I came across a fascinating article in The Baffler that outlines how Spotify's streaming service builds user profiles and a classification system based on user mood to curate mood-specific playlists and provide mood-related data to third-party advertisers. Many people already know this, but it spurred some thoughts in relation to libraries, search, and how patrons find materials.I started thinking about my own experiences using Spotify, Netflix, and other streaming platforms that offer...

Marshall Breeding provided an overview of software trends in libraries across the globe in last year's Library Systems Report from American Libraries. A 2019 systems report is expected in early May. In his report, Breeding notes that more academic libraries are moving away from traditional Integrated Library Systems (ILS), and towards new modular products provided by Library Service Platfor...

[caption id="attachment_30247" align="alignright" width="225"] June 2018 staff picks[/caption] School design is a modern problem; modern in the sense that it originally developed in response to the industrial revolution, and the complexities of industrial society.  An ever-incre...

In the introduction to A Whole New Mind, author Daniel Pink outlines the incredible paradigm shift occurring in society. He writes, "the last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind - computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers.  But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands.  The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and emp...

Are you a Teachers College student, and, if so, what are you studying? While I am not a TC student, I have long admired the tradition of progressive and innovative learning happening here.  As a former educator, I find TC and EdLab an inspiring place to be for positive chan...

Dr. Dilshad Dayani returned to Teachers College on September 24 to present and discuss concepts from her latest book Confrontation 9: Taking on the Challenges of Work, Family, and Purpose (2014). Dilshad Dayani is the President and Founder of “World Women Glo...

At Florida Polytechnic University’s new library, students can check out over 135,000 licensed ebooks, but not a single physical book is included in the collection.  This is striking for many reasons, but especially from a collection development perspective: when students check out an ebook more than twice, the book is automatically purchased.  Using student data as an indicator for purchasing decisions isn’t revolutionary, but the automated process at which books, and ebooks, are purchased seems uncommon.   In an article at