Industry News

ALA has recently issued a revised document, Standards for Library Services for the Incarcerated or Detained. It will help support libraries and library staff to meet the literacy, learning, and recreational needs of people held in jails, prisons, detention facilities, juvenile facilities, immigration facilities, prison work camps, and segregated units within any facility, whether public or private, military or civilian, in the United States and its territories. 

Penguin Random House’s Banned Wagon will hit the road for the second year in a row to connect with communities impacted by censorship during Banned Books Week.

This Prison Banned Books Week, we’re calling for public library catalogs to be made available on prison tablets.

As the November election approaches, public and academic libraries step up efforts to ensure voters have what they need before they go to the polls.

Over 60 percent of libraries are currently evaluating or planning for artificial intelligence (AI) implementation, according to a global survey of more than 1,500 librarians by Clarivate, the parent company of ProQuest, Ex Libris, Web of Science, and more. According to Clarivate’s first “Pulse of the Library” report, which combines feedback from the global survey and qualitative interviews of librarians working at academic, public, and national libraries, “the potential rise of AI adoption in the coming year is high."

On September 4, the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a March 2023 ruling that the Internet Archive’s (IA) program of scanning print books and distributing digital copies on a one print-book, one-ebook, one-user basis for free is not protected by fair use doctrine. The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed by Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House in June 2020.

I realize that genealogical research has long been associated with the retiree demographic, something one’s grandparents might do in their free time, and not what today’s students would gravitate toward on their own initiative. But that is where the wonder of the required assignment comes in, and where budding amateur genealogists are made. As the great American novelist William Faulkner once said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” And that’s what I try to instill in the students I teach about the wonders and magic of genealogical research.

Perhaps one of the truest versions of life in America’s small and rural communities can found each day in their public libraries, where residents connect.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Public Library (CPL) on August 15 announced the launch of “Chicago Book-Wrapped,” a new popup initiative offering instant access to a curated collection of ebooks and e-audiobooks with no hold times or library card requirements during special events in Chicago. The initial collection was curated to celebrate the Democratic National Convention.