It’s happening all around the country. Librarians are teaching patrons and students how to detect “fake news”.
In Seattle WA: From King5 News.
In Kenosha WI: From Kenosha WI News
At Fordham U, NY: Fordham University Libraries
In LaSalle, IL: La Salle Public Library
Do you know of other libraries informing their patrons how to spot “fake news”? Let us know in the comments.
Welcome to the curriculum page for the Data Privacy Project. We are pleased to share a set of learning tools that was created with and for library professionals. The curriculum contains a facilitator’s guide, presentation slides, and handouts, and permits remix and reuse under a Share Alike 4.0 Creative Commons license.
Beyond reading this report and preprint, what can we do to learn more and help protect our patrons’ privacy (and our own)? Keeping up with these issues is a good first step….
We can also work to audit our own internal library systems and practices, and to push the vendors we work with to protect patron privacy. Further, we can increase digital privacy awareness among ourselves, our coworkers, and our patrons.
A report on the future of public libraries from the prestigious Carnegie Trust has been slammed as “over-optimistic”, amid calls for it to be withdrawn. Leading library campaigner Tim Coates has filed a formal complaint with the charity’s trustees, claiming that the report, published last month, “seriously avoids the truth” about the long-term decline of the sector and misrepresents data on library use.
From Major report on libraries’ future slammed as over-optimistic | Books | The Guardian
From the New York Times (a liberal bastion of journalism), an article about the liberal bastion of libraries on the England-Wales border Gladstone’s Library.
A library was established by Britain’s high-minded Victorian Liberal prime minister, William Gladstone in the late 19th Century and its now enjoying a boom in use. Unlike the US where all former Presidents establish a library, it is the only Prime Minister’s library in the UK. Access is free to all.
The restaurant at Gladstone’s Library, close to the border between Wales and England, is called Food for Thought, and the caterers have been busy recently.
Interest has surged in an institution that houses Gladstone’s books and papers and that sees itself as a temple of liberal values, delighting its director, Peter Francis, who believes the trend is a reaction to the rise of populism in Britain to the upcoming Brexit.
To address this question, a recent meta-analysis of 166 studies, including 75,269 participants of 34 countries, explored the so-called “privacy paradox,” that is, the puzzling fact that people’s concerns about privacy rarely appear to translate into protective behaviors. Contrary to previous studies, the findings of the meta-analysis revealed that individuals who are more concerned with and informed about privacy tend to use fewer online services, set stronger security settings, and disclose less personal information. However, when it comes to social media use, there is indeed a privacy paradox, as even individuals who express concerns behave quite carelessly, engaging in uncensored or inappropriate self-disclosure, making a great deal of their digital footprint public, and allowing a wide range of external apps to access their data. It has been estimated that nearly 40% of Facebook content is shared according to the (rather unsafe) default settings, and that privacy settings match users’ expectations only 37% of the time. Thus, it appears that no amount of privacy concerns will make social media users more cautious.
Perth opened a new central library last spring in a gleaming cylindrical building that is both a book silo and an architectural exclamation point for one of the world’s most isolated cities. Perth has experienced 50 years of steady growth, topped by a downtown building boom to serve Western Australia mining, making it the nation’s Houston or Denver. So it was high time for the first new municipal building since a concert hall in 1972. The striking design stacks seven levels on the edge of a low bluff overlooking Perth’s rapidly developing recreational waterfront. When I visited one Saturday afternoon, visitors were taking in the view from upper-level balconies, and the floors dedicated to kids were hopping with children exploring the world of ideas.
From Cities Are Driving a Public Library Boom in Australia – Next City
Harvard libraries will no longer charge 50 cent per day fees on overdue books.
The change, one of several detailed in a post on the Harvard Library system’s website, went into effect on April 1. Though standard fees have been eliminated, fees for overdue recalled material have been raised from two dollars a day to three dollars a day, with a 45 dollar maximum.
“The goals of these changes are to improve the student experience and embrace a ‘One Harvard’ approach for borrowing material across Harvard Library,” wrote Steven Beardsley, Harvard’s associate director for access services administrative operations and special projects, in an email.
From Libraries to Extend Loan Periods, Eliminate Standard Late Fees | News | The Harvard Crimson
Under President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, federal funding for public libraries would be eliminated. Our guest explains why he calls the plan an attempt to suppress transparency. He also discusses why he says libraries are “essential” to society, and on this “Take Action for Libraries Day,” how people can advocate for continued funding.
From A Case For Federally Funding Public Libraries | Wisconsin Public Radio
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