Library Stuff

Library Journal – “For readers, a long Washington Post article published August 9 and headlined The Art of Letting Employees Go, was an intimate look at the work of the Five O’Clock Club (FOCC), an outplacement firm that charges clients “about $2,000 per fired employee in exchange for providing layoff victims with a year of career coaching.” The major focus of the article: Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), which laid off 13 staffers in response to a budget cut of about five percent. For BPL, whose anonymous laid-off staffers are identifiable to colleagues, it was an embarrassment, leading both the director of the FOCC and the director of BPL to apologize to the staff.”

eWeek – “The American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Business report from ForeSee Results and the University of Michigan said Google leads rival search engines from Yahoo and Microsoft in customer satisfaction, with a score of 86. Microsoft’s new Bing search engine was not a factor in this report, though it will be in 2010.”

NYT – “Travelers passing through Heathrow Airport in London this week may be surprised to encounter, in the middle of bustling Terminal 5, the writer Alain de Botton, author of popular books including “How Proust Can Change Your Life” and “The Art of Travel,” seated at a desk and tapping away at his laptop computer. His typing appears in real time on a screen behind him, and a placard explains — in what apparently is both a literary and aeronautic first — that Mr. de Botton is serving a one-week appointment as Heathrow’s “writer in residence.””

Slate Magazine – “Why did Yale University Press remove images of Mohammed from a book about the Danish cartoons?”

Press Release – “Courtport, LLC, a legal research and technology company, today announced the launch of its free federal court docket retrieval site, FreeCourtDockets.com, which enables anyone to retrieve full court dockets from any U.S. district civil, criminal, or bankruptcy court, as well as from the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Claims, and the U.S. Court of International Trade.”

Way to go Paul!

Cory Doctorow – “I don’t think we can stop others from copying – it’s a lost cause. Copying is actually wonderful, and I have copied my head off since I first snuck into the photocopy room at my dad’s office in 1980. My problem isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity, and free ebooks generate more sales than they displace.”

Springwise – “Long gone are the days of boring mugs and faded postcards, as museums and other cultural institutions have become increasingly savvy retailers. Aiming to build on that strength, CultureLabel showcases products from over 60 galleries, museums and other cultural entities, ‘exploring the space where culture and consumer culture meets’.

Associated Press – “Five Facebook users filed a civil lawsuit Monday alleging that the social networking site is violating California’s privacy laws and misleading members about how their personal information is used. The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, asks for damages and attorney’s fees and includes a request for a jury trial.”

Access the docket

AP – “After insisting no one was receiving unsolicited e-mails from the White House, officials reversed their story Monday night and blamed outside political groups for the unwanted messages from the tech-savvy operation. White House online director Macon Phillips said in a blog posting that independent groups — he didn’t name them — had signed-up their members to receive regular updates about Obama’s projects, priorities and speeches.”

Pantagrapgh – “The Bloomington Public Library has contracted with Tutor.com to provide free, one-on-one tutoring via an instant messaging format for Bloomington residents with a Bloomington Public Library card. The tutoring, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, college students and adults, is offered in both English and Spanish.”