Call for Proposals -
Library Trends 75 (4): Rethinking the Role of #Libraries as Democracies Falter. Deadline for proposals February 15, 2026

I’m watching Pluribus and I just started episode 4. Maybe I’ve been thinking about AI too much, but I think the one-mind-group might represent ChatGPT (and our current lack of data privacy).

1.1 trillion seems low to me. Probably wrong.

I asked Perplexity a question and here’s the answer: The combined wealth of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, and Sam Altman (over $1.1 trillion) is greater than the total household wealth of most individual European countries except the big four.

Gmail is offering AI summaries of my email. No. Go away.

Do public libraries help mitigate crime? Evidence from Kansas City, MO - Journal of Cultural Economics We examine the relationship between public libraries and local crime rates. Previous studies have looked at different factors that could account for changes in crime, but few have focused on cultural ...

Wanna reduce crime?

Open more libraries.

"we find within the nearby proximity of the library; there is a substantial reduction in frequency of burglaries, vandalism, robberies, fraud, and assaults."

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Why is a president allowed unlimited executive orders? This is bananas. I’d like to suggest a limit! One day would be a good start! How many executive orders did previous presidents make. Honestly I’d like no more than a couple a year.

Opinion | The Anti-Woke Right and the Free Speech Con (Gift Article) DeSantis walked so that Trump could run.

Because I am constantly contemplating, “How did we get here?” This is a good read: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/o...

Smashing Pumpkins poster from 1991, Omaha, Nebraska.

Thinking about when I saw this Smashing Pumpkins concert—and how few people were there. Sometimes I’m nostalgic for the great music scene in Omaha in the late 80s and early 90s.

I hope so!

SCOOP: DOGE notified the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) today that the entire staff is being put on administrative leave effective immediately, I’ve learned from an agency source.

They’ll be cancelling huge swaths of grants/contracts and starting a Reduction in Force (RIF).

Every Book Its Reader: Participate in the Annual, Librarian-led Wikimedia Campaign - Choice 360 The #EveryBookItsReader Wikimedia campaign allows book lovers to share their books with new readers and fight censorship.

www.choice360.org/libtech-insi... #libraries #librarians #Wikipedia #books

Democratic Leaders Stand Real Still In Hopes No One Notices Them WASHINGTON—With the elected officials trying their hardest not to move a muscle, reports confirmed Monday that top Democratic leaders in Congress were standing real still in hopes that the American pe...

Democratic Leaders Stand Real Still In Hopes No One Notices Them

Walz: "The idea that the secretary of education would not know what IDEA is -- individuals with disability in education act -- that's like your mechanic not knowing how to put air in your tire. And she's in charge of this nation's education progress. It is catastrophic."

#EveryBookItsReader 2025 In times of information overload, misinformation, and fake news, preserving and accessing humanity’s cultural memory is crucial. Participating in Wikimedia projects–platforms built on open kn…

Article about the #EveryBookItsReader campaign by Lilian Viana, a librarian in Brazil. diff.wikimedia.org/2025/03/10/e...

It’s already here. It started in 2016. Numbers at my university have plummeted since then.

I bought the “Killing Me Softly” album at a garage sale down the street in 1978 (abt). I was in kindergarten or 1st grade. I loved the album cover with its cut out piano. I played it many times on my children’s record player in my bedroom. RIP Roberta Flack

I support Ukraine. 🇺🇦

“The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities expresses grave concern over the escalating threats to academic freedom, both in the United States and beyond” 🧪
European academies have isssued a joint statement on what is going on in US here: allea.org/wp-content/u...

Death can is brilliant.

Today I encountered my first AI-generated news article that included a manufactured quote from me on a topic I did not speak or post about, just in case you're wondering how AI is going.

Developer creates endless Wikipedia feed to fight algorithm addiction WikiTok cures boredom in spare moments with wholesome swipe-up Wikipedia article discovery.

Given the news of the day I am doubling-down on my dedication to Wikipedia. New way to enjoy Wikipedia: WikiTok!!

arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025...

Trump’s firing of the U.S. government archivist is far worse than it might seem The National Archives and Records Administration does more than just preserve documents: It’s the scaffolding of the American political system.

www.fastcompany.com/91277620/tru...

Elon Musk Wants What He Can’t Have: Wikipedia Musk and other right-wing tech figures have been on a campaign to delegitimize the digital encyclopedia. What happens if they succeed?

As a Wikipedian I can tell you there is no way EM will ever purchase Wikipedia. It’s worldwide, in over 300 languages, and supported by thousands upon thousands of editors and volunteers who feel passionately about its place in the world. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

I’m watching “The Net”. A 1995 classic! (The year I graduated from college).

A professor was lecturing to his English class: “In English, a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, a double negative is still a negative. However, there's no language where in a double positive can form a negative.”

A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.”

It always tickles me when undergraduate students ask how many books they can check out at one time.

AI is Fabricating Misinformation: A Call for AI Literacy in the Classroom Want to learn something new? My suggestion: Don’t ask ChatGPT. While tech leaders promote generative AI tools as your new, go-to source for information, my experience as a university librarian suggest...

My first op-ed! thefulcrum.us/ai-literacy-...

A Lesson from History as Trump Seeks to Return America to its Expansionist Past As Donald Trump prepares to retake the presidency, his rhetoric is increasingly centered on reviving American expansionism. He wants the United States to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, has ca...

Great op-ed from OSU assistant professor, Joel Zapata. thefulcrum.us/american-exp...

“Extreme behavior”? Are they talking about people, wind, fire, all?