Reading Between the Bots
American Libraries Magazine
by Diana Panuncial
3w ago
What is artificial intelligence (AI)? What do library workers think of it? How are they using it? And what ethical concerns or issues of privacy have developed as AI becomes increasingly commonplace? According to a May 2023 survey of academic librarians by Leo S. Lo, professor and dean of the College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, about 45% of respondents said they have a moderate understanding of AI concepts and principles. Seventy-four percent underscored the urgent need to address potential ethical and privacy issues related to this ..read more
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The World of AI
American Libraries Magazine
by Diana Panuncial
3w ago
Last October, President Joe Biden released an executive order detailing guidelines for various aspects of artificial intelligence (AI), with the aim of driving inquiry, regulations, and policy around current and emerging tools. A hot topic in many industries, generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) has increasingly occupied our cultural consciousness since the large language model ChatGPT debuted for public use in November 2022. Some libraries are playing a unique role in charting a path through this new technological territory as the boundaries of AI’s uses and impacts continu ..read more
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Realizing Potential
American Libraries Magazine
by Megan Bennett
3w ago
Around the world, organizations are learning how to assess the benefits and challenges of swiftly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) tools, while simultaneously learning how to safeguard against some of the concerns they present. As many types of AI become commonplace, library workers in particular will be at the forefront of evaluating their significance in the information realm. American Libraries touched base with professionals at five public, school, and academic libraries who are using, and innovating with, this emerging technology. Robots in Residence Santa Ana (Calif.) Public Library ..read more
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Common Forms of AI
American Libraries Magazine
by Greg Landgraf
3w ago
Text generators Tools that generate text based on user prompts. Examples: copy.ai, Anyword, Peppertype, Grammarly Uses: Automate drafting of routine documents like overdue notices or new cardholder welcome messages, draft marketing copy or web page text Controversies: » Sports Illustrated was recently criticized for publishing AI-generated product reviews on its website, which it blamed on a company it licensed content from. » AI-generated travel guides reached top spots in Amazon’s search results, boosted by reviews alleged to be fake. » AI can hallucinate, or present plausible but false info ..read more
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Considering Cannabis
American Libraries Magazine
by Greg Landgraf
3w ago
The legalization of marijuana in many states and municipalities in recent years has created a newly legal industry and budding entrepreneurs who can benefit from the expertise of business librarians. As soon as Washington state introduced an initiative to legalize recreational cannabis use in 2012, Seattle Public Library (SPL) librarian Jay Lyman started fielding questions from potential entrepreneurs. “Libraries work when they reflect what’s going on in the community, so of course we started getting people coming to us with information needs about cannabis,” says Lyman, who now runs SPL’s Lib ..read more
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Talking Points
American Libraries Magazine
by Sanhita SinhaRoy
3w ago
When Courtney Waters saw young patrons taking an interest in fantasy and medieval history, she decided to introduce sword fighting at her library. “I’m always looking to do programs that are a little bit off the beaten path,” says Waters, youth services manager at Missouri River Regional Library (MRRL) in Jefferson City, Missouri. Enter centuries-old combat and training techniques, which have seen a boom in recent years, thanks in part to the emergence of historical European martial arts (HEMA) communities, mainly in the US, Australia, and Europe. After seeing another library host a swordcraft ..read more
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Meeting Neurodiverse Needs
American Libraries Magazine
by Megan Bennett
3w ago
To fill in service gaps exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Warren County (Ky.) Public Library (WCPL) opened four satellite libraries. These one-room, full-service satellites, housed by community partners, are meant to support populations that would otherwise struggle to visit a full-size branch because of socioeconomic, transportation, or other barriers. Last year, WCPL debuted a satellite inside LifeWorks, a local residential community for young adults with autism who are striving toward independence and employment. The location, the state’s first public library specifically serving this popul ..read more
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Newsmaker: Hanif Abdurraqib
American Libraries Magazine
by Diana Panuncial
3w ago
When poet and writer Hanif Abdurraqib received a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, the foundation observed that he “is forging a new form of cultural criticism, one that is informed by lived experience and offers incisive social and artistic critiques.” This aptly describes A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance (2021), winner of the 2022 Carnegie Medal, and Abdurraqib’s new book, There’s Always This Year: Basketball and Ascension (Random House, March), which is, in part, a paean to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Abdurraqib spoke with American Libraries about his forthcoming ..read more
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Bookend: Completing the Circuit
American Libraries Magazine
by Carrie Smith
3w ago
How do you archive a robot? This is the question that Kathleen Donahoe, robot archive processing archivist at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Libraries in Pittsburgh, and a team of archivists, roboticists, and preservation experts seek to answer through the Robotics Project, which launched in 2019. “There are just so many layers to how a robotics project comes about, and each has its challenges,” says Donahoe. CMU’s archive is not just robots. It also contains digital copies of the code they run on, records of research and development processes, photos, videos, and correspondence between coll ..read more
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Newsmakers: Trish Adlesic and Nazenet Habtezghi
American Libraries Magazine
by Megan Bennett
1M ago
Book challenges and bans rage on in the US at a record-setting pace. These efforts “fuel the flames of hate,” says award-winning filmmaker Trish Adlesic. Adlesic is codirector and producer of The ABCs of Book Banning, a 2023 film that has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Short category. Sheila Nevins, famed documentarian and current head of MTV Documentary Films, led the project, and journalist-turned-filmmaker Nazenet Habtezghi also codirected. American Libraries spoke with Adlesic and Habtezghi ahead of the 2024 Academy Awards, which will air 7 p.m. Eastern on Marc ..read more
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