Library Journal editorial

Posted on by jessamyn

Library Journal publishes letters [including one from my co-editor K.R.] and then an editorial about the Gorman piece, hopefully putting it to bed once and for all. Does anyone honestly believe, as Fialkoff claims, that ” [l]ibraries are often ahead of most businesses and institutions in developing and using technology.” Anyone?

Whether viciously funny, or just plain vicious, Michael Gorman’s scathing indictment of bloggers unleashed an avalanche of outrage from librarians, the blogging community, and technophiles generally. The consensus among readers was about 99–1 against Gorman—and very few seemed to find the piece humorous, as he said he intended.

[LiB]

just in time for National Library Week — USAPA hearings!

Posted on by jessamyn

I’ve been seeing Declan McCullagh’s face staring back at me from the web a lot lately. His beat is technology and politics. Mine is usually technology, politics and the public sphere, aka libraries. Today he’s talking about the USA PATRIOT Act, its history and what’s going on as the Senate and the House of Representatives begin hearings to determine whether to try to renew key provisions of USAPA that are set to expire. [genehack]

hi – 04apr

Posted on by jessamyn

Hi. I always lose that hour when I am sure that I need it the most. I have done some things on the site here: added the links page to the new format and linked it on the sidebar; same goes for the technically legal library signs; the 404 page is up and working and I’m still trying to get a contact form working in php instead of the outmoded one that I do have which I am aware can be flakey. At work I’m putting together a manual about how to update the web site which I hope will be clear and helpful. I’m damned proud of that site and I hope it continues to be a good and useful site even when I’m not there to mess with it.

Posted in hiTagged

DRM – why do libraries care?

Posted on by jessamyn

From the DRM Blog: Rent, Lease, or Buy – Which Model Is Right For You? No one is saying there’s something wrong with any case, but you don’t want to think your library is buying something when you’re really just renting the right to use it.

I have half a dozen songs from one service and three songs from another service and about 100 songs from a subscription service. I try the services because I cannot give my readers good advice if I do not try the various schemes for selling/renting digital content. But, because I am no longer paying the monthly subscription, I do not have access to those 100 songs I downloaded. The other songs have to be played through “authorized” players and so again I feel constrained. I have some open source software that I like for playing music but cannot use it with any of the content I downloaded.