No more book bans: how Florida students are pushing rightwingers out of school boards; The Guardian, September 18, 2026

 Anna North, The Guardian; No more book bans: how Florida students are pushing rightwingers out of school boards

Local communities are fighting back against the influence of conservative groups like Moms for Liberty in education

"By channeling anger against mask mandates in schools, the rightwing group Moms for Liberty, founded in Florida, built an outsized influence on school boards across the country in 2022. Soon, members began pressuring schools to remake their curricula along conservative ideological lines, erasing mentions of LGBTQ+ Americans, slavery, racism and more.

As a Black dad living in a historically Black part of Sarasota, Glover said he was especially disturbed by governor Ron DeSantis’s announcement that Florida schools would begin teaching students that some Black people benefited from slavery. “Now my children and the students in my community weren’t going to be learning about the true history of this country,” Glover said.

So the father of four decided to run for Sarasota’s school board this year. He is part of a larger movement of students, parents, teachers and concerned community members pushing back against the influence of groups like Moms for Liberty in Florida public education. They wanted schools that were safe and welcoming for all students, and that focused on learning rather than scoring points on the national political scene.

And last month, they won."

Trump administration moving ahead with signs outside Smithsonian museum; The Washington Post; September 16, 2026

Jonathan Edwards

 and 

Elahe Izadi

, The Washington Post; Trump administration moving ahead with signs outside Smithsonian museum

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said about a dozen signs would be installed outside the National Museum of American History warning of curators’ “personal viewpoints.”

"The Trump administration is moving ahead with plans to comply with President Donald Trump’s order to install signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History that would warn visitors about what the White House has called ideological bias in the institution’s presentation of the nation’s past.

The Interior Department is preparing about a dozen signs, expected to cost roughly $7,000 apiece, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum disclosed in a Sept. 3 letter to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over Smithsonian funding. Burgum said the signs, which he described as temporary, have not yet been finalized...

The planned signs are one piece of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to reshape how the Smithsonian presents American history, an effort that has intensified in recent months through executive orders, reviews of museum exhibits and threats to withhold some forms of federal support from the institution...

Trump ordered the signs after the White House issued a 162-page report on July 4 accusing the American History Museum and its director, Anthea Hartig, of promoting “extreme political activism.” The report, which rattled Smithsonian employees, scrutinized current and former exhibits and drew extensively from public comments by Hartig and other Smithsonian officials."

Pope: A library is not just place of books but of relationships and exchange; Vatican News, September 14, 2026

 Kielce Gussie, Vatican News ; Pope: A library is not just place of books but of relationships and exchange

"Speaking to the staff of the Vatican Archives and Library, Pope Leo XIV highlights the importance of the mission of these two institutions in service of the Church and the world and notes that the Library is not simply a place full of books, but a place built by relationships, exchange, and sharing ideas."

Library books overdue by 116 years returned in 'excellent condition'; BBC Wales, September 10, 2026

Jessica Johnson BBC Wales ; Library books overdue by 116 years returned in 'excellent condition'

"A man has returned his late grandfather's library books which were overdue by 116 years.

Peter O'Sullivan's grandfather, Walter Griffith Owen, took out Milton's Paradise Lost and Shakespeare's King Lear in 1910."

Lonnie Bunch Protected the Smithsonian From More Than Trump; The Atlantic, September 9, 2026

 Sebastian Smee, The Atlantic; Lonnie Bunch Protected the Smithsonian From More Than Trump

"Since his appointment as the Smithsonian’s top official—its 14th secretary and the first historian and Black man to hold the position—in June 2019, Bunch has been the glue holding the Smithsonian together. Through a combination of principled stances and deft political skills, he has kept the sprawling institution on mission and aligned with its public. Chief Justice John Roberts, who serves as the Smithsonian’s chancellor, said in a statementthat Bunch has “pursued excellence in the telling of our nation’s story” and that the Smithsonian has “benefited greatly from his wisdom, vision, and leadership.”"

Smithsonian’s Secretary to Resign as Trump Tries to Rule the Institution; The New York Times, September 8, 2026

Robin Pogrebin and Graham Bowley , The New York Times; Smithsonian’s Secretary to Resign as Trump Tries to Rule the Institution

"After a seven-year run marked most recently by attacks from the Trump administration, Lonnie G. Bunch III announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

The White House has escalated its criticism of how the Smithsonian presents American history and values, prompting concern from some about what they see as an assault on the institution’s autonomy and commendation from others for reining in an organization they view as overtaken by liberal bias.

In an interview, Mr. Bunch, 73, said it was not the pressure that had led to his departure."

SF Public Library launches massive, historical platform free to public; Bay City News Service via SFGate, August 22, 2026

 Bay City News Service via SFGate; SF Public Library launches massive, historical platform free to public

""The San Francisco Public Library announced this week that it has launched a new platform for its digital archive featuring more than 80,000 pieces of historical items that are free to access for the public.

The archive, called DigitalSF, includes historical photographs dating back to before the city was founded, as well as documents, manuscripts, maps, publications, and oral histories...

DigitalSF makes it easier for anyone -- whether they live in San Francisco or anywhere in (or around) the world -- to explore and share the city's stories," said Christina Moretta, photo curator and manager of the San Francisco History Center, in a statement. The history center is the library's archive at the Main Library that holds physical historical materials related to the city.

Some highlights in the archive include Harvey Milk's handwritten speeches, African American oral histories, photos of the city from the 19th century, and images of the city after the 1868, 1906 and 1989 earthquakes."

Exclusive: FTC urged to investigate AI firms for destroying books; Axios, August 21, 2026

Ashley Gold, Axios ; Exclusive: FTC urged to investigate AI firms for destroying books

"The Federal Trade Commission is being urged to investigate AI companies for buying, scanning and destroying books to train AI, per a letter shared first with Axios.

Why it matters: If the FTC agrees, the fight over AI training data may move from copyright into competition. 

That could include regulators scrutinizing whether dominant AI firms are literally eliminating resources their rivals need to compete.

Driving the news: More than a dozen civil society groups are urging the FTC to use its authority to examine what the letter's authors call a "destructive new data acquisition practice by dominant AI companies."

The groups include Demand Progress Education Fund, the Consumer Federation of America and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

In January, the Washington Post, citing court filings, reported that Anthropic spent millions to acquire and physically remove the spines of books to feed their scanned pages into Claude. Google, Microsoft and OpenAI have faced similar copyright lawsuits, per the Post.

Specifically, the groups want the FTC to determine whether such conduct constitutes an unfair method of competition, arguing that any AI company that does so is "starving the market" of critical source materials.

The letter points out that in some cases, rare books could be destroyed forever, with digital firms snagging the last copies."

Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?; BBC, August 15, 2026

 Philippa Wain , BBC; Secondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?

"Destructive scanning

The court documents relating to the Anthropic case revealed the project of ingesting old books was referred to in internal company communications as "Project Panama."

The documents indicated the company's aim was to "destructively scan all the books in the world".

Destructive scanning is the process of shipping books to locations where they can be digitised at an industrial scale. 

It includes removing a book's spine so all the pages can be scanned rapidly - and the remains recycled.

"A lot of mystery surrounds Project Panama," Manley, from Barter Books, says."

Hidden Airtag reveals Amazon is trashing rare books to train AI; Ars Technica, August 17, 2026

 ASHLEY BELANGER , Ars Technica; Hidden Airtag reveals Amazon is trashing rare books to train AI

"For the past year or so, booksellers have suspected that AI firms are buying up huge lots of rare books, then destroying them after scanning them to train AI. But this was hard to prove until now, as 404 Media reports that an Airtag hidden in a rare book shows that at least one tech giant, in the race to advance its frontier models, is behind some of the bulk orders: Amazon.

On Monday, 404 Media revealed that it had connected with a bookseller who agreed to plant an Airtag in a rare book that was part of a bulk order. That Airtag was then tracked to an Amazon AI training facility in Las Vegas that housed a team focused on tearing books from their spines and scanning pages, 404 Media reported. Apparently tone-deaf to the escalating backlash over destructive book scanning, a logo on the door of that team’s warehouse, VGT3, showed a Tyrannosaurus rex preparing to devour a book, 404 Media documented."

Why is Anthropic destroying books?; The Guardian, August 5, 2026

Kathryn James, The Guardian; Why is Anthropic destroying books?

"Should we be surprised that destroying printed texts seemed easier to Anthropic than working with their human authors?"

Trump Orders Warnings Placed at ‘Inaccurate’ Smithsonian History Museum; The New York Times, July 24, 2026

Robin Pogrebin and Zachary Small, The New York Times ; Trump Orders Warnings Placed at ‘Inaccurate’ Smithsonian History Museum

President Trump said the signage at the National Museum of American History would correct what a disputed White House report described as “extreme political activism.”

"President Trump on Friday ordered warning signs and exhibits installed outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to alert the public that the museum does not, in his view, accurately reflect American history.

The unusual directive, made through an executive order, was a considerable escalation of the president’s dispute with the Smithsonian and its history museum, which was the subject of a recent 162-page report. The report accused the museum’s director, Anthea M. Hartig, of “radical activist ideology” and the museum of undermining “faith in American institutions.”

The order went so far as to suggest that the signage inform potential museum visitors of locations where American history is better presented. The administration did not explain where the public would be redirected.

The Smithsonian declined to comment.

Mr. Trump’s order came just days after Ms. Hartig was grilled by Republican legislators in two congressional hearings, where she was accused of teaching “national self-loathing.”"

HOW THE SMITHSONIAN COULD FALL; The Atlantic, July 16, 2026

Kelsey Ables, Photographs by Caroline Gutman, The Atlantic ; HOW THE SMITHSONIAN COULD FALL

"The Trump administration wants to control the Smithsonian, but it won’t be so easy."

Upstate public library one of few to house rare book collection; Spectrum News 1, July 7, 2026

VIKTORIA HALLIKAAR , Spectrum News 1; Upstate public library one of few to house rare book collection

"The resources you can find at public libraries seem to be ever-growing. One collection is keeping an eye on the future by preserving the past.

Deep in the stacks of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library is a massive collection of books.

“We're contemporary. We're of the moment,” explained Heather Gring, the rare book curator for Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.

But these books aren’t your standard page-turners.

“The oldest thing in our collection is 4,000 years old, and the most contemporary is local press that has been made this year,” said Gring.

Spectrum News 1 was given a rare look inside the rare book vaults.

“The difference between an old book and a rare book is who wants to buy it,” Gring explained.

Cameras, locks and key codes are trying to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

“This collection is worth, collectively, millions of dollars,” said Gring. "The way the Rare Books department was even started was because of a theft in the 1930s. [...] They worked with the FBI, and they did successfully retrieve almost all of the books that had been stolen.”

Keeping these treasures safe doesn’t mean keeping them hidden. This is one of only about 25 rare book departments in the country to be housed in a public library."

AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption; The Guardian, June 24, 2026

Ian Sample, The Guardian; AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption

[Kip Currier: How exciting to learn from this 6/24/26 Guardian article that AI has uncovered more text from an ancient scroll that was charred by Mount Vesuvius's eruption in 79 AD.

I included in my Ethics, Information, and Technology book a "benefits of AI" example from a couple of years ago of just a few words that had been gleaned by AI from one of these blackened scrolls. Now the world has access to "20 columns of previously hidden text covering more than a metre of charred papyrus without physically unrolling the scroll."

This example offers another persuasive argument, too, for the importance of preserving archival artifacts, even if the technologies of the time present roadblocks to discovery and new knowledge. Thankfully, these charred, seemingly impenetrable scrolls were preserved until emerging technologies like AI are now making new discoveries a reality.] 

"The surviving part of an ancient scroll that was burnt to a crisp when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago has been virtually unwrapped and read with help from artificial intelligence.

Researchers uncovered 20 columns of previously hidden text covering more than a metre of charred papyrus without physically unrolling the scroll. The work discusses stoic philosophy on ethics, art and human behaviour and dates to the second or late-third century BC."

How Teaching A.I. to Speak Cajun Can Help Save a Language; The New York Times, June 27, 2026

 Jonathan Abrams, The New York Times; How Teaching A.I. to Speak Cajun Can Help Save a Language

By feeding centuries-old nursery rhymes and folklore recordings into their own model, linguists in Louisiana hope to help a community control its digital destiny.

"Louisiana French, the oral dialect of which Balfa was a cultural guardian, is part of the Bayou’s societal DNA, a link to its history, music and identity. Today, Caffery described the language as struggling and endangered, a notion reinforced by Alexa’s overlooking Balfa.

In response, Caffery assembled a small team at the center to train its own language learning model in automatic speech recognition for Louisiana French, drawing from a trove of historical artifacts and interviews.

Over the months, as the learning language model is trained on bits of the language — such as an old-age French nursery rhyme — it brings centuries-old dialect closer into the digital age."

Springfield library creates archive documenting LGBTQ community’s role in local history; KY3, June 25, 2026

KY3 Staff, KY3; Springfield library creates archive documenting LGBTQ community’s role in local history

 "In honor of Pride Month, local history and genealogy staff at the Springfield-Greene County Library have started creating an archive of the LGBTQ community’s role in Springfield history.

The staff describes the archive as incomplete, pointing to the historical erasure of the community’s contributions.

Library staff says people of various gender identities and sexual orientations have existed for a long time. But intolerance, fear for one’s life, and legal persecution have resulted in their stories going unheard or being lost over time.

The archive details some of the stories that have survived."

Rare Books on Sex Have Spiced Things Up at a Library Franklin Founded; The New York Times, June 23, 2026

Ralph Blumenthal

Photographs by Caroline Gutman,

The New York Times; Rare Books on Sex Have Spiced Things Up at a Library Franklin Founded

The Library Company of Philadelphia, created in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, has received a gift of 1,500 volumes about sexuality dating back to the 17th century.

"As it approaches its 300th birthday, the Library Company is marking its own milestone — a pending merger with Temple University to shore up its shaky finances and expand its academic and public footprint. The deal, approved by shareholders of both would-be partners last December, awaits approval by the Pennsylvania Attorney General and the state judicial unit that oversees charities, known as Orphans’ Court.

Like many nonprofits, the library, with an annual budget of roughly $3 million, has struggled financially in recent years and its staff, which numbered 28 two years ago, has shrunk to 16.

Joining forces would expand scholarly vistas for the university’s nearly 35,000 students and faculty while securing the library’s public future, John Fry, Temple’s president, said in an interview. “It’s the best shot for it to continue another 300 years.”"

Work begins at Diocese of Atlanta site that will house Episcopal Church Archives; Episcopal News Service (ENS), June 22, 2026

ENS Staff , Episcopal News Service (ENS); Work begins at Diocese of Atlanta site that will house Episcopal Church Archives

"The Episcopal Church is breaking ground this week on a new facility to house its archival collections, on a 3.5-acre property in Oakwood, Georgia, that was the former home of the Diocese of Atlanta’s St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church.

Site preparation work was scheduled to begin June 22 on renovations of the former St. Gabriel’s building and an expansion project that will turn the site into the first permanent home for The Episcopal Church Archives since 2021. The $4.5 million project is expected to be completed by spring 2027.

The Episcopal Church Archives preserves documents and artifacts detailing centuries’ worth of church history. For the past five years, the archives have occupied a temporary warehouse in Austin, Texas. The church previously had leased space from the Seminary of the Southwest for 60 years."

Mozart manuscript discovered at French National Library to be performed for the first time; Le Monde, June 19, 2026

 Marie-Aude Roux, Le Monde; Mozart manuscript discovered at French National Library to be performed for the first time

The music notebook, found in the archives, dates from the composer's final stay in Paris, in 1778. The seven short pieces for flute and harp it contains will be broadcast for the first time ever on June 22 on France Musique radio.

"The seven short pieces for flute and harp are part of an autograph manuscript by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, recently rediscovered in the music department of the French National Library (BNF). This is a major discovery, as the genius of the Austrian composer continues to shine at the heart of European culture."