PACER Faces Continuing Troubles

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NewsBreaks

by Nancy K. Herther

Thanks to the rise of computer storage technologies and the internet, federal courts were able to move from paper records to electronic filing systems beginning in the 1980s. Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) was established as the public gateway to federal court documents. Rather than funding this initiative, Congress allowed the Judicial Conference of the U.S. to assess fees for accessing all but Supreme Court filings (which remain free). The costs of this access have increasingly been criticized by lawyers, scholars, and the public ever since. Today, lawsuits and other actions have been filed to improve access to, push for updates to the design and functioning of, and reduce or eliminate fees for PACER.

Weekly News Digests

Judge Rules in 'Right to Be Forgotten' Case

According to an article in The Guardian by Jamie Grierson and Ben Quinn, "A businessman [NT2] has won his legal action to remove search results about a criminal conviction in a landmark 'right to be forgotten' case that could have wide-ranging repercussions."

'Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years' by Natalie Wexler

Natalie Wexler writes in The Atlantic, "Schools usually focus on teaching comprehension skills instead of general knowledge--even though education researchers know better."

ALA Talks Better Broadband Access for Tribal and Rural Libraries

ALA hosted a panel on April 12, during which "Tribal librarians and rural telecom experts advocated for leveraging the federal E-rate program to improve broadband access in Tribal and rural areas."

Library-Focused Podcast Gets Rolling on New Season

Ingram published a blog post by Donna George (director of product management for Ingram Library Services) that discusses its podcast, Two Librarians and a Microphone, which is currently in its third season.

Google Introduces AI-Powered Games

Nick Statt writes in The Verge that "Google today announced a pair of new artificial intelligence [AI] experiments from its research division that let web users dabble in semantics and natural language processing."

NewsLink Spotlight

Binge-Watch All Week With RBdigital

by Brandi Scardilli

In addition to updating its app, Recorded Books has become the first vendor to launch an unlimited streaming video service for libraries. Patrons can use RBdigital to binge-watch streaming videos for free by clicking on the app's 7-day access pass. With this model, libraries are paying only pennies per view.

Machine Learning, Relevancy, and Google (4:15)

Online Searcher editor-in-chief Marydee Ojala explains how some behind-the-scenes machine learning capabilities have effectively replaced advanced search features in Google in this clip from her presentation at Computers in Libraries 2019.

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ITI Blogs

If you regularly read blogs, add these to your reader:

ITI Conference Blog – libconf.com – covering ITI's library conferences worldwide.

ILI365/InfoToday Europe Blog – infotoday.eu – news and ideas for, and by, innovative info pros from around the world, throughout the year.

Streaming Media Blog – www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Blog – the go-to destination for opinion, analysis, and insights into the entire online video ecosystem, from glass to glass.

This newsletter is published by Information Today, Inc.
Editor: Brandi Scardilli
Website: http://www.infotoday.com/NewsLink
Email: bscardilli@infotoday.com