[LISNews] The LISNews For February 5th 2009
The LISNews Librarian News By Email
lisnews at lishost.net
Thu Feb 5 10:54:32 CST 2009
Let's see what the most popular stories have been for the past 30 days:
-[1] - 10 Librarian Blogs To Read in 2009
http://lisnews.org/node/32431/
-[2] - Obama's BlackBerry
http://lisnews.org/node/32454/
-[3] - Book burning on Feb. 10th 2009 due to CPSIA
http://lisnews.org/node/32403/
-[4] - Iowa woman arrested for keeping library book
http://lisnews.org/node/32529/
-[5] - Hoboken Tot Denied a Library Card Because of Illegible Signature
http://lisnews.org/node/32473/
And here's the latest from LISNews:
--Self-Examination: The Present and Future of Librarianship
- http://lisnews.org/node/32673/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Thursday February 5th at 10:08 AM
-Read 79 times - 2 Comments
Book: Self-Examination: The Present and Future of Librarianship What makes us librarians? What is it we do that is
indispensable? John Budd joins an august group of library-science luminaries, such as Pierce Butler, Jesse Shera, and
Michael Gorman, whose works and example invite professional and critical self-examination. Here, Budd challenges us to
confront the uneasy truth of whether "libraries still represent people's will and intellect, or the cabalistic enclaves of
an old guard?" Through intellectually rich and engaging entrees into ethics, democracy, social responsibility, governance,
and globalization, he makes the case that librarians who fail to grasp the importance of their heritage will never truly
respond to societal change or the needs of the individual user. One review of book here. Preview book at Google Book
Search.
--My library fines
- http://lisnews.org/node/32672/
-Blog Entry by nbruce Posted Thursday February 5th at 9:33 AM
-Read 33 times - 3 Comments
My library fine total just jumped--forgot I had an Ohiolink book checked out. I need to get that paid before President
Obama taps me for an important government job.
http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-library-fines-before-i-retired-in.html
--Reducing Database Choices With An "Undergrad" Checkbox
- http://lisnews.org/node/32671/
-Front Page Story by Blake Posted Thursday February 5th at 6:43 AM
-Read 137 times - 3 Comments
Catherine Pellegrino has a simple, brilliant, idea... in addition to the "peer-reviewed checkbox that appears in many
databases (e.g. EBSCO), there ought to be an "undergrad" checkbox, which filters out all the weird stuff that database
providers throw into their silos to enhance their stats for numbers of titles indexed, etc. It would weed out things like
Dissertation Abstracts, and Unpublished conference papers, among others.
--A tool that enables peers to review and sign each others' works
- http://lisnews.org/node/32670/
-Front Page Story by Blake Posted Thursday February 5th at 6:42 AM
-Read 98 times - 0 Comments
What is GPeerReview? GPeerReview is a command-line tool that makes it simple to write a review of someone's work and
digitally sign them together. How does it work? 1. First, you read someone's paper. 2. Next, write a review. (The
review is just a simple text file that contains a few scores and your opinions about the paper.) 3. Use GPeerReview to
sign the review. (It will add a hash of the paper to your review, then it will use GPG to digitally sign the review.) 4.
Send the signed review to the author. If the author likes the review, he/she will include it with his/her list of published
works. 5. Prospective employers or other persons can easily verify that the reviews are valid.
--Copyright Research Bill ReIntroduced
- http://lisnews.org/node/32669/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Wednesday February 4th at 9:58 PM
-Read 125 times - 0 Comments
The Fair Copyright in Research Works bill, a controversial measure that would ban public access policies similar to those
of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was reintroduced in Congress last night, after being shelved at the end of 2008.
The bill resurfaces as proponents in the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) Professional and Scholarly Publishing
Division holds its annual conference today in Washington, DC. Although the text of HR 801 has yet to be posted online, those
who have seen it say it has much the same text as HR 6845, which was the subject of a spirited hearing held before a
Congressional subcommittee last year. In a statement, AAP officials praised the bill's reintroduction, and said the
legislation "would help keep the Federal Government from undermining copyright protection for journal articles." The
library community, however, strongly opposses the measure. Full article at Publisher's Weekly.
--AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image
- http://lisnews.org/node/32668/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Wednesday February 4th at 9:53 PM
-Read 171 times - 1 Comments
On buttons, posters and Web sites, the image was everywhere during last year's presidential campaign: A pensive Barack
Obama looking upward, as if to the future, splashed in a Warholesque red, white and blue and underlined with the caption
HOPE. Full story here.
--Dr. Melvil Dewey Dead In Florida
- http://lisnews.org/node/32667/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Wednesday February 4th at 9:32 PM
-Read 447 times - 8 Comments
Dr. Melvil Dewey, internationally known educator, inventor of the decimal classification system used in libraries, and
spelling reform advocate, died here today of a cerebral hemorrhage. He celebrated his eightieth birthday on Dec. 10. Full
story at the New York Times.
--Insanity
- http://lisnews.org/node/32666/
-Blog Entry by mdoneil Posted Wednesday February 4th at 7:41 PM
-Read 58 times - 3 Comments
There is a proposal to allow new car buyers to deduct sales tax, and interest payments on new car loans. This is
complete insanity. Do we not have a problem with people buying more stuff -including house- than they can pay for? Now
they want to encourage them to go into debt for a car. First the elected idiots give our money to banks who then stop
lending it out (but they have nice parties and lovely pots to piss in), then they give more of our money to the car
manufacturers so they can keep making cars that nobody has any money with which to buy one. Then of course the Messiah
allows the states to raise automobile emmissions standards so that the cars cost more to make and sell. So now I (and the
rest of the taxpayers) have to fund a tax credit for people who buy a new car that they can't afford. Why should anyone
get a tax credit for their car loan. I don't have a car loan, I don't need a car loan. Can you imagine the record keeping
requirements this imposes upon the banks - the same banks we just gave money to? Now they will have to provide annual
statements about your car loan so you can deduct that on your taxes. Why should I subsidize the car buyers, car makers,
car dealers, car salesmen? I don't want a new car, I can't afford a new car and I certainly can't afford to give other
people my money so they can buy a car on credit. Somebody must be passing out crack cocaine. They can't possibly be
serious about this. The inmates have taken over the asylum.
--COTS Twitter Spamming Tool
- http://lisnews.org/node/32662/
-Front Page Story by StephenK Posted Wednesday February 4th at 5:56 PM
-Read 168 times - 0 Comments
At the Zero Day blog on ZDNet, Dancho Danchev points out a commercial off-the-shelf tool for spamming Twitter.
--FriendFeed data mining
- http://lisnews.org/node/32655/
-Front Page Story by StephenK Posted Wednesday February 4th at 4:12 PM
-Read 191 times - 1 Comments
Louis Gray presents a look at data mining possibilities with FriendFeed. Some names are recognizable but no librarians
seem present.
--Overdue Book Borrowed by JFK Will be Returned to Library of Congress
- http://lisnews.org/node/32654/
-Front Page Story by birdie Posted Wednesday February 4th at 3:39 PM
-Read 254 times - 2 Comments
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum said it will display, as part of a weeklong celebration of Presidents'
Day, a 1930 biography of Abraham Lincoln that was apparently borrowed by Kennedy, or a member of his staff, when he was
serving in the Senate in the 1950s. The Library of Congress book, "A. Lincoln" by Ross F. Lockridge, was found in Kennedy's
pre-presidential papers. It has been listed as missing in the Library of Congress online catalog, and will be returned to
its collection after the display. "It has just always been assumed to have been one of his books," said library spokesman
Tom McNaught, but the library recently learned "it had been checked out since he was a senator and he had just kept it."
--Yahoo!: Search Pad: Making Online Research Easier
- http://lisnews.org/node/32653/
-Front Page Story by Blake Posted Wednesday February 4th at 2:27 PM
-Read 226 times - 1 Comments
Yahoo!: Today, we are testing a new feature called Search PadTM to help users effortlessly capture websites that they find
on Yahoo! Search and organize that information to complete important tasks.
--Everyday life information-seeking behaviors of urban young adults
- http://lisnews.org/node/32651/
-Front Page Story by Bibliofuture Posted Wednesday February 4th at 12:10 PM
-Read 320 times - 3 Comments
Article on information seeking behavior: People, places, and questions: An investigation of the everyday life
information-seeking behaviors of urban young adults Full text here.
--Library Typos web page relocated
- http://lisnews.org/node/32649/
-Blog Entry by Anonymous Patron Posted Wednesday February 4th at 10:55 AM
-Read 151 times - 0 Comments
The web page "Typographical Errors in Library Databases" is leaving its home at Quinnipiac University. This is a result
of the relocation of longtime Quinnipiac automation librarian Terry Ballard to a position as Assistant Director of Technical
Services for Library Systems at the New York Law School's Mendik Library. The permanent home for the typographical errors
page is now http://www.terryballard.org/typos/typoscomplete.html . A number of other regularly-visited pages that
Ballard created are also being relocated, including his page of exemplary Innovative Interfaces sites and a list of Library
of American Civilization microform titles available free on the web. A directory of these and other projects can now be
found at http://www.terryballard.org/mondoterry.html . For further information, Ballard can be contacted at
terry.ballard at nyls.edu . The typographical errors project started with a keyword inventory performed by Ballard at
Adelphi University in the early 1990's that uncovered nearly 1000 likely errors to be found in library catalogs. Five years
later, an online group was formed that kept a master list that grew to more than 7000 entries, thanks in large measure to
listkeeper Tina Gunther from Biola University. This work led to the very popular blog "Typo of the day for librarians,"
which remains at librarytypos.blogspot.com .
--MySpace Claims to Have Booted Sex Offenders but Won't Identify them to Facebook
- http://lisnews.org/node/32647/
-Front Page Story by birdie Posted Wednesday February 4th at 8:33 AM
-Read 360 times - 9 Comments
It's the old pay to play gambit. According to CNet, MySpace announced on Tuesday that it has deleted 90,000 accounts owned
by registered sex offenders. It's especially good news for Sentinel, the security company that MySpace used to track down
the accounts. And now Sentinel appears to be trying to take advantage of its success with MySpace into a PR campaign partly
aimed at getting Facebook into signing a contract as well. John Cardillo, the CEO of Sentinel, gave an interview to
TechCrunch in which he said thousands of those who were banned from MySpace can now be found on Facebook--not yet one of
Sentinel's clients. Not great news for Facebook. "For a company that has a mission to keep kids safe, we find it
irresponsible that they wouldn't share this with us," representative Barry Schnitt (Senior Manager, Corporate Communications
and Public Policy at Facebook) told TechCrunch in an addendum to the tech blog's original post. "Or, if not with us, how
about with law enforcement? This could have been an announcement that Sentinel and Facebook removed 8,000 potential sex
offenders. We still don't have the information on who they are. If you are willing to share that with us, we will
investigate immediately."
--It wasn't easy being the first black librarian in Charlotte
- http://lisnews.org/node/32646/
-Blog Entry by Anonymous Patron Posted Wednesday February 4th at 8:31 AM
-Read 125 times - 0 Comments
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/514695.html She came from a family of educators and achievers. Fresh out of
library school in Atlanta, she arrived in Charlotte in 1947 as director of the city's only library for African Americans.
Three years later, Allegra Westbrooks, now 87, was reassigned to the main public library that served only whites;
ultimately, she was placed in charge of all branches. That made her the first black public library supervisor in North
Carolina. Continued.
--Video Books?
- http://lisnews.org/node/32645/
-Front Page Story by StephenK Posted Wednesday February 4th at 12:11 AM
-Read 335 times - 3 Comments
Engadget reports on a new development with HarperCollins
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