7m
“You cannot make rational decisions in your own self-interest about what’s the right democratic choice for you if you don’t know what’s real,” declared MSNOW host Rachel Maddow at the Opening General Session of the 2026 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. “When you lose access to knowledge, you can’t make decisions as a citizen or voter.” Other featured speakers included former First Lady Jill Biden, civil rights scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, authors Lois Lowry and Min Jin Lee, and comedian Melissa Villaseñor.
AL: The Scoop, June 26–29
3h
On June 25, ALA and partners in the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) launched an advocacy campaign after the Federal Communications Commission voted to advance a proposal that asks whether the E-Rate program should be terminated or limited to only rural areas. The E-Rate program has provided affordable broadband to schools and libraries for nearly 30 years. SHLB and ALA will also host a free webinar on July 16 at 2 p.m. Eastern to break down the proposal and walk stakeholders through how to make their voices heard.
ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, June 25
4d
Adaeze Uche writes: “Even if you’ve never written one yourself, you’ve probably seen a formula that stretches so far across Excel’s formula bar that you don’t even bother trying to make sense of it. With so many moving parts, it’s easy to lose track of what the formula is actually supposed to achieve. I’ve found LET to be the best fix for this. It’s an Excel function borrowed from programming that makes complex formulas significantly easier to read, write, and maintain, and it hasn’t failed me yet.”
MakeUseOf, June 22
5d
Christin Monroe, Cameron Pilato, and Ari Weinshenker write: “Have you ever had a student fail to submit a research assignment—even though you’re fairly certain they spent a great deal of time working on it? Have you worked with a student who asks what feels like too many questions, or none at all? Have you seen students dramatically undershoot—or overshoot—the expectations for an assignment? Too often, these moments are interpreted as signs of low motivation, poor time management, or disengagement. But our shared experience suggests something else: Many students aren’t underthinking their academic work. They’re overthinking it.”
Info Literal, June 17
5d
Jane Friedman writes: “Last week, I received a press release from the Authors Guild about their latest study on why authors’ incomes are declining, a story that’s been making the rounds in the media. At the Authors Guild website, in the report’s key findings, libraries are strongly implied to be a factor in declining author incomes. I urge caution in drawing such a conclusion from this particular study. Here’s why.”
JaneFriedman.com, June 17; Author’s Guild, June 9
5d
Beatrice Downey, Courtney Shareef, and Natalia Umaña write: “With the recent rise of anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion legislation across state and federal levels came the sunsetting of many initiatives intended to increase underrepresented demographics in various industries. As early as 2024, resident librarians worried about the longevity of diversity residency and fellowship programs, which were designed to recruit and train Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) librarians. During the 2025–2026 academic year, we confirmed what others suspected: A large number of library residency and fellowship programs were ending or pausing their programs.”
WOC+lib, June 17
6d
Jennifer Chapman writes: “Efficiency is one of the main selling points for new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools, but efficiency is oftentimes the result of the AI tool and invisible human labor. Reading a white paper from Glean’s Work AI Institute about AI’s hidden human labor made me think about the invisible labor librarians are doing. This post looks at some of the ways law librarians are performing this labor and creating an illusion of efficiency for primary users.”
RIPS Law Librarian Blog, June 19; Glean Work AI Institute, June 10
