• The Oldest Treasures From 12 Great Libraries

According to this article, Sarah Laskow of Atlas Obscura “contacted some of our favorite libraries to ask about the oldest books in their collections, we were treated to a wealth of information about the treasures they hold.
“The New York Public Library, for instance, has not only cuneiform tablets and ninth-century gospels, but also a Gutenberg Bible and a copy of The Bay Psalm Book, one of the oldest books printed in America. In addition to its own cuneiform tablets and Gutenberg Bible, the Library of Congress holds one of the oldest examples of printing in the world, passages from a Buddhist sutra, printed in A.D. 770, as well as a medieval manuscript from 1150, delightfully titled Exposicio Mistica Super Exod. …”

MORE LIBRARY AND PUBLISHING NEWS FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES

• University of Illinois: Information Sciences Professor Developing Tool to Make Data Visualizations Accessible to Blind Researchers, Students

• Nominations for ALA President, Councilor-at-Large Due September 30

• Joint Statement: ACS, Elsevier, and ResearchGate Resolve Litigation, with Solution to Support Researchers

• California settles with Google over location privacy practices for $93 million

• Report: Four Textbook Publishers Sue ‘Shadow Library’ Library Genesis Over Pirated Books”

• Over 100 libraries now live on Innovative’s LX Starter

• Francisco Partners and H.I.G. Capital join forces to complete acquisition of RBmedia’s audiobook business

CONFERENCES, MEETINGS & WEBINARS

Reflections on the 2023 Web Archiving Conference

According to THE SIGNAL “In May, the Library of Congress sent four representatives to the 2023 Web Archiving Conference and General Assembly in the Netherlands to share our web archiving and digital innovation experience with our colleagues and to learn from other experts from all over the world. The Library is a founding member of the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC), and our staff have stayed actively engaged with the community over the past three years through virtual events (including hosting the 2022 Web Archiving Conference). Our four representatives—Abbie Grotke, Grace Bicho, Lauren Baker, and Abbey Potter– were especially excited to attend events in-person for the first time since 2019. When they returned, they were eager to share what they learned with us. Here, members of the Web Archiving Team and LC Labs recount highlights of the conference and what it means to be a part of the IIPC community. If their accounts inspire you to learn more, many of the panels and presentations are also now available online. …”