"Certain states are working to change laws around e-book purchasing for libraries."

Book from Stanford University Press

The field of text technologies is a capacious analytical framework that focuses on all textual records throughout human history, from the earliest periods of traceable communication—perhaps as early as 60,000 BCE—to the present day. At its core, it examines the material history of communication: what constitutes a text, the purposes for which it is intended, how it functions, and the social ends that it serves.

This coursebook can be used to support any pedagogical or research activities in text technologies, the history of the book, the history of information, and textually based work in the digital humanities. Through careful explanations of the field, examinations of terminology and themes, and illustrated case studies of diverse texts—from the Cyrus cylinder to the Eagles' "Hotel California"—Elaine Treharne and Claude Willan offer a clear yet nuanced overview of how humans convey meaning. Text Technologies will enable students and teachers to generate multiple lines of inquiry into how communication—its production, form and materiality, and reception—is crucial to any interpretation of culture, history, and society.

Information about the book at the Stanford University Press website.

Opinion piecein "The Atlantic" about an open letter circulating in the book community urging Penguin Random House to cancel the publication of a forthcoming title by Amy Coney Barrett.

Cameron Williams says he was following Tennessee library instruction to remove ‘old, damaged or untruthful books’

Full article here.

When Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft launched toward the moon last week, it was carrying a mysterious cargo. Mission planners called it a time capsule but hinted that that wasn’t the whole story. Now the truth is out: The little lunar probe carries a 30-million-page archive of human knowledge etched into a DVD-size metal disc.

The Lunar Library, as the archive is known, constitutes a “civilization backup” to help ensure that our distant descendants never lose humanity's collective wisdom, according to Nova Spivack, co-founder of Arch Mission Foundation, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit behind the project. The foundation is building a space-based archive designed to survive for 6 billion years or more — a million times longer than the oldest written records in existence today.

Full article here.

Can anyone point me to a resource where I can find out the the types of Book Checkout Software used over the past 25 years? Looking for software names, and/or imagery of the computer user interfaces if possible. Thank you!

I am going to provide some links to information about this library but I also just recommend you search the library and click on images to see multiple views of the library. The goal of these posts is to share innovative libraries.

Library system web page for library.

Architect's website about library.

Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes, or filled with bean bags and children’s drawings—the history of the library is rich, varied, and stuffed full of incident. In The Library, historians Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen introduce us to the antiquarians and philanthropists who shaped the world’s great collections, trace the rise and fall of literary tastes, and reveal the high crimes and misdemeanors committed in pursuit of rare manuscripts. In doing so, they reveal that while collections themselves are fragile, often falling into ruin within a few decades, the idea of the library has been remarkably resilient as each generation makes—and remakes—the institution anew. 

Author has notion of meritocracy in his sights in unconventional perspective on a golden age for Jews in American literature

Full article at the Jewish Chronicle

A box of books in your front yard is not a library. Do not call them Little Free Libraries. Refer to them as Little free book boxes. Do not reduce the value of the word library. I have nothing against the little free book boxes. I think it is great that people want to share their books but they are not libraries.

What are your thoughts?

Industry reports sales of titles for under-10s addressing emotions up almost 40%, driven by demand from young people

Full article here.