Archive for January, 2010
15 Seattle library branches will reduce their hours
January 31st, 2010Seattle Times – “Eleven branches will be open 60 hours a week, seven days a week. For those branches, that’s an increase of 5 hours a week, a move to provide services to library-goers at branches where hours are being reduced. The council, in its budget negotiations, made a big priority of saving library hours. [...]
Students failing because of Twitter, texting
January 31st, 2010Canoe.ca – “Little or no grammar teaching, cellphone texting, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, all are being blamed for an increasingly unacceptable number of post-secondary students who can’t write properly.”
From the Roman Codex to the iPad
January 31st, 2010WSJ – “How’s this for human progress? It took about 4,000 years from the invention of writing to the Roman-era codex of bound pages replacing scrolls, 1,000 years from the codex to movable type creating printed books, 500 years from the printing press to the Internet—and only 25 years to the launch of the iPad.”
Sexual content in Anne Frank
January 31st, 2010Examiner – “The Diary of a Young Girl’ survives book-banning flap in Culpepper VA”
Convert Rafter Spaces into Book Shelves
January 31st, 2010Lifehacker – “You can never have enough storage space, especially if you’re a book lover. This clever hack turns the unused space between rafters into book shelves.”
New Web site sheds light on state spending (TN)
January 31st, 2010Tennessean – “The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has just launched a Web site — OpenTennessee.org — that makes this information accessible at the click of a mouse. OpenTennessee.org is the state’s only searchable, comprehensive transparency Web site. Tennesseans now can access state employee payrolls, retiree pensions and every single payment made by state agencies [...]
‘Super-fast broadband’ in UK homes by 2017 – Tories
January 31st, 2010BBC – “The Conservatives have unveiled plans to deliver a “nationwide super-fast broadband”, part of which could be funded from the BBC licence fee.”
Legal iPhone Apps – Is there a Librarian for that?
January 30th, 2010Steve Matthews – “[A]fter reading Bob Ambrogi’s post this AM critiquing FR Evidence, a (U.S. based) iPhone app, which promised “to provide the complete text of the Federal Rules of Evidence” but is missing a rule (502) that was added in Sept. 19, 2008, I am concerned.”
Me too. Yikes!
School system in Va. won’t teach version of Anne Frank book
January 30th, 2010Washington Post – “Culpeper County public school officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank’s diary, one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, after a parent complained that the book includes sexually explicit material and homosexual themes.”
‘Sexual content’ leads one Fond du Lac parent to ask for book to be taken off middle school library shelf
January 30th, 2010The Northwestern – “A popular, young adult book in the Theisen Middle School Library is being challenged as inappropriate. Parent Ann Wentworth of Fond du Lac has issued a formal complaint with the school district, objecting to “sexual content too mature for 11- to 14-years-olds” in the book “One of Those Hideous Books Where the [...]
The Kindle Killer Isn’t Very Killer
January 30th, 2010Scott Douglas – “Before it was even released, the hype surrounding the iPad already helmed it a Kindle killer; whether or not it is, doesn’t really matter because it’s cool, so people will obviously buy it, and thus it will no doubt give Kindle a run for its money. My bet is Amazon is going [...]
Holden Caulfield and Me
January 30th, 2010Richard Grenell – “I remember hearing about a controversial book when I was in 7th Grade. There was talk of banning the book from the high school reading list and even some discussions about taking it off the library shelf. Very few teachers or leaders in my small Michigan community ever discussed the issue of [...]
A time-tested app for learning
January 30th, 2010Hector Tobar (LAT) – “An old library stands for the kind of progress that makes sense.”
Books a must-have even in sluggish economy: poll
January 30th, 2010Reuters – “During tough economic times when U.S. consumers are trying to cut back the indulgence they can’t seem to live without is books. Three-quarters of adults questioned in an online poll said they would sacrifice holidays, dining out, going to the movies and even shopping sprees but they could not resist buying books.”
eBooks – Who’s doing it right?
January 30th, 2010Chad Haefele – “I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking (and writing) about eBooks, usually taking a pretty negative slant toward existing eBook publishers and vendors. DRM, distribution models, even publication timelines – much of it is a huge mess. But I don’t want to seem too negative – I still think eBooks as [...]
For Jerry Pinkney, Caldecott win is ‘very confirming’
January 30th, 2010Seattle Times – “Up close with the winner of the Caldecott Medal for best-illustrated children’s book of the year.”
Purdue cuts in libraries’ periodicals painful for researchers
January 30th, 2010JCOnline – “The libraries of Purdue University are feeling the economic pinch. As administrators grapple with finding millions in savings across the campus, the library system is expecting another year of price increases from print and electronic journal publishers.”
Thieves break through walls to steal from library
January 30th, 2010AP – “Police say thieves busted through walls to steal six computers from a library in a poor Philadelphia neighborhood. Library staff noticed the thefts from the Cecil B. Moore branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia on Tuesday morning.”
PACER: Picking Up the Pace?
January 30th, 2010NYLJ – “Not long ago, someone who wanted a copy of a court document had to travel to the courthouse where that particular case resided, ask a clerk to make a copy, and pay a typically steep copying fee. That’s still true in most court systems in this country and abroad, but not in the [...]
Taking a Walk Through J. D. Salinger’s New York
January 30th, 2010From the NYT.
Plus, an interactive map.
Trouble touches an urban oasis
January 30th, 2010Boston Globe – “Struggling to keep peace at new Mattapan library”
More at FARK
A world of connections
January 30th, 2010Economist – “Online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work and play, and mostly for the better, says Martin Giles”
Stephen King on J.D. Salinger: ‘The last of the great post-WWII American writers’
January 30th, 2010Stephen King – “I wasn’t a huge Salinger fan, but I’m sorry to hear of his passing — the way you’d feel if you heard an eccentric, short-tempered, but often fascinating uncle had passed away.”
‘Citizen cartographers’ map the microcosms of the world
January 30th, 2010Washington Post – “Coast had the idea for OpenStreetMap in 2004, when he was a student living in London. Coast had a GPS and a laptop, you see, and he figured that with a little programming magic he could build a map of his local haunts that contained more useful information than any service he [...]
Battling the Information Barbarians
January 30th, 2010WSJ – “China often views the ideas of foreigners, from missionaries in the 17th century to 21st-century Internet entrepreneurs, as subversive imports. The tumultuous history behind the clash with Google.”
Google Book Search Settlement 2.0: the Latest Scorecard
January 29th, 2010An update from the Chronicle
Fastcase? There’s an App for That!
January 29th, 2010FastCase Blog – “Fastcase for the iPhone is the first of its kind and a breakthrough for two of our biggest passions, legal tech and open access to law.”
More here
State follows trend to virtual government
January 29th, 2010Michigan Messenger – E-government promises enhanced services often at a lower cost
Ban on Dictionary with Oral Sex Lifted
January 27th, 2010AP – “Southern California District had Prohibited Merriam-Webster Edition Defining Sex Act”
Calgary library ads target grocery shoppers
January 27th, 2010CBC News – “New library ads have made their way into the produce and deli departments of 10 Real Canadian Superstores across the city. The slogan for the campaign is “Everything you’re into,” and the advertisements feature lines such as “from barbecue to bull riding” and “from ham to Hamlet.” (via)
