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Via the Verge, New York Public Library’s CEO and president Anthony Marx and associate director of information policy Greg Cram discuss the issue, explaining exactly which library resources an open internet protects, who would be hurt the most by net neutrality’s rollback, and why handing the internet to ISPs could threaten the basic foundation of American democracy.

The rollback of net neutrality opens the possibility for ISPs to start to play with how we pay for the internet, but because [it hasn’t] been rolled back yet, we don’t have evidence that they will in fact do those things. It’s a little speculative at this point. I think everyone is speculating a little bit in this. But the indications we got from the ISPs are that there will be paid prioritization and for us, there are specific things that would likely end up in the slow lane.

From the Chicago Tribune,

A 14-year-old boy was shot while riding in a stolen car Tuesday night on the Southwest Side, causing the driver to lose control and crash into a public library, according to Chicago police.

The Scion crashed into the Chicago Lawn Library in the 6100 block of South Kedzie Avenue, sending books, wooden tables and glass flying. The car came to rest in the middle of a large room of the library, breaking out its glass windows.

From The Atlantic.

An award might be in your future.

Here’s information from ALA/PLA if you wish to make a nomination.

Check out this group of New Zealand librarians as reported in the Daily Mail UK . They are posing in imitation of the famous portrait of the Kardashians.

CBS NEWS reports that a school district in Missippi has pulled Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird from a junior high reading list as the discussion of race “makes people uncomfortable.”. The book remains in libraries (fortunately).

Via NPR’s Story Corps a reminiscence of a youth spent in the library when his father was employed there as a custodian. The boy’s name was Ronald Clark, and he became the first in his family to attend college, and later became a college professor.

A program has sprung up at UCLA to build maps for hurricane relief.

The mapathon activities were scheduled for today, October 5 at the Young Research Library. Volunteers will help add building locations to maps of the island. These maps will be used by the Red Cross and other relief agencies.

No experience, knowledge of Puerto Rico’s geography or software installation was required. Participants were asked to just bring a laptop and library staff and UCLA’s Institute for Digital Research and Education geographic information systems experts will teach them how to help with these efforts through some easy-to-learn mapping tasks in a web-based application.

Via CBS News.

The Dr. Suess books were rejected by a librarian at the Cambridgeport Elementray School Library in response to President Trump’s selection of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education among other factors.
What’s your opinion on the rejection of the gift?

UPDATE: FLOTUS office fires back a reply to the rejection of the Dr. Suess books:
via FoxNews (what else?)

‘To turn the gesture of sending young students some books into something divisive is unfortunate.’ – FLOTUS

Now playing at NYC’s Film Forum: Ex Libris NYPL.

Frederick Wiseman cracks open institutions: the military, the insane asylum, the high school, the police, the welfare system, the Paris Opera Ballet, the National Gallery of London, and now – in his 43rd film in 50 years – the New York Public Library, an institution eminently worthy of his immersive style. If you thought libraries are just repositories for books, you’re in for a big, wonderful surprise. The NYPL owns (and makes accessible) millions of images; sponsors lectures by people like Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, and Ta-Nehisi Coates; circulates a growing collection of e-books; maintains a vast archive of materials not available online; and gives classes in digital technology. The magnificent Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (and 5th Avenue at 42nd Street) is the spine of the film, but equally vital is the role of branch libraries that act as community centers for civic life.