Connecting the Stacks

  Image Source By now most people have heard of those Meta glasses, a thick set of frames that are mostly only distinguishable from regular glasses by the cameras mounted near the hinge. Smart glasses are on the rise, with the biggest retailer out there being a collaboration between Ray-Ban and Meta (yes, as in Mark Zuckerberg). Meta glasses are much more normal looking than the original Google Glass and are said to have much better functionality. But are these smart glasses worth it? Cellphones were once a novelty, and now most people could not imagine a life without them. Are smart glasses going to become the new "must-have technology"? Let's start with some features. The first feature marketed in Meta glasses is Meta AI, a virtual assistant that uses AI technology to answer questions and complete tasks similar to Siri. Meta glasses also feature a camera, bone-conducting personal speaker, and microphone. You could also use these glasses to make calls, send texts, and l...

Image Source: Nana a Mischevious Monkey by Shum Zay on Amazon Blog Post #12: AI Books and Libraries By Madeline Feehan Is an AI author really an author? Are AI books valid, and should they be on library shelves, or should we steer clear of them? What about  AI- assisted   work? Is the best compromise adding some to our collection and clearly labeling them as AI, or is it best to not even indulge at all?  Do you find work that was written with the help of AI but was also written by a human less egregious than something entirely written by AI? Should those books still be labeled?  These are some of the many fascinating questions discussed by guest speakers who came to my library. Lisa Zuena, Nicole Scherer, and a third librarian from the Nassau County Library Association came in to talk about AI slop and what it means for the future. AI slop refers to poorly edited, weirdly formatted, strangely written books that find their way into ordinary collections. This happens w...

  Does your library’s mission include diversity, equity, and inclusion? East Hampton Library’s (EHL) mission statement reads:   The East Hampton Library, a free community resource center, provides a welcoming space to all who enter its doors, in which to read, learn, communicate, create, play and participate. Through its collections, services, innovative programs, historic preservation, virtual access and technology, the library advances literacy, knowledge, cultural engagement and entertainment for all ages, elevating our understanding of the world. I highlighted “welcoming space to all,” but let’s take a closer look. In East Hampton, New York, Latinos comprise nearly 27% of the population. But are we drawing them into the library? Are we meeting their needs? Are we telling their stories? By examining EHL’s Facebook and Instagram posts, it appears that the library lacks a DEI initiative. EHL needs to increase the representation of diverse people on its social media. Inviting...

Last week ( or maybe it was two weeks ago?) I wrote about the annual event my library puts on, Fan Fest! Now that the 2025 one is over, I wanted to share some details and offer tips in case anyone is interested in putting one on at their library. My number one piece of advice is don't have it in November lol. This year and last year, the winds were INSANE, and it felt colder than it really was. Last year, we actually had to take down a tent we had put up over the band because it would not stay up. At the yard sale table this year, I witnessed many items flying away in the wind that I didn't think could fly. Thankfully, the winds died down after a few hours, and all the items stayed on the tables afterward. In the end, we made $190! That money all goes to the Friends of Sayville Library.  My second piece of advice is to plan for the unexpected. You never know what the weather will be like, how many people will show up, or how many food trucks will show up. You must go with the...

                                                         (Courtesy of the Jefferson Parish Library Program ) Hey friends! As an ever-learning librarian, I’m currently in the thick of helping teen librarians plan one of our library's most exciting teen events yet: Wicked for Good .  It’s a community service program with a magical twist - inspired by the upcoming movie release  Wicked For Good ,  our teens will be creating zines about kindness, assembling care kits for local shelters, and painting positivity rocks with quotes from Glinda and Elphaba themselves.  As we prepare the program, I’ve been thinking a lot about digital accessibility - not just who can attend, but also  how we communicate about it. If our goal is to build an inclusive and empowering space, then accessibility can’t be an af...

Image source: The 'Killing Eve' Finale has Infuriated Queer Fans   Blog Post #11: Killing Eve and "Bury Your Gays" Backlash By Madeline Feehan Some of the fiercest allies and supporters of diversity, equity, and inclusion (and some of its greatest opponents) can be found in the unlikeliest of places: Tumblr, Twitter, and AO3. What do these people all have in common? They are heavily immersed in fandoms. Whether they're reblogging content or creating their own, whether they're starting Reddit threads, writing fanfiction, drawing fanart, posting to their stories, making video edits, or starting petitions, these fans all share a passion for fictional worlds. So what happens when a fandom all comes together and agrees on one thing? This is what happened with the Killing Eve fandom after the show's finale. Sometimes audiences are split between opinions. For example, when a beloved book gets turned into a movie, some will argue that the book's better or that...

  (courtesy of Cobb County Public Library Teen Programs ) Today’s teen librarians are more than information guides - they’re cultural facilitators in a digital landscape where teens aren’t just reading content, but remixing , creating , and collaborating . Drawing on Henry Jenkins’s concept of participatory culture , social media becomes not a bulletin board, but a shared creative platform,  especially powerful when designing teen programming around emerging technologies like AI . Young & Rossmann’s (2015) five social media content themes,  Announcements , Library Services , Engagement , Community Building , and Education,  offer a strong strategic base. But when filtered through Jenkins’s participatory lens and applied to AI literacy, they become catalysts for co-creation . Start with Announcements and Library Services : instead of simply posting “New AI workshop next week,” make it participatory, “Should our next AI lab be art, code, or chatbots? You decide.”...