beSpacific – Page 177 – Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery With Daily Postings Since 2002

Library of Congress Unveils Major Upgrades to Chronicling America Website

“The Library of Congress has launched a significant upgrade to its Chronicling America website, the nation’s leading free resource for historical U.S. newspapers. The updated platform now integrates fully with the Library’s broader loc.gov digital collections, offering enhanced accessibility, modern design and powerful research tools across all devices. The redesigned interface introduces numerous user-focused improvements, …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden Discusses Her Career & Firing

Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden Discusses Her Career & Firing (CSPAN) Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden discussed her career, her firing by President Trump in May 2025, and the future of American libraries. This event took place at the American Librarian Association’s annual conference in Philadelphia.

Subjects: Legal Research, Libraries

Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health

Via LLRX – The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health – Sabrina I. Pacifici’s overview of selected articles highlights the devastating impact of the Trump administration’s dismantling of agencies across the federal government, with a focus on cancelling critical scientific and health related research grants, as reported in July, 2025. The total …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Medicine

At least 13.5% of biomedical science papers’ abstracts last year were likely crafted using artificial intelligence chatbots

Science Advances: “Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can generate and revise text with human-level performance. These models come with clear limitations, can produce inaccurate information, and reinforce existing biases. Yet, many scientists use them for their scholarly writing. But how widespread is such LLM usage in the academic literature? To answer this question for …

Subjects: AI, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Medicine

How Trump’s crackdown on law firms is undermining legal defenses for the vulnerable

Reuters: “Dozens of major law firms, wary of political retaliation, have scaled back pro bono work, diversity initiatives and litigation that could place them in conflict with the Trump administration, a Reuters investigation found. Many firms are making a strategic calculation: withdraw from pro bono work frowned on by Trump, or risk becoming the next …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

Presidential libraries preserve the records and burnish the legacies of America’s heads of state

The New Yorker – no paywall – “…”The threat that Trump poses to the maintenance of an accurate historical record should be obvious by now. During his first term, he was accused of shredding documents and flushing them down the toilet; after leaving office, he was criminally indicted for hoarding official files, some of them …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Education, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

States Have More Data About You Than the Feds Do. Trump Wants to See It.

The New York Times – no paywall – “Critics fear that personal data might be used to monitor immigrants and political foes, and to spread false tales of fraud. As the Trump administration has sought to amass personally sensitive data on millions of individuals in America, it has run into one roadblock. The states, and …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Economy, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Legal Research, Medicine, Poverty, Privacy

Maps – Tracking Trump’s New Tariffs on Every Country

The New York Times – no paywall: “President Trump unveiled an updated slate of sweeping tariffs on Thursday, targeting imports from dozens of U.S. trading partners, in a major escalation of a potentially damaging global trade war without parallel in modern history. For the most part, Mr. Trump’s duties will take effect on Aug. 7, capping …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Are AI companies committed to a safe future?

Safrer AI: “We rate frontier AI companies’ risk management practices. Our objective is to make frontier AI safer through improved risk management practices and to enhance the accountability of private actors shaping the development of AI. Advanced AI systems are arguably one of the most transformative technologies ever built. Frontier AI companies are advancing technology …

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet, Knowledge Management

Urban planners hoping to mitigate floods by specifically designing municipalities to soak up water

“After massive flooding in 2011 caused $1.8 billion in damage, Copenhagen began refashioning its infrastructure: It built wetlands and parks, plus underground pipes and basins, to gather and redirect the rainwater. The project is ongoing, but it is already helping the Danish capital withstand torrential rains, and the “sponge city” model is being copied by …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Housing

Reddit wants to be a search engine now

The Verge: “Reddit knows that it has valuable data from actual people — it’s already reached deals with big AI companies like OpenAI and Google to share its data with them. But Reddit is also investing in improving its own search capabilities, and in its latest note to investors, CEO Steve Huffman says that the …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Thank you!