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Free Wi-Fi, e-magazines, dial-a-story: Kansas City libraries' popular pandemic services

Celisa Calacal

June 01, 2021 |

The Kansas City Beacon |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

Digital library services in Kansas City were ramped up to serve patrons even as doors closed to visitors during the pandemic. Wi-Fi Hotspots were made available for downloading books, virtual story times for children were offered, and in addition to digital programs, services like dial-a-story were also offered over the phone for families without adequate internet service.

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Teton County Library feeling fine after eliminating late fees

Tom Hallberg

May 26, 2021 |

Jackson Hole News & Guide |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Jackson, Wyoming

Teton County in Wyoming is implementing a new "fine free" system at community libraries, and anecdotal results show it's been successful. Eliminating fines is a way for the library to address the root cause of people not accessing the resources they often need the most due to accrued fines. Instead, the library will simply freeze patrons' accounts if they have an overdue book, and have longer grace period for returns.

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Meet the Activist Archivists Saving the Internet From the Digital Dustbin

Mark Hill

May 12, 2021 |

Discover Magazine |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

The Internet Archive is a digital library of around 544 billion archived web pages, most of which are found using a bot that crawls the web and saves snapshots. However, a self-described loose collective of volunteer activist archivists, known as the Archive Team,' individually monitors and preserves websites at risk of being abruptly taken down. Using donated bandwidth and hard drive space on the archiving application “Warrior,” they systematically download sites they fear will be deleted. The downloads are saved within the Internet Archive database, which is available to the public.

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Libraries Are Key Tools For People Getting Out Of Prison, Even During A Pandemic

Sally Herships

March 28, 2021 |

NPR |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New Jersey

When people leave prison, they often gravitate to public libraries as a free place to get computer access and help in looking for work and navigating other aspects of life outside. New Jersey Public Libraries' Fresh Start program adds a layer of help by providing social workers and extra technology resources and training for the formerly incarcerated. Covid disruptions in libraries forced the program to conduct much of its work on the phone or in public, outdoor spaces, but that has posed other problems. Even so, the help some receive has put them on a path toward self-sufficiency.

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Hays Public Library offers help with vaccine registration

Kaisha Batman

February 10, 2021 |

KSNW-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Hays, Kansas

The Hays Public Library ensured people without access to computers or the internet could register for COVID-19 vaccines online by offering free access to computers and internet, as well as staff to answer questions. Library staff also assisted people who couldn’t fill the form out on their own and, home-bound residents, could request a form and a tablet with access to the internet be brought to their home so they could fill it out themselves. Over 6,000 people used the library’s services to pre-register for the COVID-vaccine.

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The scramble to archive Capitol insurrection footage before it disappears

Tanya Basu

January 08, 2021 |

MIT Technology Review |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Several groups are preserving digital content related to the capital insurrection to ensure it is archived in case it gets deleted. A subreddit thread collected thousands of Tweets, Snapchats, and other videos to upload to the cloud, while the Woke Collective ensured the survival of livestreams by publishing them on its own YouTube and Twitch accounts. Efforts to crowdsource the identification of members of the mob include the Instagram account, @homegrownterrorists, and the journalism site, Bellingcat, which invited contributions to a publicly editable Google spreadsheet of links.

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For Indian teen who launched village library, it's about more than books

Radhika Iyengar

January 08, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Deora, Bihar

Sadiya Riyaz Shaikh wanted more students, specifically girls, in her village to have access to books and a place to study. She created the Maulana Azad Library, a repurposed family guesthouse full of hundreds of new and second books, newspapers, coloring books, and a tutor who helps students. “Without the library, I wouldn’t have been able to manage it,” said one of the students who regularly attends the library.

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How a 1980s AIDS Support Group Changed The Internet Forever

Michael Waters

December 18, 2020 |

OneZero |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

In the 1980s, a virtual messaging network, then known as bulletin board systems (BBSs), acted as a support group for many who were in search of peer support and reliable information as the AIDS epidemic spread. Although the site was a grassroots effort with little to no financial stability, it grew to 500 daily users and 100 messages posted per day.

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Writing the next chapter in literary diversity

Haillie Parker Allie Barton

December 12, 2020 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Phoenix, Arizona

Kindred is a program to diversify Pima County libraries' staff, events, and collections. They run programs centered around Black history, culture, and experiences, including Black story time and talks featuring prominent local people of color. Topics include Black history, female entrepreneurship, and quilt codes for the Underground Railroad. A grant allowed them to distribute 200 copies of Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” with a guide for discussion. Pima County built on Kindred’s work by launching new collections featuring materials written by and for LGBTQ+, Indigenous, and Latino patrons.

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With Talk2020, The Wall Street Journal turns an internal reporting tool into a reusable news product

Sarah Scire

November 02, 2020 |

Nieman Lab |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

Talk2020 is a searchable database from the Wall Street Journal with thousands of transcripts from presidential and vice-presidential candidates’ campaign speeches, media appearances, debates, and more. Users can filter by issue, date, candidate, or keyword to find quotes and facts about a candidate’s record. It began as an internal tool to help reporters and editors working in the D.C. bureau frame and inform their own journalism, but focus groups showed that news consumers also wanted to be able to quickly locate quotes and facts for their own edification and to support fact-based debates with others.

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