#library search

[gwydionmisha]

LLM Round UP: Published 8/21/25

Can modern LLMs actually count the number of b's in "blueberry"?

It’s an adversarial question for LLMs, but it’s not unfair.

The AI powered Library Search That Refused to Search

From Clarivate's Summon to Primo Research Assistant, content‑moderation layers meant mostly for chatbots are "quietly" blocking controversia

A flirty Meta AI bot invited a retiree to meet. He never made it home.

After using ChatGPT, man swaps his salt for sodium bromide—and suffers psychosis

Literal “hallucinations” were the result.

More than 130,000 Claude, Grok, ChatGPT, and Other LLM Chats Readable on Archive.org

The issue of publicly saving shared LLM chats is bigger than just Google.

[cloudoclock]

Library Quest: Swiss Cottage Library

This summer I am very committed to my studying, and I thought it would be a great idea to visit Time Out London's Best Libraries. That way I can do some traveling, studying and relaxing all at once.

Today I chose to go to Swiss Cottage Library in the Westminster area and boy was it a long journey to and fro. However, it was all worth the peace and quiet. It took me 3 hours to get there by bus but it would have only taken me 2 hours by train. I would advise that if you are doing a search like this on your own in an unfamiliar place, please go on Google and search all you can (nearby landmarks, available toilets, whether it's free, customer service). I was initially going to Marylebone Library but after googling some reviews, I found that it was too small , loud and had a bad selection of books.

What drew me to Swiss Cottage, despite its long distance, was it's interesting exterior and spiral staircase. I'm looking to go into a university course for architecture and interior design, so it was really cool to see these structures in real life.

When I arrived,it was so easy to find the right area. All you do is walk up a small flight of stairs and walk on down the corridor to the library. There's a children's section which is pretty spacious and even has a buggy park. I was greeted by the famous symmetrical spiral staircase and a wonderful bright study space. There were lots of books to chose from on both levels and quite a lot of space to sit and work. I had only gone to this one area downstairs, but I believe there is a conference room, an art gallery and other study spaces elsewhere. I found s square table to sit at and I found it so cool that the outlets were in the floor right under the table, and I went straight to charging my phone because it was dying on me.

In short, I read chapter 1 of Jane Eyre and wrote a short character description, so that I can see how each develops throughout the book. Jane Eyre really is one of my favourite classics ever since I watched the BBC adaptation. I went on to writing a letter in a year long project for my best friend and finished up with like 5 minutes of Tagalog.

It's a shame that the library is so far because it was a very comfortable experience and I really loved the structure inside and out. I hope to see it again when I can! Libraries deserve more appreciation, especially because we're in an age of online access and these gems need to stay.

Stay tuned for my next library quest where I go to Westminster Reference Library!

I love you guys, stay strong💜 please take care of yourselves and work hard

[jfkulibraries]

How To: Read a Resource’s Catalog Page

So you’ve browsed our catalog and found a book or other resource you want to use.  Great!  You click on the book and get a page like this:

But what does this mean?  What this page does is give you information about the book and show you where to find it.

The page begins by giving you information about the book.  You have the title, the author(s) or editor(s), publishing information, and page count.  After the ISBN come the subject headings, which can be used to search for other similar books.  Then come the table of contents and summary, if any, before you eventually reach the bottom section.

This section can have a number of different tabs, most of which are fairly self-explanatory.  The first tab is always the Holdings tab, and this is where you will find out where the book is and if you can get it.  Item Type tells you if this is a book, a reserve book, a DVD, etc.  Current location tells you where the book is.  The first line in this box tells you the library branch, in this case Fisher Library in Pleasant Hill.  Books can also be in Berkeley, San Jose, or the Law Library.  If a book you want is at another location, you can either go to that location or you can place a hold on the book and have it sent to the location of your choice.

The second line tells you where in the library the book is.  The one you’ll see most often is “Stacks” which just means that the book is out on the shelves.  The call number gives the exact location of the book and is how you’ll track it down (see our call number tutorial here).  Then we have the copy number and finally whether the book is available or checked out (and, if checked out, when it’s due back).  Here’s some more examples:

This book is on reserve, so instead of being in the Stacks, its location is “Front Desk.”  This means you’ll need to go to the front desk and ask for the book.  This book also has an additional box called “Vol info” which tells you that the copy in question is the second edition of the book.

This book is checked out, as you can see from the Status and the Date due.  Unless the person who has this book out renews it (or fails to return it on time) it should be back no later than the date due shown here.

The final box shows the holds status for the particular item.  If an item is on hold for someone, it’ll be indicated there.  That means you’ll have to wait until after that person returns it to get the book yourself.  You can also see the total number of holds on a given title by looking at “Total holds” below the Holdings information.

If you would like to place a hold on the book you’re looking at, scroll back up to that box next to the book information:

Here you can click “Place hold” to place a hold!  You can also print this page for future reference or browse through all your search results by clicking “Back to results” for the full list or “Next” for the next result.

There you have it!  Now you can successfully find and acquire any book or other resource you find in our system.

[powermodules]

Find what you want in a library near you with WorldCat, a global catalog of library collections.

WorldCat.org lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world. 

You can search for popular books, music CDs and videos—all of the physical items you're used to getting from libraries. You can also discover many new kinds of digital content, such as downloadable audiobooks. You may also find article citations with links to their full text; authoritative research materials, such as documents and photos of local or historic significance; and digital versions of rare items that aren't available to the public. Because WorldCat libraries serve diverse communities in dozens of countries, resources are available in many languages.

[powermodules]

Promoting local public libraries since 1999

Book Search

Search for books and ebooks using title, author or keyword

[endless-traveler]

Hard sources

Searching for the Uncommon Common Ground: New Dimensions on Race in America by Blackwell, Angela Glover, Stwewart Kwoh, and Manuel Pastor. (2002)

Is Racism a Serious Problem? by Jeff Plunkett. (2005)

still pretty good, but isn't ethnics same as race? I know they're different, but they tie together with My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki.

[xxluciexx-blog]

Week 3; Task 1

1. Stephen Stockwell's first article was “Kuranda Police Shooting” in 1981. (Reference: Stockwell, S 1981, ‘Kuranda Police Shooting’, Legal Service Bulletin, vol 6, pp. 48-49), and it was in the HeinOnline database

2. Governor Slughorn appeared in Flaming Carrot Comics numbers 7, 10 and 11. (Reference for earliest: Burden, B 1985, Flaming Carrot Comics, no. 7, Renegade Press, Long Beach, California). This information was found through the independent and underground databases

3. The latest medical thoughts on the dangers of mobile phones is that, there is a possiblilithy that humans can suffer carcinogenic effects from phones and even bluetooth and handheld devices although many have agreed there is still limited proof for this to be validated. (Reference: Baan, R, Grosse, Y, Lauby-Secretan, B & Ghissassi, F ‘Carcinogenicity of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields’, The Lancet Oncology, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 624-626, viewed 26 August 2011)

4. In Bladerunner, Leon’s reaction communicated confusion. (Reference: Fancher, H, Kibbee, R & Peoples, D 1982, Blade Runner (1982) Draft Script, viewed 26th August 2011) source: American Film Scripts

5. To interpret this, he is communicating that communication is inblanced and that it can be triggered by sound. (Reference: Soukup, P 2004, Walter J. Ong, S.J. A Retrospective’, Communication Research Trends, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 1-43, viewed 26 August 2011) Source: Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture