CSUN University Library

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become increasingly capable of processing vast libraries of books, articles, and conversations, an intriguing question emerges: what does it mean for AI to "read"? Large language models can recognize patterns across enormous amounts of text, summarize information, answer questions, and generate remarkably fluent responses. Yet this kind of language processing differs fundamentally from human reading.

People do more than decode words, we interpret them through the lens of memory, emotion, lived experience, cultural context, and imagination. Reading, and especially reading fiction for leisure reading, invites us to inhabit other perspectives, wrestle with ambiguity, infer motives that are never fully stated, and reflect on questions that rarely have simple answers. While AI can model linguistic patterns and produce compelling interpretations, it does not engage with stories through subjective experiences or conscious reflection in the ways that human readers do.

Learn more: https://library.csun.edu/about/leisure-reading-room/book-drop/reading-age-ai-fiction-imagination-and-what-makes-us-human

Blog post by Librarian Lynn Lampert, Coordinator of Instruction and Information Literacy

Reading in the Age of AI: Fiction, Imagination, and What Makes Us Human | CSUN University Library As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become increasingly capable of processing vast libraries of books, articles, and conversations, an intriguing question emerges: what does it mean for AI to "read"? Large language models can recognize patterns across enormous amounts of text, summarize informat...

A Peek in the Stacks: Vera Jackson

Vera Ruth Jackson was born in 1911 in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Corona, California with her family in the 1920s. In 1931, she married Vernon Danfourth Jackson and they had two sons, Kerry and Kendall. She was an African American photographer in Los Angeles during the 1940s, rare for the times being both a female and African American photographer. Jackson served as staff photographer for the California Eagle, a popular black newspaper owned by Charlotta Bass, capturing the vibrant social life of the readers’ community.

The Vera Jackson Collection contains 4x5 negatives from her time at the California Eagle and her personal life. Notable figures photographed include author Langston Hughes, actress Dorthy Dandridge, and political scientist Ralph Bunche.

Learn more: https://library.csun.edu/sca/peek-stacks/vera-jackson

Vera Jackson | CSUN University Library Vera Ruth Jackson was born in 1911 in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Corona, California with her family in the 1920s. In 1931, she married Vernon Danfourth Jackson and they had two sons, Kerry and Kendall. She was an African American photographer in Los Angeles during the 1940s, rare for the times be...

John Free (1943-2024) had a prolific career as a social documentary and street photographer, and a wonderful family. His wife, Wendy, and his son, Scott, visited Tom & Ethel Bradley Center, CSUN recently to share John’s body of work and the 10-year project documenting the lives of the community of people who lived in the Los Angeles Freight Yards. California State University, Northridge Professor Marta Valier writes about this visit, the book End of the Line, and her personal connection to Free. Also, we invite you to learn about an outstanding community art space, the Compton Art and History Museum, and why every hood will be lucky to have an art space like that, which is expanding soon.

https://open.substack.com/pub/bradleycenterliberated/p/wendy-and-scott-free-share-john-frees?r=gebpc&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

John Free's "End of the Line" photographs Life in the Los Angeles freight yards

The University Library will be closed on Friday, June 19th. To recognize and celebrate Juneteenth 2026, the University Library has developed a selection of eBooks and electronic resources freely available through the Library. Learn more on the Cited at the Library blog at library.csun.edu