Category «Education»

Ten years of a ‘quiet culture war’: where does it stand now?

In 2014, Rick Anderson wrote A quiet culture war in research libraries – and what it means for librarians, researchers and publishers’, arguing that there existed an ongoing conflict within the academic library profession over whether the library’s most important role is to support its local institution or to advance global priorities (specifically, progress towards open scholarship). Here Anderson reassess the landscape ten years later, finding that this conflict has both persisted and deepened, and offer two predictions: first, that the broader systemic conflict between competing business models will not be resolved by libraries, authors or publishers, but rather by institutions and funders, and second, that the end result will be a system characterized by coexisting models of pay‑access and open‑access publishing.

Subjects: Education, Libraries & Librarians, Open Source

The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research, Public Health, and the Rule of Law – Part 6

As we approach January 20, 2026, the one year mark of the second Trump administration, Americans are witnessing the exercise of vast, often illegal and unconstrained presidential powers, unprecedented in our history. The impact of these powers, within our government, the private sector, and around the globe, continue to resonate. Part 6 of this series gives special attention to how operationalizing the full scope of actions outlined in the “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” has impacted the lives of ordinary Americans, regardless of where they live, with which party they may be affiliated, their age, ethnicity or gender. Consistent with the previous five parts of Sabrina I. Pacifici’s series, this article examines only one month, December 2025, of the Trump administration’s war every aspect of our democracy.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Education, Energy, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Resources, Health, Healthcare, Legal Research, United States Law

Like Lawyers In Pompeii: Is Legal Ignoring The Coming AI Infrastructure Crisis? (Part I)

Stephen Embry and Melissa Rogo Rogozinski identify the multiple risk factors involved in the increasing usage of AI in the legal sector, including infrastructure gaps between chip capacity, demand for energy sources and building new data centers, as well as vendor dependencies, promises and deliverables. This four part series is available on LLRX.

Subjects: AI, Computer Security, Cybercrime, Education, Intellectual Property, KM, Management, Privacy, Software, Technology Trends

Like Lawyers In Pompeii: Is Legal Ignoring The Coming AI Cost Crisis? (Part II)

Stephen Embry and Melissa Rogozinski challenge the assumption fueling the explosion of AI use in legal is that it will save gobs of time. These savings will inure to the benefit of lawyers and clients, will lead to fairer methods of billing like alternative fee structures, will get better results, improve access to justice, and lead to ‘world peace’. Well, maybe even the vendors would not go so far as to guarantee the last one. But vendors do seem to be guaranteeing everything but that. And pundits talk as if AI will transform legal from the ground up. Law firms are buying into the hype, investing in expensive systems that do things they barely understand. See also Part I of their article here.

Subjects: AI, Continuing Legal Education, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Education, KM, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Management

The Librarian as a Trusted (Human) Assistant

Jennifer Chapman concisely conveys the importance of identifying for patrons that AI’s confidence doesn’t equal competence. Chapman states that as law librarians we are naturally skeptical of certainty. The law teaches us to question everything, and library school teaches us how to verify everything. We, not generative AI, are the trusted human assistants that need to help our patrons effectively use technology tools.

Subjects: AI, Education, KM, Law Librarians, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Legal Research Training, Search Strategies

January 1, 2026 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1930 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1925!

This annual Domain Day review is by Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle from the Center for the Study of the Public Domain. On January 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1925. They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon. The literary highlights range from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying to Agatha Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage and the first four Nancy Drew novels. From cartoons and comic strips, the characters Betty Boop, Pluto (originally named Rover), and Blondie and Dagwood made their first appearances. Films from the year featured Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, the Marx Brothers, and John Wayne in his first leading role. Among the public domain compositions are I Got Rhythm, Georgia on My Mind, and Dream a Little Dream of Me. We are also celebrating paintings from Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee. In this article you will read lists of some of the most notable books, characters, comics, and cartoons, films, songs, sound recordings, and art entering the public domain. After each of them, the authors have provided an analysis of their significance.

Subjects: Copyright, Education, Librarian Resources, Libraries & Librarians

The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health – Part 5

The fifth in a series by Sabrina I. Pacifici focuses once again on government resources, data and datasets that been taken offline, censored or otherwise altered to block access. As these data are no longer updated, the value and relevance to researchers decreases rapidly. These data operationalize critical work performed by federal government agencies and in concert with academic institutions and research institutions. The scope of this censorship has wiped out taxpayer funded research across across all subject matters, which until this administration, was openly posted on e-government sites for further exploration and enhancement by both the public and private sectors.

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Government Resources, Healthcare, KM, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 29, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Is Your Android TV Streaming Box Part of a Botnet?; FCC Corrects Course, Outlines Improved Cybersecurity Measures; Social data puts user passwords at risk in unexpected ways; Homeland Security Is Reportedly Probing Bitcoin Mining Giant Bitmain for National Security Reasons; and Senator urges CBP to quit using tech to track and detain ‘suspicious’ drivers.

Subjects: Copyright, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Education, Email Security, Privacy, Social Media, Travel, United States Law

Teaching Legal Research in the Generative AI Era: When Source Blindness and Source Erasure Collide (Part 2)

In Part 2 of her series on how Generative AI (GAI) has changed the dynamics of legal research, Tanya Thomas highlights how research used to encompass finding sources, evaluating them, synthesizing insights across multiple authorities, and reaching conclusions based on that synthesis. Now however, it means asking questions and accepting answers. Students have become consumers of information rather than investigators of it. They don’t develop the iterative thinking that characterizes skilled research—trying a search, evaluating results, refining the query, following unexpected leads, discovering connections, recognizing gaps, circling back to fill them. They simply ask and receive.

Subjects: AI, Communications, Education, Legal Education, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Legal Technology

The Grief You Can’t Name – How Change and Transformation Influence You

When organizations ask people to change how they work, they’re not just asking them to learn new procedures. They’re asking them to grieve what made them valuable, release what gave them pride, and trust that something on the other side of that loss will be worth it. Kevin Novak describes how oganizations pour billions into change management while ignoring the psychological truth underneath: regardless of the situation, when confronted with organizational change, humans go through the same grief cycle first identified by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Her book, On Death and Dying, published in 1969, introduced the concept of the Five Stages of Grief. Those five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Her intent wasn’t an application to organizational change or transformation, or even a recognition of how we all go through stages when confronted with any personal or professional change. However, Novak states that ongoing research and his company’s study of the human factor, demonstrate her model’s applicability. Understanding these stages can help inform individuals facing change as much as for how leaders approach transformation.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Communications, Education, Ethics, Leadership, Libraries & Librarians, Management