Related

The press freedom nongovernmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF, after its French title, Reporters Sans Frontières) has created a way for readers everywhere to access and read documents that have been banned or censored in the countries where they were published—through The Uncensored Library, a collection of articles and books housed in the virtual world of Minecraft.

Georgia’s Clayton County Library System has launched a new job training program that enables patrons to use virtual reality (VR) headsets to simulate hands-on experiences in various trades including plumbing, commercial and residential HVAC, and even solar panel installation.

Most public libraries feature family-friendly spaces: rooms where young children can play or read quietly, stocked with toys, digital media, or books. Recently, some academic libraries have been inspired to model similar spaces on their college campuses. Seeking to support students who are parents or caregivers, many college libraries are working to create more inclusive spaces with child-friendly resources.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), recently sponsored the development and publication of a series of seven Privacy Field Guides designed to offer practical information and hands-on exercises for public, academic, and K–12 librarians.

Openness, accessibility, democracy, and the dignity of the public. We at Brooklyn Public Library had these words in mind when we started to work on our 28th Amendment Project.

Machine learning (ML) tools can potentially help patrons discover relevant content and services as they search a library’s catalog. However, ML tools need to be trained with a lot of good data to generate good recommendations, and initially, contextual recommendations generated with high-quality library metadata may be more effective at achieving the same goal.

The LC Labs department of the Library of Congress recently published a comprehensive report on its Humans-in-the-Loop initiative, which crowdsourced volunteers to train a machine learning (ML) tool to extract structured data from one of the library’s digital collections. It also explored the intersection of crowdsourcing and ML algorithms more broadly. The project resulted in a framework that will inform future crowdsourcing and data enrichment projects at LC, and the report offers other libraries and cultural heritage institutions insights and advice for developing engaging, ethical, and useful crowdsourcing projects of their own.

A partnership between Las Vegas–Clark County Library District and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada is bringing the library’s digital resources to every bus in town. Las Vegas transit riders, including out-of-towners, can now immediately access Las Vegas Clark County Library District’s treasure trove of free movies, ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines with one simple download, without physically being in the library or having a library card.

Over the past 16 months, COVID-19 has forced public libraries to consider how to contribute to their patrons’ health and well-being. Anythink Libraries in Adams County, CO, has developed Renew, a new initiative designed to offer its participants both helpful programs and an online method of tracking their progress developing a lifestyle that is healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Collections are still important. But as libraries acquire more digital materials, they’re devoting less space to housing physical items. Instead, they’re creating flexible, multiuse spaces for people to gather, interact, and learn new skills. The modern library is a coffee house, a digital creation studio, a multigenerational meeting place, and much more.

A team at North Carolina State University Libraries has created the Global Change Games series to help engage students with global change topics.

Michigan’s Kent District Library (KDL) is preparing to launch KDL Vibes, a free streaming platform created to showcase local music.

UPDATE: The Round Two application window is now open through October 29; awardees will be notified in mid-November. Register here for a webinar about the award program and how to apply for the current round on October 14 at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Virtually every public library has something in its local history or current circumstances that could serve as the seed of a program that personalizes big-picture issues by focusing on their relevance to patrons’ own lives and communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven a mental health crisis as many have dealt with isolation, grief, and loneliness. Gaming can provide a shared experience and a way to fill this void. Libraries have done wonderful teen gaming programs over the last year. However, there is also an adult audience for video games.

As an increasing number of patrons seek not only new jobs but new career paths, public libraries are upping their own skill sets with creative solutions.

Libraries of Stevens County (LOSC), WA, was honored to create a community program called Trail Tales in partnership with two other rural library districts in Northeast Washington. LOSC, North Central Washington Libraries, and Pend Oreille County Library District joined with the Colville National Forest and Upper Columbia Children’s Forest to create a reading experience to be enjoyed in the great outdoors.

When we talk about web usability, we are talking directly about our patron’s experiences in a library’s digital space, so rethinking how we do this work through the lens of antiracism is important.

 LJ ’s first readers’ advisory (RA) survey in eight years found that RA is a growing practice, but librarians want more training and tools to do it better, particularly in genres they don’t read for pleasure. Can crowdsourcing help RA keep up?

Library gardens help address food insecurity, ease environmental impact, provide stress relief, and serve as pandemic-safe space for community connection.

“New digital technologies are bringing changes that are much more rapid and comprehensive than in the past to the way we live, work, and interact with one another. The idea that the recent advancement in digital technologies has reached qualitatively distinct stage of digital revolution is becoming more widely accepted,” explained Bohyun Kim, chief technology officer and professor for the University of Rhode Island Libraries, Kingston, during the "New Technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: AI, IoT, Robotics, and Beyond” on demand presentation at the American Library Association's 2021 Annual Conference.

Libraries have been reinventing themselves for well over a decade, as the emergence of smartphones and ubiquitous connectivity has put access to information into nearly everyone’s hands. No longer just repositories of information, libraries have morphed into full-service community centers that aim to meet a wide variety of civic and social needs.

Rhody Radio, a collaborative podcast project of several Rhode Island libraries, has become a popular long-term programming outlet. The twice-weekly podcast, produced by library staff and community members, captures conversations, lectures, book reviews, and performances by Rhode Islanders; it is available 24/7 on rhodyradio.org and platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Whether gardening, sending up a rocket, or savoring an art exhibit, taking programs outdoors lets libraries offer in-person connection in line with COVID safety protocols.

Public libraries are seeing success with virtual murder mysteries, which vary in format from Zoom events to text-based games to videos.

Even before the pandemic emerged, libraries were investing in new technologies designed to save time and improve efficiency by supporting customer self-service, freeing up library staff to focus on more strategic work. COVID-19 has accelerated this trend and in the process, is transforming how libraries function in the 21^st century.

University of Washington iSchool researchers present an overview of the Open Data Literacy project's work to date, and share highlights from a survey of the current landscape of open data in Washington State's public libraries.

On February 22, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Library launched the inaugural Art of Science Contest, inviting UCSD researchers to submit the most beautiful image “that explains their work in a way that is both engaging and accessible to non-scientists.” The contest runs through March 21; voting will take place from March 29–April 18, with the winning images announced on May 3.

Next week, Sno-Isle Libraries, WA, will hold orientation sessions for its second cohort of aspiring IT professionals—nearly 50 residents of Snohomish and Island counties who will spend the next 25 weeks studying for CompTIA A+ certification, a common requirement for entry-level IT and computer service technician jobs.

When Baltimore County Public Libraries (BCPL) implemented its successful Lawyers in the Library program at its Essex branch in 2016, it was a way to offer legal help to those in need who didn’t have the means to hire a lawyer on their own. However, library staff began to realize that there was more that could be done. So the library and Maryland Legal Aid decided to create the Mobile Library Law Center.

Lack of reliable broadband access has long posed challenges for many rural communities. As the pandemic ramps up the need, libraries continue to help with innovative solutions.

Librarians Elaine R. Hicks, Stacy Brody, and Sara Loree have been named LJ's 2021 Librarians of the Year for their work with the Librarian Reserve Corps, helping the World Health Organization manage the flood of COVID-19 information.

Carnegie Mellon University Libraries has developed CAMPI, a new web application that uses computer vision to assist librarians processing digital photograph collections.

In Maryland, public libraries across the state have developed models for maximizing the impact of social justice–focused virtual programs by copresenting and cross-promoting selected events. Maryland libraries were able to rely on high quality programs from neighboring systems to provide a more robust lineup of virtual events. 

Michigan State University will migrate to the open source FOLIO Library Services Platform, and will fully implement FOLIO in 2021, it announced today. EBSCO Information Services will provide hosting, implementation, training, and development support, and will leverage integrations with EBSCO Discovery Service and OpenAthens access management.

Wayne State University College of Education and the Walter P. Reuther Library Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs were recently awarded a joint $83,100 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to support the ongoing project, “Bridging the Gap: Archives in the Classroom and Community.”

As colleges and universities pivot to remote and hybrid models, their libraries must find new ways to welcome and orient new students.

Could librarian-curated Little Free Libraries be the next great outreach tool to help improve youth reading scores and strengthen community connections to libraries? University of North Carolina (UNC)–Greensboro Library and Information Science Associate Professor Anthony Chow thinks so.

From youth to adults, newcomers to lifelong locals, library literacy programs that work flex to achieve what matters to each patron—with an emphasis on practical, everyday, and community-building skills.

COVID-19 is accelerating the move to digital amid budget pressures; library vendors share what they hear from customers and how they're meeting rapidly evolving needs.

When the university moved to virtual instruction in March, Cornell University Library's Virtual Reference Response Team focused on building capacity in the ways we already connected with our remote users. Leveraging our Ask a Librarian suite of email, chat, and in-depth research consultations options became our primary concern.

As libraries offer essential services during the COVID pandemic, they face the added challenge of protecting the health and safety of staff and patrons. Necessary adaptations include effective and affordable personal protective equipment (PPE) for library staff, sanitization stations for staff and patrons, touch-free checkouts, the replacement of meeting room locks with digital contactless entry devices, and revamped floor plans and public spaces.

With some libraries reopening for at least limited services, and many others doing curbside pickup, face masks are a necessity for library workers and patrons alike. These library- and book-themed offerings can make it fun and show your library love all over your face.

Online meetings have become ubiquitous for many of us. Once our library started offering Virtual Meeting Rooms to the public via Zoom, we immediately began fielding questions on how to best structure online events. Since how an event is structured has such a large impact on its success, we wanted to share some best practices we’ve learned.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down campuses, libraries helped salvage spring semesters by supporting distance learning. Plans for fall remain in limbo, but academic librarians share what they’ve learned.

School and public librarians are joining forces to help socially distanced kids finish the school year and stay strong through summer.

In response to coronavirus shutdown orders that have left public library branches closed across the country, Playaway—developer of products including Playaway pre-loaded audiobook devices, Wonderbook read-alongs, and Launchpad pre-loaded tablets—recently began offering its customers the option to ship products directly from the company to patrons’ homes.

With buildings closed to flatten the COVID-19 curve, libraries respond with a rapid pivot to contactless service.

As states and cities suspend coronavirus-related shutdown orders, two library apps—ConverSight LIBRO and CapiraMobile—are introducing curbside pickup features that will enable library staff to fulfill requests for books and other physical materials while maintaining social distancing recommendations and minimizing personal contact with patrons.

Carnegie Mellon University librarians have initiated a new service, Remote Book Delivery, which allows them to order print materials from vendors and have them sent directly to students whose workflow has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and who may not be able to find the books they need online. The service will help students like Sofía Bosch Gómez, a CMU doctoral student in transition design, to get the resources she needs to finish her dissertation from her Mexico City home.

If it’s just too quiet for you nowadays, libraries have your hookup. Part of the reason many remote workers used to prefer a coffeeshop—or the library!—to working from home was the right kind and amount of sound—enough to be companionable, but not distractingly too much.

With most library buildings temporarily closed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, some libraries are combining the need for meeting space with the shift to digital service delivery.

Public libraries are using new vendor solutions to enhance local schools’ ebook and audiobook collections, creating a new generation of library users.

By working with local experts on civic open data projects, libraries can become the heart of the smart city.

Merchandising can be implemented strategically at libraries, just as it is in retail, and can increase circulation, stimulate robust discussions, and generate foot traffic. To drive circ, how you showcase your materials can be as important as what you buy.

Over the years, public libraries have expanded their electronic collections. The evolution of library interfaces has allowed many physical services to extend into a digital space, empowering patrons to check out ebooks, read magazines and journals, stream movies, listen to audiobooks, and more. The demand for digital collections only continues to grow.

When creating sustainable library designs, planners start by looking at elements that can be reused. Much inspired and practical design has emerged by repurposing and building on or around what already exists: structures, materials, public spaces, personnel—and, as two recent Library Journal Design Institutes in Colorado Springs and Austin demonstrated—community.

At LJ’s 2019 Design Institutes in Colorado Springs, CO, held at the Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) on September 13, four public libraries in California, Idaho, Texas, and Arizona enlisted architects and attendees to brainstorm on upcoming library design challenges.

Ithaka S+R recently released the third phase of its multi-part Community College Libraries and Academic Support for Student Success (CCLASSS) project, which examines student goals and challenges, and how community colleges and their libraries can work together to serve them. The resulting report, “Student Needs Are Academic Needs,” affirms that while libraries can—and do—play a critical role in student success initiatives, they are not always the partners that come to mind first.

Innovation comes in different forms. Library leaders support staff to achieve innovation that establishes the library as an organizational or community innovator. Using the right terminology makes a difference.

Simmons University School of Library and Information Science has partnered with seven academic health sciences and research libraries and science publisher Elsevier to establish the Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA), a free online professional development program. RDMLA launched on October 7.

The dark web offers something that few online platforms can or will: a very high level of anonymity. Many people use the dark web for legitimate, anonymous information seeking purposes: those who live in high-censorship countries, who identify as transgender, and who are undocumented immigrants. These people have a right to access information and need privacy protections.

In times of tight budgets and fewer staff members, passive programming—temporary, self-directed activities or exhibits that users interact with in their own time—can answer a library’s need to engage patrons with less funding and fewer human resources. Many libraries have taken the idea a step further, creating initiatives that don’t require active staff interaction or dedicated program hours, but still interest and challenge patrons, address specific community needs, and even contribute to a library’s greater mission.

Current students are likely to begin their postsecondary education at age 22 or far older. They may be the first members of their families to attend college. They may be recent immigrants or English-language learners. They may be career changers or veterans. They may be incarcerated. And, as many institutions are discovering, academic libraries are uniquely positioned to meet their needs.

Next Library 2019 in Aarhus, Denmark was just as engaging and enjoyable as the first time I attended in 2017. In fact, it has become one of my favorite learning opportunities, informing my teaching and research. A conference that demands active participation, requires outside the box thinking, and reserves “the right to alterations and surprises” is an enjoyable challenge.

When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries issued the final report on its Grand Challenges Summit in January, one of the key findings was the need for libraries and archives to play the role of advocates and collaborators on research into open, equitable, and sustainable knowledge systems. At the time, director Chris Bourg referred to a MIT Libraries–based research initiative in the works that would use the Grand Challenges Summit white paper’s call to action as a jumping-off point.

Fortune’s annual list of the 50 greatest leaders is all about learning leadership from those who practice it best. Does what makes leaders great change over time?

By bringing books, programs, and services to community members in places they already go—expanding the concept of what libraries do in the process—libraries are redefining outreach.

Students and other researchers face many challenges when they’re searching for information. One of the biggest is sifting through the sheer volume of search results their query generates and honing in on the specific resources that are most relevant to their work.

A collaboration between Harvard’s Library Innovation Lab and metaLAB gives library patrons control over light and sound in their work space.

Since the dawn of the Internet, claims have been made that libraries were doomed to obsolescence. While that has proven a false narrative, what is the possibility that libraries might someday achieve “peak library”

This spring, the Huntsville–Madison County Public Library took the term “Maker space” to a different level—more specifically, out of this world—when an unmanned spacecraft flew parts of a project created at its Madison branch to the International Space Station.

Demonstrating a growing institutional commitment to virtual reality and augmented reality, also known as extended reality (XR) technology for educational applications, the Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records has continued to expand its NV XR Libraries pilot program.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology are transforming a whole host of industries, from healthcare to marketing and finance—and they have the potential to do the same for academic libraries.

Since e-books first emerged as a way for readers to consume content digitally, publishers and authors have required content aggregators to apply Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to the e-books they sell to libraries to prevent the unauthorized use, copying, and redistribution of these materials. While this practice has given publishers and authors peace of mind that sales won’t be lost to piracy or other unauthorized sharing, it has placed undue restrictions on readers who rely on institutional access to e-books.

The Internet has forever changed the nature of academic research.

As part of its broader information literacy efforts, Toledo Lucas County Public Library recently installed NewsGuard, a free web extension, in the Firefox, Chrome, and Edge browsers on all of the library’s 750+ public and staff computers.

When the University of Rhode Island (URI) opened its new artificial intelligence lab on the first floor of the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons last September 2018, URI president David M. Dooley said that “this lab will be more than just a technology center. It will be a place of ideas, discussion, and debate.”

Spending two days learning more about the process of cocreation and how it applies in libraries was inspiring and mind-shifting as the possibilities multiplied.

On March 9, Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL) and Baltimore City’s Enoch Pratt Free Library (EPFL) joined forces to launch Entrepreneur Academy, a free series of classes offering a wide range of topics for people who have an entrepreneurial streak. According to EPFL director Heidi Daniel, the program’s creation was both the outcome of the two library systems investigating ways to collaborate and the result of community feedback.

OCLC has selected 15 public libraries to participate in its “Small Libraries Create Smart Spaces” project. This will be the second cohort to participate in the initiative, led in partnership with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL). “Small Libraries Create Smart Spaces” was funded by a $223,120 award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to create a second iteration of the original 2016 National Leadership Grant project .

Broward County Library, FL, has begun loaning out augmented reality / virtual reality headsets at nine of its 38 branches in a new pilot test with MERGE Labs, a tech startup focused primarily on the K–12 education market.

As researchers take on problems that cut across many different fields and geographies, academic research is becoming more multidisciplinary in nature.

The most meaningful library programming comes out of community collaboration. This was certainly the case with Genderful!, a series that kicked off on October 14, 2017, at the Brooklyn Public Library as an event for children and caregivers to explore gender through art and creativity.

Grand Prairie Library System recently launched Epic Reads, a new library vending unit in the city's massive new recreation center, The Epic.

Leaders can all too easily go through the paces on auto-pilot. Go to this meeting. Deal with that situation. Those leaders who are adept at taking notice of what’s less obvious are more likely to innovate.

How can a community have brave, challenging conversations? That was the question St. Paul, MN Mayor Melvin Carter III posed to Catherine Penkert, director of the St. Paul Public Library. Her response was to launch the citywide reading initiative, Read Brave St. Paul, in January and February.

America’s approximately 17,000 public library outlets’ staff are focused on meeting the needs of their communities, providing innovative programs, and connecting community members to resources that make a difference in their lives. But all too often they are reinventing these things from scratch.

In March 2018, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries hosted a working summit on Grand Challenges in Information Science and Scholarly Communication. After an open review period, the results were distilled into a final white paper, A Grand Challenges-Based Research Agenda for Scholarly Communication and Information Science, released December 18.

Since the October 27, 2018, shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, when a lone gunman killed 11 worshippers and injured seven during Shabbat morning services, PJ Library has extended its mission to provide books and resources to parents who may be searching for ways to explain anti-Semitism to their young children.

After successfully migrating to a new library services platform in fall 2017, the Ithaca College Library collaborated with IT to implement a course reading list tool. 

From January 2 through 18, the Nueces County Keach Family Library in Robstown, TX, is hosting the Glass Room Experience, a special exhibition designed to spark discussion about personal data and online privacy.

Collecting and managing research outputs, and sharing them with the broader research community, is a challenge with which many universities struggle. Working with Ex Libris, the University of Denver Libraries is moving forward with a solution that promises to simplify this task and make research assets more discoverable, which will ultimately benefit faculty, librarians, and the entire institution.

Academic libraries do something remarkably well: They take information published in a variety of formats worldwide and make it easily searchable and accessible for students, faculty, and researchers. Now, a growing number of institutional leaders are asking: How can academic librarians take these same skill sets and apply them to the challenge of making a university’s research assets more easily discoverable among the broader research community?

By creating opportunities for students, researchers, and other scholars to share information and interact with each other across disciplines, publishers of academic works will not only engage audiences more deeply; they can foster the kinds of interdisciplinary collaboration that can help tackle society’s biggest challenges.

People who live in small, rural communities often struggle to find access to high-quality literature and nonfiction content. Minnesota is solving this access problem with a shared ebook collection that is available to every Minnesotan through their local library.