[LISNews] The LISNews For January 18th 2011
The LISNews Librarian News By Email
lisnews at lishost.net
Tue Jan 18 11:52:07 CST 2011
On Tuesdays we take a look at the stories that got the most comments in the last week.
-[1] - Out with The Old, In With the New 'Young Hip Librarians'
http://lisnews.org/node/38426/
-[2] - Women's underwear discussion now open to men, with reservations
http://lisnews.org/node/38431/
-[3] - California Governor Proposes Eliminating All State Funding for Libraries
http://lisnews.org/node/38437/
-[4] - Snooki Bumps Newbery/Caldecott Winners from "Today Show"
http://lisnews.org/node/38447/
-[5] - Librarians and Wikipedia
http://lisnews.org/node/38434/
And here's the latest from LISNews:
--Ferndale Library Director Moves On...Damply
- http://lisnews.org/node/38467/
FERNDALE, MI – City Public Library Director Doug Raber is the latest top official to leave the city for another job. This is library that we reported had to be closed due to flooding from a faulty water
recycling system this past fall. Raber, 60, is leaving to take a job as director at the Marion Public Library in Marion, Iowa. “Doug Raber has resigned as director of the Ferndale Public Library
effective Feb. 25, 2011,” the statement reads. “While he enjoyed working with the staff, board and patrons of the library, and the Ferndale community, Doug and his wife Jessica are moving on to a new
career and academic challenges outside of Michigan.” Raber was hired nearly three years ago at an $80,000 salary as the library was about to undergo a $4.5 million expansion and upgrade. The revamped
library, which was nearly doubled in size to about 21,000 square feet, opened in August. However, a hose connection failed on a new rainwater treatment over the Thanksgiving weekend and flooded the
library with about 15,000 gallons of water. Library officials expect the facility to reopen next month.
--Meanwhile, Back in Brisbane...
- http://lisnews.org/node/38466/
IT News reports: When flood waters threatened to breach the banks of the Brisbane River last Wednesday, the State Library of Queensland looked to be one of its first casualties. Fortunately for the
library and Queensland's bookworms, management had a well-developed disaster recovery plan that went beyond simple data backup and that included all the minutiae of surviving catastrophe so that
librarians didn't have to make it up as they went along. As the water started flowing into the basement levels, the library's client services director Rory McLeod and staff swung into action. "It was
about following basic disaster procedures," McLeod said. "Once we knew water encroached into the basements we knew there was a chance that we would lose power so it was about getting [backup power]
checked and online and taking down essential systems as quickly as we could." The library systems were replicated and a library principle is "lots of copies keeps stuff safe - so it's quite easy for us
to point people at different servers at other state libraries", he said. The collections were safe and systems were being brought back online as staff returned.
--Recent Pearls before Swine cartoon
- http://lisnews.org/node/38465/
http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/2011-01-16/
--NO BALLOONS in the Yonkers Library
- http://lisnews.org/node/38463/
Libraries are sticklers for their rules—and they have a lot of rules—but check out the latest one at the Yonkers (NY) Public Library: NO BALLOONS. While bringing a balloon to the library doesn't seem
to be a trend here in NYC, it was apparently a thing in Yonkers if enough people were bringing balloons to necessitate this sign. Gothamist
--Voices for the Library
- http://lisnews.org/node/38462/
"Voices for the Library" is an information resource for embattled British public librarians. Its objectives are to promote the need for and value of trained librarians within a free and open-to-all UK
public library service, and to be a place where everyone who loves and values libraries can share their stories and experiences. It intends to provide balanced information, and an insight into why
librarians are important for the future of the public library. Home page: http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/ Their blog has been active since Sept. 4, 2010 at:
http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/?page_id=53 A depressing "Closures Map" showing libraries under threat is at: http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/?page_id=765 There are also
sections for events, campaigns, reader's stories, etc.
--Curation is the New Search is the New Curation
- http://lisnews.org/node/38461/
Curation is the New Search is the New Curation "The answer, of course, is that we won't -- do them all by hand, that is. Instead, the re-rise of curation is partly about crowd curation -- not one people,
but lots of people, whether consciously (lists, etc.) or unconsciously (tweets, etc) -- and partly about hand curation (JetSetter, etc.). We are going to increasingly see nichey services that sell
curation as a primary feature, with the primary advantage of being mostly unsullied by content farms, SEO spam, and nonsensical Q&A sites intended to create low-rent versions of Borges' Library of
Babylon. The result will be a subset of curated sites that will re-seed a new generation of algorithmic search sites, and the cycle will continue, over and over."
--LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast -- Episode #137
- http://lisnews.org/node/38460/
This week's episode contains a replay of the most recent episode of TVO's program Search Engine about the censorship situation in Tunisia. We follow up last Tuesday's release of Search Engine by
bringing the story up to date with events that happened since. Another episode of LISTen will be released late Tuesday night/early Wednesday overnight with content that is more traditional. Related
links: The episode of Search Engine being replayed Ars Technica on Twitter vs. Tunisia Committee to Protect Journalists on Tunisian Censorship BBC News reporting on Tunisian censorship...in 2005... The
Voice of America on the Tunisia situation Story by Aidan Lewis on BBC News about the situation in Tunisia Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news on the ex-President of Tunisia fleeing to Saudi Arabia
France24 on the possibility of more incidents like this This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.Based on a work at www.tvo.org.
--Cites & Insights February 2011 available
- http://lisnews.org/node/38458/
Cites & Insights 11:2 (February 2011) is now available for downloading--at http://citesandinsights.info/civi11i2.pdf (if you're not seeing the link). The 28-page issue (in PDF form, but with each
section available in crude HTML--noting that the first essay would require considerably more paper to print out than the whole PDF issue) includes: Making it Work Perspective: Five Years Later: Library
2.0 and Balance (pp. 1-26) It's been five years since Library 2.0 and "Library 2.0" and this seemed like a good time to revisit some of these themes. Bibs & Blather: Where's Chapter 4? (pp. 26-28) Why
this issue does not include Chapter 4 of The Liblog Landscape 2007-2010.
--The fight to save British libraries begins
- http://lisnews.org/node/38457/
Britain's public libraries will become the focus of bitter political battles and legal action this month as users fight to prevent mass closures. More than 400 libraries from the Isle of Wight to South
Wales and Yorkshire face the axe as councils make difficult choices about the future of local services to meet government demands for £6.5bn of savings over two years. The number could double as half of
all councils are yet to announce their money-saving plans. Libraries face cuts of 20 to 30 per cent, which may mean that as many as one in five libraries and one in four full-time librarian jobs are at
risk. This comes despite the fact more than 300 million books were borrowed last year. Tens of thousands of people use the internet in libraries every day. London's Mayor last week announced plans to
establish a trust of volunteers to run the capital's libraries, a third of which are under threat.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/overdue-the-fight-to-save-our-libraries-begins-2185826.html
--UK Library emptied in bid to fight closure
- http://lisnews.org/node/38456/
A Very Defiant Duckling Named Ender passed along this one... Library emptied in bid to fight closure: A town has emptied its library in a bid to fight plans to close it down. People in Stony Stratford,
near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, have spent the week withdrawing their maximum allowance of books in protest against council plans to close it as part of budget cuts. And today they said the plan had
been a success, with all 16,000 books withdrawn from the library.
--Library in the UK Urges Patrons to Clear Its Shelves
- http://lisnews.org/node/38455/
What better way to illustrate the potential impact of a closed library than to offer nothing but empty shelves to the public? A public library in Stony Stratford, England, asked its patrons to take out
all of its books in a symbolic demonstration again "theoretical" threats of closure. (The resulting picture is stark and sad.) Read more here
--Won’t You Be My Wireless Neighbor?
- http://lisnews.org/node/38454/
Op-ed piece in the NYT FOR a long time, I relied on my Brooklyn neighbors’ generosity — that is, their unsecured wireless networks — every time I connected to the Web. For a few blindered weeks, I
debated whether or not to finally “buy” the Internet. The whole system, though, seemed wasteful: paying a company to come wire my apartment, then paying a monthly fee so that I could maintain my own
private territory within the cloud of 20 or so wireless networks that were already humming around my apartment. It would be all the more wasteful given the likelihood that, just as cellphones made
landlines optional, smartphones and tablets will soon replace the need for home networks at all. Full piece
--From Generational Divide to Generational Grand Canyon
- http://lisnews.org/node/38453/
I believe all publicity is good publicity - a podcaster friend always reminds me "haters still count as a download." But, San Diego's KPBS gave a clear example of pure bad publicity this week, in a
piece profiling "librarian/stand up comedian" Meredith Myers timed to coincide with the ALA Midwinter Meeting hosted in their city this past week: Young, Hip Librarians Take Over (January 10, 2011)
Reaction towards what was probably intended to give younger library professionals a larger voice and break down traditional librarian stereotypes was swift and negative. Public librarian Janie offered the
following: I am no longer "young and emerging", but I am very open-minded, always seeking change and tech savvy. I agree, and look to my mom for inspiration. Mom is of the boomer generation and quite
competent with a computer. She has her own Facebook page, pays all her bills online, spends more time watching TV on her laptop than the 52 inch LCD TV in the family room, and was an early adopter of a
cell phone. She may not have a smartphone yet, but I would not be surprised if she decided to get one in the near future. (And her Generation X daughter will be more than happy to help her learn to use
it!) I remember wise words from the HR director at my former law firm - "When you stop learning, you're in the box." Flippant, but pointed - education is a lifelong process, and one's age on one's
driver's license should not be equated with the capacity to take on new technologies. To do so is absurd and an insult to all who live up to Janie's beliefs. My problem with the KPBS article extends
past the smugness and implied notion that the libraries needs the dreadlocked, Doc Marten*-wearing MLS to remain relevant in the digital age. Where were Meredith Myers' librarian credentials? She only
talks about the profession in the vaguest of terms. Nowhere does it mention where she works, her job title or duties, or if she even has an MLS. (Venturing over to her blog found that yes, she does have
the MLS - she is a recent graduate of the University of South Florida - but does not have a job.) It would have lent our subject much more credit if she talked to KPBS about her studies, internships, work
she actually did in a library, etc. rather than ambiguous statements that smack of ego. And why interview her at all, a woman who seems to be making more of her mark as a comedian and actress who just
happens to have an MLS? KPBS could have chosen from any one of the 83 ALA Emerging Leaders** or scores of other young librarians (thousands if you count virtual participation) to interview to show the
good that young librarians are doing in our community. Instead, they pick someone whose comments and attitude makes the generational divide worse. As Buffy, an Emerging Leader mentor*** and school
librarian, states: "Young and hip" does not always equate with "innovative, thoughtful, smart, and passionate." I really hate articles like this--I think they create additional stereotypes, polarize the
profession, and don't really focus on what IS changing the profession...I agree we need to put forth a positive image, but you need more than flash and "cool" to make the difference in the long run."
John, an academic librarian, questioned on Twitter why there is even a perceived link between dress and commitment to change: I don't think older librarians "resistance 2 change" should b equated w/ lack
of fashion sense. it's silly. School librarian Sara offers the same idea: Substance triumphs over style. What makes me a good librarian who creates an inviting space for teens has nothing to do w/ my
shoe choices. Rather than go on ad infinitum about the generational divide as it is a known concern throughout the field, what solutions are out there? My fellow EL Brandon offered his own lessons from
the workplace: I learned awhile ago that, when it comes to moving the profession forward, doing my damn job and giving my patrons as much of what they want as I can is far more effective than wearing
Jinx clothing and dying my hair purple. Another Brandon over on Twitter shares similar thoughts: Generally speaking though, wouldn't hurt to work on image assuming the core competencies are being met
and prioritized. (Emphasis mine.) This is practical, simple, and profound advice. In the movie Stand and Deliver (if you haven't seen it, rent it and thank me later) math teacher Jaime Escalante
encouraged his students to go past the socio-economic roadblocks in their way to find their ganas - their desire - to learn calculus. He was closer in age to parent than peer, though he and his students
bonded on an ethnic and cultural level. Escalante's lesson can be applied to the library workplace. Do your job, do it well, and project a positive, service oriented image and philosophy to patrons.
Show your ganas from the moment you walk in to the moment you lock the front doors. Then it won't matter whether you're in dreadlocks or a cardigan and bun. (Just be sure you're meeting your workplace's
dress code.) Buffy's final advice: [M]ake a difference with what you do and how you treat people, not necessarily how you look. KPBS may have had good intentions at heart, but did more harm than good.
I expected better from a public television station. If anyone from the station is willing to speak with me on their rationale for this, I will be more than happy to grant you equal time. The media
should know that what you see from KPBS will not be tolerated, and that librarians of all ages are eager, willing, and able to show you what we have done to make our libraries fun, engaging community
spaces. We already have a generational divide - let's not make it a generational Grand Canyon. Those kind of gaps are much harder to close. * The misspelling of Doc Marten as "Doc Martin" was one of
several basic errors throughout the piece, including what I thought was a very blatant one in the first paragraph - characterizing the Midwinter Meeting as "its national conference," implying that there
was only one association conference per year when in fact, there is two. ** Full disclosure: I am an ALA Emerging Leader. *** Full disclosure #2: Buffy is one of my Emerging Leader project team mentors.
--CLA's Response to Governor Defunding Libraries
- http://lisnews.org/node/38452/
From Shelf Awareness: California Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget for fiscal year 2011-2012 eliminates state funding for public libraries, a loss of $30.4 million for the Public Library Fund,
Transaction Based Reimbursement and the California Library Literacy & English Acquisition Service. In a formal response, Paymaneh Maghsoudi, California Library Association president--and director of the
Whittier Public Library--contended that Brown's proposal "is both disastrous and disheartening. Since the early 2000s, public libraries have been one of the hardest hit segments of local government, with
deep reductions totaling more than 75% made to these programs by the previous two governors combined. We understand fully California's dire budget situation and the challenges of the recessionary economy,
but the public libraries have done more than their share to assist with the Budget deficit over the years by absorbing painful cuts. The time has come to stop the bleeding and CLA respectfully asks the
members of the legislature to oppose these proposed cuts to our valuable programs."
--Jersey Shores JWOW To Release New Book
- http://lisnews.org/node/38451/
I'll see your Snooki post and raise you this "news" on JWOW! Jersey Shore’s JWOW To Release New Book. Jenni Farley, a Long Island native and one of the cast members of MTV’s most talked about reality
show “The Jersey Shore”, will soon be adding ‘author’ to her resume. Better known as “JWOWW”, she has announced that her new book,”The Rules According to JWOWW” is due out in February, according to the
star’s official website. "Authors" topic used only because I haven't added a "Jersey Shore" topic...YET
--Comic Books Get Stripped at NY's Museum of Sex
- http://lisnews.org/node/38450/
>From BookTryst, snippets of a new exhibit at the MOSEX museum. The adult, sexual kind of fantasy has inspired a genre of art with its own instantly recognizable icons: voluptuous women and muscle-bound
men; fetish clothing featuring six-inch stilettos, leather, lace, and latex; bondage gear including handcuffs, masks, and corsets; and sadomasochistic props like whips, chains, and ropes. New York City's
Museum of Sex has just mounted (pun intended) a new exhibition of the erotic art of comic strips and comic books in the 20th and 21st centuries, to "reveal how the comic book medium has been used over
time to depict sexual fantasy, poke fun at taboo topics and lampoon icons of popular culture." Comics Stripped, a show made up of over 150 artifacts, including original drawings, illustrated books, comic
books, magazines and videos, chronicles the history of "dirty drawings" from the Great Depression to the present day.
--Comic
- http://lisnews.org/node/38449/
Heart of the City comic that is book related.
--"Deaccession Can Be Big Issue Even in Small Towns" (aka "Small Town, Big Word, Major Issue")
- http://lisnews.org/node/38448/
This small city up the hill from the Erie Canal is known for manufacturing paper and tea, for rooting on its Mounties at high school football games, for deposits of quartz that glint like diamonds and
for the Victorian mansion that houses its 100-year-old library. And now it’s also known locally as the place where the library director took a stand — or started a fuss, depending on your point of view
— when the library board started selling historical items from its collection. A 13-star flag and an invitation to Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural ball should never have been put up for auction, argued the
director, Marietta Phillips. And she was also bothered, she said, that trustees sometimes took artifacts home, for good reason, perhaps, but without anyone’s bothering to note it on her sign-out sheet at
the circulation desk. “You can’t get your history back,” she said. “People don’t realize: once it’s gone, it’s gone.” So Ms. Phillips, 42, this fall did what lots of people contemplate but few
actually do — she quit. Then she wrote a letter in the local paper telling this town about 20 miles southeast of Utica just why she was leaving and how fast and loose she thought the board had been with
its artifacts. Read more...
--Snooki Bumps Newbery/Caldecott Winners from "Today Show"
- http://lisnews.org/node/38447/
"With the national television news outlets providing wall-to-wall media coverage since Saturday of the tragedy in Tucson, it’s not surprising that two children’s book award winners would be overlooked
during a week of breaking news. But, to some who tuned into the Today Show on Tuesday morning expecting to see the Newbery and Caldecott Medalists, insult seemed added to injury. The program did indeed
take a break from its coverage of the shootings during the second hour to interview an author. But it was an author who's not likely to win a prestigious literary award any time soon: Nicole Polizzi,
better known to the world as Snooki, the Jersey Shore star more famous for her trash talk and wild partying rather than her literary chops." Read more from Publishers Weekly
--In Brisbane, Serving the Public in a Crisis
- http://lisnews.org/node/38446/
This is an artist's illustration of the recently completed Kenmore Library in Brisbane, Australia, which residents are encouraged to utilize to check the internet and recharge their cellphones and
laptops during the current flooding crisis. From the ABC Local station: "Residents that can get to Kenmore Library are able to access the internet and charge up mobile phones and laptops at this
location." Here is the same library on Library Thing for Libraries.
--Retired UT County library worker accused of stealing 40K
- http://lisnews.org/node/38445/
Retired S.L. County library worker accused of stealing $40,000 The Salt Lake County auditor has called for a criminal investigation into a retired library accountant accused of skimming $40,000 from a
government account over seven years. Although the accountant returned much of that money before he was caught, the auditor says an estimated $10,000 remains unaccounted for.
-- Ginnie Cooper's blitz of glitzy libraries was pricey but worth it.
- http://lisnews.org/node/38444/
D.C. Library Director Ginnie Cooper’s blitz of glitzy libraries was pricey—but worth it Although Cooper was stifled in her ambition to replace a library deemed “functionally obsolete”—as she was in her
last gig at the Brooklyn Public Library, where a proposed five-story showpiece never raised the $85 million it would have cost—she’s already built four new branch libraries, on top of several historic
renovations and mixed-use facilities, with three more to be completed in this year. Together, they represent a significant chunk of the exciting modernist architecture being done in the District, which
has long had a reputation for—to put it delicately—restraint. Why is that notable? New City Administrator Allen Lew, after all, rebuilt a slew of falling-apart schools under then–Mayor Adrian Fenty,
vastly improving the architecture at many and gracefully restoring historic buildings.
--JFK library to put all its records online
- http://lisnews.org/node/38443/
JFK library to put all its records online The presidential library commemorating the life of US President John F Kennedy is digitising every scrap of paper, video, audio and artefact it possesses. The
project is the largest undertaken by one of the 13 presidential library.
--An Almost Streamed Meeting Causes a Ruckus At AlA
- http://lisnews.org/node/38442/
A couple interesting posts on a meeting at ALA. Briefly: Someone set up a Ustream if the LITA Board meeting. The board voted to suspend the live stream during a part of the meeting. Read all about it
at: An Almost Streamed Meeting Causes a Ruckus and Collaborative tech, virtual participation, and what is an “open meeting” anyways?
--Arizona Shooting Piques Interest in HCI Title
- http://lisnews.org/node/38441/
The tragic shooting in Arizona has piqued interest in one seemingly unlikely title from HCI. The nine-year-old girl who died in the tragedy, Christina Green Taylor, was born on September 11, 2001, and
was featured in HCI's book Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11, which came out in 2002. The book was never a big seller for HCI, with just a 10,000-copy first printing, but interest in it has spiked since
the events last weekend. Full story at Publisher's Weekly
--OCLC Introduces a Service for Small/Rural Library Websites
- http://lisnews.org/node/38439/
The OCLC Innovation Lab showed an experimental project to provide "A Web Presence for Every Library" at ALA Midwinter. It will provide a template-based web presence for small libraries and similar
institutions. In addition, the site will include editing of content, maps, news and events and a simple item inventory system. A summary of the discussion is posted on the Disruptive Library Technology
Jester website.
--Brisbane's Libraries Prepare
- http://lisnews.org/node/38438/
Art galleries and libraries in Brisbane, Australia, are shifting their collections to upper levels as floodwaters that struck rural areas move toward the city as reported by CBC News. Waters are rising
close to the city's major cultural institutions, including the Gallery of Modern Art, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, the Queensland Museum and the State Library. The library, Gallery of Modern
Art and Queensland Art Gallery are close to the Brisbane River, which is expected to reach a flood peak at 5.2 metres sometime in the early morning hours of Thursday. The art galleries and library have
closed and the performing arts centre has cancelled performances. A car park for the cultural institutions is already flooded. GoMA is currently hosting a summer exhibition, Art In The 21st Century,
featuring contemporary art from 40 countries. Doyle said the art in the blockbuster show is not at risk because it is displayed on an upper level. State librarian Rory McLeod said staff at the library
have been quietly preparing for the flood for weeks and have moved collections out of the basement and ground floor. However, he said, he is concerned that days of prolonged power cuts amid Queensland's
summer humidity could result in damage to books and other collections. "All of us have got climate controlled repositories where they are stored which will retain their ambient temperatures for a while,
but after a few days there may be some humidity," McLeod said.
--California Governor Proposes Eliminating All State Funding for Libraries
- http://lisnews.org/node/38437/
"California Governor Jerry Brown released a proposed budget for FY11/12 on Monday that would eliminate all state funding for libraries. Brown's shock-and-awe, $84.6 billion budget, which still must work
its way through the state legislature, would cut state spending by $12.5 billion and include a 'vast and historic' restructuring of government operations." Full article here
--Obama's Internet Plan Sounds an Awful Lot Like a National Internet ID
- http://lisnews.org/node/38436/
ReadWriteWeb at NYT.com White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt announced to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research on Friday that President Obama intended to turn over
development of a national Internet ID to the Commerce Department. Pursuant to the Orwellian-sounding National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which the administration is currently writing,
Commerce will create a program to provide and administer an allegedly voluntary interoperable verified online IDs. Full story
--JSTOR Will Introduce Online Access to eBooks Next Year
- http://lisnews.org/node/38435/
"[JSTOR] has struck agreements with four publishers—Princeton University Press, the University of Chicago Press, the University of Minnesota Press, and the University of North Carolina Press—to make
their books available online next year. The e-books program, 'Books at JSTOR,' was announced today at the American Library Association’s Midwinter meeting in San Diego, according to a JSTOR spokesperson."
Click here for link to full article
--Librarians and Wikipedia
- http://lisnews.org/node/38434/
Wikipedia, according to Wikipedia, is "a free, Web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project." But the reference librarians we checked with would want a second source on that. "Personally,
I don't rely on Wikipedia, because of people's ability to go in and edit anybody's text and change the history," says Karen Sharp, senior librarian and webmaster at the Wayne Public Library. Wikipedia,
which comes (according to Wikipedia) from the Hawaiian word "wiki" — "quick" — joined to the "pedia" from "encyclopedia," was launched 10 years ago this Saturday by founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger.
Since that time, reportedly 365 million readers have pored over 17 million articles – all written by volunteer contributors – on subjects ranging from Aachen ("spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia,
Germany") to zymology ("scientific term for fermentation"). Wikipedia has profoundly changed the way most of us gather information. It may have had less effect on the people whose job it is to look
things up: reference librarians. Yes, they'll use it sometimes, they told us. But with misgivings, and never as a sole source. "We use it as a backup," says Sharon Castanteen, director of the Johnson
Free Public Library in Hackensack, who has a background in reference. "We'll start with that, get some ideas from it, but we won't trust it 100 percent." North Jersey has the story.
--Restoring FTC Oversight of Publisher Trade Practices
- http://lisnews.org/node/38433/
Michael Ginsborg offers his ideas on how a coalition of library associations and and allied organizations might engage the FTC to end unfair business practices of legal, scientific, medical, and
technical publishers at Initial Thoughts on a Plan to Restore FTC Oversight of Publisher Trade Practices
--Women's underwear discussion now open to men, with reservations
- http://lisnews.org/node/38431/
The Lake Villa District Library had scheduled a discussion, to be led by Ellie Carlson, titled, "Unmentionables: the Rise and Fall of Ladies' Underwear," at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 20. The program
was limited only to women, but as of Monday, the library had opened it to men, as well, with a caveat. A note on the library's website now says, "This program is designed for ladies only. Men may attend
(but that may put a damper on the discussion!") WLS radio has story Chicago Tribune article Library's website of adult programs Presenter's website: Speaking of Unmentionables: The Rise and Fall of
Ladies Underwear
--Berkshire vice chair gives $3M of stock to library
- http://lisnews.org/node/38430/
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Vice Chairman Charlie Munger gave stock worth nearly $3 million to the nonprofit Huntington Library in southern California. Full article
--LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast -- Episode #136
- http://lisnews.org/node/38429/
This week's tardy podcast brings discussion of the upgrade to the LISNews back-end and a news miscellany. As referenced in the episode, your podcatcher should be pointed at the following target to best
receive the program in case we have to switch to any backup systems through the technical wizardry of variable endpoints: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LISNewsNetcasts Related links: The Register on the
net neutrality debate at CES 2011 Larry Downes on the net neutrality debate at CES 2011 Nate Anderson of Ars Technica on a short-coming to the net neutrality order Wikipedia on FidoNet Wikipedia on UUCP
LockerGnome on Internet Alternatives Megan McCardle on Borders The Register on Overwhelming Smut Online in Australia
--New Librarian for Yale Beinecke Library
- http://lisnews.org/node/38428/
The new year is bringing a new librarian to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library according to the Yale Daily News. Edwin C. Schroeder will serve a five-year term as Librarian of the Beinecke
and Associate University Librarian, which began Jan. 1. Schroeder has filled a number of positions of increasing responsibility in Sterling Memorial Library and Beinecke library since arriving at Yale in
1989. He began as a catalogue librarian in Sterling, and most recently has been head of technical services for Beinecke library since 2004. University President Richard Levin notified the Yale community
of the appointment a Dec. 20 email, just five weeks after the death of University Librarian and former head of Beinecke library Frank Turner GRD '71. “E.C. looks forward to building on Frank Turner’s
accomplishments,” Levin said in the e-mail. “We look forward to sustaining the unique excellence of the Beinecke.” Levin added that Schroeder, who was the chair of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section
of the Association of College and Research Libraries, brings an “impressive breadth of rare book and managerial experience” to his new post.
--L. A.'s Mystery Books to Close; Can't Compete with Amazon
- http://lisnews.org/node/38427/
>From LA Observed: Owners Kirk Pasich and Pamela Woods say they can no longer compete with Amazon - and a sour economy hasn't helped. The decision to close comes just as the Borders' store in Westwood is
in the process of shutting down. That leaves Westwood without any bookstore, chain or independent. I also believe it's the last mystery bookstore in L.A. From an email being sent out: We simply cannot
compete with the Amazons of the world and the impact of the economy. We love the bookstore and mysteries and the relationships we've formed with authors and publishers and agents and publicists. But, we
do have retirement to think about (not in the near future!), and family and, well, all of those things that require money. So, it is with considerable sadness that we announce that The Mystery Bookstore,
Los Angeles, will--after many years (and as apparently the last-standing bookstore in Westwood, other than UCLA's student store)--be closing. Last day is Jan. 31.
--Out with The Old, In With the New 'Young Hip Librarians'
- http://lisnews.org/node/38426/
SAN DIEGO — The American Library Association capped its national conference at the San Diego Convention Center by honoring creators of children's books. One recurring theme at the conference was how
libraries stay relevant in the lives of young readers as many librarians near retirement. Stand-up comedian Meredith Myers (above) is part of a new group of young librarians who are busting stereotypes
about who is a "typical librarian." “I think we need cool librarians,” said Myers, who sports a stylish hat, bright red hair and black biker boots. “Image is important. (Younger patrons) are more likely
to ask for help from people who they can identify with.” Myers is part of a growing number of young librarians who are busting stereotypes of the “typical librarian” and forcing change within their own
libraries. They said it is not uncommon today to see librarians wearing Doc Martin boots, tattoos and dreadlocks. And some new librarians say they are more interested in pop culture than historical text.
Library advocates said it is all part of the 21st Century library – a place with cool technology and cool people. “For 32 years we’ve been fighting this stereotype of the typical librarian who is old,
has a bun and glasses. We haven’t been that way for a long time,” said Audra Caplan, president of the Public Library Association. “I think the excitement of new technologies and new ways to respond make
it really exciting to this upcoming generation.”
--Librarian: The iPhone / iPad Game?
- http://lisnews.org/node/38425/
Finally, a iPhone / iPad game just for library workers: http://speakquietly.blogspot.com/2011/01/librarian-game.html
--Scientific Data Stewardship
- http://lisnews.org/node/38424/
Lessons Learned from a Satellite-Data Rescue Effort Article in the September 2007 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
--The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- http://lisnews.org/node/38423/
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is listed as one of the best books of 2010 in several places. Here is an article discussing the book: Why Not Take All of Me? Reflections on The Immortal Life of
Henrietta Lacks and the Status of Participants in Research Using Human Specimens
--After Death, Protecting Your 'Digital Afterlife'
- http://lisnews.org/node/38422/
Chances are good that you have hundreds, maybe thousands of e-mails stored on remote servers or in your computer. You might have a Facebook page, or a Tumblr or Twitter account. And you might have
countless photos in a Flickr album. All that information amounts to a digital profile of sorts, which raises an interesting question: What happens to that online material when we die? That depends on how
you prepare beforehand, says John Romano. Romano and a colleague, Evan Carroll, edit The Digital Beyond, a website that helps users plan what happens to their online content after their death. Romano and
Carroll both join Dave Davies for a discussion about online digital legacies. Full piece on NPR
--British Library Launches Treasures app for Smart Phones
- http://lisnews.org/node/38421/
Over 100 highlights, including literary, historical, music-related and scientific documents - alongside illuminated manuscripts and sacred texts. Each is presented through high-resolution images,
allowing the viewer to zoom in and explore in detail. Literary highlights include Charles Dickens’s handwritten draft of Nicholas Nickleby and Jane Austen’s teenage writings, while key historical
documents include 2000-year-old Oracle Bones from China and an original Magna Carta of 1215. The section devoted to music includes manuscript scores from some of the best-known classical composers, such
as Handel, Purcell, Mozart and Schubert. Available across multiple mobile platforms: iPhone, iTouch, Android and, in an HD version, the iPad. More info here: http://www.bl.uk/app/index.html
--Book piracy Less DRM more data
- http://lisnews.org/node/38420/
Book piracy: Less DRM, more data As digital book publishing continues to expand at a rapid pace to meet reader demands, piracy rears its head at the forefront of many a discussion in publisher circles.
Many publishers respond to the perceived threat with strict digital rights management (DRM) software. But is this the best solution? And does it even provide protection from piracy?
--Buy India a Library
- http://lisnews.org/node/38419/
Buy India a Library About the project Buy India a Library is an appeal from four librarians on Twitter. We want to raise enough money via PayPal donations, to buy a mobile library in India, or even a
permanent library with books, furniture and staff! Please get involved, give as much as you can, and spread the word to as many people as possible. Let's make this happen!
--What's Still Broken On LISNews.org?
- http://lisnews.org/node/38418/
I did an upgrade recently and I'm still trying to get things pieced back together again. If you spot something missing or broken, please do let me know!
--Newbery & Caldecott Medals Awarded at ALA Midwinter
- http://lisnews.org/node/38416/
>From the LA Times/ Jacket Copy Blog: The American Library Assn. presented its top honors for books for children and young adults at a ceremony in San Diego Monday morning. The highest award, the Newbery
Medal, is awarded each year to the most distinguished book for children; it went to "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool. The Caldecott Medal, the top award for illustration, went to the book "A Sick
Day for Amos McGee," illustrated by Erin E. Stead and written by Philip C. Stead. The ALA award medallions, which can be found on the covers of later editions of the winning books, not only signify
excellence, they also can mean a longer commercial life for the books, as well as assure they find a place in libraries. Finalists also receive the medallions. The hour-long ceremony, which began at 7:45
a.m., included the announcement of dozens of awards and finalists before an audience attending the ALA's midwinter conference. The roster of winners was too long to invite the authors, illustrators or
publishers to the podium to accept their awards.
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