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The Governor's Taskforce on Broadband recently published their annual report for 2020. Jim Weikum, Executive Director of the Arrowhead Library System, represents the library community on the taskforce. The report shows progress towards the state's goals, but suggests that the current internet speed target is not adequate to support remote business and education needs.

Lately, I've been attending a series of webinars on Information Literacy and the most recent was Media Literacy for Adults: Misinformation and Disinformation, presented by Nicole Cook, Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. Her research and teaching interests include human information behavior (particularly in an online context) and she has published Fake News and Alternative Facts: Information Literacy in a Post-Truth Era, which some of you may have read.

Ebooks Minnesota statistics are now available by city and public library group for the 2020 calendar year. If you're interested in seeing the number of users or sessions in your community you can access the data at Ebooks Minnesota usage by city or public library group, January 1–December 31, 2020.

Fifty years ago, Minnesota finished an experiment: the Minnesota Interlibrary Teletype Experiment, now known as Minitex. Over the coming year, we’ll invite the entire library community to celebrate our 50th anniversary. We’ll share stories, honor the leaders and organizations we’ve relied upon over the years, and join together to celebrate half a century of collaboration.

Has your life been positively impacted by Minitex? We're celebrating our 50th anniversary this year, and we'd love to hear your story. It might be an anecdote or simply a statement of appreciation for one of our services. It's up to you. Your humor is welcome as well! You can share your story with us via our quick-and-easy Google Form: z.umn.edu/mtx-50-stories