The Nation’s Fiscal Health: Action Is Needed to Address the Federal Government’s Fiscal Future, GAO-19-314SP: Published: Apr 10, 2019. Publicly Released: Apr 10, 2019. “This report provides an update on the nation’s fiscal health as of the end of FY 2018, and describes its likely fiscal future if policies don’t change. Among its findings: The… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: April 2019
A bibliophile’s paradise: the National Library of France in a classic documentary from 1956
Aeon: “Before there was the internet, there was la Bibliothèque nationale de France (the National Library of France) in Paris: an ever-expanding collection of books, manuscripts, maps and other cultural artifacts that has been operating continuously since the 15th century. The documentary Toute la mémoire du monde (All the Memory in the World), made by… Continue Reading
‘Extraordinary’ 500-year-old library catalogue reveals books lost to time
The Guardian: “It sounds like something from Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind and his The Cemetery of Forgotten Books: a huge volume containing thousands of summaries of books from 500 years ago, many of which no longer exist. But the real deal has been found in Copenhagen, where it has lain untouched… Continue Reading
How To Find Old Websites That Google Won’t Show
Lifehacker – “…Million Short, which allows you to run a search and automatically skip the most popular answers to probe deeper into the web. Wiby.me is a “search engine for classic websites,” made to help people find hobbyist pages and other archaic features of the internet. The Hacker news thread also brings up Pinboard, a… Continue Reading
Libraries lean on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to reel you in
cnet.com – From pithy tweets to Insta Novels on Instagram, libraries around the world are using social media to entertain and reach their audiences. “:ast summer, the New York Public Library wanted to make classic literature more enticing to young readers. You know, readers who are more likely to scroll through a text message than… Continue Reading
You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corporations do it instead.
This story was published in partnership with USA TODAY and The Arizona Republic: “Each year, state lawmakers across the U.S. introduce thousands of bills dreamed up and written by corporations, industry groups and think tanks. Disguised as the work of lawmakers, these so-called “model” bills get copied in one state Capitol after another, quietly advancing… Continue Reading
When Prisons Cut Off Visits – Indefinitely
The Marshall Project – ” It’s been nearly 25 years since Michigan adopted a controversial visitation policy. Families have been fighting it ever since. Looking Back at the stories about, and excerpts from, the history of criminal justice. In 1995, Michigan prison officials implemented a controversial new policy: Any inmate found guilty of two substance-abuse… Continue Reading
House Democrats launch probe into EPA officials’ ties to utilities
POLITICO: “The House Energy and Commerce Committee is launching an investigation into whether top EPA officials violated ethics rules by launching a rollback of air pollution regulations that benefited their former lobbying clients in the electric utility sector. The committee’s Democrats are seeking to probe communications between the utilities and an industry group that was… Continue Reading
The bursting, beautiful shelves of famous bibliophile
Washington Post – “Amid the decluttering craze, we asked José Andrés, Andrew Sean Greer and other famous book lovers for the stories behind their collections.” Continue Reading
Ten-Fold Difference in Odds of ICE Enforcement Depending Upon Where You Live
“The odds of being arrested and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vary greatly depending upon where an individual lives. Sanctuary jurisdictions that limit local cooperation with ICE enforcement officers often reduce these odds. Despite ICE statements that the agency uses stepped-up arrests out in the community when local jurisdictions fail to cooperate, ICE… Continue Reading
The Power of Judicial Review
In Custodia Legis: The following is a guest post by Janeen Williams, a Legal Reference Specialist with the Public Services Division of the Law Library of Congress. “The federal judiciary has the authority to review actions of the legislative and executive branches to verify that they comport with the Constitution see Marbury v. Madison). However,… Continue Reading
Systematic Reviews of Our Metadata
Hanging Together – The OCLC Research Blog: “That was the topic discussed recently by OCLC Research Library Partners metadata managers, initiated by Melanie Wacker of Columbia University, Roxanne Missingham of Australian National University, and Sharon Farnel of University of Alberta. Librarians and administrators are well aware of the tension that exists between delivering access to… Continue Reading
