News and announcements
🤖 Every academic library is struggling with the question of how to approach artificial intelligence, especially within the context of information literacy and research. So I applaud any library that has the fortitude and focus to develop an AI strategy. The Lemieux Library at Seattle University has created “an intentional, structured response to the challenges and opportunities we face in assessing, integrating, using and supporting artificial intelligence.” This statement sits alongside their vision statement, their EDI action plan, and other documents that outline the general mission of the organization. I don’t believe that AI will always always occupy a special place alongside our core strategic documents, but it’s a good place for time being.
📞 When I was in college, there was a help desk you could call to ask research questions, but that’s not what they were known for. They had a reputation for being able (or at least willing) to answer ANY question you threw at them. So it could be something related to financial aid, or it could be “how many Hummers could I fit inside the football stadium.” Their student staff were trained to diligently try to answer anything. The new “Answer U” service at the J. Willard Marriott Library reminds me somewhat of that: a one-stop shop for college students to get answers to any questions about the college experience. Though maybe not as silly as my experience would suggest, I like this idea of academic libraries functioning (from a service point of view) more like public libraries do for their communities.
🔋 Now this is cool. Yale Library’s Environmental Monitoring Data Project is gathering data about the display and storage conditions for its cultural heritage collections. The collected data will help the library refine its energy consumption levels. Instead of a using a one-size-fits-all climate system to what amounts to acres of collections storage, the EMDP recognizes that some objects may tolerate less-energy-dependent environments. This project is a university-wide collaboration of conservators, IT experts, and collections and facilities staff.
📝 Rutgers University Libraries is helping researchers make sense of the rapidly evolving intersection of copyright law and generative AI. They provide a practical overview of how countries are approaching AI regulation, highlighting debates over text and data mining exceptions, compulsory licensing, voluntary licensing agreements, and the use of fair use as a legal justification for AI training. As they emphasize, the legal frameworks remain unsettled worldwide, with more than 150 AI-related lawsuits already filed globally, most of those in the U.S.
📚 Ann Glusker from UC Berkeley Library wrote about an oral history project documenting how librarians have adapted to decades of technological and organizational change. The “Librarians Navigating Change” project features interviews with long-serving UC Berkeley librarians, showing how library work evolved alongside changes to information technologies and campus needs. Glusker highlights interesting finds, like a 1991 notebook of training handouts from Berkeley’s Moffitt Library. The collection serves as a time capsule of library services before the web, featuring guides for CD-ROM databases, dial-up catalog access, early online searching, and more. (Hm, I should do digging like this in my own university archives!)
Notable mentions
- The University of Kentucky Libraries is examining how the rapid loss of buildings during natural disasters affects the psychological well-being of survivors.
- The University of Arkansas Libraries have digitized 190 years of Arkansas constitutional history.
- The University Library at UNC have created an “AI in Action” hub to capture all their work in the area.
- Carol Ann Borchert was appointed the new dean of the USF Libraries.
- The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt have an incredible speaker series lined up for next year, including authors such as Malcolm Gladwell, Jodi Picoult, and Barbara Kingsolver.
- UC Davis Library has a detailed update on its strategic priorities.
- The University of Delaware Library has joined the Google Books Library Project.
- The arts and humanities librarian at Carnegie Mellon U. hosts a “Breathe, Reset, Connect with Your Heart” workshop.
- Clemson Libraries received $26K to assess handwritten text recognition AI platforms used to digitize historic documents.
- The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries won the inaugural Clarivate Library Innovation Award.
On social
Maybe it’s just because I’m a millennial, but the Tulane University Libraries’s take on the Oregon Trail brought back deep childhood trauma. Consider me overly citation-cautious now. I don’t want to see my name on a tombstone!
Aside from the trends I mentioned in my previous post, AcadLibs were all over the memesphere this month. We had:
- The University of Georgia Libraries did the mecca chameleon trend.
- Stonehill College MacPháidín Library did the “don’t tell your coworkers what you’re really asking” trend.
- Boston U. Libraries jumped on the Jimothy train.
- Leatherby Libraries at Chapman did the “This and…” meme.
- The William H. Hannon Library did the Odysseus stringing his bow meme (yep, that’s me).
But of all the content this month, it was this post from Hampden-Sydney College Library that made me laugh out loud because… well, it me. I feel the exact same way every time I go into the special collections vault.
banner image: “Bacon Library, 1901”, retrieved from Calisphere