My latest book, Triptych: Death, AI, and Librarianship, is now available as an audio book narrated by the author. Head on over to Audible and grab a copy at a great price. www.audible.com/pd/Triptych-...

The local community rallied around The Samuels Public Library in Front Royal, Virginia, to push back against attacks and the private equity owned Library Systems & Services withdrew their bid to run operations.

Take a trip over to Words & Money, a new outlet looking at the intersection of publishing and librarianship. There you'll find the first review of my new book Triptych, and a piece I wrote on how I published the book, and how I really feel about AI. www.wordsandmoney.com/an-urgent-co...

Wooohooo, Triptych is the #1 LIS new release on Amazon! www.amazon.com/gp/new-relea...

R. David Lankes Releases New Book on Libraries, AI, and Democracy Triptych: Death, AI, and Librarianship reframes the future of libraries of all types as a lifeline for community and connection. davidlankes.org/r-david-lank...

Nods.

The truth is that AI literacy needs to be less of how to use ai and more on how we are used by ai. Less about our relationship to code and more about our trust of each other. How we live in a world where data deceives as much as reveals.

ChatGPT Users Are Developing Bizarre Delusions OpenAI's tech may be driving countless of its users into a dangerous state of "ChatGPT-induced psychosis." futurism.com/chatgpt-user...

Give ‘em hell, Harvard.

And just like that 2 IMLS grants terminated

Folks, we have the headline of today. From the New York Times:

This cause is close to my heart - please sign: www.fightforthefirst.org/petitions/ge...

SCOOP: DOGE notified the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) today that the entire staff is being put on administrative leave effective immediately, I’ve learned from an agency source. They’ll be cancelling huge swaths of grants/contracts and starting a Reduction in Force (RIF).

On a recent trip to Europe, I was repeatedly asked the same question, “what can we do?” My answer: don't look away davidlankes.org/dont-look-aw...

My daily list on Spotify this morning is "Smooth chanson quebecois mondy morning" and I have to to say that I am not cool enough to deserve that.

To my PLA colleagues You have great choices in this year's election. I am strongly endorsing and ask for you to support Nate Coulter for PLA president. His leadership in Arkansas and his fight against strong forces of censorship is exactly what we all need right now. Thanks for your consideration.

Ok Texas this is too cold. I had to take out my damn Syracuse coat!

In the epoch long fight between order and entropy, order, with its strongest tool, information, is winning. But entropy is a crafty foe, and is now turning information against us in the form of dis-information, attention fracturing, and the rewriting of a people’s memories.

Just to be clear indirect costs include things like health insurance, tuition for grad students and library resources. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Just listened to the latest episode of the Libraries Lead podcast with hosts Dr. Beth Patin, @rdlankes.bsky.social, and Dr. Mike Eisenberg. It was great to hear their debate on what to call "them," the people who use libraries. #libraries #podcast librarieslead.libraryjournal.com/2025/02/02/s...

Hey Dave, what's the best way to bring my laptop to a crawl? Load a 14 billion parameter LLM onto it and then increase the content size to 30,000 parameter. Great, but really this post is a brag isn't it. 😁

This is fucked up.

“Everyone, everywhere, regardless of their age, background, or political views, deserves access to information from a wide range of perspectives and books that reflect their lived experiences.” #TLSky #TLSkyChat #EduSky #KidLit #SkyBrarians www.ala.org/news/2025/01...

These are some common myths about book banning that you might be perpetrating: bookriot.com/common-myths...

Proposed censorship measures in several states could deny your right to read some books in our Nation's libraries and lead to librarians facing criminal charges for the books on the shelves. action.everylibrary.org/nationalaccess via @everylibrary.bsky.social

We don’t want to be “superheroes,” we just want to do our jobs, teach our kids , and help our communities, but, in today’s America, we are called to put on the capes 📚 www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

And if you're feeling *really* jazzed to support libraries, get on their board of trustees. Or speak to whatever entity (city, county, council, etc) funds/oversees them and advocate on our behalf. Don't just say you love us! Find out what we need (my system needs more staffing, have for years)

I think I would label this as "Federal Agency Employs Orwellian Doublespeak to Permit Book Banning." The Department of Education turns a blind eye to book bans calling them a hoax! Read the Pen America statement and then read the infuriating press release from ED. pen.org/press-releas...

Authors should have 3 letters ready to go right now: 1. A letter of support to send to teachers and librarians who are fighting for our books 2. A letter to the school/library board condemning book bans/promoting freedom to read 3. A letter to the editor promoting the freedom to read

"The AI Incident Database is dedicated to indexing the collective history of harms or near harms realized in the real world by the deployment of artificial intelligence systems." incidentdatabase.ai

That thing when you lose connection to a drone 150’ above your head. Madly pushing buttons while trying to figure out which neighbor you’ll be making brownies for.

AI and archives...we need to fight against decontextualization, We need to think stories not keywords and topics.

I just think we need more LIS research that pushes the field forward and expands the map of possibilities over studying and defending what is.

Do me a kindness! Share this if you love and support your local library & librarians (and remember: that includes your school library & school librarian) 😊📚 Thank you libraries & library workers… for everything ✨💚

I fear there is deep truth here.

"A whopping 82% of people who used the library’s physical space and 79% of people who physically attended programs reported more optimism regarding the future, compared to only 58% of digital-only users." Our physical space and resources matter *greatly!* bookriot.com/innovative-s...

We need a new information literacy. An information literacy that is no longer about generating skepticism with methods of interrogating information sources, but instead about coping with a world where ALL information is seen as suspect.

I hate to ask this so early in the year but I’ve spent the past month in the hospital and it’s been enormously prohibitive. If you’ve ever enjoyed my words and can send a few coins my way I’d really appreciate it. My Venmo is @fobazi-ettarh & my PayPal is www.paypal.me/fobettarh. Thank you so much!

New librarianship redefines libraries as platforms for community action and knowledge creation, not just repositories of books. Librarians become facilitators of conversations, connecting people, ideas, and solutions to address societal challenges, foster learning, and empower communities to thrive.

Remember you can make a difference! Get a library card—even if you don’t plan to use it. Your registration helps secure funding for libraries, keeping them open and thriving for the entire community. Every card counts!

A library is not a dissemination agent of a government, but a self-correcting mechanism of government itself to ensure justice.

We think of libraries as a service of the government, but they are in fact intended to educate the populace and provide a fertile ground for discussion, civil arguments, and consensus seeking.

Every time I go to a public library I begin to believe again that we can create amazing things that are just there for all to enjoy and use for free.

My fellow higher-ed folks, this is a must read. Working in Texas shows what might be in store for the rest of the country.

📜📚 We are open for submissions! The deadline to submit manuscripts and idea proposals is January 31, 2025. Find the submission guidelines here, and use to drop-down menu to find details about our publication process, our AI policy, and our style guide.

From @theathletic.bsky.social: Texas held on in a double-overtime thriller to defeat Arizona State and advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Hook ‘em. What an amazing game!

ENSHITTIFICATION? Yes! There really is such a thing. the purposeful degradation of quality in information systems in order to maximize profits. And, it’s pervasive. It affects Google, Facebook, X, iPhone Android wifi email – almost every ICT tech librarieslead.libraryjournal.com/2025/01/01/s...

Some rare good news out of Arkansas & a big L for Sarah Huckabee Slanders 👏👏👏