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Weekly News Digest
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April 10, 2025 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
CLICK HERE to view more Weekly News Digest items.
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Updates on the Trump Administration, Free Speech, and Libraries
Publishers Weekly reports, “The ALA Sues Over the Scuppering of the IMLS,” with John Maher writing, “The lawsuit, filed [April 7] in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the administration’s recent actions—which include firing most IMLS staff, terminating grant programs, and effectively shutting down the organization’s operations—are both illegal and, separately, unconstitutional. The actions, the suit asserts, violate the first two articles of the Constitution: Article I, which establishes the separation of powers and designates Congress as the only body with authority to pass laws creating government agencies, and Article II, which enumerates the president’s duty to ‘take care that the Laws be faithfully executed.’”In addition, ALA created an FAQ page about the executive order targeting IMLS that answers questions such as, Is IMLS being eliminated? What does this mean for libraries? How can the executive order be stopped or limited? As ALA continues to celebrate National Library Week, it announced “51 recipients of a new grant program serving rural and small libraries across the country” from Penguin Random House and United for Libraries. “Grant funds will assist Friends of Library groups, or nonprofit groups that support and fundraise for libraries in their communities, with priority projects, including summer reading programs for youth, outreach to seniors, bookmobile improvements, technology upgrades, Friends group development, and more. In addition to the cash grants awarded, 20 in-kind book donation grants of $500 are being awarded to 20 libraries to purchase Penguin Random House titles.” PEN America has been issuing statements and putting out press releases nearly every day in April so far: On April 8, Reuters reported, “Exclusive: Musk’s DOGE Using AI to Snoop on U.S. Federal Workers, Sources Say.” The authors note, “While much of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency remains shrouded in secrecy, the surveillance would mark an extraordinary use of technology to identify expressions of perceived disloyalty in a workforce already upended by widespread firings and severe cost cutting.”
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Brandi Scardilli
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