Library Stuff

Jacket Copy – “This bit of news coincided with a book that arrived at our offices the other day. I can only imagine what opponents of “And Tango Makes Three” will think of Joel Derfner’s “Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever,” published this month by Broadway Books, if it makes it to their local libraries.”

Electronic Frontier Foundation – “The FBI has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter (NSL) issued to the Internet Archive after a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI withdrew the NSL and agreed to the unsealing of the case, finally allowing the Archive’s founder to speak out for the first time about his battle against the record demand.”

San Jose Mercury News: – “Clara M. Chu, Ph. D., is an expert not only on libraries but also on how they fit into the multicultural story of modern society.”

Elisabeth Leonard on Libraries: “Rather than sound like medication, we need to find a message and a tone that are appealing — and that builds on our true competitive advantage.”

CNET News.com: – “A Republican congressman who has sponsored legislation banning access to social-networking Web sites in schools and libraries has found a new target of displeasure: Second Life.”

Remember, “Second Life is not a game, it is a multi-user virtual environment”

bkkeepr – “Want to remember what you read? Want to share your dog-eared pages, and see what everyone else dog-eared? Love LibraryThing, but are always forgetting to add your books? bkkeepr helps you do it, wherever you are.” (via)

Oh, this is such a cool idea! Now, if only I had more time to read…

New York Times: “Search engines like Google, so effective for general information hunting, do a poor job of cutting through these thickets of user-generated material. For the Internet-addicted, the problem is further intensified by “lifecasting” services like Twitter and the Google-owned Jaiku, which let people use their cellphones to fire off Haiku-length text notices, both profound and mundane.”

SPLAT: “If it is an old cliche, but we still shush people at our libraries, are we doing it as a joke, or do we really mean it? And even if we’re shushing people as a joke, do the customers think that? The customers do not want to be shushed, so maybe we should all stop our shushing?“

Government Innovators Network: – “State statute makes selling outdated books and journals close to impossible, so Illinois university libraries decide to trash about 500,000 used books every year.”