Issue 266, 16 Dec 2025

Welcome to the last issue of our libraries newsletter for 2025. Thanks for being a subscriber. Wishing you a wonderful festive break!

💭 ARTICLES

How Can You Help an Emerging Library Leader Thrive? Assign Them a Mentor. | Katina Magazine - Rajen Munoo, Programme Manager for the Emerging Library Leaders’ Summer School for Asia-Pacific (ELLSSA), provides a first-hand account of how the programme was developed and the importance of mentoring in librarians’ professional development.

Because you’re not getting much work done anyway (2025 edition) |What Does This Mean to Me, Laura? - Laura’s annual list of fun, creative online diversions to brighten the end of the year, with so many great options it’s hard to pick a favourite.

Let’s Talk About It: AI and the Academic Librarian Job Search | ACRLog - What’s your stance on using AI to evaluate job applications? Eleanor Ball argues that risks, such as bias and privacy concerns, far outweigh the positives like saving time.

Our Best Defence Against Misinformation? Public Libraries. | Medium | Jane Cowell - Strong advocacy for the important role public libraries play in media and digital literacy, with relevance far beyond the Australian context.

Creating 12 Days of Techmas | Nikki Andersen | LinkedIn - How an idea evolved from “What if we shared one small digital tip each day?” to this neat project at the University of Southern Queensland.

The information literacy of Christmas Puddings | Information Literacy Weblog - This light-hearted article shows how the ACRL Information Literacy Framework can guide choosing and judging a recipe.

🧰 RESOURCES

Sick of your Spotify algorithm? Read this zine. | Library Futures - This zine, produced by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen during his internship at Library Futures, explores what role librarians can play in offering music discovery beyond algorithms.

AI Tools for Academic Libraries: AI Task Management | Choice 360 - Part of an ongoing series on useful applications of AI for academic libraries, this edition reviews a series of AI-powered tools currently available to help with productivity.

📚 JOURNALS

How might the IFLA Trends shape Strategy success? | IFLA - Findings from a survey of IFLA’s members and volunteers examining where and how the Trends identified in IFLA’s Trend report may affect their work.

AI-Infused Discovery Environments: Information Retrieval Boon or Overpromised Hype? | Information Technology and Libraries, 44(4) - An examination of Primo Research Assistant, comparing AI search and retrieval results to those from more conventional search functionality.