Category «Libraries & Librarians»

How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian

Hana Lee Goldin is a expert “human” pathfinder who shares her extensive knowledge with an expanding cadre of people seeking to adopt AI in all facets of work and life. In her article, Goldin deftly illuminates one of the major risks of ChatGPT. Goldin say it doesn’t lie, exactly. It patterns matches. When you ask for a “cited article about remote work productivity,” it knows what citations look like. Author name, year, compelling title, respectable journal. It assembles these patterns into something that feels right. Like a dream where everything makes sense until you wake up.

Subjects: AI, Education, KM, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Technology Trends

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

How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian

AI has flooded the zone, overwhelming one on one human knowledge sharing. In this article Hana Lee Goldin returns the focus to the art of the reference interview. When someone has a research or information based request, librarians are trained to figure out what they actually seek and require. The first question asked most often does not encompass the scope of the information sought. Good reference librarians ask follow-up questions. This skill translates directly to AI. The better you understand what you’re actually looking for before you prompt, the better your results.

Subjects: AI, KM, Law Librarians, Libraries & Librarians, Search Strategies, Technology Trends

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 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

Fair Use in the Age of AI: When Training Isn’t Copying, and Licensing Isn’t the Law

Kyle K. Courtney, both lawyer and librarian, is the Director of Copyright and Information Policy for Harvard Library. He guides us through the rapidly evolving legal landscape around artificial intelligence and copyright where two district court opinions now serve as early landmarks. As a result of these recent decisions, he concludes that the case is even stronger, and far more compelling, for libraries doing the same work in service of research, education, and public access.

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Courts & Technology, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Search Engines, Social Media, Technology Trends, United States Law

Connecticut House Passes Landmark eBook Bill

Kyle K. Courtney [he is a lawyer for libraries] spotlights the eBook Study Group, a national coalition of legal and policy experts focused on fair digital access for libraries, who applaud the 106–38 passage of long-awaited legislation by the Connecticut House of Representatives that will make eBook licenses more consistent with the library mission and better serve library users across the state. This effort is a benchmark for libraries and advocates in jurisdictions throughout the country who are battling restrictive licensing terms imposed by publishers.

Subjects: Congress, E-Books, KM, Legal Research, Legislative, Libraries & Librarians, Library Software & Technology

Classification as Colonization: The Hidden Politics of Library Catalogs

Assistant Professor and Cataloging & Discovery Librarian at Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Mike Olson’s research focuses on the intersection of information systems and social critique. In this timely and insightful article Olson discusses why and how library catalogs have always been battlegrounds where content is not merely described but debated. President Trump’s January 20, 2025, Executive Order 14172 directing the renaming of longstanding geographical designations “Mount Denali” and “Gulf of Mexico” to the politically loaded “Mount McKinley” and “Gulf of America” reveal the naked truth of what cataloging has always been: a battlefield where meaning is contested and conquered.

Subjects: Cataloging, KM, Libraries & Librarians

January 1, 2025 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1929 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1924

On January 1, 2025, thousands of copyrighted works from 1929 will enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1924. They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon. This year’s literary highlights include The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, and A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. In film, Mickey Mouse speaks his first words, the Marx Brothers star in their first feature film, and legendary directors from Alfred Hitchcock to John Ford made their first sound films. From comic strips, the original Popeye and Tintin characters will enter the public domain. Among the newly public domain compositions are Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Ravel’s Bolero, Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’, and the musical number Singin’ in the Rain. This expansive guide by Jennifer Jenkins selectively highlights a wide range of works that will be in the U.S. public domain in 2025. For librarians, educators and everyone who loves iconic books, music, film, plays, art and cartoons, this is a wonderful, welcome gift with which to begin 2025.

Subjects: Copyright, Education, Libraries & Librarians, Search Engines

When scientific citations go rogue: Uncovering ‘sneaked references’

Reading and writing articles published in academic journals and presented at conferences is a central part of being a researcher. When researchers write a scholarly article, they must cite the work of peers to provide context, detail sources of inspiration and explain differences in approaches and results. A positive citation by other researchers is a key measure of visibility for a researcher’s own work. But what happens when this citation system is manipulated? A recent Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology article by Lonni Besançon and Guillaume Cabanac and their team of academic sleuths – which includes information scientists, a computer scientist and a mathematician – has revealed an insidious method to artificially inflate citation counts through metadata manipulations: sneaked references.

Subjects: Information Mapping, KM, Legal Research, Librarian Resources, Libraries & Librarians