[LISNews] The LISNews For December 11th 2008

[The LISNews Librarian News By Email]

Let's see what the most popular stories have been for the past 30 days:

-[1] - What Are Your Librarian Favorite Blogs? Put Them On The Blogs To Read In 2009 List!
   http://lisnews.org/node/31163/
-[2] - Book Causes Parental Stir in Florida 
   http://lisnews.org/node/31911/
-[3] - Best Reference Question Ever?
   http://lisnews.org/node/32038/
-[4] - I Hate You Library Patrons!
   http://lisnews.org/node/32040/
-[5] - Libraries work to keep kids from seeing porn
   http://lisnews.org/node/31889/


And here's the latest from LISNews:


--FREE Books From Bleak House, If you Can Get a Check for Shipping to Them TODAY
- http://lisnews.org/node/32174/
-Front Page Story by birdie Posted Thursday December 11th at 12:03 PM
-Read 1 times - 0 Comments
I know this story is going to get some readership once people notice the word FREE.  The other important word is TODAY. 
Publishers Weekly reports:  Ben LeRoy, publisher of Bleak House Books, a division of Big Earth Publishing, thinks nobody,
no matter how dire their economic circumstances, should be deprived of gifts this holiday season so during the month of
December, Bleak House Books, and its sister company, Intrigue Press, will give away more than 100 frontlist and backlist
titles (mysteries) to readers, who, hopefully, will pass them on to others.  “As I listened to a piece on NPR about
shopping being down, and people stressing about not being able to give presents, it struck me: we’re ahead of projections,
and this is one way we can help out. I can’t stuff [readers] with cash, but I can help them get books,” LeRoy said. 
Anybody who’d like to take Bleak House up on their offer can do so by ordering books from the company's website. Wish list
books will be shipped from either Big Earth Publishing’s fulfillment center in Colorado or from Bleak House’s Madison,
Wisc. offices, either directly to the shopper or to a designated recipient. Postage and handling ($6-$8) are the
responsibility of the shopper, and checks must be received by December 11 ...TODAY...


--PACER’s 20th Anniversary
- http://lisnews.org/node/32173/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Thursday December 11th at 10:40 AM
-Read 34 times - 0 Comments
The federal PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) system — the electronic public access service that allows
users to obtain case and docket information from U.S. appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and to search via the U.S.
Party/Case Index — is 20 years old.  Story at Legal Research Plus which links to The Third Branch: Newsletter of the Federal
Courts


--Books As Music Boxes
- http://lisnews.org/node/32172/
-Front Page Story by birdie Posted Thursday December 11th at 10:13 AM
-Read 71 times - 0 Comments
Lovely old books remade as one of a kind music boxes by Jennifer Khoshbin of San Antonio TX.  A gift for someone pretty
special; i.e, not inexpensive.   Other adapted book gifts on her etsy page.


--Brilliantly Bookish: 15 Dazzling Library Designs
- http://lisnews.org/node/32170/
-Front Page Story by Blake Posted Thursday December 11th at 8:12 AM
-Read 132 times - 0 Comments
Brilliantly Bookish: 15 Dazzling Library Designs: The word “library” doesn’t immediately conjure up a sense of coolness but
these libraries are much more than just book storage depots. From public archives of knowledge to centers of learning at
colleges and universities, libraries can be amazing places - so why shouldn’t they look the part? From alien blob monster
buildings to futuristic steel-and-glass mega-structures, here fifteen libraries that prove books can be very cool.


--The LSW Zine: A Call for Rants, Manifestos, Articles, and Artwork
- http://lisnews.org/node/32169/
-Front Page Story by Blake Posted Thursday December 11th at 6:59 AM
-Read 96 times - 0 Comments
The LSW Zine: A Call for Rants, Manifestos, Articles, and Artwork: Announcing the Library Society of the World Zine, a
planned dead-tree compilation of writing about libraries by library people.  If all goes well, when librarians gather in
Chicago in July of 2009 for the American Library Association Annual Meeting, LSW agents will be packing copies of the first
ever issue of the LSW zine along with their “FRBR? I hardly knew her!” t-shirts and Roy Tennant thongs. We will then sell or
otherwise distribute the zines to an unwary population of humid, bus-riding librarians.


--Academic Library Being Entrepreneurial
- http://lisnews.org/node/32168/
-Front Page Story by StephenK Posted Thursday December 11th at 12:18 AM
-Read 150 times - 0 Comments
Bernie Sloan passed along on the JESSE listserv a link from the Chronicle of Higher Education.  It appears that there is a
library for hire.  Johns Hopkins University is providing service to Excelsior College so that it can provide library
services to its distant students.  Johns Hopkins University is compensated by Excelsior College for the services rendered.


--Jimmy Wales - Free Speech, Free Minds and Free Markets
- http://lisnews.org/node/32167/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Wednesday December 10th at 11:56 PM
-Read 185 times - 2 Comments
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales joins journalist Christopher Lydon to address the direction of web 2.0 and how Objectivist
philosophy guides his vision.Across the globe we are building, editing, and contributing to a growing body of knowledge and
tools at everyone's fingertips. Volunteers in leaderless organizations contribute to online initiatives and articles.
Software developers spend their free time collaborating with complete strangers.Amazingly, these efforts are creating
products of extraordinary quality, sometimes better than that of large for-profit organizations.Why do we do it? Why does
it work?  Video at FORA.tv


--Vehicle Crashes into California Library
- http://lisnews.org/node/32165/
-Front Page Story by birdie Posted Wednesday December 10th at 7:34 PM
-Read 145 times - 0 Comments
What is it about libraries that attracts crashing cars?  A stolen car crashed into the south wall of the Al McCandless
Library in Indio early today, police said.  Indio police responded at 12:51 a.m. to an alarm going off at the Riverside
County library at 200 Civic Center Mall, said Ben Guitron of the Indio Police Department.  ``We discovered there was a dark
blue Honda Civic, which was incidentally also a reported stolen vehicle from two days prior,'' Guitron said. ``It had
crashed into the south wall of the library.''  The Honda was still running, and Indio firefighters turned off the car,
Guitron said.  The perp got away after downing several bookcases.


--Coffee shop dreams
- http://lisnews.org/node/32163/
-Blog Entry by nbruce Posted Wednesday December 10th at 4:29 PM
-Read 39 times - 0 Comments
The woman who wanted to work in a library. http://coffeespills.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-christian-at-paneras.html


--Voluntown Library Volunteers Make an 'Extreme Makeover' Quilt
- http://lisnews.org/node/32162/
-Front Page Story by birdie Posted Wednesday December 10th at 4:12 PM
-Read 171 times - 0 Comments
Deborah Fleet, Director, Voluntown (CT) Public Library writes in the library blog (story includes a photo of the gorgeous
quilt-to-be...)  "Saturday Morning, after speaking with Christelle Lachapelle, and then Billy Roberts, Design Producer for
Extreme Homemakeover at Voluntown for the Girard Family Extreme Makeover, I initiated an effort for an extreme community
quilt for the Girard Family. I was given the go ahead by Mr. Roberts after being given a color scheme for a bedroom, and
began meeting with interested women at the library. As of Tuesday night, the quilt top is complete.   Here is the link for
the article in the Norwich Bulletin this morning: Extreme Community Quilt Project.  Thanks to Polly Farrington for the
heads-up. 


--Something uplifting
- http://lisnews.org/node/32161/
-Blog Entry by StephenK Posted Wednesday December 10th at 3:11 PM
-Read 45 times - 0 Comments
I like to read works by Mona Charen.  Even though she writes theses days for National Review she still writes pieces that
reach out to everybody.  Her piece entitled Stampede Psychology is a very good read.  With all the fear-mongering there is
out there, it is an uplifting piece that asks you to count your many blessings.   Something uplifting by Stephen Michael
Kellat is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.Based on a work
at lisnews.org.


--Drupal Users: Help get CCK functionality into Drupal 7.
- http://lisnews.org/node/32160/
-Front Page Story by Blake Posted Wednesday December 10th at 9:28 AM
-Read 276 times - 2 Comments
During the week of December 15, Dries Buytaert is organizing a 5-day Fields in Drupal core code sprint at Acquia! The goal
is to get CCK functionality into Drupal 7. To help them fund the sprint, please consider making a donation using the ChipIn
widget on this page. They need money for airline tickets, hotel rooms, food and transportation. It would also be great to
fly in a few additional people with extensive core and CCK experience.  I kicked in a few bucks, and as of right now
they're at about 62% of the modest goal of $7,000.


--Good source of book reviews
- http://lisnews.org/node/32159/
-Blog Entry by nbruce Posted Wednesday December 10th at 8:59 AM
-Read 54 times - 0 Comments
I read more reviews than books--occasionally even send a suggestion to my local PL.  Found a great souce the other day. 
Studies in Intelligence at the CIA website. The physical journal is quite handsome too. 
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/index.html   Maybe Daniel has
already mentioned this source.  Each issue has an "Intelligence Officer's Bookshelf"
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol52no3/the-intelligence-officer2019s-bookshelf.html
 with really well balanced reviews. The reviewer makes careful note of things that matter to me--summaries, footnotes,
bibliography, index, etc. I don't want a reviewer who writes like the new best friend of the author, or someone who only
picks it apart.    Another book review source I really enjoy is JAMA--any issue. If you're not reading those, you're
missing some excellent, thoughtful writing, even if the book may not be suitable for your clientele. Plus, the poetry and
essays are good, even if some of the medical stuff is over your head.


--IWF backs down on Wiki censorship 
- http://lisnews.org/node/32158/
-Front Page Story by Blake Posted Wednesday December 10th at 8:31 AM
-Read 221 times - 0 Comments
The online watchdog, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), has withdrawn its objection to a Wikipedia page that contained an
image of a naked girl.   The page of the online encyclopaedia shows an album cover of German heavy metal band Scorpions,
released in 1976.  


--Librarian tip leads to sex charges against RI man
- http://lisnews.org/node/32157/
-Front Page Story by Blake Posted Wednesday December 10th at 8:30 AM
-Read 399 times - 5 Comments
An investigation that began with a librarian's tip produced an indictment against a 59-year-old local man who now faces
charges of sexual assault, child molestation and possessing child pornography. The library employee notified the police
after she discovered that he had been trying to engage others in "explicitly sexual chat" on one of the library's public
computers. 


--Page through old magazines on Google Book Search
- http://lisnews.org/node/32156/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Wednesday December 10th at 3:07 AM
-Read 269 times - 0 Comments
Google's book search is no longer limited to just books—now, users can turn up magazine results when hunting through the
electronic versions of dead trees. The company announced Tuesday that it had begun an initiative to add magazine archives
(in addition to current issues) to its online collection, with full articles now showing up alongside search results for
various keywords.  Full article here.


--Clueless book publishers miss huge opportunity
- http://lisnews.org/node/32155/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Wednesday December 10th at 3:01 AM
-Read 310 times - 1 Comments
Facing a downturn in book buying, and competition from online e-books, publishers are increasingly turning to cell phones.
No, they're not publishing new books on phones, as they obviously should. They're trying to market paper books via cell
phones.  Full article here.


--Apple should add books to the iTunes Store
- http://lisnews.org/node/32154/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Wednesday December 10th at 2:50 AM
-Read 202 times - 0 Comments
With Tribune Company’s announcement yesterday that it is seeking bankruptcy protection it’s hard to find much good news in
the world of print publishing these days. One glimmer of hope is the migration of traditional media from atoms to bits. 
The combination of rising cost and the worldwide economic slowdown are forcing print publishers to find ways to reduce
expenses and many are re-inventing themselves as digital publishers. Two major book publishers recently announced mobile
phone initiatives as part of the transition to a digital future.  Penguin Group USA has launched Penguin Mobile (iTunes) a
free iPhone application which enables users to read about new releases from the company and listen to the Penguin Podcast.
Unfortunately the application falls short of being able to download and read full books, instead you’ll have to settle for
downloading chapter excerpts of select titles.  Full article here.




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