Make that 'library.' Faculty and students at Vermont State University were not having it when the financially strapped institution announced last week that everything would be digital. "Since the announcement, the union faculty and staff voted no confidence" in the leadership. - Inside Higher Ed
So said the UK children charity Booktrust's new writer in residence, SF Said. Unlike many recent censorship fans in the US, he said, "I really don’t think an adult should ever dismiss or belittle a choice that a child has made themselves." - The Guardian (UK)
"The library was a haven. It was the one place we could all go and not spend a dime, but be filled with everything we needed for our minds and spirits." - The New York Times
A union representative said that "the hope is to show publishing employees that they have more options beyond just 'stick it out or leave. ... There is now a third option of collective action and standing up together for what is right.'" - Publishers Weekly
The man really loved to call people fat, and he also enjoyed calling people - with varying degrees of disgust - "crazy," "Black," and so forth. Some new editions of his kids' books have been, let's say, revised. - Los Angeles Times
Actually, Jewish and Christian theologians have been trying to finesse that question about the Song of Songs (or the Song of Solomon) for 2,000 years — repeatedly arguing that poetry that's obviously about carnal love is really a metaphor for God's devotion to His people. (Yeah, they mean "His.") - The Conversation
"The Codex Sassoon, dating to the late 9th to early 10th century, is believed to be the earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible." The expected price: $30 million to $50 million. - CNN
"Paramount Global is again seeking to sell Simon & Schuster, months after the media company's $2.2 billion deal to sell the book publisher to Penguin Random House collapsed." - Reuters
"Today, 'grammar analysis' remains the framework of much Latin instruction. But spoken Latin is becoming increasingly common in classrooms. According to a 2019 survey of 95 Latin teachers, the most frequently cited change in their teaching methods in the past (decade) was the introduction of active Latin techniques." - Smithsonian Magazine
"Fertility-related customs have been celebrated in mid-February since pagan times. ... By the 18th century, we see something that begins to resemble modern Valentine's cards. In the 19th century, this evolved to the point where popular ladies' magazines like Harper's Weekly published instructions for readers on how to craft them." - AP
"Want to become a signature voice of your troubled nation? Perhaps you need a decades-long exile in California. It worked for Czesław Miłosz, who entered the pantheon of Polish poets thanks to works he wrote mostly in Berkeley," where he spent 40 years and won a Nobel Prize. - Zócalo Public Square
Apparently, book lovers have been storing up their pet peeves in the cellar for years, just waiting for someone to ask. Hundreds and hundreds of people responded, exceeding my wildest dreams. - Washington Post
Of course, every Dickinson poem reflects her intention to create meaning. When ChatGPT puts words together, it does not intend anything. Some argue that writings by LLMs therefore have no meaning, only the appearance of it. - Washington Post
Freedom of expression is a hot potato—freedom for whom and for what, and who decides? The last English writer before the late 20th century to have totally free rein was Geoffrey Chaucer. Few then could read, and books were hand-lettered and very expensive. - The Atlantic
