Stony Brook University: Stony Brook University Libraries Is Now A Member Of Hathitrust Digital Library!. “Stony Brook University Libraries is pleased to announce that we are a HathiTrust member library. We are now part of a group of 200+ libraries and institutions that comprise the HathiTrust community! HathiTrust provides access to more than 18 million digital items.”
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Study shows challenges to protecting privacy of library users. “Librarians have historically taken a strong stand on protecting the privacy of their patrons. But how well they accomplish this varies widely with the size of a library, and technology has made it more difficult, according to the first study of privacy practices and challenges in public libraries.”
Bloomberg: British Library Says Ransomware Attack Behind Weeks-Long Outage. “The British Library said a ransomware attack by a criminal group is the cause of a technology outage which has disabled its website and other computer systems for weeks.”
Library of Congress: Introducing the LC Labs Artificial Intelligence Planning Framework. “LC Labs has been developing a planning framework to support the responsible exploration and potential adoption of AI at the Library. At a high level, the framework includes three planning phases: 1) Understand 2) Experiment and 3) Implement, each supports the evaluation of three elements of ML: 1) Data; 2) Models; and 3) People. We’ve developed a set of worksheets, questionnaires, and workshops to engage stakeholders and staff and identify priorities for future AI enhancements and services. The mechanisms, tools, collaborations, and artifacts together form the AI Planning Framework.”
University of Missouri: No Bones About It: An exhibit of spooky skeletons. “You’ll get a chance to look at works like Andreas Vesalius’s De humani corporis fabrica libri septim (Of the construction of the human body in seven books), where you’ll be able to see how the human body works as Vesalius takes you through the bones of the human body in great detail, and Philip-Étienne Lafosse’s Cours d’hippiatrique (Lesson in hippiatry) which displays the anatomy of horses in great detail. Our dances of the dead from the 15th century onwards show skeletons imitating living people (or should we say, living people imitating skeletons?).”
American Library Association: New ALA report: Gen Z & Millennials are visiting the library & prefer print books. “Gen Z and Millennials are using public libraries, both in person and digitally, at higher rates compared to older generations, according to a new report released today by the American Library Association (ALA). Gen Z and Millennials: How They Use Public Libraries and Identify Through Media Use draws on a nationally representative survey to reveal the attitudes and behaviors young Americans have regarding library use and media consumption.”
CBC News: Toronto Public Library dealing with cybersecurity ‘incident’ impacting some services. “The Toronto Public Library’s website, map passes and digital collections cannot be accessed, the library said in a statement that appears when users try to access the website. It said public computers and printing services at branches are also unavailable.”
American Libraries: Programming with Digital Collections. “A new LibGuide from the American Library Association (ALA) was recently created to help libraries explore the thousands of primary sources available from the Library of Congress online collection.”
Book Riot: All The Public Libraries Offering Free Access To Banned Books: A Comprehensive Guide. “This list is as comprehensive a roundup as possible of all the U.S. public libraries offering access to banned books. It includes the name of the library, the people who are being granted access to the collections, materials within the collections, as well as any other pertinent or relevant information.”
Penn State: Libraries to host virtual, local World Digital Preservation Day events on Nov. 2. “World Digital Preservation Day, held annually on the first Thursday of November, celebrates best practices in archiving and storing digitized and born-digital content. Penn State University Libraries is hosting several virtual and University Park in-person events Thursday, Nov. 2.”
British Library Medieval Manuscripts Blog: Cataloguing the Cotton charters. “A new project is underway to examine one of the British Library’s oldest and most important collections. The Cotton charters and rolls are being catalogued as part of the Library’s Hidden Collections initiative. Begun by the antiquarian and politician Sir Robert Cotton (1571–1631), and augmented by his son and grandson, the Cotton collection was the first library to be presented to the nation, in 1702, and it has been part of the British Library and its predecessor, the British Museum Library, since the latter’s foundation in 1753.”
Brooklyn Reader: Brooklyn Public Library Announces Expansion of Books Unbanned Program. “The library recently debuted a new podcast series titled ‘Borrowed and Banned.’ Created by award-winning producer Virginia Marshall, the seven-episode series investigates the alarming rise in book bans over the years. The podcast will feature conversations with authors that have been impacted by book bans, including Maia Kobabe, George M. Johnson, and Mike Curato, to name a few. BPL has also launched a new page on its website that gives teens the opportunity to submit their past experiences with censorship, including the potential dangers they face as they seek the freedom to read, according to the library.”
State Library of Iowa: New “Find My Local Library” Interactive Map Tool from the State Library. “The ‘Find My Local Library’ tool displays an interactive and informational map of all the public libraries in the state. Users can filter data by county, population size, and library district. When a location is clicked, a pop up appears with library information, including address and phone number as well as links to the library website and detail page in the Iowa Library Directory.”
CBS News: Boston Public Library opens e-book access to teens across US. “Ahead of Banned Books Week (Oct. 1-7), the Boston Public Library is joining the Book Unbanned initiative…. Anyone ages 13-26 who lives in the U.S. can sign up for a free e-card to access the library’s entire collection of e-books and e-audiobooks.”
British Library Digital Scholarship Blog: Open and Engaged 2023: Community over Commercialisation. “The British Library is delighted to host its annual Open and Engaged Conference on Monday 30 October, in-person and online, as part of International Open Access Week. In line with this year’s #OAWeek theme: Open and Engaged 2023: Community over Commercialisation will address approaches and practices to open scholarship that prioritise the best interests of the public and the research community.”
