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Category Archives: Libraries

US GPO Webinars – Health Stats and Govt Info

Webinar: Health Statistics on the Web; Date: Thursday, February 15, 2024; Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (EST) Register – https://secure.icohere.com/registration/register.cfm?reg=10482&evt=20240215-Health-Stats&t=1707829397055 Recording and closed captioning are available. All webinars are free of charge. Speakers: Katie Pierce Farrier, Data Science Strategist, Region 3, Network of the National Library of Medicine, Christine Nieman, Data Education Librarian, Region… Continue Reading

See What Charles Darwin Kept in His ‘Insanely Eclectic’ Personal Library Revealed for the First Time

Smithsonian: On the English naturalist’s 215th birthday, more than 9,000 titles from his expansive collection are now accessible online: “After nearly two decades of sleuthing and meticulous archival research, academics this week marked the 215th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday on February 12 with a gift for the world: the English naturalist’s complete personal library,… Continue Reading

Book Banning Goes Digital: Libraries Suspending Their E-Book Services and the Complications It Poses For First Amendment Doctrine

Book Banning Goes Digital: Libraries Suspending Their E-Book Services and the Complications It Poses for First Amendment Doctrine – Catherine E. Ferri.  Stanford Technology Law Review, Stanford Law School. Volume 27  Issue 1.  “Book banning predates the United States and has survived and thrived in a splintered twenty-first century political climate. As the fight for… Continue Reading

Bias, Skew and Search Engines Are Sufficient to Explain Online Toxicity

Association for Computing Machinery. Scholar One Manuscripts. Bias, Skew and Search Engines Are Sufficient to Explain Online Toxicity: “U.S. political discourse seems to have fissioned into discrete bubbles, each reflecting its own distorted image of the world. Many blame machine-learning algorithms that purportedly maximize “engagement” — serving up content that keeps YouTube or Facebook users… Continue Reading

“Cast as Criminals, America’s Librarians Rally to Their Own Defense”

The New York Times [read free]: “…As America’s libraries have become noisy and sometimes dangerous new battlegrounds in the nation’s culture wars, librarians like Ms. Neujahr and their allies have moved from the stacks to the front lines. People who normally preside over hushed sanctuaries are now battling groups that demand the mass removal of… Continue Reading

Neck lamps are a bookworm’s best friend

The Verge: “As convenient as e-readers are, I can’t quit actual books. Maybe it’s their reassuring weight, the satisfying crinkle of their pages, their beguiling musk; but there’s something addictive about that combination of paper, ink, and glue. Despite this — and as much as it pains me to say it — physical books aren’t… Continue Reading

A Search Engine That Finds You Weird Old Books

Clive Thompson: “(tl;dr — if you want to skip this essay and just try out my search tool, it’s here.) Last fall, I wrote about the concept of “rewilding your attention” — why it’s good to step away from the algorithmic feeds of big social media and find stranger stuff in nooks of the Internet.… Continue Reading

1,000 Books to Read Before You Die

“1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is a personal library of lifetime reading, a compendium of engaging essays (snippets from which appear on this site) presenting insights and reflections gleaned from my life as a reader and bookseller. You can browse and comment on The 1,000 below—or join my ongoing conversation with fellow readers… Continue Reading

A Brief History of the Grand Old American Tradition of Banning Books

LitHub: “Book banning is a chaotic and illogical business. How a book is received or understood is often subject to the historical moment—and the tastes of individuals. The notion of an objective measure or checklist to decide what is “appropriate”—something far-right school boards have worked to police and enforce—has long been slippery to define. In… Continue Reading

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

1845. “The Raven” is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the 1st publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe. Its publication made Poe popular in his lifetime, although it did not bring him much financial success. The poem was soon reprinted, parodied, & illustrated. Critical opinion is divided as to… Continue Reading