Link Round-Up Archives

A new collection of emulated malware programs, usually viruses, that were distributed in the 1980s and 1990s on home computers, via the Internet Archive

What happens when libraries are asked to help the homeless find shelter

via Washington Post

Beyond the Stacks: Alex Wade on Tech Sector Librarianship

A new episode of a podcast by the creators of Unbound, via Beyond the Stacks

January 25 – February 1, 2016

Political TV Ad Archive Launches Today

Internet Archive’s new online archive of political advertisements, via MetaFilter

Google Will Soon Shame All Websites That Are Unencrypted

via Motherboard

Tools for Working with Data

A list of tools for working with data, many of them free or open source, via MetaFilter and Data Driven Journalism

January 12 – January 25, 2016

Let’s Light Up the Global Commons

via Creative Commons

What Facebook’s On This Day shows about the fragility of our online lives

via The Guardian

FilmCare.org

A new decision-making tool and comprehensive learning resource for film preservation, via NYU’s preservation blog.

December 15 – January 12, 2016

David Bowie (1947-2016): Interviews, Images, and More

via LibraryJournal

New York Public Library Makes 180,000 High-Res Images Available Online

via NPR

CES 2016 Is Your Library’s Technology Crystal Ball

via Twitter

December 8 – December 14, 2015

GAMECIP Metadata Base Element Set and Recommendations

GAMECIP’s metadata element set and usage recommendations for describing computer and video games in institution collections and catalogues. via Twitter

Digitizing Motion Picture Film: FADGI Report on Current Practices and Future Directions

via Library of Congress

December 1 – December 8, 2015

Internet Archive Emulation

A rundown of how the Internet Archive’s browser-based software emulation works, via the Internet Archive

Building the Tamagotchi Singularity

An explanation of how the author developed hardware emulators and AI to create an idyllic hive for Tamagotchis, via MetaFilter

Information is Beautiful Awards winners 2015

A selection of very impressive data visualization projects, via Information is Beautiful

November 23 – December 1, 2015

Erin O’Meara on Archiving Electronic Records

via Beyond the Stacks: Innovative Careers in Library and Information Science (Podcast)

At Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Art on the Walls, and on the Plates

via New York Times

What Will Libraries Be Like in 2100?

via Slate Future Tense

November 16 – November 23, 2015

VR3D launches Vietnam’s first virtual museum with 3D scans of ancient relics

via 3Ders

The missing decades: the 20th century black hole in Europeana

via Europeana

WGBH News To Open Satellite Studio At Boston Public Library

via WGBH

November 2 – November 16, 2015

ALA announces Center for the Future of Libraries advisory group

via ALAnews

As U.S. Libraries Are Outsourced, Readers See Public Trust Erode

via Bloomberg Business

This Snowden-Approved Encrypted-Communication App Is Coming to Android

via Slate Future Tense

October 27 – November 2, 2015

Miguel Figueroa & the Future of Libraries

A new podcast interview with the Director of ALA’s Center for the Future of Libraries, via Beyond the Stacks

Zoom in to 9.3 Million Internet Archive Books and Images– through IIIF

via The Internet Archive

In Google case, court finds creating an index is fair use

via ALA District Dispatch

October 19 – October 27, 2015

Placements & Salaries 2015: Explore All the Data

A new, comprehensive survey, via LibraryJournal

IIT Humanities Professor Discusses What Happens To Our Data Once We Die

via ChicagoInno

With no fixed address, two men start Toronto’s only underpass library

via CBCNews

October 13 – October 19, 2015

Senate Passes 10 Year Term for Librarian of Congress

via LibraryJournal

Questions to Ask When You Learn of Digitization Projects

via Wynken de Worde

October 5 – October 13, 2015

‘Makers-In-Residence’ Let Their Imaginations Roam Free At The DC Public Library

via DCist

Boston Public School Desegregation project commences

via SNELL Snippets

‘Libraries are forever’: The future of libraries in the digital age

via Beta Boston

September 28 – October 5, 2015

Beyond the Stacks: Innovative Careers in Library and Information Science

A new podcast launches, hosted by Unbound writer Derek Murphy! via Simmons School of Library and Information Science

The OCLC officially sunsets its library card catalog program

via TeleRead

Why Don’t Libraries Have Dungeons & Dragons Gamebooks?

via Gizmodo

September 21 – September 28, 2015

Happy Birthday To Everybody: Victory For The Public Domain (With An Asterisk)

via the Electronic Frontier Foundation

U.S. Senate Confirms Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew as Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

via LibraryJournal

September 14 – September 21, 2015

A question about the future of the World Wide Web

via Charles Stross

The rise and fall of text on the Web: a quantitative study of Web archives

via Information Research

De Blasio to Announce 10-Year Deadline to Offer Computer Science to All Students

via The New York Times

September 8 – September 14, 2015

First Library to Support Anonymous Internet Browsing Effort Stops After DHS Email

via ProPublica

The International Fight Over Marcel Duchamp’s Chess Set

On a recent copyright controvery in 3D printing, via The Atlantic

#NextLOC

On this episode of the Circulating Ideas podcast, Jessamyn West talks about the next Librarian of Congress. via Circulating Ideas

September 1 – September 8, 2015

Libraries’ tech pipeline problem

via MetaFilter

Manuscript Road Trip: The Promise of Digital Fragmentology

via Manuscript Road Trip

August 24 – September 1, 2015

Google is not the answer: How the digital age imperils history

via Salon

Hundreds of “black hat” English Wikipedia accounts blocked following investigation

via Wikimedia Blog

“The Dregs of the Library”: Trashing the Occupy Wall Street Library

via MetaFilter

August 17 – August 24, 2015

Libraries of the future: Super connectivity and a national stature

via KnightBlog

The Network is Hostile

via A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering

Developing Trends: Income Inequality

via Center for the Future of Libraries

August 10 – August 17, 2015

Library Privacy and the Freedom Not To Read

via Go To Hellman

Found in Translation | Language Learning

Discusses new kinds of language learning programs in public libraries. via LibraryJournal

How to Destroy Special Collections with Social Media in 3 Easy Steps: A Guide for Researchers and Librarians

A very sarcastic guide to how social media can help or hurt Special Collections. via MetaFilter

July 27 – August 10, 2015

ArchiveReady: Website Archivability Testing Tool

Tests whether a website will be archived correctly by web archives, such as the Internet Archive. via MetaFilter

Crowdsourcing as Interesting Decisions: Update from BL Labs 2015 Competition Winner

Announcing a game jam to come up with a videogame that makes crowdsourcing fun. via the British Library Digital Scholarship Blog

The Library of Congress Wants to Destroy Your Old CDs (for Science)

via The Atlantic

July 15 – July 27, 2015

There’s a library-shaped hole in the Internet

via The Boston Globe

All Those Techies Who Predicted the Demise of the Public Library Were Wrong

via Alternet

The Role of Libraries in Science 2.0: Focus on Economics

via D-Lib Magazine

July 8 – July 14, 2015

The Copyright Office and the Orphan Works Report: Top Three Problems

via Kyle K. Courtney’s blog

Academic Libraries Look Toward the Future | ALA Annual 2015

via LibraryJournal

Beinecke Library digitizing 2,000 ‘largely undiscovered’ videocassettes

via YaleNews

July 1 – July 7, 2015

Librarian of Progress

A set of recommendations for the next Librarian of Congress, via Librarian.net

Does the Copyright Office Belong in a Library?

An evaluation of recent proposals to make the US Copyright Office independent. via LibraryJournal

Reflections on radical librarianship and #radlib15

via Infoism

June 23 – June 30, 2015

ALA Releases National Policy Agenda for Librarians

via LibraryJournal

First Knight News Challenge of 2016 to focus on libraries

via The Knight Foundation

Choosing the Next Librarian of Congress

via Medium

June 11 – June 22, 2015

New Research Report: “Mobile Video Usage, A Global Perspective”

via LibraryJournal

Two House Judiciary Committee Members Release Draft Legislation to “Modernize” U.S. Copyright Office

via InfoDocket

June 5 – June 10, 2015

James H. Billington to Retire as Librarian of Congress Effective Jan. 1, 2016

via Library of Congress News Releases

Copyright Office Releases Report on Orphan Works and Mass Digitization; Recommends Burdensome Legislation

via ARL Policy Reports

2015 Gale/LJ Library of the Year: Ferguson Municipal Public Library, MO, Courage in Crisis

via LibraryJournal

May 29 – June 4, 2015

How libraries in Germany are fighting extinction – and winning

via DW

UCL presses ahead with open access

via Times Higher Education

The Utopia Of Records: Why Sound Archiving Is Important

via The Quietus

May 23 – May 28, 2015

Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google

via Alternet

How copyright law threatens your right to repair your car

Considers the DMCA and the new use of DRM on in-car software, via Vox

California’s Homeless Find a Quiet Place

via National Geographic PROOF

May 16 – May 22, 2015

Into the Okavango

An expedition with an innovative approach to real-time open access data, via Jer Thorp

Making Archival and Special Collections More Accessible [PDF]

A new report from OCLC Research, via InfoDocket

What’s Next for Design Thinking

via Designing Better Libraries

April 25 – May 1, 2015

Libraries Make Room for High-Tech ‘Hackerspaces’

via WBUR

Personal Digital Archiving 2015, Keynote Talk by Howard Besser & Rick Prelinger

via Slideshare

April 18 – April 24, 2015

The MIT Media Lab is launching a new Digital Currency Initiative

via Medium

Wander (1974) — a lost mainframe game is found!

via Retroactive Fiction

Cherokee Language Comes to a Library Near You

via LibraryJournal

April 11 – April 17, 2015

The Real Purpose of Libraries, by Ferguson Library Director Scott Bonner

via Reading Rainbow

The girl game archival project that’s rewriting geek history

via The Verge

Library of Congress Launches Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature

via MetaFilter

April 4 – April 10, 2015

Not Just Space Photos: Flickr Now Allows All Users To Expand the Public Domain

via The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Reaching out to politicians about LIS issues

via Hack Library School

Getting to 5 Million: HathiTrust’s Collection of Open Books

via HathiTrust

March 27 – April 3, 2015

Bypassing Interlibrary Loan Via Twitter: An Exploration of #icanhazpdf Requests (PDF link)

via ACRL 2015

Association of College and Research Libraries Environmental Scan 2015 (PDF link)

via ACRL

Mobile usability testing – a simple tech solution

via Digitalist

March 20 – March 27, 2015

ALA President responds to House proposal to eliminate IMLS

via the American Library Association

Qatar Digital Library Preserves the Music of a Vanishing Past

via NPR Parallels

Microbiologist plays sleuth to save decaying artifacts

via The Boston Globe

March 9 – March 20, 2015

Movers and Shakers 2015: The People Shaping the Future of Libraries

via LibraryJournal

Where Are They Now? The People’s Library Today

via Librarian Shipwreck

Inside Oslo’s Public Comics Library

via Comic Books Legal Defense Fund

February 23 – March 6, 2015

Robots Open up the World of Art

via CBS News

Google has developed a technology to tell whether ‘facts’ on the Internet are true

via The Washington Post.

Reviving the Library in Greece: The Future is Now for the Future Library Network and the INELI-Balkans Project

via The Huffington Post

February 2-February 20, 2015

Fair Use Fundamentals infographic (.PDF link)

Fair Use Week is next week! via FairUseWeek.org

Video from a dystopian future: how location data can be abused

A video from the ACLU, demonstrating possible government uses for location data, via BoingBoing.

Never Neutral: Libraries, Technology, and Inclusion

A transcript of Chris Bourg’s great OLITA Spotlight talk from the OLA Super Conference, via Feral Librarian

January 26-January 30, 2015

22 ideas win Knight News Challenge: Libraries

“How might we leverage libraries as a platform to build more knowledgeable communities?” Here are 22 proposals. via The Knight Foundation

75 million Americans don’t have internet. Here’s what it’s like.

A video on the digital divide, with a focus on public libraries, via MetaFilter.

U-M helps open more than 25,000 early English books to public

via the University of Michigan Record.

January 12-January 23, 2015

Finally, the Museum of the Future Is Here

via The Atlantic

Terms of Service: understanding our role in the world of Big Data

A very well done non-fiction graphic novella, via Al Jazeera.

Monoculture and the Future of Hardware

via Model View Culture.

January 5-January 12, 2015

Cultural Appropriation: Using Museum Collections For Free Digital Work

A helpful list of digitized museum collections, including the new “Open FIS” by The Smithsonian’s Museums of Asian Art. via demosthenes.info.

The Software Library: MS-DOS Games

The Internet Archive has launched a new collection of emulated historical MS-DOS games, playable in-browser!

New Clues

A new manifesto covering all aspects of the contemporary internet, from two of the authors of the historically important 1999 manifesto Cluetrain. via cluetrain.com.

December 8-December 16, 2014

Creating Creative Communities: 3D Printing in Library Programming

via the SLIS News & Events Blog

When the Art Is Watching You

On museums and big data. via the Wall Street Journal.

Gifts for archivists and librarians: from the practical to the luxurious

Happy Holidays! via hangingtogether.org.

December 1-December 5, 2014

New FADGI Report: Creating and Archiving Born Digital Video

via The Signal: Digital Preservation

ACTION ALERT: Support the Freedom of Information Improvement Act!

It’s not too late to act, Senator Jay Rockefeller currently has a hold on the bill. Link via the Society of American Archivists.

New York City libraries soon will let patrons ‘check out the internet’

via the Washington Post

November 17-November 21, 2014

The Rise of the University Museum

via The Boston Review

5 tips to run a sustainable digital preservation project

via the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

Cataloging Board Games

via the Library and Information Technology Association

November 10-November 14, 2014

Stanford Libraries Unearths the Earliest US Website

via Phys.org

Obama says FCC should reclassify internet as a utility

via The Verge

America’s libraries to push for passage of USA Freedom Act

via the American Library Association

November 3-November 7, 2014

Digital Lessons From the Museum and Art World

via The New York Times

Last of Pirate Bay Architects is Arrested by Thai Police

via The Wall Street Journal

The Sixth Stage of Grief is Retro-computing: Networks Within Networks

A brilliant article about the author’s experience emulating outdated operating systems and how it helped him grieve, via Medium

October 27-October 31, 2014

Building Libraries Together: New Tools for a New Direction

via The Internet Archive

San Antonio Airport Installs Digital Library Kiosks for Travelers

via San Antonio Business Journal

Share your photos of Halloween with the American Folklife Center and Library of Congress!

via Library of Congress

October 20-October 24, 2014

Results From the 2013 NDSA U.S. Web Archiving Survey

via The Signal: Digital Preservation

Google Trial Lets You Chat With Doctors When You Search for Symptoms

via Engadget

The Next Wave of Tech-Change | Self-Publishing and Libraries

via LibraryJournal

October 13-October 17, 2014

Open Access (or, why I love the internet)

via Hack Library School

Publishers Win Reversal of Court Ruling That Favored ‘E-Reserves’ at George State U.

via The Chronicle of Higher Education

Is E-Reading to Your Toddler Story Time, or Simply Screen Time?

via The New York Times

October 6-October 10, 2014

The Third Great Wave

A report on the digital revolution’s impact on future employment, via The Economist

Librarians, IT Experts Respond to Adobe Spying Accusations

via Library Journal

Ebooks Choices and the Missing Soul of Librarianship

An exploration of the ethical tradeoffs librarians encounter when working with ebook DRM, via Andromeda Yelton

September 29-October 3, 2014

UK legalises music, film and e-book back-ups

via BBC News Technology

Knight News Challenge’s list of entries.

Browse a variety of interesting proposals for future-focused projects in LIS. via Knight News Challenge

September 22-September 26, 2014

Unhappy Medium: The Challenges With Archiving Digital Video

via The Washingtonian

Weirder than old: The CP/M File System and Legacy Disk Extracts for New Zealand’s Department of Conservation

A fascinating walkthrough of a data extraction challenge, via The Open Planets Foundation

We’re All Digital Archivists Now: An Interview With Sibyl Schaefer

via The Library of Congress

September 15-September 19, 2014

Bookworm: Movies

A fascinating data visualization tool by Benjamin Schmidt which allows one to search for trends in the dialogue of thousands of movie and TV shows, based on subtitles from Open Subtitles.

Radical Librarianship: how ninja librarians are ensuring patrons’ electronic privacy

via BoingBoing

Analysis of Privacy Leakage on a Library Catalog Webpage

via Go To Hellman

September 8-September 12, 2014

Libraries may digitize books without permission, EU top court rules

via PCWorld

Younger Americans and Public Libraries

via Pew Research Internet Project

Everything You’ve Wanted To Know About Net Neutrality But Were Afraid To Ask

via TechDirt

September 1-September 5, 2014

Floating Library to Open on New York’s Hudson River

via NPR

Help Wanted: Librarians, Sea Captains – Labor Shortages Forecast in Many Professions

via The New York Times

Millions of Historic Images Posted to Flickr

via The Internet Archive

August 25-August 29, 2014

How Streaming Media Could Threaten the Mission of Libraries

via The Chronicle of Higher Education

August 11-August 22, 2014

As Data Overflows Online, Researchers Grapple with Ethics

via New York Times

Why the Public Library Beats Amazon

via The Wall Street Journal

Custom Library Book Bikes Roll Out Across US

via American Libraries

August 4-August 8, 2014

How Your Local Library Can Help You Resist the Surveillance State

via Free Press

Golden Library Upgrade Meant to Showcase Library of the Future

via Denver Post

Want To See The World? Try A Library In Queens

via NPR News

July 28-August 1, 2014

Library Introduces New Digital Library Community Project

via My San Antonio

Library Expo Focuses on Babies, Toddlers

via Orlando Sentinel

Wikipedia’s Library Project Works to Expand Local History With Material From Scholarly Sources

via WikiLibrary

July 21-July 25, 2014

Harvard Library Will Launch Copyright First Responders Program

via InfoDocket

Courtney Young ’97LS Begins Term as American Library Association President

via Simmons GSLIS InfoLink

Fourth Annual Library 2.014 Worldwide Virtual Conference: The Future of Libraries in the Digital Age will be held October 8 – 9, 2014

via Library 2.0

July 14-July 18, 2014

Queens Library to Offer Universal Pre-K in Local Branches

via New York Daily News

What Does the Next-Generation School Library Look Like?

via KQED MindShift

NY Public Library Pilots Program to Rent Out Free Wifi

via NY1

July 7-July 12, 2014

Seven Surprises about Libraries

via Fact Tank

Researchers Reorder and Reinterpret Ranganathan’s 5 Laws of Library Science For Today’s World

via InfoDocket

US National Archives To Upload All Holdings To Wikimedia Commons

via TechCrunch

June 30-July 4, 2014

U.S. Pediatrics Group to Recommend Reading Aloud to Children From Birth

via New York Times

Wikipedia Library Programs Expands With More Accounts From JSTOR, Credo, & Other Database Providers

via Infodocket

14 Google Glass Innovative Uses In Education

via Huff Post

June 23-27, 2014

Kids become Rovers Navigating on Mars at your Library!

via NASA Wavelength

Library Broadband is Growing in Rural Communities Where Poverty is High and Internet Service is Poor

via District Dispatch: The Official American Library Association Washington Office Blog

American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition: Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves, June 26-July 1, 2014

via American Library Association

June 16-June 20, 2014

Appeals Court Rules Digital Library Doesn’t Violate Copyright Law

via NPR

American Library Association’s Annual Conference & Exhibition: Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves, June 26-July 1, 2014

via American Library Association

National Archives Australia Reports 95% Digital by 2015

via Image and Data Manager

June 9-June 13, 2014

A New National Public Library Service For Those with Print Disabilities Officially Launches

via InfoDocket

Libraries Forge New Roles in Digital Content Ecosystem

via Digital Book World

How the “Dark Matter” of the Internet is the Future of Museums

via Michael Peter Edson’s Blog

June 2- June 6, 2014

Library of Future Ready to Open in Colorado Springs

via InfoDocket

Popular Items Used to Lure Library Patrons

via The Columbus Dispatch

Best Guesses: A Q&A with Center for the Future of Libraries’ Miguel Figueroa

via Library Journal

May 26 – May 30, 2014

Cranky Lines for Library Story Time

via the Wall Street Journal

This Library is Anything but Quiet

via The Wisconsin State Journal

May 19 – May 23, 2014

Chicago Public Library Cardholders Can Now Borrow a Robot

via InfoDocket

The History and Evolution of #Library Services to Teens in the United States

via InfoDocket

Libraries matter: 10 Fantastic Library Infographics

via EBook Friendly

May 12 – May 16, 2014

Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be…Paper

via Wired

Palm County to Let Kids Read Their Way Out of Book Fines

via Sun Sentinel News

UK’s National Archives Saving Tweets & YouTube Videos as Historic Media

via Engadget

May 5, 2014 – May 9, 2014

Libraries From Now On: Imagining the Future, May 2- 3, 2014 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

via American Libraries Association’s Invitational Summit

Online Education: New York Public Library Announces Partnership with Coursera

via InfoDocket

How School Libraries Are Staying Relevant

via Livability

April 28 – May 1, 2014

What Will Become of the Library? How Will It Evolve As the World Goes Digital?

via Slate

Librarians Seek High-Speed Broadband

via New York Times

What are Researchers Looking for in Corporate and Academic Library Services?

via InfoDocket

April 6 – April 12, 2014

There’s No Shushing at This Library — and You’ll Want to Bring a Trowel {takepart}

“The Northern Onondaga Public Library in Cicero, N.Y., was in an envious predicament: It owned some land and didn’t know what to do with it. While another library might have built a new wing on the half-acre parcel, or sold it to raise money for more programming, the Cicero branch put it to the community to decide. What did the people ask for? A farm.”

March 30 – April 5, 2014

Partnering for Possibilities: NHS Media Center, Gwinnett County Public Library, 3D Printing, and More {The Unquiet Librarian}

The NHS Media Center & Gwinnett County Public Library recently teamed up for Teen Tech Week 2014 to host a 3-D printing workshop where students got a chance to see the 3D Makerbot Replicator 2 printer in action! The looks on their faces is priceless. Great work, friends!

New Archive Traces Oregon’s Brewing History from Farm to Keg {Library Journal}

Just when I thought archives couldn’t possibly be any cooler, we start archiving hops. Cheers to you, Oregon State University! Pints for history!

Unbinding the Atlas: Working with Digital Maps {NYPL Map Division}

NYPL has now scanned nearly all of its public domain New York City atlases (a collection of now more than 10,000 maps, the wonderfully graphical title page at left is from a recently scanned Sanborn atlas of Staten Island) and built a web tool where users both inside and outside the Library can virtually stretch old maps onto a digital model of the world à la Google Maps or OpenStreetMap. This is AWESOME!

Medical First: 3-D Printed Skull Successfully Implanted in Woman {NBC}

I’m still not over the excitement of the 3-D printed prosthetic hand – and now this! I’m constantly amazed by the endless possibilities of 3-D printers. However, I’m still skeptical about their placement and role in the future of libraries.

March 16 – 22, 2014

Voices from the Past Reflecting on the Future (Number 5): Status & the Inferiority Complex {The Ubiquitous Librarian}

Still not sure how I feel about this. Should librarians have to be fighters and is this conversation still relevant? Having many mixed emotions.

Weekly Innovation: Paper Notebooks that Become Digital Files {NPR: All Tech Considered}

Darn, I still thought Moleskines were cool….

Turkish Airlines Launches Digital Library App for iPhone, Android {The Digital Reader}

In terms of libraries of the future, I never thought I’d see Sky Mall replaced by Sky Library – what an incredible idea!

March 9 – 15, 2014

Printing in more dimensions {Wicked Local: Newton}

In light of our recent questions about the lasting value of 3D printers in public library maker spaces, Newton Free Library has some excellent answers!

Report from Denmark: Designing the new public library at Aarhus, and the People’s Lab {Joho: the Blog}

Fab labs and maker spaces have been popping up everywhere. There’s also a trend in Denmark to repair rather than replace. The People’s Lab is a result of a collaboration among the library, community, and partners. Partners include public libraries, Aarhus School of Architecture, Moesgaard Museum, Roskilde festival, Orange Innovation, and more.

February 16 – 22, 2014

Google Offers a Guide to Not Being a ‘Creepy’ Google Glass Owner {NYTimes: Bits}

Finally! Google puts out a list of suggestions for how to use Google Glass in public without seeming creepy. Personally I have yet to see anyone engaging with Google Glass in a public setting, but I could imagine being put off by witnessing someone stare “directly into the air for no apparent reason” while focusing too much on using the product.

8 Book Historians, Curators, and Librarians Who Are Killing It Online {Buzzfeed}

Yes, Buzzfeed often posts questionable and intellectually vacant content, but this is an excellent compilation of book historians, curators, archivists, and librarians who are doing an excellent job showcasing their work online in an effort to engage with users. Nice!

Why libraries deserve to be hip {Salon}

“In a world in which educated, enlightened, planet-hugging types are all up in that composting and upcycling and no impact lifestyle,” why aren’t libraries more trendy?

Do People Need Libraries in the Digital Age? {Wall Street Journal: Speakeasy}

What can we learn from ancients about libraries in the 21st century? What does Egypt’s Great Library of Alexandria tell us about how we can continually seek innovation? Christopher John Farley provides insight and makes the claim that libraries of the future “shouldn’t be bookless because, like endangered species, the nondigitized physical texts of the past, and the ones that are still being printed, need a protected space.” Do you agree?

February 10 – 15, 2014

Who Needs Books? A Q&A with the ‘Bookless Library’ Head Librarian {Library Journal}

Head librarian Ashley Eklof of San Antonio’s BiblioTech discusses the challenges and benefits of leading the country’s first “bookless” library. Currently the library serves almost 300 patrons a day (more than expected), and many of them are jurors!

Quora and the Search for the Truth {NY Times: BITS Blog}

Is Quora a truth-seeking social network, or – does the truth matter less than building engagement through shared experience? With 450,000 topics on Quora, where a community of users poses and answers questions, it’s a challenge to keep it all straight, but necessary for a future ad business.

What Lord Byron’s Penis Tells Us About the Digital Humanities {Pacific Standard}

Does the term “digital humanities” invoke fatigue and distrust in the same way that the word “hipster” is said to frustrate the masses? Ted Scheinman thinks it should not, and concludes that “quarrels over a name occult a proper sense of the benefits of digital tools.” As an interesting case study, he examines the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR) listserv as an interesting digital space where trained academics intersect with amateur überfans in an effort to learn from one another and perpetuate scholarship as well as fascination about Lord Byron.

Alternative Careers for LIS Grads {Hack Library School}

Simmons GSLIS Graduate Alex Berman encourages recent LIS Grads to consider non-traditional jobs that utilize LIS skills such as metadata management, information and content management, and ability to leverage existing knowledge resources that are emphasized by LIS education. She recommends searching for jobs by skills learned rather than by job title, as often our LIS skills are being sought more broadly outside of the traditional library/archives settings. Is this the future of LIS careers?

Learning to Think Outside the Box: Creativity Becomes an Academic Discipline {New York Times: Education Life}

Did you know that “creative” is the most used buzzword in LinkedIn profiles two years running? As employers such as IBM reveal that creativity is now the essential skill for success, many colleges and universities have begun to offer majors, minors, and coursework in creative thinking. Is it possible to teach creativity in the same way critical thinking has been taught, or must we also consider other less traditional pedagogical options that value trial-and-error over grades and outcomes? The latter seems to be the general consensus.