(30 Jan 2025) In an era when students and teachers alike spend hours a day reading on screens, large print books are an easy-to-implement alternative that increases reading engagement and comprehension for a vast majority of students. New research released today by Thorndike Press from Gale, part of Cengage Group, found that 87% of teachers saw…
(2 Dec 2024) Oxford University Press announced the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024 as ‘brain rot’. ‘Brain rot’ is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something…
By Lukas Tschopp* (10 Dec 2024) Higher education is being fundamentally challenged by the introduction of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT. In my daily interactions as a liaison librarian, I observe the erosion of core academic principles by these tools: Students using AI as an unreliable source of information, prioritizing polished presentation…
(14 Nov 2024) Book bans are increasingly becoming common in US schools. In the 2022-23 school year, PEN America reported 3,362 book bans, affecting 1,557 unique titles. And its latest data, released Nov. 1, 2024, shows that the number of book bans soared in the 2023-24 school year to more than 10,000, with Florida and Iowa accounting…
(29 Aug 2024) The latest LTI white paper aims to gain a better understanding of the place of AI literacy in information literacy instruction. With increased discussions around generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, librarians are now confronted with accessible AI technology that students are using to offset their research and writing…
(29 Jul 2024) Stela Madruga, head librarian at the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, began her journey with Wikimedia Projects in 2019: “The library where I work hosted a ‘Wikipedian Librarians’ event. It was initiated by a professor and his outreach team. The workshop aimed to teach…
(11 July 2024) The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) published the CREC Recommended Practice (NISO RP-45-2024) to improve the communication of retractions. Funded by the Sloan Foundation, this practice aims to ensure accurate metadata for retracted research. It enhances transparency and helps limit the spread of flawed or invalid science, boosting trust in academic research.…
(1 July 2024) Geoffrey Pullum’s “The Truth About English Grammar” argues against traditional grammar rules, advocating for common usage and criticizing past grammar interpretations. Pullum proposes new classifications and dismisses many established rules as recent inventions by irritable writers. Despite his engaging writing, his dismissal of other grammarians and lexicographers lends a slightly eccentric tone…
(1 July 2024) The National Library of Korea launched “Korean Memory,” an online platform offering access to 260,000 digitized works from 122 institutions. This initiative aims to provide high-quality, reliable data to the public, preserving Korean heritage. The platform includes books, photos, music, and more, with future plans for thematic collections and third-party use policies.…
(1 July 2024) The National Library of Australia (NLA) is inadvertently archiving thousands of AI-generated web pages as part of its mission to document the Australian internet. This includes content from AI like ChatGPT, raising concerns about the impact on cultural understanding and the increasing storage needs due to the explosion of AI-produced material. Find…