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where I'll be
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Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but
punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more like a Japanese
library of the old style, without a card file or an indexing system of any
systematic shelf plan. Nobody knows where anything is except the old
geezer in the felt slippers who has been shuffling up and down those
stacks for sixty-nine years.
NY & LA Times login
user: corporatemedia
pass: stillsucks |
Hi. No trip to Richland, so no new library on my pending list.
All Denver Public libraries will be closed on March 13th... for a staff meeting?
State Library Deathwatch: Blame Iraq for your stupid plan to downsize the Florida state library. [ thanks bill ]
Director of Hadley's public libraries [MA] resigns after trustees wouldn't give her more than 14 hours a week of work or an accurate job description.
"As director, I expect to operate according to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners recommendations and according to what I've been taught as a library professional," Kurkul said. "Small town or not, standards apply."
Books for, among other places, Cuba's independent libraries, seized by Cuban authorities. [ thanks sarah ]
NYPL goes the way of other major research libraries and now will require NYPL photo ID for access to closed stacks. [ thanks eugene ]
Libraryinstruction.com is soliciting lessons plans for library instruction.
So is it a PATRIOT Act issue when someone gets arrested at a library computer for maybe making threats against the president? Discussion ensues.
Hi, tomorrow I will be visiting the Richland Public Library, I expect to come back with all sorts of fascintating information about nuclear power. Also, I am working on getting the RSS feed to work in news aggregators, I know it has been frustrating for some of you.
Library Journal will be reprinting my Technically Legal Signs for Your Library. I asked for a free subscription as compensation, we'll see how that goes over. Their content is so good and their web site is so bad, I would love to be able to read it in hard copy.
State Library Deathwatch: letter writing campaign by Florida's librarians may encourage Jeb Bush to do some thinking before he closes the library. [ thanks bill ]
And in related state library news, apprently the state librarian of New Jersey doesn't know that the library profession is a good one for women and men...
"New Jersey is facing a critical shortage in librarians. It’s a great job both for women starting out, and also for women making a mid-life career change."
Meanwhile a Wyoming patents and trademarks librarian has found a patent for a horse bit by none other than William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody while researching patents for the Wyoming Inventors database.
School libraries toss out Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Apparently wretched excess in salaries and compensation is fine, wretched undress, not so good.
Hi. Boyfriend was in town for several days, I was out of the house. Sorry for the lack of notice. I just found out that Steven from Library Stuff and Jenny from Shifted Librarian will also be at the [no link yet] NEASIST conference in Boston in April. Come see us if you can.
Scary dreams invade patron's minds, post-PATRIOT. Incidentally, Seattle finally passed an anti-PATRIOT resolution. Woo hoo. [ thanks john ]
Library science terms that sound dirty, juxtaposed with librarian pickup lines.
Your spouse will never know. Under the Patriot Act, I can't tell anyone you've been here!
[ thanks josh ]
Oldish news but cool news, my local [in VT] bookstore is purging all patron records to be ready in case the feds come to the door. Discussion ensues. [ thanks all ]
Librarians: liberals with backbone. [ thanks all ]
Bill Gates manages to write a guest editorial about "libraries" that does not mention the word books. In fact, it's just an ad for the Gates Foundation. Remember, freedom of the press is only for those who own [or can buy and sell] them. [ thanks bill ]
disinfojournal the first international e-journal of disinformation on the net. tantalizing articles, not all for free. [ thanks heidi ]
Hi. I am writing an article in the next few weeks about online "aska" services, from Google Answers, to keen.com, to Ask Jeeves, etc. If you have worked for, used, or helped design, any of these services, please drop me a short email outlining what you did, your general impressions, anything that stands out about the experience. No attachments please, I am just doing a simple survey and it is a short article. Thanks.
While I like the fact that US News and World Reports lumped librarians in with the educators instead of the service industry, I still do not think that "hot ticket' is the way to describe opportunities available for librarians nowadays. [ thanks rebecca ]
State Library Deathwatch: Hawai'i's Bookmobiles , maybe Verizon could save them, but head librarian Virginia Lowell is [rightly] not having it. [ thanks brandon ]
An excerpt from SIPAPU: The Library Cat. [ thanks eoin ]
Scientific journals agree to cut information from published papers that might help terrorists make biological weapons. Meanwhile, journals just keep getting more and more expensive, however not everyone is taking the news sitting down
Many academics are quietly supporting moves to publish research on the internet, where it can be accessed free of charge and yet still be subject to the all-important peer-review process. [ thanks bill & lis ]
Altering books: cool or uncool? [ thanks brandon ]
Makeup library, the movie
Mike Hickey started the make up library as a way for people who could not afford or did not have the security of identity to purchase their own make up. [ thanks aaron ]
Defense Department's training video on how to handle FOIA requests can't be released because of FOIA secrecy exemptions. Would be funny if it weren't so sad.
The Defense Department has produced a training video that instructs its staff on how to handle requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act. But don't request a screening; the video itself is secret. [ thanks lis ]
Hi. Sorry for the delay, I was in Portland. I went to the library. I am going to start keeping track of the libraries I visit, maybe give little reviews. But not today, today there are more important things to do, like dealing with my link backlog. Thanks as always for your patience.
State Library Deathwatch: Save the Florida State Library petition. 2900 signatures so far. [ thanks kip ]
State Library Deathwatch: The Washington State Library Deathwatch FAQ and scary [pdf] chart [ thanks ken ]
Books the cat rescued from the basement of Boston Public Library. [ thanks don ]
I probably get one email a week asking me about some aspect of becoming a librarian. Now there's GOAL, the Group Of Aspiring Librarians comprised of technical lirbary staffers who are spporting eachother towards professional careers in librarianship.
Democracy in the Dark, how Westlaw and Lexis work to keep you paying for case law and other legal information that taxpaying citizens have already paid for once.
...the courts and the court's words belong to us. In more ways than one, the American people have already paid for the case law produced by our courts. Commercial vendors must not be allowed to highjack our law or dictate who may have access to it. By refusing to allow public libraries to purchase electronic subscriptions that can serve their patrons, Westlaw and LexisNexis are closing the door on information. [ thanks david ]
If you liked the PATRIOT Act, you'll love the sequel, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. What part of 34 cities and towns passing special resolutions against the USA PATRIOT Act do you think these guys didn't understand? [ thanks lori ]
[It] is troubling as a generic matter that they have gotten this far along and tell people that there is nothing in the works. What that suggests is that they’re waiting for a propitious time to introduce it, which might well be when a war is begun. At that time there would be less opportunity for discussion and they’ll have a much stronger hand in saying that they need these right away.
Hi. I changed the NYT login. Please remember that this is a login other people may use. Do not use this login to send NYT pages to your friends, or to buy things with your credit card.
You can read my story Why I Reported ALA to SpamCop, now on Library Juice.
Also, just barely on-topic, I have been volunteering for poetsagainstthewar.org, editing and adding poems that people have submitted. Poets can include short bios with their pieces. One I saw last night said "Currently serving humanity by working in a library" Also noted, young adult illustrators, writers, and publishers sign a petition against the war on children.
Need the OED online but can't afford an insanely expensive yearly subscription? My friends Judith and Caterina are getting together a bunch of people to share an institutional subscription. How's this for a catchy URL: EatMoreWords [ thanks miriam ]
West Hollywood CA passed an anti-PATRIOT resolution specifically mentioning library privacy. This is one of over 30 anti-PATRIOT resolutions passed so far, nationwide. [ thanks eoin ]
Library book thief nailed for taking maps out of ancient and rare books. These pages and maps were auctioned off. Where is the mechanism for keeping stolen books and parts of books from being sold off piecemeal like this? [ thanks eoin ]
African American Librarian Collective HweMuDua has a call for papers for their publication NightWatch.
Scott who runs lights.com has a page outlining which libraries have affiliate programs so that you can donate to your library when you buy books online. Also noted is a list of which bookstores have affiliate programs to begin with, it's not all Amazon.com.
Hi. I am going to start a list of places I will be "appearing" to give talks or whatever, in case you want to swing by and see me. Some of the talks are for the book, others are just miscellaneous papers and conferences. Despite the fact that I have this extensive website, I really like meeting people in person.
I've noticed a few articles in the papers lately that seem to be not really Pro-PATRIOT, at least playing up the dangers of publicly accessible information in libraries. Here's how San Fran and Berkeely have been dealing with it, and here's a spooky tale of a spy being spied on in a public library pre-9/11 [looking up addresses of embassiees, it seems]
Our founders understood the value of open access to knowledge. One of the measures of a great democracy is the ability of ordinary citizens to explore ideas without government interference, a value the librarians are trying to balance against the government's need to search for terrorists [ thanks all ]
Songs Inspired by Literature, a benefit CD for Artists for Literacy. [ thanks nicole ]
Another reason to avoid chain bookstores -- letting vendors run the product selection process. Not just their products, ALL the products.
"The Kremlin would have found it difficult to invent a more subtle and effective way of suppressing original viewpoints and ideas," wrote 29 scholars and activists led by Ralph Nader after hearing of the Borders plan. So is category management a salvation for retailers, or a Trojan horse whereby manufacturers are quietly co-opting the point of purchase? [ thanks barbara ]
Another reason to avoid chain bookstores -- new OPAC lets patrons purchase books from Barnes and Noble via the library web interface. It is really hard to believe that these companies truly believe this crap
"We are delighted to work with Sirsi on this program which is a natural extension of Barnes & Noble's commitment to serving communities across the country through our bookstores and online. Library patrons will have an opportunity to experience the many benefits of shopping at bn.com right from their local libraries"
Libraries and cataloging systems can be very tough to deal with for people with dyslexia. [ thanks eoin ]
RIP Richard Buchanan reformer of the House of Commons library.
Hi. Thanks to everyone who let me know every time the "permalink" to Revolting Librarians Redux went kablooie. This link right here is the one that should last until the book is in print. Buy it from McFarland if you must buy it. Otherwise please order it from your library.
The Campaign to Save America's Libraries is now up and running. Expect to see more columns with facts from the "talking points" like this column which points to this delightful article which I had previously missed discussing how Brown libraries are attaching red tags to journals with subscription costs of $1,000 or more to raise awareness of the serials crisis in academic libraries.
UC Davis library to get the papers of poet Gary Snyder
I just finished writing an article about The PATRIOT Act and libraries which should be published this month. Since ALA, people have been made more aware of what has been going on, or what could go on. I think this is a good thing.
Not long before it was revealed that Gov. Jeb Bush planned to close the Florida State Library, lay off the entire staff and move the collection to Florida State University, the governor issued a proclamation declaring February as Florida Library Appreciation Month...Told last week that the flap doesn't seem to be going away, Bush answered, "So, stop writing about it."
That great newsletter Informed Librarian Online now has ads, so I cancelled my subscription. However, they have a list [unlinked, bastards!] of all the periodicals that they track.
Two lovely library poems: Why I Am in Love with Librarians & Because of Libraries We Can Say These Things
Weapons of Mass Instruction (WOMI) is a discussion list for Librarians (and others in the Information & Education Fields) to organize against War - specifically the War on Iraq [ thanks az ]
Technology and culture explored and explained in the Netherlands with the research group NERDI [Networked Research and Digital Information] [ thanks heidi ]
Barbados National Library missing "thousands of books" or maybe they're just all way overdue.
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