Welcome to the November edition of the Libfocus link-out, an assemblage of library-related things we have found informative, educational, thought-provoking and insightful on the Web over the past while.
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| Images featured in this month's link-out articles |
Turning the page: understanding the barriers to library use and how to encourage engagement.
In this article for DCMS libraries, Polly Hollings and Amelia Byrne look at the findings of a UK survey around potential barriers to public library use. The results can be used by staff in academic and other libraries to help them support increased engagement with their services and spaces.
Ancient to Modern.
Susan Kristol writes about the fascinating history behind the Loeb Classical Library series in this Washington Examiner article. The library was established in 1911 to make the works of the great writers of ancient Greece and Rome more accessible. A digitisation project in the 2000s made over 500 volumes from the series available to a new generation of readers and researchers.
We’re Harvard Library Workers. We Stand in Solidarity with the Study-Ins.
An Op-Ed piece for the Harvard Crimson written by two staff members from Harvard Library, Maya H. Bergamasco and Jonathan S. Tuttle discussing their thoughts on recent Pro-Palestine ‘study-ins’ in Harvard Libraries and the consequent reactions of library management.
Report: Resisting Hate and Navigating Agitation: Irish Public Library Staff Stand United Against Reactionary Challenges to LGBTQ+ Materials.
A new report from UCD by Dr. Páraic Kerrigan, Prof Eugenia Siapera, with colleagues Dr Claire McGuinnesss, Prof Crystal Fulton, Mx. Faye Carrie and Mr Feargal Keenan on reactionary responses to LBGBTQ+ resources in libraries.
How to get started with academic Bluesky.
In this post on the LSE Impact Blog, well known librarian Ned Potter gives tips on how to start on the social media platform Bluesky.
Google Scholar is not broken (yet), but there are alternatives.
Kirsten Elliott points out alternatives to Google Scholar which operate from an open research ethos and are free to use.
A Librarian Against AI.
Violet Fox has written a 40-page zine titled A Librarian Against AI; or, I Think AI Should Leave.
The zine is a decidedly unmeasured response to incessant AI boosterism. Its main audience is library workers, but it was written in the hope that everyone who’s interested in accurate, unbiased information might get something out of it. It’s also heavily illustrated with quotes from the television show I Think You Should Leave, but you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy the zine.
Why use of new AI enhanced tools that help with literature review should be discouraged for undergraduates.
Aaron Tay considers the use of AI among undergraduates when writing a literature review and provides a detailed analysis of such tools and the potential risks.
MIT Press Looks at How to Move Forward With OA Policies.
A comprehensive insight into how open access may affect research and researchers in the future, how to measure their impact, and address emerging challenges.
Can Google Scholar survive the AI revolution?
Smriti Mallapaty qualifies that many of Google Scholar’s advantages — free access, breadth of information and sophisticated search options — are now being shared by other platforms. “Up until recently, Google Scholar was my default search,” says Aaron Tay, an academic librarian at Singapore Management University. It’s still top of his list, but “recently, I started using other AI tools”.
Digital Scholarly Journals Are Poorly Preserved: A Study of 7 Million Articles.
Martin Paul Eve constructed a database of preservation information from original archival sources and then examined the preservation statuses of 7,438,037 DOIs in a random sample. This work reveals an alarming preservation deficit. Only 0.96% of Crossref members (n = 204) can be confirmed to digitally preserve over 75% of their content in three or more of the archives that were studied.
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