public libraries Archives - INCITE Magazine

Keeping Humans at the Heart of AI

Dr Karina Lamb — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 03:25:20 +0000

My first encounter with a computer was in Grade 6, which probably gives away something about my age. I remember being fascinated by it almost immediately. There was something extraordinary about typing an instruction and seeing the machine respond. Later, I spent hours learning basic coding, writing what seemed like pages of instructions just to move a cursor into a square on a screen. The result was hardly revolutionary, but the fact that I could make it happen was

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Why We Joined a Consortium

Tania Evans — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:39:15 +0000

Across regional Australia, public libraries are facing many of the same challenges. Budgets remain tight while the costs of running a modern library continue to rise, and patrons’ needs evolve. This all leads to staff having to do more with fewer resources.

For many libraries, the question is no longer simply which library management system should we use? Increasingly, it's how can we work together to deliver better services?

That question was at the heart of the Regional WA Library Consortium, an initiative led by the City of Albany that has grown from just 14 libraries in 2018 to 43 libraries across 28 local governments today.

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The hold shelf

Alyssa Jade McDonald-Beartl — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:24:22 +0000

The hold shelf sits just inside the entrance, level three, close enough to the doors that it feels less like furniture and more like part of the building’s circulation system, something you pass through rather than arrive at, unless you know it’s there and slow down deliberately, which I always do.

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From shushing to singalongs: noise in public libraries

Virginia van Engelen — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 11:22:10 +0000

A while ago, I came across an online article in the Washington Post with the catchy title “It’s okay for libraries to be loud! Take it from me, a librarian.” In it, Karen McPherson, a staff member at a public library in the US, described being shushed by a patron. Clearly amused at this reversal… Read More »

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