Author: jessamyn

hi – 28oct

Posted on by jessamyn

Hi. I had a great time at the Dartmouth conference which has to go down in history as one of the best-run conferences I’ve been to. People stuck to time limits, were generally interesting and engaging, had stories to tell, kept to the topic and I saw a lot of informal talking and chitchatting during the two hour long lunch and poster session. I got to meet a contributor to Revolting Librarians Redux, meet some other new folks, talk to some folks I knew and learn a few things. I’m on my way to Cerritos California for the Workshop on the Information Commons that, alas, has no web site, but you can read the bibliography that we got [in print and online]. So, posting will be sparse and I’ll likely not post much in any big way until after the election so I figured I’d leave you with one link and one quote that came over the Council listserv this week. The link is to Michael McGrorty’s presidential poll results from his admittedly unscientific polling, plus his always insightful commentary. Lastly, this from Boston Public Library president and fellow Councilor Bernie Margolis

I wanted to share the good news of a decision just made which I hope and believe will give a positive focus on libraries. Democratic Candidate for President Senator John Kerry has decided to use the Boston Public Library at Copley Square in Boston as the backdrop for his Election Day Evening announcement of victory or concession. Senator Kerry, Senator Edwards and their families will be appearing after an evening concert with James Taylor, Carole King, Bon Jovi and others on a stage outside the library. We are hoping for and negotiating some coverage about libraries in general and the Boston Public Library in particular as part of the lead-in coverage by the networks and other media covering the event. Over 40 satellite trucks are expected. These events are public and you all are invited.  Not only are we celebrating the World Champion Red Sox for their World Series win, but we are also gearing up for an important Election Day event at our doorstep. Boston is, of course, as it has been written, the “Hub of the Universe”.
Posted in hi

the faq on the FAQ

Posted on by jessamyn

The ALA web site FAQ has returned after an 18 month absence. You might recall that I reported it missing in June of last year, replaced by a “how to use this new web site” faq. Of course, the handy URL http://ala.org/faq still goes someplace else. There are also a few other ALA FAQ’s hanging around the site including this one which occupies the coveted FAQ position on the sidebar. Don’t try looking for FAQs in the search engine [which is due to be replaced within a few months, woo hoo!] because since the word FAQ is in the footer text, a search for “FAQ” will bring up every page on the site. Councilors just got a report from ALA president Kieth Fiels about, among other things, the web site stating [emphasis mine]

The staff in the ALA Library have been working on two tools to improve how visitors our site will be able to access the most sought after information. The first of these is the Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ). These were part of the old site, but not transferred to the new site, as it was hoped that the improved navigational features of the content management system (CMS) underlying the current would make these unnecessary. This hasn’t proved to be the case, so the ALA FAQ web page has been updated. You can access the ALA FAQ at: https://cs.ala.org/faq/faq.cfm
Posted in ala

wifi for me but not for thee?

Posted on by jessamyn

Glenn Fleishman talks about wifi in libraries. His overall impression is that libraries who offer it are tending towards offering it only to patrons. Michael Sauers also has a small list of wifi in libraries and elsewhere. When I talked about the wifi issue at the Nantucket Atheneum, I received a lot of email from librarians spelling out what they were doing with their wireless access. Most made it available only to cardholders, a few had open nodes and a few even turned it off at night. I have two “local” college libraries with wifi, one has a campus-wide open node, one just started using MAC authentication with a backup login procedure if you’re a guest. Some places like Boston Public Library require cards but make cards available to [I believe] anyone in the state.

While I think the jury’s still out on the possible perils of providing free unmetered wireless access — by which I mean no big lawsuits yet — I see one potential downside to limiting access to cardholders. Login/registration solutions such as those offered by FirstSpot and BlueSocket and others cost money including ongoing maintenance fees and create one more layer of technology between us and the patrons we serve. There are times when this is necessary, but my own personal ethos says that we need to be very careful with each new technological hurdle we put between our patrons and the services and information they want. We do this with cost, trying to limit financial barriers to library services; lets make sure we’re doing it with technology as well. I’d like to see some good justifications for making wifi patron-only, as opposed to, say limiting upstream and downstream transfer limits or using monitoring software like AirMagnet or others. We have already seen the copyright arena become a battleground with people self-censoring because they’re not sure what the rules are. We’re supposed to be the experts, let’s act like experts.

There will always be software and hardware vendors who wants to paint a worst case boogeyman scenario about why we need to buy their security products. I’d hope that librarians will educate themselves enough about the technology and the culture surrounding it that they can make informed decisions that value openness and access not fear and vendor hype. [stuff]