Welcome to LJAN Resources, our monthly academic content roundup. We’ll be curating standout InfoDocket posåts and nonfiction LJ book reviews once every month for quick access to news and reviews you can use. |
| NPR: “U.S. Army Libraries Target Books with a Focus on DEI or ‘Gender Ideology’ for Removal” A senior Army official ordered Army libraries, including West Point, to remove all books “with the explicit and sole purpose of directly and overtly promoting DEI, gender ideology, and critical race theory in a manner that subverts meritocracy and unity,” according to a memo sent last week by acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Derrick Anderson. It says the list of documents should be provided to the Army’s chief librarian by April 16th. The memo, dated April 9th, was viewed by NPR. |
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| Journal Article: “AI Chatbots and Subject Cataloging: A Performance Test” Abstract: Libraries show an increasing interest in incorporating AI tools into their workflows, particularly easily accessible and free-to-use chatbots. However, empirical evidence is limited regarding the effectiveness of these tools to perform traditionally time-consuming subject cataloging tasks. In this study, researchers sought to assess the performance of AI tools in performing basic subject heading and classification number assignment. Using a well-established instructional cataloging text as a basis, researchers developed and administered a test designed to evaluate the effectiveness of three chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) in assigning Dewey Decimal Classification, Library of Congress Classification, and Library of Congress Subject Heading terms and numbers. The quantity and quality of errors in chatbot responses were analyzed. |
| arXiv Pilots AI-Powered Audio Summaries in Partnership with ScienceCast From the arXiv Blog: Audio summaries are coming to arXiv! arXiv has partnered with ScienceCast on a pilot project to bring 60-second AI-generated audio summaries to arxiv.org. This follows our efforts to make arXiv’s scientific content even more broadly available by supporting additional formats beyond PDF, starting with HTML versions of recent papers, which we began rolling out in 2024. The pilot project with ScienceCast is initially limited to a small subset of arXiv papers, namely those in the astro-ph.HE category. However, we expect that it will be rolled out to more categories, and that other forms of audio content will be supported in the near future. |
| HISTORY PREMIUM Nothing But Courage: The 82nd Airborne’s Daring D-Day Mission—and Their Heroic Charge Across the La Fière Bridge By James Donovan This well-researched and exciting book is recommended for all libraries with World War II collections. PREMIUM Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850–1950 By Eli Erlick With chapters on transgender youth, activists, workers, and athletes living between 1850 and 1950, this book humanizes and historicizes the lives and identities of trans people in ways that, now more than ever, are critical for navigating systems that thrive on erasure, obfuscation, and misrepresentation of marginalized communities. PREMIUM The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World By Selena Wisnom An excellent bibliographical essay, useful time lines, maps, and illustrations, and a helpful list of the historical figures who people this story enhance Wisnom’s tour of an astounding collection. |
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