TILT #78 — Please remember everything we teach you.
I’m back in Vermont, going straight from AC to flannel sheets. Drop-In Time starts up next week and I am ready.
Before I left Massachusetts I hung out with Greg from The Library Land Project. If you are from Mass., or read Library Journal, you probably know this project: a pair of guys who work in PR (and who often work out of libraries) visit libraries and… rate them. It’s the rating aspect that sometimes gets people a little agitated, though they’re based on mostly objective qualities. It was super fun to get to sit down and talk with someone who has been to so many libraries, and get some perspective on how non-library workers view libraries.
“Fashion, inclusive design, and general fierceness. Irish blogger and activist Sinéad Burke (pictured) joined actress and stuntwoman Katrina Kemp in conversation at [Los Angeles] Central Library.” FB post byJohn Szabo; ht/ to Eugene Owens and Joyce Cooper who organized the program.
Lots of people fighting about library stuff in the press lately. Publishers are mad at Audible (owned by Amazon) for adding an AI-generated caption feature. Supposedly an accessibility option, it basically makes a listenable audiobook into a readable ebook. This is also a thing you can buy for the products that use Audible’s “Immersion” feature — a more error-free experience that is otherwise basically the same, but comes at a cost. I do have a “cry me a river” feeling towards big publishers lately, but hey maybe we can all unite in our hatred for Amazon? Although hey, maybe Amazon is back-door uniting with publishers to slag on libraries? So complicated, this capitalism. Also, there is a petition you can sign.
Speaking of capitalism, hipster glasses manufacturer Warby Parker finally decided to suck up to the library and library enthusiast/fetish market. I do love their actual interviews with actual bespectacled librarians. That said, my heart belongs to Zenni Optical for low-cost decent looking readers.
Alternatively, speaking of audiobooks, Prologue is an iOS audiobook manager that runs inside of Plex. Plex is a sort of make-your-own Netflix which I have written about for Computers in Libraries. It’s fun to tinker with, and you can use it to manage your personal music, picture and video collections. And now, with Prologue, you can use some of Plex’s best features — picking up where you left off, access from any device, downloading for offline access — for audiobooks as well.
Longer reads you should definitely read.
- I Visited 47 Sites. Hundreds of Trackers Followed Me — nothing you don’t already know but some great dataviz along with this story
- Ian MacKaye (of Dischord Records fame) Interview — where he talks about his label’s archives. Two years after this was published, Ian hired archivist Nichole Procopenko to arrange and describe Dischord’s collection, and here’s that story. Also featured in Maximum Rock and Roll #402 if you have or want access to that.
Let talk library books.
- When the Public Feared That Library Books Could Spread Deadly Diseases — “For a populace that was already on edge about fatal diseases, the idea of contaminated library books passing from hand to hand became a significant source of anxiety.”
- Litsy is an Instagram for books and book lovers that is mostly undiscoverable by the search engines. Now owned by our friends at LibraryThing.
- Love Letter to a Library — Steve Locke was an artist in residence in the City of Boston and did a lovely project, including these memory books for people to write in about the library, a series called “I remember everything you taught me here.” publicly available via the Internet Archive.
- A book review of Leah Price’s book about books, by Dan Chiasson.
“The more we use our screens, it seems, the more power we assign to books as objects, and to turning their literal pages as a timeless icon of languor. But our reality, some blend of print and digital, material and immaterial, is perhaps no less picturesque.”
- While I am usually not in favor of book defacement, I might make an exception for Mister Henderson.
As always, the technology corner.
- This free course teaches you how to do a web accessibility audit. We’re starting to look into this at the Vermont Humanities Council and it can be daunting, but so worthwhile.
- I had to get set up as a “vendor” to do a webinar in another state. It almost involved faxing. I have opinions about faxing. I was happy to learn that there are some nice web-to-fax tools. Here is how to fax a Google doc straight from your computer.
- Want to get an open source ILS but lack the skills, money, or know-how? Consider applying for an Equinox Open Source Grant.
- At the beginning of the summer, I mentioned the Cartoonists of Color database. I was pleased to learn about the Database of Diverse Databases including many more searchable options to help connect with talented people of color in many disciplines.
- 42% of Dallas households do not have a subscription to home broadband. This article looks at what Jordana Barton, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, wants to do about that.
- LibraryTechnology.org now includes individual privacy and security reports. Mine looks good. Does yours?
- This book-finding robot at Helsinki’s central library doesn’t talk, but has very expressive eyebrows.
Jessamyn has read and (mostly) loved these books. Ask her about them!
Noted without (additional) comment. Someone is selling the original door from my local library. I am not purchasing it, but it was a tough decision.
Today in Librarian Tabs is written irregularly by Jessamyn West who also maintains librarian.net. It’s available in more-accessible format your inbox via TinyLetter. Thanks for reading
