Technology

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on July 24 announced the availability of almost $1 billion in competitive grant funding for programs that “support efforts to achieve digital equity, promote digital inclusion activities, and spur greater adoption and meaningful use of broadband,” according to a notice of funding opportunity posted by the agency. Application materials are available on NTIA’s BroadbandUSA website, and must be submitted through the NTIA Grants Portal by September 23.

The American Library Association’s 2024 annual conference and exposition included many announcements from library vendors. Here’s a roundup of some of the news from this year’s show floor.

The Seattle Public Library (SPL) is continuing to recover from a ransomware attack on Saturday, May 25. At press time, all branches were open, in-person and virtual programs and events were still being hosted, books and other physical materials were available for checkout, and online services provided by third-party vendors including ProQuest, Hoopla, Kanopy, and others were available to patrons. However, access to SPL’s ebooks and e-audiobooks, public computers, in-building Wi-Fi, printing and copying services, pickup lockers, museum pass services, interlibrary loan services, and some other online resources remained unavailable.

In recent years, the scholarly nonprofit Ithaka has prioritized advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), both within the organization and in its outward-facing work. As that process evolved, Kate Wittenberg, managing director of Ithaka’s digital preservation service, Portico, saw that its archival conservation mission aligned in many ways with social justice ideals. In summer 2021, she began to identify underrepresented community collections that might be at risk without a preservation strategy, and in 2023 Portico launched a pilot project connecting the curators of those archives to its expertise and resources.

Libraries, vendors, and library organizations have been busy with several recent artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives—check out LJ's roundup of the latest news from the field.

A pair of bills making their way through the Connecticut state legislature both aim to set parameters on the licensing terms and contracts for ebooks and e-audiobooks that libraries will be able to accept from publishers and aggregators. The bills are the legislature’s most recent attempt to make publishers offer ebooks and e-audiobooks to the state’s libraries on more favorable terms.

The Greater Columbus Convention Center’s exhibit halls were full of activity during this month’s Public Library Association (PLA) 2024 conference in Ohio. Here are a few of the topics LJ had the opportunity to discuss in person at the show, as well as other vendor announcements within recent weeks.

Michael Reynolds, editor-in-chief of Europa Editions, saw libraries and publishers as star-crossed lovers that have been kept far apart for as long as possible, finally meeting in one room in Columbus, OH, at IndieLib, a conference hosted by the Independent Publishers Caucus and the Digital Public Library of America on April 2.

Library entertainment platforms offering movies and TV shows gain on commercial streaming services as consumers balk at subscription costs. With “subscription fatigue” on the rise, libraries are seeing a growing popularity in streaming services—and deciding how best to provide them.