April 2008 Archives

some links for National Library Week

Between taxes and travel and houseguests and springtime, I’ve been reading less and posting less than usual. This week is National Library Week. Is there a good-looking National Library Week website that you’ve found? Post it in the comments please. I’ve been enjoying the AL Focus NLW videos which you can find on AL Focus and also at their account on blip.tv.

My “to post” bookmarks list is longish and though I try to spare you just a del.icio.us linkbarf, here are some links I’ve liked.

One of my favorite Peanuts strips about the library.
A nice little paean to the public library from the Washington Post
A new book from Library Juice Press that I htink will be fascinating: Questioning Library Neutrality
Miki Jourdan is a librarian for National Geographic during the day. At night she’s a dj for Radio Sweetheart. She has put together TWO HOURS of singls inspired by literature. Peek here for the schedule of when you can hear it.
Library Journal’s John Berry, looking for luck (another way of mentioning “OMG Flickr has video!”)

Save LAPL – did you know it needed saving?

Posted on 15Apr08 by jessamyn

Some friends of mine are working on the Save LAPL website. Los Angeles Public Library is having budget problems and considering some odd (and to my mind bad) choices about how to curtail services including…

Unless citizens of L.A. can convince Mayor Villaraigosa and The Board of Library Commissioners to change their plans, starting on July 1st all branch libraries will begin charging a fee of $1 per book to request anything sent from another branch. This wouldn’t be so bad if local branches were well stocked with reading material, but they simply are not, and were never meant to be.

Please consider learning more and adding a testimonial or getting involved.

book earrings – how to

Posted on 09Apr08 by jessamyn

“Oh Jessamyn, you are such a fashion plate, I am sure you must know how to make some of those styling book earrings that every hip librarian is wearing lately, don’t you?”
“Well no, but a wiki can show you how.”

wordpress 2.5 upgrade complete

Posted on 08Apr08 by jessamyn

Hi. I’ve just updated to WordPress 2.5 and while I find the admin interface horrible, the web site seems to look okay. This upgrade fixes some pretty nasty vulnerabilities that the 2.3-ish version of WordPress had. Do yourself a favor and take the time to update. If you notice anything gone kablooey about the blog post-update, please leave a comment here or drop me an email. Thanks!

Librarians notice “abortion” stop word, take action

Posted on 08Apr0808Apr08 by jessamyn

“The world’s largest database on reproductive health, POPLINE, has been blocking searches using the term “abortion” since late February. The block was removed Friday afternoon…. The search block was discovered by medical librarians doing routine searches.” More on this story from Wired. Johns Hopkins who hosts the database made a strongly worded statement against the blocking of this term.

As near as I can tell, a few things happened in a row. USAID, who funds the database, complained about finding items in the database that did not “fit the criteria” of what the database was created for, items that were apparently pro-abortion in some way. From the Wired article

Sandra Jordan, director of communications in USAID’s office of population and reproductive health, could not identify the documents that prompted her office’s complaint, but said the publications were one-sided in favor of abortion rights. “We are part of the Bush administration, so we have to make sure that all parts of the story are told,” says Jordan. “The administration’s policy is definitely anti-abortion, and the administration does not see abortion as a part of family planning policy.”

The database administrators then dealt with the complaints by making searches for the term “abortion” come up blank, effectively making abortion a stop word in the database. Loriene Roy the president of ALA released a statement supporting Johns Hopkins removing the term from the stop word list.

I find this whole incident exceptionally creepy. While I’m pleased that the outcome was ultimately favorable to open access, the demonstration of the chilling effect of complaints about an information resource and the perhaps well-meaning but utlimately censorious actions of the database administrators is concerning. [thanks sven!]