West Coast Librarian
@sylvianurse.bsky.social
Interested in eBooks, film, humanities, linked data, machine learning, metadata, instruction, open access, oer and open innovation.
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
The library is not a department: Why public library boards matter www.municipalworld.com/feature-stor...
The library is not a department: Why public library boards matter - Municipal World
Ontario’s independent library boards safeguard intellectual freedom and good governance, as shown by recent conflicts in Bradford West Gwillimbury.
www.municipalworld.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:05 PM
The library is not a department: Why public library boards matter www.municipalworld.com/feature-stor...
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Here's a list of some nifty sites and tools - and no AI mentioned! :-)
Free Music Discovery Tools 🎶 wondertools.substack.com/p/free-music...
Free Music Discovery Tools 🎶 wondertools.substack.com/p/free-music...
Free Music Discovery Tools 🎶
Travel through time and around the world with sound
wondertools.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Here's a list of some nifty sites and tools - and no AI mentioned! :-)
Free Music Discovery Tools 🎶 wondertools.substack.com/p/free-music...
Free Music Discovery Tools 🎶 wondertools.substack.com/p/free-music...
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
Libraries host food drives, have reading challenges with certificates for free burgers & pizza to encourage kids to read, have lunch-at-the-library programs in the Summer, have seed lending libraries to help grow your own food…
Libraries are adamant our neighbors be fed, that they never go hungry 💛
Libraries are adamant our neighbors be fed, that they never go hungry 💛
November 12, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Libraries host food drives, have reading challenges with certificates for free burgers & pizza to encourage kids to read, have lunch-at-the-library programs in the Summer, have seed lending libraries to help grow your own food…
Libraries are adamant our neighbors be fed, that they never go hungry 💛
Libraries are adamant our neighbors be fed, that they never go hungry 💛
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Amelia Acker: "Each chapter introduces data archiving processes that relate to the evolution of data sovereignty...: from magnetic tape + timesharing computer models from the 1950s,... to file structures + virtual containers in cloud-based information services over the past 40 yrs" — open access!
Archiving Machines
Archiving Machines advances our understanding of memory, information, and data by charting the struggle between the computing technologies that archive data ...
mitpress.mit.edu
November 11, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Amelia Acker: "Each chapter introduces data archiving processes that relate to the evolution of data sovereignty...: from magnetic tape + timesharing computer models from the 1950s,... to file structures + virtual containers in cloud-based information services over the past 40 yrs" — open access!
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Reminder: Every time you shop at an independent bookstore, Jeff Bezos loses a little bit of power.
November 12, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Reminder: Every time you shop at an independent bookstore, Jeff Bezos loses a little bit of power.
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"A good fight begins with all of you." Read AABB member Sarah Weinman's address to the American Library Association "In Praise of Librarians in Dangerous Times."
In Praise of Librarians in Dangerous Times
Librarians are on the front lines of history and current events, when news and change arrive at a furious clip that only quickens every day. And without libraries, my work would simply not exist. I…
lithub.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:23 PM
"A good fight begins with all of you." Read AABB member Sarah Weinman's address to the American Library Association "In Praise of Librarians in Dangerous Times."
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The man on a mission to save Mauritania’s ‘city of libraries’ from encroaching desert sands
The man on a mission to save Mauritania’s ‘city of libraries’ from encroaching desert sands
Desert settlement of Chinguetti faces rising sands, dwindling tourism and insecurity due to conflict in neighbouring Mali
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:05 AM
The man on a mission to save Mauritania’s ‘city of libraries’ from encroaching desert sands
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INITIATIVE: Bodleian Libraries is launching SHOx (Short-form Hosting at Oxford), a new hosting service supporting Oxford’s community of scholars in publishing short-form research titles such as journals, working paper collections, and conference proceedings. www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/shox
SHOx: Shortform Hosting at Oxford
www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 8:22 PM
INITIATIVE: Bodleian Libraries is launching SHOx (Short-form Hosting at Oxford), a new hosting service supporting Oxford’s community of scholars in publishing short-form research titles such as journals, working paper collections, and conference proceedings. www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/shox
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I don’t know who needs to hear this, but your desire to inhale the pages of every book you pick up is something you never need to apologize for.
Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t belong in your circle of friends.
Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t belong in your circle of friends.
November 12, 2025 at 7:50 PM
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but your desire to inhale the pages of every book you pick up is something you never need to apologize for.
Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t belong in your circle of friends.
Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t belong in your circle of friends.
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
Certain bacteria that reside in the gut help mice to stay trim — and might do the same in humans
go.nature.com/4hR2ux6
go.nature.com/4hR2ux6
Gut bacteria help mice to stay lean
Researchers have identified a specific genus in the mouse microbiome that aids weight loss, providing another potential route to anti-obesity treatments.
go.nature.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Certain bacteria that reside in the gut help mice to stay trim — and might do the same in humans
go.nature.com/4hR2ux6
go.nature.com/4hR2ux6
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AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 12, 2025 at 6:12 PM
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
"UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections has been uploading music from the foundation’s trove of approximately 50,000 songs to the university’s Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) database ..."
Vast Collection of Historic American #Music Released via UCSB Library Partnership with Dust-to-Digital Foundation (via @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social) news.ucsb.edu/2025/022193/... #libraries @ucsblibrary.bsky.social @dusttodigital.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 10:18 PM
"UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections has been uploading music from the foundation’s trove of approximately 50,000 songs to the university’s Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) database ..."
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What a wonderful way to introduce your annual report! 📚https://www.crlibrary.org/news/library-services-bring-big-value-stories-fy2025-annual-report
Library Services Bring Big Value: Stories from the FY2025 Annual Report
Nov. 3, 2025 – When Missa Coffman and Marios Liolios were planning a class on Japanese stab binding, a form of book binding, they needed to cut very precise holes in dozens of book covers, plus the pa...
www.crlibrary.org
November 11, 2025 at 2:48 PM
What a wonderful way to introduce your annual report! 📚https://www.crlibrary.org/news/library-services-bring-big-value-stories-fy2025-annual-report
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UNESCO IFAP Issue Brief: Empowering #Libraries for an Inclusive Digital Future
New IFAP Issue Brief: Empowering Libraries for an Inclusive Digital
For centuries, libraries have been vital pillars of information access and knowledge sharing. Today, the global network includes over 2.8 million libraries, supported by 1.6 million staff and more
www.unesco.org
November 12, 2025 at 10:01 AM
UNESCO IFAP Issue Brief: Empowering #Libraries for an Inclusive Digital Future
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The Getty Museum has made 88,000 artworks available for free under CC0 licenses! This is a huge win for open culture—for art lovers, creators, educators, learners, researchers, and all future generations. Huge congratulations to the Getty for this big step!
getty.edu/art/collection 🖼️
getty.edu/art/collection 🖼️
The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection
Explore the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center and the Getty Villa.
getty.edu
November 11, 2025 at 5:06 PM
The Getty Museum has made 88,000 artworks available for free under CC0 licenses! This is a huge win for open culture—for art lovers, creators, educators, learners, researchers, and all future generations. Huge congratulations to the Getty for this big step!
getty.edu/art/collection 🖼️
getty.edu/art/collection 🖼️
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
Interesting new Google Scholar PDF button feature scholar.googleblog.com/2025/11/mark...
November 12, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Interesting new Google Scholar PDF button feature scholar.googleblog.com/2025/11/mark...
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Hear me out, maybe libraries ... don't need AI for anything? This is a solution in search of a problem.
Aside from my "was this really written in 2025, not two years ago" snarky response, I couldn't help thinking throughout this entire blog post that a huge part of why so many libraries are STUCK on dealing with AI is because we literally don't have the staff time or funding to deal with it.
Do Academic Libraries Have a Strategy for AI? 📚
"...while two-thirds of libraries are exploring AI features in vendor products, only about half are offering guidance to their communities on how to use AI responsibly in academic work."
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/10/30/g...
"...while two-thirds of libraries are exploring AI features in vendor products, only about half are offering guidance to their communities on how to use AI responsibly in academic work."
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/10/30/g...
November 8, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Hear me out, maybe libraries ... don't need AI for anything? This is a solution in search of a problem.
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Wild. They are figuring out how to store electricity in ... concrete.
Concrete “battery” developed at MIT now packs 10 times the power
New concrete and carbon black supercapacitors with optimized electrolytes have 10 times the energy storage of previous designs and can be incorporated into a wide range of architectural forms.
news.mit.edu
November 9, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Wild. They are figuring out how to store electricity in ... concrete.
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Yes! The thing abt public libraries that is so beautiful & crucial is the idea that *anybody* could do this — you need no credential, there’s no gatekeeping, literally any person can be an intellectual. You can come from absolutely nothing & yet, by means of curiosity + work, create real knowledge
I wrote a significant chunk of my first book at a Chicago Public Library, an amazing public space where people could read books and newspapers, access the internet, or just keep warm for a while on a cold day. This is appalling.
CPL is an absolute palace to the people and these proposed cuts are abominable. Artificial austerity. Chicago folks, read this, check the links to bug the mayor and your alders—this can be fought and won.
November 8, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Yes! The thing abt public libraries that is so beautiful & crucial is the idea that *anybody* could do this — you need no credential, there’s no gatekeeping, literally any person can be an intellectual. You can come from absolutely nothing & yet, by means of curiosity + work, create real knowledge
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
The Responsible AI in Libraries and Archives team has released Viewfinder: A toolkit for values-driven AI in libraries and archives that was created by librarians and tech ethicists at four universities.
Print-at-home PDF: osf.io/yue9s
Interactive website: www.lib.montana.edu/responsible-...
Print-at-home PDF: osf.io/yue9s
Interactive website: www.lib.montana.edu/responsible-...
Responsible AI - MSU Library | Montana State University
www.lib.montana.edu
November 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
The Responsible AI in Libraries and Archives team has released Viewfinder: A toolkit for values-driven AI in libraries and archives that was created by librarians and tech ethicists at four universities.
Print-at-home PDF: osf.io/yue9s
Interactive website: www.lib.montana.edu/responsible-...
Print-at-home PDF: osf.io/yue9s
Interactive website: www.lib.montana.edu/responsible-...
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
EXCELLENT article in the current issue of @ala-acrl.bsky.social College & Research Libraries News for all of my teaching librarian friends out there in #LibraryLand What IS information?
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Information in the Age of Infocracy: Recalibrating the Definition of Information for Library Instruction | Cho | College & Research Libraries News
Information in the Age of Infocracy: Recalibrating the Definition of Information for Library Instruction
crln.acrl.org
November 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
EXCELLENT article in the current issue of @ala-acrl.bsky.social College & Research Libraries News for all of my teaching librarian friends out there in #LibraryLand What IS information?
📚
📚
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
In honor of the debut of the “Purple Rain” musical at State Theatre in Minneapolis, the Hennepin County Library System introduced a limited-edition Prince library card Friday.
Nothing Compares 2 local libraries: Hennepin County releases limited-edition Prince cards
The Hennepin County Library System released a limited-edition library card of the Minnesota music icon on Friday. They are available at all 41 branches.
www.mprnews.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:24 AM
In honor of the debut of the “Purple Rain” musical at State Theatre in Minneapolis, the Hennepin County Library System introduced a limited-edition Prince library card Friday.
Reposted by West Coast Librarian
Dozens of M.C. Escher Prints Have Been Digitized & Put Online by the Boston Public Library
Dozens of M.C. Escher Prints Have Been Digitized & Put Online by the Boston Public Library
In addition to the iconic scene in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, or appearances in animated TV shows and video games, M.C.
www.openculture.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Dozens of M.C. Escher Prints Have Been Digitized & Put Online by the Boston Public Library
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How AI Browsers Sneak Past Blockers and Paywalls - Columbia Journalism Review https://www.cjr.org/analysis/how-ai-browsers-sneak-past-blockers-and-paywalls.php
November 10, 2025 at 9:02 PM
How AI Browsers Sneak Past Blockers and Paywalls - Columbia Journalism Review https://www.cjr.org/analysis/how-ai-browsers-sneak-past-blockers-and-paywalls.php