R. David Lankes

Another great episode of the @libraryjournal.bsky.social sponsored podcast, "Libraries Lead!," with @rdlankes.bsky.social, @mbeisenberg.bsky.social, and Beth Patin! Yes, libraries should and do support their communities, but the relationship must be symbiotic! Give this and other episodes a listen!

This month's episode of the @libraryjournal.bsky.social sponsored Libraries Leads podcast with hosts Beth Patin, @rdlankes.bsky.social, and @mbeisenberg.bsky.social delves into "the pathways into librarianship and the broader information professions," highlighting ongoing debates in the info field.

Triptych Check out this great listen on Audible.com. What if libraries could save lives—not just inform them? In a time of rising social isolation, ideological division, and technological upheaval, libraries s...

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-...

A Virginia public library is fighting off a takeover by private equity. Photo from The Samuels Public Library After being targeted by anti-LGBTQ book banners and having their funding pulled, a local library in Virginia successfully stopped a threatened takeover by a pr…

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.

An Urgent Conversation The rise of AI is a polarizing topic. But in choosing to self-publish his new book—with the help of AI—acclaimed library educator R. David Lankes hopes to accelerate a conversation about how the techn...

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.

Experts Alarmed as ChatGPT Users Developing Bizarre Delusions OpenAI's ChatGPT may be driving countless of its users into a dangerous state of "ChatGPT-induced psychosis."

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:

Georgetown High School: The Fight to Keep Books and Susan Cooper in our Library Books that have been in our libraries for generations are being targeted, for seemingly no reason or at least no legal reason. The Georgetown Independent School District picked books that they have de...

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.

Also these rates are negotiated with the federal government. They are not arbitrary.

NIH cuts billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately The move halts a large slice of money for most universities and research institutions virtually overnight, imperiling vital research in everything from cancer to heart disease.

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.

ALA to U. S. Department of Education: Book bans are real The American Library Association responds to the Department of Education's dismissal of complaints about censorship and discrimination: the "effort to terminate protections... advances the demonstrabl...

“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...

You're Wrong About These Common Myths About Book Ban: Book Censorship News, March 22, 2024 You've likely seen or said many of these things about book bans, but they're not true. That, plus this week's book censorship news.

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

EMAIL YOUR REPS: Don't Ban Books in the United States 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.

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

‘The Librarians’ Review: A Powerful Documentary About American Book Bans — and the Heroes Who Battle Them Kim A. Snyder's film spotlights the librarians on the front line of the culture war waged by right-wingers in certain American states.

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)