From a “Ghost Library” to a “Window on the Big World”: The Story of Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui, Wellington Central Library
What do you do when the building standards governing the safety of your workplace are deemed inadequate?
Critical Archives
Studying the way we’ve studied the past is mutual work. Archivists and librarians, and scholars using their collections, have each been producing critical archives scholarship that too often remains within disciplinary and professional siloes.
The Great Libraries of China
An architectural tour of the great libraries of China turns up a spectacular place to read a book on the beach.
Why Does the U.S. Copyright Office Require Libraries to Lie to Users about Their Fair Use Rights? They Won’t Say.
The copyright warning notice prescribed by the US Copyright Office misleads library patrons about their fair use rights, and must change.
Guest Post — Why Are UK Libraries Signing a Springer-Nature Deal They Don’t Seem to Like?
Libraries continue to sign Transformative Agreements while becoming increasingly convinced that they do not represent the desired transformation. Peter Barr explains why this happens.
The Publishing Community Should More Actively Oppose Book Bans
With a lawsuit filed last week Pen America, Penguin Random House, authors, and parents began fighting book bans. Other publishers should help.
Guest Post – Manifesto for a New Read Deal
A.J. Boston offers a route for managing closed access e-serials in a way that finds the best value for libraries, the most content for users, keeps publishers solvent, and experiments on behalf of equity.
Guest Post — Do Libraries Still Dream Unified Dreams? Part 2
Today’s post looks at loosely coupled software and services that together could be used to create a modular library system. What are the merits, and flaws, of such an approach and what can libraries (and technology providers) do to remedy some of the less desired effects of such strategies?
Guest Post — What is Keeping University Chief Information Security Officers Up at Night
An SNSI research project looks at the views of university Chief Information Security Officers toward network security, potential threats, data security, and the risks posed by Sci-Hub.
Guest Post — In Tough Times the Key is to Think Differently
Alan Harvey from Stanford University Press discusses their evolving strategy in turbulent times.
Trust and the Personal Library
Who holds the particular book needed by a reader? What is the balance between the personal library and the institutional collection?
A Library of 11 Million Fluid Specimens
The Chicago Field Museum’s basement holds a collection of some 11 million specimens, preserved and stored in fluid.
Speculation on the Most Likely OSTP Nelson Memo Implementation Scenario and the Resulting Publisher Strategies
What is the most likely scenario for implementation of the OSTP’s Nelson Memo? And what strategies will that offer for publishers?
Let the Metadata Wars Begin
Two giants in the library technology market move the battle over who controls library catalog records to court.
Guest Post — What Do Library-Publisher Relations Look Like in 2022?
The AUPresses Library Relations Committee asks Peter Berkery and Mary Lee Kennedy to share their thoughts about how relations between publishers and libraries have changed.