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Monthly Archives: December 2022

Librarians Are Meeting Younger Readers Where They Are: TikTok

The New York Times – “The pandemic hurt children’s reading skills. Librarians are doing what it takes to connect them with books — including dance routines. The pandemic wiped out decades of progress in children’s reading skills. So what’s a librarian hoping to engage children and teenagers with books and reading to do? “Meet them where they are,” said Sara Day, a teen services librarian at the Woodland Public Library in Woodland, Calif. And that, she said, is on TikTok. A growing number of librarians are joining her there. Last month, Day and her colleague, Sara Vickers, a children’s librarian, led dozens of their colleagues in a short choreography set to Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” as part of a session called “TikTok O’ Clock!” at the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2022 symposium in Baltimore. “Looking cool was a big challenge at the beginning,” Vickers, 34, told the crowd. That was until her colleagues had a change in mind-set. “Lean into the cringe,” Day, 29, advised. Teens are overwhelmed, she said. “Put a smile on their face.” Asked if their libraries were on TikTok, about half of the room raised their hands. The message to teens, Day said, is: “Come in, there’s a space for you.” On TikTok, librarians don costumes, dance to viral songs, show off new books and bond with their co-workers. And as they do so, they draw in visitors and drum up interest in reading: Margo Moore, 28, a teen services librarian who traveled to the symposium from Lawrence, Kan., said that interest in books featured in popular TikTok videos often spikes in the days and weeks that follow.

Library TikTok is related to, but distinct from, BookTok, a corner of the platform where readers post about their favorite books and which has become a force in book sales. On library TikTok, there is chatter about books, but librarians also post about resources and events, showcasing libraries as welcoming places for diverse communities. There is no official tally of library and librarian TikTok accounts, but Katie Elson Anderson, a reference librarian at Rutgers University-Camden, has compiled a list of 85 accounts — which she says is likely an undercount…”

Ginni Thomas testimony to Jan. 6 committee

Today, December 30, 2022 the Select Committee made public additional transcripts of witness testimony that was gathered over the course of the Select Committee’s investigation into the #January6th #attack on the U.S. #Capitol. See the 136 page (pdf) testimony of Ginni Thomas. MSN – “I think based on this that Justice Thomas would be well advised… Continue Reading

Your Memories. Their Cloud.

The New York Times – “Google, Apple and Meta offer near-limitless digital basements in which to store photos, videos and important documents, but you should keep a copy of what you hold most dear…Getting all your data and figuring out how to securely store it is cumbersome, complicated and costly. There’s a reason most people… Continue Reading

Google will pay $9.5 million to settle Washington DC AG’s location-tracking lawsuit

engadget: “Google has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine, who accused the company earlier this year of “deceiving users and invading their privacy.” Google has also agreed to change some of its practices, primarily concerning how it informs users about collecting, storing and using… Continue Reading

How much money will you get with the Inflation Reduction Act?

This savings calculator from Rewiring of America [in English and Spanish] allows homeowners to calculate how the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will permit them to save thousands of dollars on the upfront costs of electric machines (how we power our cars, heat our air and water, cook our food, dry our clothes and get our… Continue Reading

Ways and Means Committee Votes to Release Investigation of the IRS’s Mandatory Audit Program Under the Prior Administration

WASHINGTON, DC, December 30 2022 — The Ways and Means Committee voted to publicly release the Committee’s investigation of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Mandatory Audit Program under the prior administration. The Committee’s investigation found the mandatory program was dormant, at best, with only one audit opened while the former President was in office, and… Continue Reading

Mastodon and the pros and cons of moving beyond Big Tech gatekeepers

Ars Technica: “As Elon Musk’s Category 5 tweetstorm continues, the once-obscure Mastodon social network has been gaining over 1,000 new refugees per hour, every hour, bringing its user count to about eight million. Joining as a user is pretty easy. More than enough ex-Twitterers are happy finding a Mastodon instance via joinmastodon.org, getting a list… Continue Reading

The Case for Wearing Masks Forever

The New Yorker: “…the People’s C.D.C.: a ragtag coalition of academics, doctors, activists, and artists who believe that the government has left them to fend for themselves against COVID-19. As governments, schools, and businesses have scaled back their COVID precautions, the members of the People’s C.D.C. have made it their mission to distribute information about… Continue Reading

Subpoenaed Fossil Fuel Documents Reveal an Industry Stuck in the Past

The Intercept: “…As part of its investigation into climate disinformation, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed documents in November 2021 from four of the world’s largest oil companies; their U.S. trade association, the American Petroleum Institute; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The chamber did not comply with the subpoena, but the rest submitted a variety… Continue Reading