What you can get for free in and around Pittsburgh - all with a library card; WPXI.com News Staff, February 6, 2026

 WPXI.com News Staff; What you can get for free in and around Pittsburgh - all with a library card

"There’s a card in your wallet that is so powerful, it can get you plenty of things for free—everything from free tickets to shows to a ladder for home repairs. All available if you have a library card.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh offers a “Library of Things” to help residents save on household expenses and entertainment. These programs allow patrons to check out physical objects and experience passes with the same ease as borrowing a book.

Andrew Medlar, president of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, discussed the financial impact of utilizing library resources. “There are so many things that the library provides. How could anyone know all of them except your friendly librarian?” Medlar said. He estimated that a person utilizing a library card could save “hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.”"

Trump administration wants cut of universities’ patent revenue: Lutnick; The Hill, September 10, 2025

 LEXI LONAS COCHRAN , The Hill; Trump administration wants cut of universities’ patent revenue: Lutnick

"Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated the Trump administration is looking to take a cut of the revenue generated by university patents developed through federally funded research.

Lutnick in an interview with Axios published Wednesday discussed taking a portion of revenue from the patents, arguing it is unfair for the government to give universities the money with no finanical return...

The original purpose of universities maintaining full ownership of patents was to incentivize the quick development of new technologies. And while most universities seek to commercialize patents, they generally would make more money by writing grants, according to a 2024 study cited by Axios."

RIP American innovation; The Washington Post, May 12, 2025

Bina Venkataraman, The Washington Post; RIP American innovation

"That U.S. businesses have led the recent revolution in artificial intelligence is owed to the decades of research supported by the U.S. government in computing, neuroscience, autonomous systems, biology and beyond that far precedes those companies’ investments. Virtually the entire U.S. biotech industry — which brought us treatments for diabetes, breast cancer and HIV — has its roots in publicly funded research. Even a small boost to NIH funding has been shown to increase overall patents for biotech and pharmaceutical companies...

Giving out grants for what might look frivolous or wasteful on the surface is a feature, not a bug, of publicly funded research. Consider that Agriculture Department and NIH grants to study chemicals in wild yamsled to cortisone and medical steroids becoming widely affordable. Or that knowing more about the fruit fly has aided discoveries related to human aging, Parkinson’s disease and cancer.

For obvious reasons, companies don’t tend to invest in shared scientific knowledge that then allows lots of innovation to flourish. That would mean spending money on something that does not reap quick rewards just for that particular company.

Current business trends are more likely to help kill the U.S. innovation engine. A growing share of the country’s research and development is now being carried out by big, old companies, as opposed to start-ups and universities — and, in the process, the U.S. as a whole is spending more on R&D without getting commensurately more economic growth."

‘Big Deal’ Cancellations Gain Momentum; Inside Higher Ed, May 8, 2018

Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed; ‘Big Deal’ Cancellations Gain Momentum

"Also last year, SPARC, an advocacy group for open access and open education, launched a resource tracking big-deal cancellations worldwide. Greg Tananbaum, a senior consultant at SPARC, said that there is a “growing momentum” toward cancellations.

According to data from SPARC (which may not be comprehensive, said Tananbaum), in 2016 five U.S. and Canadian institutions announced cancellations with big publishers such as Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis and Elsevier. In 2017, seven more North American institutions said they planned to cancel their big deals, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Kansas State University, among others. 

Motivation for Cancellation 

Both Tananbaum and Anderson agree that one factor driving cancellations of big deals is that library budgets are not growing at the same rate as the cost of subscriptions. Given budget restrictions, “there’s just a reality that tough choices have to be made,” said Tananbaum."

White House budget proposal continues to miscalculate the value of libraries; American Library Association via PRNewswire-USNewswire, February 12, 2018

American Library Association via PRNewswire-USNewswire; White House budget proposal continues to miscalculate the value of libraries

"In its FY 2019 budget released today, the White House proposed eliminating the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and hundreds of millions of dollars dedicated to America's libraries through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). The decision echoes the FY 2018 proposal, which also eliminated the grant-making agency and its programs. The administration's budget also calls for elimination and/or severe cuts to many other federal programs that support libraries, including Innovative Approaches to Literacy, a Department of Education program."

Carnegie of Homestead broadens its offerings; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/3/16

Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Carnegie of Homestead broadens its offerings:

"Ms. Shrieve, who joined the board in 2010 and became full-time director of administration in 2012, was among those who helped craft a strategy to generate revenues through more diverse programs and to seek outside funding sources.

By then the facility had gotten some buzz — and income — from high-profile entertainment acts it began booking at its music hall in 2007.

That venue “blossomed into a revenue generator for us and an economic driver for the community,” said Ms. Shrieve, who noted that restaurants and hotels at the nearby Waterfront retail complex in Homestead saw increased business from a steady lineup of concerts featuring well-known names such as Boz Scaggs, David Crosby and Melissa Etheridge. Paula Poundstone and Gregg Allman are among the acts booked for 2016...

Two years ago, the facility dropped the word library from its official name and rebranded as The Carnegie of Homestead.

“We are so much more than a library,” said Ms. Shrieve, who tapped her own artistic talent — she has a degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh — to help design the new logo that features an image of steel mill stacks and an open book."

Enticed by a Library, Tourists Browse a Chinese Village; New York Times, 7/6/15

Jane Perlez, New York Times; Enticed by a Library, Tourists Browse a Chinese Village:

"Meeting the reading needs of the roughly 50 households that remain in the village is something of a sideline, though. What the building is mainly meant to be is a magnet for day-trippers from Beijing, eager to escape the city’s perpetual smog and dirt for a bit of beauty and calm.

“The library is a tool to attract people to the village,” said Mr. Li, a professor of architecture at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

When visitors come to see the library, he said, they also spend money at the village’s few restaurants, pay parking fees and donate money for the building’s upkeep...

The library has a presence on social media, and many of the visitors on the weekend are university students or young professionals. They wander around the village, snap photos of themselves and order the local delicacy, stewed chicken with chestnuts, at one of the restaurants.

And some of them actually read. Sun Liyang, 27, an automotive journalist, said a friend in Beijing had donated some books after hearing about the library online, and he decided to come for a look. “I am sitting here reading ‘The Adventures of Tintin,’” he said. “It’s taking me back to my childhood.”"

Richard Russo, Pulitzer Winner, Tells Gloversville Library Thanks for the Memories; New York Times, 3/24/15

Steven Greenhouse, New York Times; Richard Russo, Pulitzer Winner, Tells Gloversville Library Thanks for the Memories:

"Gloversville’s mayor, Dayton J. King, hopes that a library renovation might spur a hoped-for renaissance downtown.

“When people see the library is changing, it looking and feeling totally different, it will increase people’s confidence that this is not a bad place,” Mr. King said...

“One reason Mr. Russo is so interested in the renovation is there’s very little place for children these days outside of school,” said Elizabeth Batchelor, a chairwoman of the fund-raising campaign. “For many kids, a library can be a ladder out of poverty.”

Vincent DeSantis, a retired city court judge, said that back in Gloversville’s heyday, “the captains of industry lived in the community and supported the community.” But now, with so many factories abandoned and so many businesses run by distant executives, he said, “we have to do it ourselves.”"

Data-Driven Libraries: Moving From Outputs to Outcomes; LibraryJournal.com, 1/26/12

Rebecca Miller, LibraryJournal.com; Data-Driven Libraries: Moving From Outputs to Outcomes:

"Something special happens when 150 public library directors, deputy directors, and trustees gather in one room to talk about what their communities get from their libraries. The ideas and examples whip back and forth, as do equally intense questions about roadblocks to all sorts of challenges and strategies for overcoming them. The headiness of this to and fro was palpable at LJ’s third Director’s Summit, held at Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), OH, December 5–6, 2011. (For more perspective on the discoveries from this event see Francine Fialkoff’s editorial “Moving to Outcomes,” p. 8.)

These library leaders came to discuss the urgent need to reshape how library service is evaluated in order to articulate outcomes better to stakeholders and share success stories with the community. Pure data such as gate counts, computer uses, and more aren’t as satisfying to those who hold the purse strings as are measurements that articulate impact. “It’s pretty simple,” said Jeanne Goodrich, executive director, Las Vegas–Clark County Library District, NV. “Why we do what we do drives what we do. An outcome answers the question, ‘So what?’”