Since racism is the topic of the day (according to Trump)…reminder core values of librarians include access, democracy, diversity, intellectual freedom, privacy and the public good…Its important to review the results and conclusions of studies like these in order to better understand our own inherent biases and prejudices.
Findings from a new study indicate that “black-sounding” names are less likely to get a reply from public service providers. READ: Is Your Librarian Racist? | CityLab
After his profanity-laced tweetstorm went viral last week, Portland student librarian Alex Halpern found himself speaking up for his ̶[e̶m̶b̶a̶t̶t̶l̶e̶d̶ thriving and evolving] profession. READ MORE: Portland’s Angriest Librarian Isn’t Mad Anymore | CityLab
+ This angry librarian’s passionate defense of libraries won the Internet | Washington Post
We’ve all been to the library to check out books, rent DVD’s, and surf the web. But now at three Phoenix libraries you can do more; work out. READ MORE: Phoenix libraries unveil treadmill desks | KSAZ
As you browse books and e-books on Amazon.com, the Library Extension checks your library’s online catalog and displays the availability of that item on the same page. If the book is available at your library, you’ll know instantly – with a quick, convenient link to reserve the title! READ MORE: Library Extension – See book availability from your local library while you browse Amazon.com | Library Extension for Chrome
Libraries aren’t just for books, or even e-books, anymore. They are for checking out cake pans (North Haven, Conn.), snowshoes (Biddeford, Me.), telescopes and microscopes (Ann Arbor, Mich.), American Girl dolls (Lewiston, Me.), fishing rods (Grand Rapids, Minn.), Frisbees and Wiffle balls (Mesa, Ariz.) and mobile hot spot devices (New York and Chicago). Here in Sacramento, where people can check out sewing machines, ukuleles, GoPro cameras and board games, the new service is called the Library of Things. READ MORE: These Public Libraries Are for Snowshoes and Ukuleles | The New York Times
Homeland Security “does not make policy determinations for local communities.” READ MORE: Library’s Tor relay—which had been pulled after feds noticed—now restored | Ars Technica
I stumbled onto a brilliant new art installation program in downtown Indianapolis called The Public Collection, designed to make books freely available to the general pubic, modeled after the “Little Free Library” project but on a much larger scale. READ MORE: The Public Collection: Indianapolis’s own ‘Big Free Libraries’ | TeleRead
As part of our series about technology in prisons called “Jailbreak,” we paid a visit to a new program that uses technology to fill an important role in the development of the children of those who are incarcerated.
Organizers say the TeleStory program the first of its kind in the country. At the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library in New York, families of inmates bring their children to a special room filled with toys and books. Even more unique: the room is virtually connected to a prison on Rikers Island. via Connecting inmates with their children through books | Marketplace.org.
Long form, thought-provoking read about change in library services, open governance and the influence of activism.
What went wrong at one of the world’s eminent research institutions READ: The New York Public Library Wars | The Chronicle Review | The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Library Content Platform Hoopla Digital Adds DC Comics | Digital Book World
hoopla digital, the digital library content distributor, expands its offering of digital comics in a deal with DC Entertainment.
The platform has made a range of multimedia content available to library patrons since it was launched by Midwest Tape in 2013, including video, music, audiobooks and digital comics, all of which can be access by iOS and Android mobile apps. Ebooks, however, were a late addition, arriving in hoopla digital’s catalog only last month.
There’s no word on how many titles DC is contributing, but hoopla digital says its full content catalog now stands at 325,000 titles, and its user base has grown by more than 200% in the past year.
hoopla digital Introduces Dynamic eBooks and Comics Experience; Offers All-in-One App for… — HOLLAND, Ohio, May 19, 2015 | PRNewswire
HOLLAND, Ohio, May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — hoopla digital (hoopladigital.com), the category-creating mobile and online service for public libraries, today announced the rollout of its new eBooks and Comics offering to its library customers and their patrons in the U.S. and Canada. With thousands of titles at launch, hoopla’s eBooks and Comics selection features works across genres – from children’s books and comics to biographies and self-help – from publishers such as RosettaBooks, Chicago Review Press, Dundurn Press and Tyndale House Publishers. The eBooks and Comics content joins hoopla digital’s catalog of more than 300,000 movies, TV shows, music albums and audiobooks.
infophile 