LISNews:

The Security Systems Standards and Certification Act\'s prospects just got a bit dimmer:

After weeks of conference calls and quiet rallying of the troops, technology companies including Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Compaq Computer held a coming-out press conference Monday to oppose a broad copyright protection proposal being backed by Walt Disney and Sen. Ernest Hollings.

The plan has yet to be introduced as a bill, but it has been the source of intense debate since August, when drafts first began reaching the public. The technology companies\' event appeared to be aimed at pre-empting a Senate hearing on the issue scheduled for later this week.

\"This legislation would be an unwarranted intrusion by the government into the commercial marketplace,\" said Ken Kay, executive director of the Computer Systems Policy Project, a trade group that includes IBM, Intel, Dell Computer, Motorola and others as members. \"This would freeze technology...(and) force government to pick winners and losers.\"

More with thanks to Slashdot.

. . . in this case the new library at Addis Ababa University\'s Institute of Ethiopian Studies:

Ethiopian studies today, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, faces one of its greatest challenges, and one in which we appeal for help from all readers. Since its establishment in 1963, the Institute has made itself central to the study of Ethiopia, in all areas of scholarship. Ethiopia has an age-old tradition of indigenous learning, in which its people can feel proud.

However, as far as the modern study of the country is concerned, most scholars of Ethiopia, prior to the founding of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, lived outside the country; virtually all works on Ethiopia, including scholarly periodicals, were published abroad; academic gatherings on the country were held almost exclusively in other countries, indeed continents . . .

The major problem - and challenge - for today relates to the Institute Library, which, as far as possible, collects all works produced inside or outside Ethiopia . . . The [present] building . . . was planned for State Receptions, not for the storage of millions of books, manuscripts, pamphlets, and newspapers, and is, we believe, groaning under the weight of so much scholarly material. (It groans, but it wants more).

The Society, and the Institute, is appealing to all individuals and institutions of good-will to assist in the noble endeavour of building the New Library: we appeal to Ethiopian intellectuals, and to the media, to help with creating awareness of the importance of the Library and Museum project; to the Ethiopian business community at home and abroad . . . to Ethiopian and foreign corporations and foundations; to the diplomatic community . . . and to the ordinary man, woman or child in the street.

More from allAfrica.

From the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Herald:

Who said a prophet is not honoured in his own country, even if he has has lived away from home for nearly 40 years?

The Trinidad and Tobago Government has announced plans to name the soon-to-be-opened National Library Complex in the capital after its famous son Sir Vidia S (VS) Naipaul, who recently won the Nobel prize for literature.

The complex which is nearing completion will be named the \" Sir Vidia S Naipaul National Library Complex of Trinidad and Tobago,\" the Sunday Guardian quoted Education Minister Ganga Singh as saying. \"There is no better way to encourage our children to read, and our scholars to excel, with this icon of achievement held up before them,\" Singh said.

More via World News.

From the San Francisco Business Times comes this interview with Brewster Kahle, co-founder of San Francisco-based Internet Archive. The project, described as the world\'s largest library, goes live tomorrow.

\"Users will be able to type in the http://www.archive.org url into their browser and access 10 billion web pages dating back to 1996 when project leaders began their mission of preserving digerati.\"

Kahle admits, though, that the first thing people will probably search for will be their own corporate or personal web pages since \"people are always interested in themselves.\"

Find out more about the life of a librarian at Freedom Forum International News Library in Budapest, Hungary in this interesting article. There are other articles about Freedom Forum Libraries in other countries.
The Freedom Forum is a \"nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people\". It\'s sad to note, then, that they will be closing all international operations at the end of 2001 and discontinuing all international programs. I don\'t know the reasons, but it seems a shame.

The Big-3 in Internet Land are going to allow voluntary ratings in order to give users the option to screen out objectionable content. Web site owners can submit information about their site\'s content and the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) will embed tags into the HTML code to ensure rating accuracy...that is, so long as the site owner is honest. more...

After finding a dead body in the bushes outside the front doors of a public library in Shoreline, WA, kids weren\'t sure if it was real or a hoax, so they pondered the idea for two days. After having made several trips, bringing along friends to stare at the remains, they finally reported the body to library staff. A 13-year-old boy has been arrested for the shooting death of the teenager. more... from CNN.com

Here\'s one library that\'s giving away a house for free to the first person who can move it off their newly acquired property. more...

Maryville, TN residents are honoring firefighters while supporting their local library. For a $25 donation, the library will purchase a memorial book and in each new book will be a one-page biography of one of the firefighters who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. more... from The Daily Times.

A panel of community members has determined the fate of JD Salinger\'s \"Catcher in the Rye.\" The verdict; it will remain on the Dorcester School District (SC) library\'s shelves. A school board member was campaigning to have the book removed. This is his second attempt, and he didn\'t fair any better the first time around. more... from The Charleston Post & Courier. ...I really must make it a point to read this book just to see what all the fuss is about...

From The Toronto Star Members of the Pickering Library board received a somewhat cool response from members of the community when they decided to ban the sale of poppies...you know, the little red ones that are sold around veterans day? After being accused of having no regard for veterans, they are reconsidering. more...
Here\'s another story on the same subject from The National Post.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently featured an article about a local publisher of sex how-to books on spending the past twelve years as a sort of leather-friendly Hints from Heloise.

(It\'s not only a fascinating look at the world of independent publishing, where you\'re not likely to end up in the reviews in Library Journal. It\'s also a chance for me to congratulate my friends (full disclosure, eh) at Greenery Press on \"building better perverts\" for so many years.)

I can personally vouch for Big Big Love, which corrects many of the fat-phobic myths perpetrated by The Joy of Sex. If you\'ve got the latter but not the former, your collection could stand to be more fat-friendly.

This is just one of the many indie publishers whose names aren\'t as well-known as the big guys\'. Why not add a comment to this article to mention your favorite underappreciated publishing house?

In an expression of solidarity and sympathy for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a British minister has sent a book of written condolences, and expressions, from members of his parish in Bristol, to a public library in the U.S. The article contains some of the excerpts. more...

After realizing that they were underserving the growing population of Latinos in their community, the staff at the Champaign (IL) Public Library decided to do something about it. They put together a grant and recently were awarded the LSTA funds which will allow them to develop collections and programs for the increasing number of non-English speaking residents coming into their service area. more... from The News Gazette.

Iowa First Lady, Christie Vilsack, has launched a campaign to promote libraries and literacy in her state. In two years, she has visited 80 institutions and plans to visit every library in the state of Iowa. According to Vilsack, \"public libraries are an important economic development tool...They are an often taken-for-granted asset, which won\'t be there if we don\'t support them.\" more... from The Dunlap Reporter.

The Guardian is reporting on a number of suspensions that have occurred in universities across the U.S. since the September 11 terrorist attacks. The suspensions have ruffled the feathers of free speech advocates. more...

Classic novels are making a difference in the lives of some troubled kids in a Santa Barbara detention center. According to the article, \"the Great Book Club began with one book, one member, and one librarian. Many juvenile offenders who used to \"flash gang signs, swear or just stare at the ceiling in their cells, now while away their evenings with Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway and Jack London.\" more... from Santa Barbara News Press.

Washington Times is running This One on the never ending fight in the Fairfax County [VA] schools over appropriate reading material in school libraries.

A committee made up of school system staff came up with some new guidelines, while some members say they are happy with the guidelines, others say this does not address their concerns.
See also

Cavan McCarthy passed along This Interesting story from the BBC on Internet radios in Africa.

They have some kind of special radio connected to an adapter card in a Pentium computer, on the other end, the radio is connected to a detachable micro-dish receiver outside the window. It\'s currently operating in four countries - Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia and is called Arid Lands Information Network - Eastern Africa (ALIN-EA)

I\'ve read about something similar here in the states on Slashdot.

Charles Davis writes \"A memoir by the so-called Fourth Man in the Cambridge
spy ring has reportedly been locked away in the British
Library.
The manuscript by Anthony Blunt, the former Surveyor of the
Queen\'s Pictures who was exposed as a Soviet spy, will not
be released until 2013, according to the Times.
It is said to document his years as a spy and has been
locked away to avoid embarrassing high-profile figures, the
surviving executor of Blunt\'s will told the newspaper.
See
Full Story \"