Book News Corner: Issue 36
Book-related news from the week of August 13th, 2023
Happy Saturday, book friends! This week’s Book News Corner could also be called the “Library News Corner” issue, because our news of the week is all library related.
Let’s check out the library/book news of the week (see what I did there?)
Brooklyn Library Launches Limited Edition Jay-Z Themed Library Cards
Okay, so I’m not personally a Jay-Z fan, but I couldn’t help but find this story interesting/amusing. In celebration of an exhibit about Brooklyn native Jay-Z, the Brooklyn Public Library released limited-edition library cards featuring album cover art. This, according to The New York Times, led to a 10x increase in the number of people signing up for library cards during the promotion.
Now, I can’t help but imagine a world where you can collect themed library cards like they’re trading cards. This is an interesting promotional idea, and I’m curious to see if the folks who showed up just to get the limited edition cards will end up being library users now that they’ve got them.
(Source: Today in Books newsletter, linking to NYT)
School District Asks ChatGPT… Should We Ban These Books?
This week in news that makes me feel like we’re living in a dystopian nightmare, a school district in Iowa has been using ChatGPT to determine which books to remove from shelves. The school distict claims understaffing led to the decision to use AI to help them comply with a law claiming materials in their library must be “age appropriate.”
ChatGPT is playing the hits, suggesting that the library remove The Color Purple, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Beloved, among others. Given that the school is being forced to remove these books by law, and that I’m sure they really are understaffed, I can’t say I’m surprised or necessarily blaming them for this solution. I’m just sad about it.
Book Riot’s Kelly Jensen wrote a deep dive for her Literary Activism newsletter, taking a look at the specific inquiries the school district used and how ChatGPT responds. She also notes that using the AI tool in this way may be a violation of its own policies.
(Source: Today in Books, linking to Vulture)
That’s it for this week, book friends!
This issue of Book News Corner was originally published at Your Book Friend.
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