News

CNN Names New NLI Building A Top 10 Architectural Project for 2023

At the end of each year, CNN’s Style column lists the top architecture projects to look forward to in the coming one. We’re delighted to report that the new National Library of Israel building, designed by Herzog and de Meuron, topped the list for 2023. These projects must be notable for 1. design, 2. potential cultural impact, or 3. the conversations they will likely generate. We think the new building meets all three criteria. We’re also proud that CNN noted, “the design is intended to reflect the institution’s values of openness and accessibility.”

TARBOOT Announces Digital Culture and Heritage Contest Winners

On the evening of November 28, the Library hosted the final event for TARBOOT, the international technological innovation competition for expanding digital use of heritage and culture content. Seven finalists made their pitches, after which three winners were awarded a cash prize of $50,000 each, for technologies ranging from applying AI technology to search NLI’s rich visual archives, to assistive language processing technologies, to presenting NLI materials as timelines providing historical context. Once developed and implemented, these products will enable the widest possible dissemination of NLI digital materials.

PJ Library launches fellowship for artists in bid to attract adolescent readers

PJ Library, with its monthly shipments of free children’s books, has become a household name for Jewish parents across the country. But there’s one demographic the initiative wants to zero in on expanding: middle schoolers. And it’s doing so not by recruiting more readers, but by finding illustrators and graphic novelists who will draw them in…The fellowship will have a 14-artist cohort that will meet through virtual sessions spread over six months, aimed at building community and inspiring and educating about how to move projects forward, led by illustrators, agents, art directors and researchers. The program is bookended by stays at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem in November 2023, and the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont in June 2024.