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Category Archives: Libraries

The largest collection of Free stuff on the Internet

“While it’s self-proclaimed, it’s easy to believe that this is the largest collection of links to free sites on the internet” [Free]. All searchable, the content spans AI, Discord, Privacy, Gaming, Movies, TV, Anime, Sports, Music, Podcasts, Radio, Books, Comics, Manga, Downloading, Torrenting, Educational, Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS, Non-english….”

Photos are disappearing, one archive at a time

Washington Post – no paywall: “Kira Pollack, a former editor at Time and Vanity Fair, is a distinguished fellow at the Starling Lab for Data Integrity, a research lab co-anchored by Stanford University’s School of Engineering and USC Libraries. When Hurricane Milton threatened Tampa last October, photojournalist Christopher Morris faced a familiar challenge: protecting his… Continue Reading

Archivists Recreate Pre-Trump CDC Website, Are Hosting It in Europe

404 Media: “The team used a Reddit-made archive of the CDC website to create a new live mirror of the site before it was purged. A team of volunteer archivists has recreated the Centers for Disease Control website exactly as it was the day Donald Trump was inaugurated. The site, called RestoredCDC.org, went live Tuesday… Continue Reading

Cool Tools Omnilist

These are all the products we’ve mentioned since 2020 in Recomendo, Cool Tools, our YouTube channel, podcast, and other newsletters, including Gar’s Tips & Tools, Nomadico, What’s in my NOW?, Tools for Possibilities, Books That Belong On Paper and Book Freak. Please share suggestions, corrections, and other feedback to [email protected]. Continue Reading

Visualizing all books of the world in ISBN-Space

phiresky’s blog – “Libraries have been trying to collect humanity’s knowledge almost since the invention of writing. In the digital age, it might actually be possible to create a comprehensive collection of all human writing that meets certain criteria. That’s what shadow libraries do – collect and share as many books as possible. One shadow… Continue Reading

Investing in School Libraries and Librarians To Improve Literacy Outcomes

American Prospect – “Libraries and librarians not only spark a love of learning; they are crucial to reversing low reading assessment scores across the country. Since a shocking plunge in math and reading scores on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), educators, administrators, and policymakers have grappled with how to address learning challenges… Continue Reading

OPINION: A librarian’s summary of, and response to, the Clarivate announcement

Siobhan Haimé, Birkbeck, University of London (with thanks to Tristan Smith for copyediting assistance) (See also the news item here) In a rather seismic announcement, Clarivate has announced the phase-out of perpetual access purchases for print, eBooks and digital collections by the end of 2025. Described as a supposedly transformative “subscription-based strategy”, this approach is… Continue Reading

New Book-Sorting Algorithm Almost Reaches Perfection

Quanta Magazine: “The library sorting problem is used across computer science for organizing far more than just books. A new solution is less than a page-width away from the theoretical ideal. Computer scientists often deal with abstract problems that are hard to comprehend, but an exciting new algorithm matters to anyone who owns books and… Continue Reading

Trump Orders US to Cancels Critical News Subscriptions for Diplomats Worldwide

RegTech Times via MSN: “The U.S. State Department has issued a directive to cancel all news subscriptions deemed “non-mission critical” across embassies and consulates worldwide. The move is part of a broader cost-cutting initiative, aligning with efforts to reduce government spending on media contracts. Sweeping Cancellation of News Subscriptions – Internal emails revealed that diplomatic… Continue Reading