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Highly selective journals, in particular, argued that they have high internal costs that couldn’t reasonably be recouped in a fully open-access model, and that cutting costs would risk reducing journals’ quality. Some publishing companies also urged the initiative to reconsider its policy on hybrid journals.

But their arguments have been rebuffed by Robert-Jan Smits, the European Commission’s open-access envoy and architect of Plan S, to which 18 research funders have so far signed up.

From High-profile subscription journals critique Plan S

Many of these institutions have begun to embrace this marriage of ideas. Hip-hop curricula, archives, conferences, and fellowships now have homes in even the nation’s most venerable academic institutions, including Cornell University, Harvard University, Duke University, and many more. Libraries across the country, from small towns to the New York Public Library, have welcomed hip-hop programming, as have storied institutions such as Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

From Legacy Institutions Must Welcome Hip-Hop Into Their Halls

That tension between Seuss and Seuss-free classrooms is emblematic of a bigger debate playing out across the country — should we continue to teach classic books that may be problematic, or eschew them in favor of works that more positively represent of people of color?

From Dr. Seuss Books Can Be Racist, But We Still Keep Reading Them : Code Switch : NPR

School librarians, who are required to teach in a classroom for two years and in many cases receive a master’s degree to qualify for the position, would be excluded from legislation offering a $5,000 pay raise to all Texas teachers.

Senate Bill 3 would allocate $3.7 billion over two years to boost pay for classroom teachers but not other education employees such as bus drivers, counselors or librarians. The legislation, touted as a way to better retain teachers and recognize them for the importance of their jobs, is a priority for Senate GOP leaders, amid a renewed focus among lawmakers in both chambers and both parties on improving public education in Texas.

From School librarians left out of $5K pay raise proposal

Lincoln library officials say librarians have been inspecting each item checked back into the eight branches, committed to keeping out any bedbugs.

The library system discovered bedbugs in some books in 2014, amid a national rash of bedbug reports from a variety of places, including theaters and thrift stores, college dorms and apartment buildings, hotel rooms and surgical centers.

From Librarians pore over books to keep out the bedbugs | KHGI

Smreker is a French teacher at Harding Charter Prep and in her free time she loves to collect used books. But, she says sometimes it’s not just the tale they are intended to tell that make them interesting.

From Oklahoma teacher, book collector makes hobby of reuniting families with meaningful bookmarks | KFOR.com

Reading is a skill that once you’ve learned, you probably don’t spend much time trying to get better at. (Not all that different from, say, breathing.) And yet, many of us don’t have to look far to see signs that there’s plenty of room for improvement. We only read at the end of the day—and only for the three minutes between cracking open a book and falling asleep. We’re halfway through about nine books. And our bookshelves are littered with titles that we remember reading but don’t exactly remember anything about.

From How to Read 80ish Books a Year (And Actually Remember Them) | GQ

But the center, which will cost an estimated $500 million, will also differ from the complexes built by Barack Obama’s predecessors in another way: It won’t actually be a presidential library.

In a break with precedent, there will be no research library on site, and none of Mr. Obama’s official presidential records. Instead, the Obama Foundation will pay to digitize the roughly 30 million pages of unclassified paper records from the administration so they can be made available online.

From The Obama Presidential Library That Isn’t – The New York Times

From hiding from a copy of The Exorcist to being unnerved by the likes of Shirley Jackson, Stephen King and Iain Banks, here are The Guardian Reader’s most alarming reading experiences

From ‘I can’t even look at the cover’: the most disturbing books | Books | The Guardian

Historic preservationists are hoping that the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing this summer will persuade the United Nations to do something to protect Neil Armstrong’s footprints in the lunar dust.

Some of his boot marks are still up there, after all, along with other precious artifacts from humanity’s first steps on another world. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left behind tools and science equipment, a plaque that read, “We came in peace for all mankind,” and the U.S. flag, which has likely been bleached white by five decades of harsh ultraviolet light.

From How Do You Preserve History On The Moon? : NPR