The American Library Association has filed an amicus brief on the U.S. Supreme Court case, Federal Communications Commission, et al., Petitioners v. Consumers’ Research, et al., which stands to decide the fate of federal programs supporting broadband access for half of the nation’s public libraries. The brief affirms both the constitutionality and the value of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and the programs it administers—particularly the E-Rate program, which helps power broadband-enabled services and access in U.S. public libraries and schools.
Although considerably smaller than ALA’s Midwinter and LibLearnX conferences of the past, there was a palpable sense of community and nostalgia around the last midwinter gathering.
You may have wondered why so many publishers are announcing pilot projects on open access (OA) publishing. The theme of Open Access Week (October 21-27), Community over Commercialization, hints at the reason: publishers want to engage with the community’s request for new models but can’t afford to make a loss on OA (and shouldn’t be expected to).
The best videos released on DVD/Blu-ray in 2024 offer a wide sweep of feature films and documentaries, including one originally made in 1941 and many more just recently created. From an upbeat look at the future to a dramatic consideration of Vatican politics, these films highlight just how illuminating on-screen stories can be.
The News Literacy Project offers resources and advice to educators teaching news literacy at a time when the rhetoric around news and contentious issues has been ratcheted up to a new level.
Preprints, or initial versions of scientific reports that researchers share before the formal peer review and publication process have been completed, have started to become more popular within academic circles—and now the Gates Foundation has changed its Open Access policyto require grant-funded research papers to appear as preprints before publication.
In 1926, Carter G. Woodson envisioned a weeklong commemoration to increase awareness of Black history and culture. In the 1960s, protests against racial injustice helped make it into a monthlong celebration, but the U.S. didn’t formally recognize Black History Month until 1976. This list spotlights collective and individual aspects of Black history and experience.
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction longlist is announced. PEN America releases the Banned Books List 2025, while the Big Five U.S. publishers sue Idaho over book-removal language in House Bill (HB) 710.
“We pointed out in our brief a number of ways that libraries rely on E-Rate funds to provide critical communications to their communities. And it’s not just that libraries need these discounts—it’s that their communities need this vital access to high-speed internet for school, for work, for telehealth, for emergency response, for civic and basic communication.”
The National Book Foundation and the Sloan Foundation announce 2025 selections for the Science + Literature program: The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong, and Meltwater: Poems by Claire Wahmanholm. Chimwemwe Undi is selected as Canada’s parliamentary poet laureate. Wole Soyinka receives the Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature Award. The future of libraries and arts agencies is unclear amid a federal funding freeze (that has been halted for now).
Open Access publishing advances global scholarship by making research results more widely accessible to anyone with internet access. However, publishers of Open Access journals have struggled to find a financial model that works well for all parties. Now, a new model from PeerJ is rethinking that approach to remove barriers to choosing Open Access.
Highly recommended for information professionals seeking to explore cultural humility as a framework for fostering empathy and positive change across a range of library settings.
This thoughtful guide is a critical aid in supporting library professionals as they make changes to decrease the harm caused by their institution’s catalogue. Recommended for anyone who works in a gallery, library, archive, or museum and is looking to address bias in their collections.
A fascinating look at interesting creatures going about their business in the most mundane habitats, demonstrating that observing nature is available to all. For readers who relish accessible scientific studies and lyrical nature writing.
Visscher’s clear, well-reasoned and well-explained book, aimed at general audiences, offers an accessible alternative perspective on nuclear power, which he believes has been unfairly maligned and misunderstood.
Highlighting an elusive and understudied part of English history, this book will appeal to many, especially readers interested in medieval history. The importance of the Mercian contribution to the building of a medieval English state cannot be underestimated.
Based on Russian, German, and Polish sources, Buttar’s finely detailed account of this battle will be enjoyed by readers interested in World War II history, especially about the Eastern Front.
This highly recommended, extensively researched work fills a gap in biographical information on Churchill and Mellon and presents a vivid account of interwar UK-U.S. relations.
In contrast to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s characterization of fact-checking as unwanted censorship, most Americans actually agree that the U.S. government and technology companies should each take steps to restrict false information and extremely violent content online.
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