News

On October 3, the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) announced the six North American public libraries named as Top Innovators for 2024 as part of its annual Innovations Initiative. 

In an effort to minimize student boredom while learning library information, Jacksonville State University (JSU) librarians implemented gamification―introducing game mechanics into non-game environments―which studies have shown can increase engagement and motivation, and in turn, improve learning across age groups and settings. JSU librarians Karlie Loren Johnson and Kimberly Westbrooks analyzed their results in “Quelling the Boredom with Alternative Instruction: Augmented Reality, Escape Kits, and Scavenger Hunts.” 

Academic librarians are helping both students and instructors navigate the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence.

The Collaborative Institute for Rural Communities Librarianship (CIRCL), Gigabit Libraries Network, and 14 state libraries announce the launch of the State Libraries and AI Technologies (SLAAIT) Working Group, 

Often, medieval book bindings—as many as one in five from the 15th and 16th centuries—are reinforced with fragments of pages from older printed volumes that bookbinders considered obsolete. Without the option of dismantling precious books to reveal the fragments, specialists turn to x-ray technology to reveal words that have been hidden from view for hundreds of years. A team at the University of Iowa recently used familiar medical technology—a computerized tomography (CT) scanner—to do just that.

Design Institute Durham, held at the Durham County Library, NC, highlighted the need for ongoing communication among designers, architects, and libraries during all phases of a project.

At LJ’s 2023 Design Institute in Durham, NC, held at the Durham County Library on June 1, four libraries in Michigan, Alabama, and North Carolina enlisted architects and attendees to brainstorm on upcoming library design challenges.

Terrors abound in the library. Martian robots, Cerberus, and a Kraken are only a few of the miseries that have to be conquered. A team of collaborators must work strategically together to not only squelch those baddies, but contain them in their proper space—the book they came in. Sounds plausible, but this is not a worst-case book challenge scenario. Rather, it’s a short description of the new offering from Dissent Campaigns & Games called Library Labyrinth.

The Westport Public Library (WPL), CT, recently released Verso Records: Volume One, a 12-song vinyl album—hailed as the first vinyl record entirely recorded, produced, and released by a public library—recorded and produced within the library’s walls. An entirely nonprofit project, all proceeds from sales of the album (available on vinyl or digitally) go to Verso Studios, a state-of-the-art media production hub and venue housed in the library, and to WPL.