Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Unite Against Book Bans @uabookbans.bsky.social · 4d

#LetFreedomReadDay is in ONE WEEK! On 10/11, take at least ONE action to help defend books from censorship and speak up for those who make them available. Find resources/tools + actions you can take in just 5 mins: uniteagainstbookbans.org/let-freedom-read-day #BannedBooksWeek #UniteAgainstBookBans

On a grayscale background of a stack of books are the Banned Books Week Coalition, Unite Against Book Bans, and Let Freedom Read Day logos. Text reads: October 11, 2025. Banned Books Week. Oct. 5 - 11, 2025. UniteAgainstBookBans.org/let-freedom-read-day

54 94

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Maria Bustillos @mariabustillos.com · 4d

Just ordered the new book from Brian Morton. What a great person he is. A teacher and friend to all who read his work.

(I gave a couple of talks at Sarah Lawrence where he teaches and it turned out I was the student.)

bookshop.org/p/books/writ...

Writing as a Way of Life: A Book about Art, Craft, and Devotion

A Book about Art, Craft, and Devotion

bookshop.org

2 5

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · 6d

I’m so sorry for you loss.

2

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

That Librarian: Amanda Jones @librarianjones.com · 8d

The 2025 #TIME100NEXT list is out! I'm honored to be a part of this group: time.com/next @la-cac.org

12 20 120

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 11d

The starting point for any ID system should be to reduce the situations that you need to provide ID for to a minimum. Ask ‘do we really need to know ID for this?’ and in a great many scenarios the answer will be ‘no’.

So don’t ask. Everyone is better off.

9 18 120

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · 20d

This is the best explanation I’ve seen about what Palantir is.

When I wrote Data Cartels, a book about data brokers, a lot of people asked why I didn’t focus on Palantir. The answer is that Palantir isn’t a data broker. Palantir creates ‘extravagant plumbing’ that depends on data brokers’ data.

Caroline Haskins @carolinehaskins.bsky.social · Aug 11

Palantir is in the news a lot lately. However, the public discourse about the company often misconstrues it as a data broker, a data miner, a single centralized database, etc. But what does Palantir actually do?

I wrote a piece to firmly & clearly answer that question:
www.wired.com/story/palant...

What Does Palantir Actually Do?

Palantir is often called a data broker, a data miner, or a giant database of personal information. In reality, it’s none of these—but even former employees struggle to explain it.

www.wired.com

1 9 21

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · 20d

New reporting about AI slop in libraries from rockstar reporter @clurrese.bsky.social featuring some rockstar librarians! 🥰

www.404media.co/librarians-a...

Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books

It’s a trippy time to have a library card.

www.404media.co

9 17

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · 24d

Aww! I hope you’re enjoying librarianship and exploring the informational enterprises that threaten equitable information access & data privacy! The greatest joy of this work is doing it together with fellow library workers. ❤️❤️❤️

2

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · 24d

Sadly, I’m convinced that the answer to the last question is a nope. It would be so much better for the world if they did!

1 3

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Emily Drabinski @edrabinski.bsky.social · Sep 3

Do you know an intellectual freedom fighter in New York state? Nominate them for this year's Intellectual Freedom Award from the New York Library Association! I can't wait to read your stories! Due October 3!

www.nyla.org/intellectual...

Intellectual Freedom Award

www.nyla.org

1 12 15

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · Aug 27

Congratulations @samuelmoore.org!

Samuel Moore @samuelmoore.org · Aug 26

Received the print copy of my book (out next week!). Obligatory shot with @theul.bsky.social in the background.

A copy of a book in front of Cambridge university library.

1 3 15

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · Aug 11

Fantastic read by Trevor Quirk on the most fascinating topic: data flows.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/m...

I Never Understood Our Data-Saturated Life Until a Hurricane Shut It Down

www.nytimes.com

1 8

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Fobazi M. Ettarh @fobettarh.bsky.social · Aug 7

Fobazi is currently in the ICU and could use your support. Apologies to those I haven’t been able to reach out to yet. You can message me for more info and I will be posting updates to GoFundMe. Please share, send healing thoughts, prayers, etc. ❤️ -Elena

gofund.me/c8485b58

Donate to Fobazi’s road to recovery: Kidney and liver transplant, organized by Ysabel Gerrard

Hello all, my name is Ysabel and I’m fundraising for my friends … Ysabel Gerrard needs your support for Fobazi’s road to recovery: Kidney and liver transplant

gofund.me

10 170 140

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Michael Morisy @morisy.bsky.social · Aug 6

Federal employees said they worry about the future of FOIA in the U.S., not only for their sake, but for requesters as well. www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

The future of FOIA

Federal employees said they worry about the future of FOIA in the U.S., not only for their sake, but for requesters as well.

www.muckrock.com

4 3

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

skellyton bones jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · Aug 6

It appears that the Constitution, as it is on Congress's website, has been altered. The Constitution.

The original: web.archive.org/web/20250601...

Today's: web.archive.org/web/20250806...

Note Article One, Sections 9 & 10.

U.S. Constitution | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

The original text of the United States Constitution and its Amendments.

web.archive.org

5 13 24

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · Jul 29

I’m so sorry. That is awful. Sending a virtual hug!

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · Jul 29

Copyright is the legally-ordained chokepoint at which powerful entities can extract financial gain from AI products, so it’s the only AI issue/discussion/debate receiving powerful people’s financial support in our legal and policymaking infrastructure. [sad trombone sound]

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · Jul 26

@librarypunk.bsky.social & @libraryfutures.bsky.social, another AI term just dropped -

arxiv.org/abs/2507.07484

Machine Bullshit: Characterizing the Emergent Disregard for Truth in Large Language Models

Bullshit, as conceptualized by philosopher Harry Frankfurt, refers to statements made without regard to their truth value. While previous work has explored large language model (LLM) hallucination and...

arxiv.org

1

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

librarypunk @librarypunk.bsky.social · Jul 25

Was going to try my hand at minting a new term for AI issues in libraries for a blog post I'm working on with @libraryfutures.bsky.social but found out @sarahlamdan.bsky.social already beat me to it with "vendor slurry", so it's just "AI vendor slurry" now.

1 3 21

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · Jul 25

Yesssss.

1 2

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Eamon Tewell @eamontewell.bsky.social · Jul 9

Applications for the Ask A Librarian Internship are open for one more week! This paid, remote, part-time internship is open to currently enrolled Library & Information Science students. Apply by July 16. library.columbia.edu/about/jobs-i...

9 8

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Jessica Ralli @jessicaralli.bsky.social · Jul 11

We’re working on a Freedom to Read advocacy toolkit for children 2-8 for #BannedBooksWeek! What are some kid friendly actions families can take together to fight #BookBans?

5 13

Reposted by Sarah Lamdan

Byron Tau @byrontau.bsky.social · May 28

Also if you're interested, I wrote a book about this:
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/706321...

2 9 34

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · May 15

Hooray! Congratulations!

Sarah Lamdan @sarahlamdan.bsky.social · May 15

Good question! Maybe @stanfordpress.bsky.social knows? I’m not sure.