists, LibGuides or similar resources publicly available online between 2016 and present using their Google form link. They would like responses by September 1, 2019.”
YaleNews: Yale ISPS receives grant funding for Data CuRe project
YaleNews: Yale ISPS receives grant funding for Data CuRe project. “Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) has received a grant from The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, part of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), to support the sharing and development of reproducible research practices.”
StateTech Magazine: Tips for Launching a Public Library Virtual Reality Program
StateTech Magazine: Tips for Launching a Public Library Virtual Reality Program. “As library tech evolves, many public libraries are embracing VR to enhance their missions of educating the public and enhancing access to technology. Some are in more advanced stages of deploying VR technology and hardware than others, but librarians see great potential in VR. The tech can be used to enhance storytelling and educational programs via immersive graphics, and it also serves as a way to draw in residents who may have thought of public libraries as passé in the information age.”
Information Today: Creating a Playbook to Combat Fake News
Information Today: Creating a Playbook to Combat Fake News . “Regardless of definition (and the definition of ‘fake news’ remains constantly in flux and subject to interpretation), it is not an overreach to suggest that fake news is a complete insult to what librarians and information professionals hold dear and sacrosanct. Our reputation relies on our being curators, purveyors, and stewards of reputable news and information. We pride ourselves as upholding the gold standards for veracity and truth. However, in the current climate, when even those of us in the information business are finding it harder and harder to separate the real from the fake, we must remain constantly vigilant, continuously upgrading our information evaluation skills. We also need updated tools and resources to further our education in source evaluation.”
