The Library’s Buzz

Dani Guzman, Product Marketing Director, Ex Libris

This month, the Library Buzz touches on the politics, sociology, and personal economics of the knowledge economy, as well as its lighter side (for you summer vacationers). This includes articles on issues as diverse as the effects of Brexit, online privacy issues, race relations, Pokémon Go, student debt, and the beauty of tourism pamphlets. Curious? So were we…

Money Matters: Teaching Students Debt Avoidance

This month, the Library Journal highlights the Business & Economics Librarian of Pennsylvania State University, Lauren Reiter, for her initiatives to help university students take control of their financial lives. Penn State’s University Libraries so admired her efforts that they established “an endowment for financial education, which will further her work.” Leganto, the Ex Libris course resource list solution, can become part of a money-saving plan for students, as it helps universities focus and freely share their library collections far more efficiently. Read more >>>

Protecting Patron Privacy

Writing in the Library Journal, Alison Macrina, Director of the Library Freedom Project, discusses the protection privacy provides for free inquiry. In the context of five “simple steps to get you started on bringing digital privacy into your library,” she specifically highlights using HTTPS for confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity. At Ex Libris, we are happy to be ahead of the curve, as the newest edition of Primoautomatically redirects all HTTP interactions to HTTPS. Read more >>>

Brexit: Risks to the Knowledge Economy and the Money Scrum

Phill Jones, Head of Publisher Outreach at Digital Science, takes a long, hard look at what the British people’s decision to leave the European Union means to the knowledge-based economy, academia, and scholarly publishing. Writing in The Scholarly Kitchen, he focuses on both how much European Union research funding the UK will lose, but also how much it will save in “EU dues”. However, Jones writes, once that money is back in Parliament’s hands, “British academia is aware of the fact that it’s going to have to fight for its fair share.” Keep calm and read more >>>

What the ‘First Black Woman’ Librarian of Congress Means

Angela Ards, Associate Professor of English at Southern Methodist University, writes in Time magazine’s online edition that the confirmation this month of Dr. Carla D. Hayden as the 14th Librarian of Congress “helped the nation fulfill its ideals of inclusion and equality.” As we wrote here back in March, “Her confirmation would also mark a few other dramatic firsts.” Read more >>>

Responding to Viral Trends

Digital pundit David Lee King, the Digital Services Director at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, outlines six steps that librarians should take in response to viral trends such as Pokémon Go. His approach is to be aware of trending activities and how they might impact the library, and brainstorm incorporating the trends. What are you doing about “roving groups of teens with their smartphones out” in your library? Go and read more >>>

Vacation Resources: What Do You Pack?

“You’re away from your school campus, probably somewhere many students will never travel. That’s a perfect place to find resources to share with them.” So begins an article by Ashley Cooksey, Library Media Specialist in Arkansas, in which she lists four types of “free resources just laying in wait out there” that you never thought of. Read more >>>

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