LISNews:

Judge: Unredeemed Borders Gift Cards Are Worthless

Bibliofuture — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:01:52 +0000

If you were hoping to cash in that Borders gift card for the latest Dan Brown novel — or at least hoping to get some cash for it — you're too late.

A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the bankrupt and defunct book chain owes nothing to the roughly 17.7 million people who hold $210.5 million in unredeemed gift cards.

Full story

Texas county to open "library without books"

Amy Watts — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:37:12 +0000

Bexar County, Texas, is set to launch a huge project they're calling "BiblioTech".

... the BiblioTech library will have 100 e-readers for loan, and an initial selection of 10,000 digital titles. The library itself will have a host of computer stations where patrons can study, use the Internet, and learn computer skills.

Meanwhile, readers at home can check out e-books without leaving the couch. It's estimated that the library's services will reach about 1.7 million people in Bexar County, which includes San Antonio. The BiblioTech project is designed to supplement the existing city library system.

We've heard of "virtual" libraries before, but what I find interesting about this is the emphasis on e-readers for loan, not just computer terminals or digital holdings. However, I have to wonder how 100 e-readers are meant to serve a population of 1.7 million. I assume that's just a starting point, but I'm fascinated to see how this model develops and what it will mean for other public libraries and managing digital readership.

Edited to add - "Anonymous" in the comments below is absolutely right to call me out on using "without books" when I meant "paperless." --Amy

Rolling Stones legend has finally been brought to book – for unpaid library fines dating back 50 YEARS

birdie — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:18:50 +0000

Current darling of the literary world, Keith Richards, is in trouble with his childhood library.

It's hardly the most rock and roll rap he’s ever faced. But after a lifetime of hell-raising Keith Richards has finally been brought to book – for unpaid library fines dating back 50 YEARS.

The Rolling Stones legend, 69, admits he still owes for books he borrowed and failed to return to his local public library in Dartford, Kent, when he was a teenager.

And at 15p a day – plus interest and admin fees – the star could be slapped with a bill for around £3,000.
Keith confessed: “I’ve still got overdue fines from about 50 years ago. They must be astronomical by now.”

But with an estimated personal fortune of £175million the veteran guitarist shouldn’t have too much trouble stumping up. Keith, who was once jailed on drug charges and admits he has drunk so much over the years he can’t remember all the Stones’ songs, reveals he was a bit of a bookworm in his early days.

Old Library Technology, Transformed

Blake — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:12:51 +0000

The “Alternet” is one of three side-by-side installations that make up “Artists in the Archives: A Collection of Card Catalogs,” an exhibition that revitalizes library tools rendered obsolete by digital technology in the mid-1990s. Each installation includes a card catalog filled with art: the “Alternet” consists of works by 75 artists, “Book Marks” is the creation of a single artist, and “The Call to Everyone” contains contributions by several hundred members of the public.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/nyregion/artists-in-the-archives-at-greenburgh-public-libr...

1st Edition 'Harry Potter' book with author's notes up for auction

Blake — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:41:40 +0000

A first edition copy of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" that contains author J.K. Rowling's notes and original illustrations is going on sale at a charity auction.

The personal annotations from the bestselling author included comments on the process of writing and a section from an early draft of the novel. They also included a note on how the bestselling author came to create the game of Quidditch.

Atheists to put books next to Bibles in GA parks

Blake — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:41:04 +0000

A national atheist group said Monday that it will donate its literature for use in cabins and lodges in Georgia’s state parks after the governor’s recent decision to allow Bibles there.

David Silverman, president of the Cranford, N.J.-based American Atheists organization, said his group is just waiting for an answer from the state on what the best procedure is to donate several books, including one titled ‘‘Why I Am An Atheist.’’

At Brooklyn Library’s New Center, Books Are Secondary

Blake — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:38:03 +0000

The four-month-old Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons replaced the branch’s media section, providing a wood-paneled center with space for 70 laptop users, a 36-seat classroom and 7 meeting rooms, including a digital studio with green screen, microphone and video equipment.

It quickly became popular with freelance writers and other creative minds, but its uses have been quite varied, like as a safe space for immigrants to learn about the naturalization process and for parents to hold meetings about charter schools. And yes, even as a warm environment for a wedding.

“This is a sanctuary. It’s beautiful,”

Stephen King nixes e-book version for his latest novel

Blake — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:36:35 +0000

More than ten years after becoming one of the first novelists to embrace the e-book format, Stephen King has become one of the first novelists to reject it.

King’s book, Riding the Bullet, was published as a one of the first e-books by Simon & Schuster in 2000 and sold for $2.95. Just recently King told the Wall Street Journal that he would withhold digital rights to his upcoming novella, Joyland, to be released in early June. The book will be sold by Hard Case Crime, an independent publisher of crime fiction paperbacks with pulp-style cover artwork. Hard Case Crime also published King’s The Colorado Kid in 2005.

Academic Publishers Sues Librarian Blogger for Millions

birdie — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:36:37 +0000

From Melville House Books:

Beall’s list, created by University of Colorado metadata librarian Jeffrey Beall, collates the academic journals which he regards as questionable. His hard work on outing journals whose business and academic practices are less than reputable has caught the eye of one of the publishers he named and shamed, and now he’s being sued.

Bogus academic journals are a growing problem. Earlier this year, Gina Kolata in the New York Times called them a “parallel world of pseudo-academia”. Most of these journals are based on an online subscription model and call themselves “open access”. The ease with which people can be published in some of these journals, with only a semblance of legitimate oversight, has been met with concern by academics, who fear that junk research is being given the appearance of a properly accredited paper.

Jeffrey Beall is being sued by India’s The OMICS Group, which, according to Jake New in The Chronicle of Higher Education, has been the subject of scrutiny for bad practices, such as spamming and steep fees for authors after publication, not only by Beall, but also by The Chronicle.

Georgia State Park Cabins to Have Non-Religious Books as Well as Bibles

birdie — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:56:49 +0000

A national atheist group said Monday that it will donate its literature for use in cabins and lodges in Georgia's state parks after the governor's recent decision to allow Bibles there.

"We expect fair treatment, we anticipate fair treatment and we look forward to fair treatment," Silverman said. "If the state is going to put Bibles in the cabins, they must allow alternate points of view — all alternative points of view without taking sides."

Story from ABC News.

Who Really Owns The Librarian of Congress?

Blake — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:49:19 +0000

Good Question!
As new legislation makes its way through the halls of Congress to try and fix the mess highlighted by the Librarian of Congress's refusal to extend a DMCA exemption on cell-phone unlocking an important question has arisen: to whom, exactly, does the Librarian answer?

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #242

StephenK — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:30:56 +0000

And we're back. The first episode after the production suspension has a series of brief essays followed by a news miscellany.

Don’t sell and shrink our libraries. They are the stuff of democracy.

Lee Hadden — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:09:28 +0000

An interesting letter to the editor from Sonia Collins about replacing a public library.

See: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/opinion/replacing-donnell-library.html?src=rechp

Don’t sell and shrink our libraries. They are the stuff of democracy.

Smartphones Have Bridged The Digital Divide

Blake — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:39:24 +0000

Good News Everyone... The Digital Divide has now been bridged by smartphones - the most advanced personal computing devices ever. While personal computers were disproportionally used by the rich, the white and the male, smartphones are more likely to be used by Blacks and Hispanics than Whites, and by girls as equally as boys.

Offutt library, education center to be consolidated due to sequestration

Bibliofuture — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:40:37 +0000

Offutt AFB, headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), is consolidating the Thomas S. Power Library and the Offutt Air Force Base Education Center this summer due to sequestration.

Full article

Libraries Changed My Life

Blake — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:23:18 +0000

Libraries Changed My Life
http://librarieschangedmylife.tumblr.com/
Real life accounts from library patrons whose lives have been changed for the better by libraries.

Scientific Articles Accepted

Blake — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:40:29 +0000

But they found out the hard way that they were wrong. The prestigious, academically sanctioned conference they had in mind has a slightly different name: Entomology 2013 (without the hyphen). The one they had signed up for featured speakers who were recruited by e-mail, not vetted by leading academics. Those who agreed to appear were later charged a hefty fee for the privilege, and pretty much anyone who paid got a spot on the podium that could be used to pad a résumé.

“I think we were duped,” one of the scientists wrote in an e-mail to the Entomological Society.

School Librarians As Facilitators of Learning

Bibliofuture — Sat, 11 May 2013 17:47:04 +0000

School Librarians As Facilitators of Learning from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.

Paul Krugman - In Praise of Public Libraries (Personal and Trivial)

Pete — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:35:47 +0000

In a blog post, Economics professor and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman rediscovers the Public Library.

"Well, there are coffee shops...But you can only drink so much coffee. And the answer is, libraries!"

An Inside Look at Backstories of Decisions in Supreme Court

Bibliofuture — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:29:29 +0000

In her new book, "The Roberts Court," Marcia Coyle of the National Law Journal and regular NewsHour contributor takes a look at the landmark decisions that have reached the Supreme Court during the tenure of Chief Justice John Roberts. She talks to Jeffrey Brown about her observations and interviews with the justices.

Scout creates giant Scrabble set for Highland library

Bibliofuture — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:11:08 +0000

Poor eyesight can no longer be an excuse for not playing Scrabble at the Highland Public Library.

Vincent Alcorn, a Lakeland High School senior, made sure of that, creating a giant Scrabble set for the library for his Eagle Scout project.

“I worked along with librarian Dawn Dittmar to come up with the idea,” Alcorn said.

Full article

Injured Emory law librarian sues Delta

Bibliofuture — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:07:14 +0000

An Emory University law librarian is suing Delta Air Lines, claiming she suffered permanent brain trauma when books and other items fell on her after a flight attendant opened an overhead bin two years ago.

Full article

State of the Art Library to Open on NY's Upper West Side in 2015...But Existing Libraries Find Funding Slashed

birdie — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:17:45 +0000

From New York's "Picture Newspaper", the Daily News:

" The New York Public Library’s newest branch is going to sparkle like fine crystal. "

The W. 53rd St. center will be an airy, vibrant structure with multiple public spaces, modern computer labs, an audio-video collection, and walls of books, library officials said Monday as they unveiled new renderings of the three-story facility designed by Enrique Norten’s TEN Arquitectos.

The new library will also feature a sizable auditorium.

Meanwhile, the city is sucking dry its existing libraries. The Daily News also reports:

"Not only the Queens Library, but the city’s three library systems — Queens, Brooklyn and New York (which serves the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island) — that have had a tough time over the last five years, as Bloomberg has made it an annual ritual to propose major cuts to their budgets. It’s true that much of the cuts are restored by the City Council, but never in full.

One would think that Bloomberg, who supposedly values efficiency and cost-effectiveness, would go out of his way not to put the libraries through budget hell every year.

After all, they have really been able to do more with less: Despite their shrinking resources, over the last 10 years New York’s public libraries have seen a 40% increase in program attendance, and 59% in circulation, according to a Center for an Urban Future study.

Yet, despite their success, the mayor’s Fiscal Year 2014 preliminary budget is proposing to slash funding for public libraries citywide by a whopping $106.7 million dollars. That’s a 35% cut over last year’s funding level, the largest reduction ever.

Were There Robot Librarians in the 1950s?

Blake — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:30:52 +0000

Did you push a button for your book to appear below? How useful was a book vending machine with only eight or so different titles? And how, in the 1950s, did you automate checking out a book without something like barcode technology?

Don't Quit Your Day Job?

birdie — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:55:06 +0000

CBS Money Watch reports: Librarian wins at least $1M in Lay's chip promo.

Fans voted to keep the potato chip maker's Cheesy Garlic Bread flavor on store shelves for at least the end of the year as part of the company's nearly year-long "Do Us a Flavor" promotion.

The campaign is the latest promotional stunt from companies trying to engage customers through social media and direct interaction. Toy maker Hasbro Inc. recently held a Monopoly contest that ended with the addition of a cat game token and the demise of the iron for the classic board game. Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. is asking people to watch show pilots on its streaming video service and vote for which one to turn into a full series.

Karen Weber-Mendham, a children's librarian from Land O'Lakes, Wis., submitted the Cheesy Garlic Bread flavor and will receive $1 million or 1 percent of sales, whichever is higher. (The company said it hasn't tallied sales numbers yet.) The creators of the Chicken & Waffles and Sriracha chips will be awarded $50,000 each.

Weber-Mendham came up with the flavor because her three kids love to order cheesy garlic bread at Italian restaurants. Earlier this year she traveled to Frito-Lay's Plano, Texas, headquarters to taste the chips. Frito-Lay is a unit of PepsiCo Inc. "I was actually shocked at how good the chips came out," Weber-Mendham, 45, said in an interview after she was named the winner late Monday in Los Angeles.

I liked the Sriracha chips :(

Syria has dissapeared from the Internet.

Lee Hadden — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:41:20 +0000

Syria has largely disappeared from the Internet since May 7 at 2:45pm Eastern Time. Both Google and a Web security company called Umbrella Security Labs are indicating that the entire country of Syria may have been severed from the Internet. Google has a screen shot of Syria's Internet traffic at that time at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/05/syria-google-taller.jpg

Who cut the Internet connections, whether the Syrian government, anti-government forces, or outside powers, in unknown at this time.

The future of the library in the digital age

Pete — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:48:07 +0000

At 11:00AM EDT today, On Point, WBUR's outstanding NPR show, spends an hour asking, How Can Libraries Survive The Digital Age?

The guests are Anthony Marx, president and CEO of the New York Public Library and Eli Neiburger, associate director of information technology and production at Ann Arbor District Library.

The show is also available later in the day as a podcast.

Another paywall

Bibliofuture — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:59:33 +0000

YouTube Is Said to Plan a Subscription Option

Newspapers have digital subscriptions. Record labels have iTunes and Spotify. And YouTube is about to have special programming for paying customers.

This week YouTube, the world’s largest video Web site, will announce a plan to let some video makers charge a monthly subscription to their channels. There will be paid channels for children’s programming, entertainment, music and many other topic areas, according to people with knowledge of the plan, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had been asked by YouTube not to comment publicly yet. Some of the channels — there will be several dozen at the outset — will cost as little as $1.99 a month.

Full article

As Works Flood In, Nation’s Library Treads Water

Bibliofuture — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:37:36 +0000

Article in the NYT about sequestration and the Library of Congress

Podcast Production Suspension

michaelk — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:27:10 +0000

Greetings from Ashtabula. My name is Mike Kellat and I am the owner of Erie Looking Productions. I am recording this on Saturday, May 4, 2013. This is for immediate release.

Stephen has received dispatch orders from the Director of the Ashtabula County Board of Elections herself this very morning. As you may or may not be aware, Stephen is thoroughly involved in local democracy by serving as a substitute precinct election official. We have a local election coming up on Tuesday and Stephen has been ordered to a new precinct to take up duty to serve the public by helping conduct the vote. Stephen first served as a poll judge during the November 2012 Presidential General Election.

Our producer continues to be away on medical leave and that is beginning its fourth week. Between that and the requirements placed upon Stephen between now and Tuesday to avoid taking positions on ballot questions which include library issues, I am suspending production of LISTen and the Burning Circle at this time. I am also factoring in the Ubuntu Developer Summit as part of this production suspension so that time is spent appropriately on that.

There shall be no episodes released on Monday, May 6th, or Monday, May 13th. Normal production releases shall resume on Monday, May 20th, which is the Victoria Day holiday in Canada.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We'll see you on the other side of this production suspension.