Here’s Ancient Solace for ‘Arrested Development’ Fans

As Streamers Drop Content, the Library of Alexandria Offers a Tale of Caution and Hope

The Library of Alexandria’s Lesson for Streaming | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

You log into a streaming service and the show you want to watch is gone.

Best-case scenario it’s migrated to another major platform, and you already have an account set up there.

Less ideal, it has been folded into a smaller-tier streamer, the kind that offers its content for free, but with so many ads that the show is nearly unwatchable.

Then there’s the bleakest option: The show you’re looking for is gone. You can’t watch it. You can’t buy it (except maybe on used DVD or VHS, if you have a player). …

by Jackie Mansky | March 17, 2023

If You Think Libraries Are Redundant, Read This

More Than Strict Rules And Dusty Stacks, Libraries Build Community

By Sarah Rothbard | October 1, 2016

Twenty-first century librarians do not wear their hair in buns. They don’t relish levying fines on forgetful patrons. They won’t scold you for bringing a cup of coffee into the …

The Future of Libraries Has Three Different Paths

From a Single, Globally Accessible Collection to Nonexistent, Imagining the Institutions in 2100

By Jim O’Donnell | September 29, 2016

So what will libraries be like in 2100?

That’s not so very far away. The next time you see a tiny baby, bear in mind that she or he has a …

What Will We Archive in the Future?

For a Glimpse of Library Collections to Come, Check Out the Fascinating Project to Document Born-Digital Material on Global Health Events

By Rebecca Onion | September 29, 2016

Colorful AIDS education posters from the 1980s. Black-and-white photos of mid-20th-century anatomy lessons for midwives. Eighteenth-century instructions for the administration of patent medicines. While a paper archival collection in the …

Archiving the Civil War’s Text Messages

A Massive Crowdsourcing Project Is Digitizing Thousands of Coded Union Telegrams, and Unearthing Astonishing “Emails”

By Daniel Lewis | September 29, 2016

The Thomas T. Eckert Papers—consisting of records, ledgers, and cipher books kept by the head of the War Department’s military telegraph office—came to us at the Huntington Library four years …

How Will Public Libraries Serve an Increasingly Unequal Society?

Let’s Focus on the People Affected by Libraries Rather Than the Collections Contained Within Them

By Ignacio Albarracín | September 29, 2016

Trying to predict the future of anything—let alone public libraries—is a tricky task. But unequivocally we can say this: Libraries are not about to become purely digital endeavors. The notion …

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