Libraries Hacked

@librarieshacked.bsky.social

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Libraries Hacked is a project to promote open data, to help libraries publish their data, and to showcase projects using library data. And dogs in libraries. Tweets by Dave.

Our current focus is on setting up the National Data Library foundations on data.gov.uk by: making it easier to identify and use trusted, useful data across national themes (new data collections pages) creating a data manual - a single space to find clear guidance and best practices on how to use and manage public data fixing significant issues with the original directory setting up channels for feedback and working in the open through this roadmap and user feedback forms
Additionally, a significant lack of quantitative data, especially in comparison to the prominence of qualitative data, has been emphasised during this review. This is perhaps unsurprising given the scope of the study, which was not restricted by publication type and, as such, aimed to collate personal accounts and local reports not published in peer-review journals
An illustrative set of dashboard cards showing high level library usage figures such as 126 million loans, with insights like 3 loans per resident per year.
A quote saying "I have clarified the position with Library Services. In fact, at the date of your request the data was still being compiled and needed to be checked and validated before it is finalised. Until the validation process is complete, the data is not final and therefore not suitable for sharing. Therefore, we did not hold the data you requested at the time of your request. Therefore, my decision is that the Council’s reliance on the future publication exemption may have been misplaced because at the time of your request the Council did not hold the requested information, and did not intend to publish the information at some future date in the format you had requested."
In the face of 15 years of serious problems, we are polarising between two camps. One says: There is an answer. Eat your greens, brush your teeth, get your ten thousand steps in. Hard work and patience will fix this. The other says: That’s boring. Too slow. Too much effort. Let’s try something ‘radical’. Drink bleach, why not?
Wigan Borough Libraries no longer offer a reservation service. Result per library branch ‘0’. Recorded on attached spreadsheet.
A picture of Gabriel Pogrund from his twitter account
A quote by Pete Wishart: "The Minister keeps saying that we have existing copyright laws that are there to protect the creative industries and our artists, but practically our whole creative heritage is being scraped. There are probably songs in the top 40 that have been totally designed by AI, and there will be books in the top 30 or 40 bestsellers that will be based on AI—probably fully AI. This is happening right now. Surely artists and creators should know when their works are being used. That is why Lords amendment 49B is so important for transparency."
A screenshot from web analytics showing 9 current visitors to the library storytelling site.
A map of a part of Lancashire with areas shaded to show darker colours representing greater deprivation
An image showing a person labelled 'Public sector' skipping stairs labelled 'Open data', 'Interoperability', 'Standards', 'Security' to get to the step labelled 'AI'.
An old beige computer tower
A zoomed in photo of a copy of lord of the rings, bound up with tape
A map of the UK in hexagons, where each hexagon is a library service. Each hexagon is shaded by a red gradient that gets darker as the library fines get more expensive. Overwhelmingly the South East sees more expensive fines.