Frank Landymore, Futurism; Microsoft Shuts Down Library, Replaces It With AI
"Does Microsoft hate books more, or its own workers? It’s hard to say, because The Verge reports that the multitrillion dollar giant is gutting its employee library and cutting down on digital subscriptions in favor of pursuing what’s internally described as an “AI-powered learning experience” — whatever in Clippy’s name that’s supposed to mean."
Tom Warren, The Verge; Microsoft is closing its employee library and cutting back on subscriptions
"Microsoft is closing its physical library of books and cutting employee subscriptions. It's part of cost cutting and a move to AI."
Julia Maruca , 90.5 WESA; With Pittsburgh set to lose legacy paper, experts talk impact of Post-Gazette closure announcement
"Wednesday’s announced closure of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has left media experts reeling and wondering about what the future holds for the city’s news environment...
The Blocks’ announced intention to shut down the Post-Gazette — following a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the company’s application for a stay in reinstating health care for the workers — means Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas will lose their oldest newspaper.
The legacy publication, first started in 1786 by John Scull and Joseph Hall as the Pittsburgh Gazette, has long touted itself as the “the first newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains.” And after the paper publishes its last issue this May, the Pittsburgh metropolitan area of 1.2 million people will be without a daily newspaper specifically dedicated to covering the city...
“ One would imagine any number of other parties may be interested in talking with the Blocks about possibly purchasing some or all of the assets of the paper. There are still a lot of open questions,” Davidson said. “I don't think we've seen the end of this story yet.”"
Charlotte Higgins , The Guardian; Trump’s assault on the Smithsonian: ‘The goal is to reframe the entire culture of the US’
[Kip Currier: Informative reporting by The Guardian on Trump 2.0 efforts to whitewash and erase centuries of history and culture by imprinting one man's and one movement's views on the Smithsonian museums.
Share this with as many people as possible to raise awareness and promote advocacy for the historical integrity and unfiltered authenticity of museums within the Smithsonian Institution system.]
[Excerpt]
"Lonnie Bunch, in the meantime, is holding a delicate line. On 18 December, a new letter from the White House arrived for him. The Smithsonian had fallen short in providing the information requested on 12 August, it said. “We wish to be assured,” it continued, “that none of the leadership of the Smithsonian museums is confused about the fact that the United States has been among the greatest forces for good in the history of the world. The American people will have no patience for any museum that is diffident about America’s founding or otherwise uncomfortable conveying a positive view of American history.” Then came the threat. “As you may know, funds apportioned for the Smithsonian Institution are only available for use in a manner consistent with Executive Order 14253, ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,’ and the fulfilment of the requests set forth in our August 12, 2025 letter.”
Bunch wrote a note to all his staff the following day, quietly affirming, once more, the organisation’s autonomy. “For nearly 180 years, the Smithsonian has served our country as an independent and nonpartisan institution committed to its mission – the increase and diffusion of knowledge – for all Americans. As we all know, all content, programming, and curatorial decisions are made by the Smithsonian.”
With JD Vance on the board of regents, along with Republican members of Congress, the question hovers: how long will 73-year-old Bunch survive in his position? “Lonnie knows his time is short,” one DC museum director told me. “It’s a question of how he decides to go, and of which hill he chooses to die on.”"
, The Daily Beast; Trumpy Owners Close Major City’s Pulitzer-Winning Newspaper: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is the region’s largest newspaper.
"Billionaire twins John and Allan Block suddenly told dozens of workers for the 125-year-old Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it will cease publication on May 3. The paper had won a Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for its coverage of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre. But at 1:15 p.m., with just 45 minutes notice, they played a pre-taped Zoom announcement that the newspaper would close completely...
The twins are third generation owners of the paper through the family company Block Communications which also owns the Toledo Blade...
The twins, 71, have heavily backed President Donald Trump and have donated thousands of dollars to Republican causes...
Two years later, the Post-Gazette made national headlines for “shifting right” after John Block fired the Post-Gazette’s veteran cartoonist, Rob Rogers, over cartoons critical of Trump.
During the president’s 2020 campaign, John Block ordered the editorial board to endorse Trump—despite previously granting its request not to endorse a candidate—an insider at the publication told the Daily Beast. The board was forced to scrap its planned editorial just an hour before the print deadline and hastily write a new piece backing Trump, much to the staffers’ dismay.
On Wednesday, the brothers delivered the stunning news to staff via a brief, pre-recorded video, Post-Gazette reporters told the Daily Beast—despite owning multiple properties within short driving distance of the newsroom, including John Block’s sprawling Squirrel Hill mansion worth over $1.5 million.
Instead, staffers received an email at 12:34 p.m. informing them of a mandatory online meeting scheduled for 1:15 p.m. The meeting turned out to be a pre-recorded message that reporters described as “dehumanizing.”"...
Tensions between ownership and union journalists reached a boiling point in 2019, when John Block reportedly stormed into the newsroom and threatened to “burn the place down.”
Several staffers believe the Blocks are shutting down the outlet as punishment after a federal appeals court upheld a November ruling finding that the Post-Gazette illegally declared an impasse in union negotiations to impose its own terms."
Mark Walker, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Announces It Will Cease Operations
[Kip Currier: As someone who loves and depends on the vital access to information that newspapers singularly provide, my heart sunk when I saw this breaking news New York Times story about the Block family's decision to shutter The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as of May 3, 2026. It's a shocking and yet not surprising development, given the appalling manner in which the Block family has managed this storied newspaper for more than a decade:
The most unfortunate victims of the Block family's actions are the newspaper staff, the residents of the Greater Pittsburgh area, and all those who are interested in news involving this region.]
[Excerpt]
"The family-owned company that operates The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said on Wednesday that the newspaper would cease publication on Sunday, May 3, signaling the end of a newspaper whose origins date to 1786.
The company, Block Communications Inc., said it had lost more than $350 million over the past 20 years while publishing the newspaper. In a statement, it said the financial pressures facing local journalism had made “continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable.”
The company cited recent court decisions that would require The Post-Gazette to operate under the terms of a 2014 labor contract, which it described as imposing “outdated and inflexible operational practices.”
The Post-Gazette’s closure will not affect The Toledo Blade in Ohio, which is also owned by Block Communications. The company is based in Toledo.
The Post-Gazette’s closure will not affect The Toledo Blade in Ohio, which is also owned by Block Communications. The company is based in Toledo.
In a statement, the Block family said it regretted how the loss of the newspaper would affect the communities it has served. The family said it was “proud of the service The Post-Gazette has provided to Pittsburgh for nearly a century.”"
Mike Murillo, WTOP ; NASA says historic materials will be preserved as Goddard research library shuts down
[Kip Currier: Multiple concerns with even this statement by NASA head Jared Isaacman, responding to concerns about the preservation and accessibility of historic NASA archival records, data, and documents.
Who will be making the determinations as to what is and isn't preserved? Are there trained staff involved in this process, i.e. persons with expertise in archival practices, collection development, document/data retrieval, etc.?
Keeping these records and data doesn't have to be an either/or choice. Isaacman said "preserving history is important, but NASA’s focus remains on future missions, including sending astronauts farther into space and returning to the moon to stay." We can do both: "preserve history" and advance work on "future missions".
Who knows today what seemingly inconsequential data in a notebook, or sound on an audiocassette recording, or document from the early days of space exploration may be key to solving an engineering design challenge or shedding light on a scientific conundrum at some later time that we can't foresee now. Watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)! 😏]
[Excerpt]
"The library at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, home to thousands of books and documents chronicling America’s space history, is closing in the coming months, raising concerns that rare records could be lost.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on X that every item will be reviewed before the closure as part of a facilities consolidation plan approved in 2022 under the Joe Biden administration.
“The physical library space at Goddard is closing as part of a long-planned facilities consolidation,” Isaacman said. He added that the goal is to digitize materials, transfer them to other libraries, or preserve them for historical purposes.
Isaacman pushed back on reports suggesting NASA might discard documents, calling that characterization misleading. Critics have warned that historic and technical records could disappear.
“At no point is NASA ‘tossing out’ important scientific or historical materials, and that framing has led to several other misleading headlines,” Isaacman wrote.
He said preserving history is important, but NASA’s focus remains on future missions, including sending astronauts farther into space and returning to the moon to stay. Researchers will continue to have access to the resources they need, he said."
Keith Cowing, NASA Watch; NASA’s Rocky History Of Library Closures
"Keith’s note: NASA has been closing its libraries for a long time. Budgetary and building issues are usually the prime reason. Usually, stuff gets moved around and put in storage for years until the storage costs mount and then a portion ends up in someone’s library – somewhere – and the rest gets shipped to some generic GSA warehouse – or thrown away. Now it is GSFC’s turn to go through this painful process – not only with their collection but also the NASA HQ library that was moved there when the HQ library was converted to a visitor center. They have assured NASA HQ that nothing valuable will be lost. NASA’s record in this regard is somewhat rocky. More below.
To be certain, a lot of the material is already online at places like The NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) or the Internet Archive or university libraries. But a lot of the material is NASA-generated and niche-oriented such that only a few copies – sometimes one copy – exists. A lot of it goes back to NACA days.
I took this picture (above) at NASA Ames while their library was being removed. I am told that NASA HQ has been assured that nothing of value will be thrown out and that important things that have not been electronically stored will be. But the budget pressures are strong.
Some of you may recall the time when Dennis Wingo and I did a diving catch of all the 1960s Lunar Orbiter program image tapes that were in a remote warehouse and JPL wanted to get rid of them. We started the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP). We drove the tapes up to NASA Ames in two large rental trucks and assembled a team of retirees and college kids to bring the data back (link to New York Times) from the past at resolutions simply impossible to achieve back in the day. And of course you recall the whole ‘lost Apollo 11 landing tapes’ thing.
So, as these libraries close, I hope everyone at GSFC please keeps their eyes open to assure that NASA is preserving this history and not throwing it out. And if they are not then let me know. Below are some earlier examples of controversial NASA library closures.
Mountain Times; Documentary ‘The Librarians’ explores book bans and the fight for intellectual freedom
"Saturday, Jan. 3, and Sunday, Jan. 4, at 3 p.m.—WOODSTOCK—A timely documentary examining the rise of book bans and censorship across the United States will screen in Woodstock this weekend as part of the Woodstock Vermont Film Series. “The Librarians” will be shown at Billings Farm & Museum, with a special post-screening Q&A featuring producer Janique Robillard following Saturday’s screening.
“The Librarians” follows a group of librarians who find themselves on the front lines of a national battle over access to books and ideas. As efforts to remove books from schools and public libraries intensify in states such as Texas and Florida, librarians are emerging as unlikely defenders of democracy and the First Amendment. The film centers in part on the so-called “Krause List,” which targeted more than 850 book titles—many focused on race, identity, and LGBTQ stories—and helped fuel a wave of coordinated censorship efforts nationwide.
Through personal accounts and on-the-ground reporting, the documentary captures the mounting pressure librarians face, including harassment, threats, and legislation that criminalizes aspects of their work. As the debate escalates from local school board meetings to organized political movements at the state and national levels, “The Librarians” traces how access to information becomes a battleground over whose stories are allowed to be told.
By examining the broader consequences of restricting access to books, the film underscores how controlling ideas can shape communities—and why defending intellectual freedom remains a critical issue in contemporary civic life.
The screening is part of the Woodstock Vermont Film Series, which presents documentaries and narrative films that spark conversation and deepen connections to the wider world. Screenings take place on select Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. in the Billings Farm & Museum Visitor Center Theater through March 22. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for Billings Farm & Museum members.
The series is curated and directed by filmmaker Jay Craven and produced by Billings Farm & Museum with support from community sponsors.
For more information, visit: billingsfarm.org/filmseries."
Andrew Limbong, NPR; Book distributor shutting down deals logistical blow to libraries
"Baker and Taylor is one of very few companies that do book-distribution for libraries — companies that act as the middle man between libraries and publishers. But a few months ago, the company abruptly announced it was shutting down."
Eric Niiler, The New York Times; NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts
[Kip Currier: As a life-long space aficionado (as just one example, I fondly recall as a boy my Dad waking me up so I could watch the 1972 Apollo 17 launch that occurred at 12:33 AM) and long-time proponent of libraries, archives, and museums as essential societal institutions and trusted keepers of our history and cultures, seeing this story today was truly stomach-turning.
How shameful and short-sighted for the Trump administration to unilaterally decide to close NASA's largest library. The items within that library's singular collections represent the collective space-faring history and legacy of every person, not just one transitory administration.]
[Excerpt]
"The Trump administration is closing NASA’s largest research library on Friday, a facility that houses tens of thousands of books, documents and journals — many of them not digitized or available anywhere else.
Jacob Richmond, a NASA spokesman, said the agency would review the library holdings over the next 60 days and some material would be stored in a government warehouse while the rest would be tossed away."
Ben Martynoga, The Guardian; Defunding fungi: US’s living library of ‘vital ecosystem engineers’ is in danger of closing
"Inside a large greenhouse at the University of Kansas, Professor Liz Koziol and Dr Terra Lubin tend rows of sudan grass in individual plastic pots. The roots of each straggly plant harbor a specific strain of invisible soil fungus. The shelves of a nearby cold room are stacked high with thousands of plastic bags and vials containing fungal spores harvested from these plants, then carefully preserved by the researchers.
The samples in this seemingly unremarkable room are part of the International Collection of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (INVAM), the world’s largest living library of soil fungi. Four decades in the making, it could cease to exist within a year due to federal budget cuts.
For leading mycologist Toby Kiers, this would be catastrophic. “INVAM represents a library of hundreds of millions of years of evolution,” said Kiers, executive director of the Society for Protection of Underground Networks (Spun). “Ending INVAM for scientists is like closing the Louvre for artists."
Stephanie Sugars from Freedom of the Press Foundation, U.S. Press Freedom Tracker; Press arrests used to silence protest coverage in 2025
"While covering anything from protests to government meetings, journalists in 2025 were pulled from news scenes, placed in cuffs and held in custody from minutes to days — long enough for deadlines to pass and breaking news to go cold.
As of Dec. 15, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented at least 32 instances in which journalists were detained or charged just for doing their jobs. While that count is lower than the 50 documented last year, each one is a warning flare that something fundamental is shifting in how authorities police information and those who gather it. Most were released without charges or had them quickly dropped, but the impact extends far beyond the time spent in custody...
The LA Press Club’s Rose told the Tracker that, once a member of the press is placed in handcuffs, they can’t operate a camera, take notes or observe unfolding events.
“But I know one reporter who mastered a new skill they don’t teach in journalism school,” he added. “While his hands are behind him in zip ties, he can pull out his phone and still type out emergency messages asking for help. I’ve been on the receiving end of quite a few of those.
“This should not be what’s needed to cover protests,” said Rose, “but it’s where we are in 2025.”"
Sara Fischer , Axios; Yanked "60 Minutes" episode aired in Canada
[Kip Currier: CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss "knows her assignment": run editorial interference for oligarch Paramount Skydance tech baron bosses Larry and David Ellison (who own CBS) and the Trump 2.0 administration.
In one of the first major tests of Weiss's censorial assignment, she has both succeeded and failed: (1) blocking the airing of a damning 60 Minutes segment set to hear on December 21, 2025 on the human rights and due process violations of the Trump 2.0 administration in deporting detainees to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison gulag, and (2) unsuccessfully stopping the blocked video from leaking to Canada and the San Francisco-based Internet Archive.]
[Excerpt]
"The "60 Minutes" segment pulled from air by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss did not include new comments from Trump administration officials, according to a copy of the segment viewed by Axios.
Why it matters: The segment, anchored by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, caused uproar internally over whether it was pulled for political reasons.
Zoom in: The segment included interviews with two people who were imprisoned at CECOT, an executive from the nonprofit Human Rights Watch and the director of UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center Investigations Lab.
The other side: The segment ends with Alfonsi saying the Department of Homeland Security "declined our request for an interview and referred all questions about CECOT to El Salvador. The government there did not respond to our request."
William Vaillancourt , The Daily Beast; CBS Frantically Tries to Stop People From Seeing Censored ‘60 Minutes’
"The 60 Minutes story that CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss abruptly pulled from the air on Sunday has been leaked—and the network is responding with copyright takedowns.
Canadian broadcaster Global TV aired the segment, which deals with Venezuelan migrants to the U.S. whom the Trump administration deported to CECOT, the notorious prison in El Salvador. Videos of the segment—in some instances, people recording their television screens—began circulating on Monday. But many didn’t last.
Paramount Skydance, CBS News’ parent company, began issuing a flurry of copyright notices on X, YouTube, and other platforms.
But the video was ultimately saved in the Internet Archive, among other places.
In it, a Venezuelan college student who sought asylum in the U.S.—and says he has no criminal record—describes what happened to him at CECOT.
“There was blood everywhere, screams, people crying, people who couldn’t take it and were urinating and vomiting on themselves,” Luis Munoz Pinto said. “Four guards grabbed me, and they beat me until I bled until the point of agony. They knocked our faces against the wall. That was when they broke one of my teeth.”"
Jennifer Schuessler , The New York Times; Library Agency Reinstates Grants Canceled by Trump Administration
[Kip Currier: Restoration of Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grants for libraries, archives, and museums -- cut earlier this year by Trump 2.0 -- is good news for people throughout the country whose lives are enriched by these vital institutions and community anchors.
What does it say about an administration that eliminates support for libraries, archives, and museums that provide free access to thousands of books and summer reading programs, historical records and exhibits, and life-enhancing programs like job seeking and AI literacy, but which will pump millions and millions of dollars into the building of a White House ballroom that no one voted for and only the very wealthiest will ever have access to?]
[Excerpt]
"The federal agency that supports the nation’s libraries has restored thousands of grants canceled by the Trump administration, following a federal judge’s ruling that the executive order mandating the cuts was unlawful.
The executive order, issued in March, said the Institute for Museum and Library Services, along with six other small agencies, must “be reduced to the maximum extent consistent with the applicable law.” Soon after, the agency put most of its staff of 70 on administrative leave, fired its board members and began informing grant recipients that their federal funding had been eliminated.
In April, the attorneys general of 21 states filed a lawsuit arguing that the cuts, which included roughly $160 million in funding for state library agencies, violated federal law.
John J. McConnell Jr., the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, ruled in their favor on Nov. 21, calling the administration’s moves “arbitrary and capricious.” Canceling funding appropriated by Congress, he said, violated the doctrine of separation of powers.
This week, the agency announced the restoration of “all federal grants” in a terse post on its website. The post made no reference to the court ruling."
Erik Wemple, The New York Times ; New York Times Sues Pentagon Over First Amendment Rights
"The New York Times accused the Pentagon in a lawsuit on Thursday of infringing on the constitutional rights of journalists by imposing a set of new restrictions on reporting about the military.
In the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, The Times argued that the Defense Department’s new policy violated the First Amendment and “seeks to restrict journalists’ ability to do what journalists have always done — ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories that take the public beyond official pronouncements.”
The rules, which went into effect in October, are a stark departure from the previous ones, in both length and scope. They require reporters to sign a 21-page form that sets restrictions on journalistic activities, including requests for story tips and inquiries to Pentagon sources. Reporters who don’t comply could lose their press passes, and the Pentagon has accorded itself “unbridled discretion” to enforce the policy as it sees fit, according to the lawsuit."
Sarah Cascone, artnet ; Es Devlin’s Towering Beachfront Library Illuminates Miami Art Week
"Es Devlin’s The Library of Us has emerged as one of Miami Art Week’s most dramatic spectacles. The 20-foot-tall rotating bookshelf housing 2,500 books invites visitors to read and reflect in a quiet counterpoint to the frenzy of Art Basel. By day, it towers over the sands of Miami Beach, a triangular wedge of a bookshelf set within a circular pool of water, slowly rotating in the Florida sun. By night, it glows like a beacon, offering a mesmerizing tribute to the power of the written word.
Designed to serve as sculpture, library, and public gathering space, the work invites visitors to step onto a circular platform that rotates them into shifting proximity with strangers. As the interior circle spins, viewers will face different people on the outside, creating a social experience. Set just feet from the Atlantic, the piece doubles as a meditation on fragility—of culture, of knowledge, and the environment.
“What would the resonance of 4,000 books with differing points of view revolving together without disagreement be in this place in Miami. What would happen if encircling that library were water, rising waters?,” Devlin told guests at the opening for the ambitious work.
The artist’s nearly 20-foot-tall bookshelf represents a remarkable vision. Sure, everyone loves to bring a beach read down to the shore, but there’s something poignantly fragile about seeing an entire library within a stone’s throw of the ocean waves, pages and spines open to the salty breeze. But this apparent vulnerability seems fitting for this city on a tiny strip of land, the colorful hotels and vibrant restaurants increasingly at risk of flooding due to climate change and intensifying storms...
The 2,500 titles included are those she considers formative to her philosophy, life, and practice.
Where libraries are traditionally places of reverent silence, Devlin has created an audio track to accompany her monumental sculpture. She reads various quotes from the many titles included in the display—some of which have been banned by Florida schools, according to the artist. She’ll donate all the books to Miami public schools and libraries after the installation ends."
Michael Auslin , The Wall Street Journal; ‘The Library of Congress’ Review: Corridors of Knowledge
"When the president unexpectedly fired the librarian of Congress, a prominent legislator denounced the “open despotism which now rules at Washington.” The year was 1829, and as Andrew Jackson installed a political ally as librarian, it was Henry Clay who accused the president of being a threat to democracy.
This is but one vignette from Jane Aikin’s comprehensive history “The Library of Congress” (Georgetown, 356 pages, $32.95), which shows how bare-knuckled domestic politics have often shadowed the crown jewel of America’s intellectual institutions. In April, the library turned 225 years old, secure in its position as one of the world’s largest libraries. It now houses approximately 178 million items, from ancient clay tablets to Stradivarius violins, from the Gutenberg Bible to ever-expanding digital records."
Colleen Walsh , Harvard Law Today; Holding the past accountable by making it visible
Harvard Law School Library’s Paul Deschner discusses the decades-long effort to make the full archive of Nuremberg Trials records available online
"“The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored.” So said United States Supreme Court Justice and U.S. Chief of Counsel to the International Military Tribunal, Robert H. Jackson, during his opening statement for the prosecution at the first of 13 Nuremberg Trials, which began 80 years ago, on Nov. 20, 1945.
For decades, the Harvard Law School Library has been working to make the nearly complete set of Nuremberg Trials records publicly available online. It launched the first version of Harvard’s Nuremberg Trials Project website in 2003, but until recently only roughly 20 percent of the Law School’s trove of Nuremberg materials had been accessible to online visitors. Today, the full collection of 140,000 documents comprising more than 700,000 pages is live and searchable by anyone around the globe.
Harvard Law School Library’s Paul Deschner, who has helped guide the project almost since its inception, spoke with Harvard Law Today about the scope of the archive and what it took to bring the entire collection online."
