LISNews: Power Influencer, Passion Catalyst

So what is up with the book that is going to change the world? The Plant seems to be growing. Salon says that he is breaking even from sales. \" King has said he will keep writing as long as 75 percent of readers pay up. As of Monday, payment had either been promised or received for 76.4 percent of the 152,132 downloads of the first installment of \"The Plant\" in the first week of its availability online\"The NY Times has a story that says the same thing. So far so good, we may see the final chapter. I\'ve collected a few other stories related, read on for more..... -- Read More

Lois Aleta Fundis writes : Here\'s an
article LISNews might be able to use. The World
Wide Web at work: It was mentioned on FindLaw\'s
newsletter (based in California), and although posted
on a South African news site and forwarded to you from
West Virginia, our story takes place in Munich, where
two lawyers have asked Germany\'s Family Minister to
\"officially class the Bible among books considered
dangerous for children because of its violent
content.\"

This is quite an interesting take on the
bible.

\"The Holy Book contains passages of \"a
gruesomeness difficult to exceed\" which are glorified
as the will of God, the Bavarian lawyers Christian
Sailer and Gert-Joachim Hetzel said in their
submission to the minister on behalf of \"some parents
of minors\". -- Read More

Chris Rippel (the webmaster of \"Can
e-books improve libraries?\") wrote:

Is the cost of $1 for 20 pages of \"The Plant\" outrageous
or fair?

Is anyone getting ripped off?

Here are the facts (based on my best calculations) for
answering the
questions above. -- Read More

Brian writes
\"Baker & Taylor and its former parent company have
agreed to pay $15.5 million to the federal government
and 18 states.

chicagotribun
e.com Has the story \"

They overcharged
schools, libraries and the government for books over
more than a decade, beginning in the early 1980s. This
brings the total recovery from the suit to $18.5 million;
last year, Baker & Taylor paid the government $3 million
to resolve its direct claims against the firm.

Slashdot.org continues some of the best filerting coverage on the web Today. This time around they continue the fight with the COPA Commission. They cover this topic from a rather biased point of view, but it is still important to keep up on this topic. Be sure to check out the Reports at Peacefire -- Read More

Here\'s something I wonder how people will react to. This is an article by Michael Winter in Progressive Librarian number 14 called Garlic, Vodka, and the Politics of Gender: Anti-Intellectualism in American Librarianship. The author talks about specific kinds of anti-intellectualism and how they appear in librarianship. (For example, something called \"Corporate Wannabee Syndrome.\") It\'s quite an interesting article. Michael Winter is a sociology bibliographer at UC Davis, and it shows in his work. The place of library school and librarians\' attitudes toward it is central to the article. Please leave comments! LISNews is improved whenever you leave a comment, even jackass comments like my recent ones.

Someone writes \"How a librarian became the GOP\'s \'secret weapon\'

csmonitor.com

As the first lady in Texas, she\'s proven herself comfortable not only with other women, who respond to her down-to-earth demeanor, but also with farmers, county officials, and even the likes of Kinky Friedman, the comic country-western singer and novelist, many of whose lyrics cannot be reprinted in this paper.

The satirist and animal lover was taken by her \"open-mindedness.\" Two years ago, along with raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the state\'s public libraries and fighting for improved early education, Bush also agreed to co-chair, with her dog, a \"Bonefit\" for Mr. Friedman\'s Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch.
\"

The Christian Science Monitor has a Story on the troubling trend towards simple minded garbage on the net. What is needed, advocates say, is material that is more sophisticated in combining education and entertainment, is increasingly interactive, and involves teens themselves in its creation.

\"Not everyone agrees that there\'s a dearth of good content, however. David Kleeman of the American Center for Children and Media sees lots of high-quality Web sites, games, and interactive content emerging. He says one of the biggest obstacles is simply making children and parents aware of the quality content that is available online.\" -- Read More

I really like this Story from Todays Librarian written by Peter Lisker, interim management person, at the Excellent Buffalo & Erie County, N.Y., Public Library[Site].
Peter says you are a salesperson. He says that if more librarians saw themselves as salespeople they would do great things not just for themselves and the library, but for the patrons and the community. He outlines nine key selling points -- Read More

There are only two golf libraries in the country, and the Orange County Register has an article on one of them. A must read for golf enthusiasts. \"\"I really respect the game of golf,\" Sheffer said. \"There is something mystical about the game. There is really a passion about it.\" That admiration for the game is passed on to anyone who visits the library, which is about a sand wedge from one of two first tees at the 36-hole golf course.\" -- Read More

It seems like another library system may be sued over filtering all of its computers, according to this brief article from Digital City. We will keep y\'all posted.\"Whereas about half the computers in the Houston Public Library system are filtered to prevent access to pornography sites, Montgomery County recently filtered all its libraries\' computers, not just those in children\'s sections.Read on... -- Read More

It would be rude to not continue with the Ohio strike news. So, here it goes...they are still on strike!!
Articles from the Canton Reporter include Library workers picket for better wages, pace from dusk until dawn, Library workers brace for lengthy picket, and Things remain the same on third day of library strike

It seems the generous GLF (Gates
Library Foundation) is a bother to some folks.
ewtn.com has a story that is
very critical of The GLF and
its\' policy of funding certain organizations.

The seattletimes
has a story that says the critisim is overblown, and they don\'t
understand the attacks.

I\'ve also collected a few other stories to throw in for a
"Mini Quickie" on the GLF. Read on for more... -- Read More

This article from the Columbus Dispatch describes a few new words and phrases that will appear in a revision of the Random House Webster\'s College Dictionary. Included are \"Arm Candy\", \"Eye Candy\", \"Senior Moment\", and \"DWB\" (Driving While Black)\"DWB (driving while black) was added as a reference to racial profiling. The term is used sarcastically to describe the reason why police have stopped black motorists. Merriam-Webster added big time (something done on a large scale) this year. ATV (all-terrain vehicle) and smoothie (a creamy drink) also were added.\" -- Read More

Apparently, this new web site called The Library Place was debuted at ALA this year, but there has been no talk about it anywhere. It seems pretty raw. Anyway, the site has teamed up with Alibris to offer hard to find books for libraries, according to this article from Excite

The Detroit Free Press has this article about new loitering polices in a library in Michigan. They are kicking out homeless people who are sleeping. I wonder if they would do the same to a college student who fell asleep studying for exams? The ACLU may get involved.\"After a crescendo of complaints, the city has posted advertisements to hire a part-time monitor, who will get up to $10 an hour to circle stacks and call police when patrons break library rules.\" -- Read More

Bruce Flanders wrote:
Just for the fun of it, here\'s a trivia quiz for you. They
aren\'t too tough, but see how many you can get. This is reproduced from our
library staff newsletter, and was created by the newsletter\'s editor Maria
Butler.

\"The following are first lines from classic children\'s books. See how many
you can identify, by title and author. -- Read More

the Library of Congress announced Monday, Stanley Kunitz, 95, will become the 10th poet laureate of the United States in the fall. He was quoted as saying he will accept only if they don\'t make him move to D.C.

\"The reason I decided to accept this honor is that I want to do something for the young in this country,\" he said in a statement. \"I also want to stress the diversity of poetry in this country, in this `nation of nations,\' as (Walt) Whitman said.\"

Things have gotten pretty ugly in Canton, Ohio. So ugly that the Canton Reporter carried four articles today about the library strike. Here is one about the library suspending services (including some renovation). Here is another about a library patron accusing a guard of harrassment. And yet another about the leaking of negotiation information to the public. Meanwhile, the other branches are not feeling the effects.

This editorial from the News Observer, regarding the partial censorship of reading materials in prisions is filled with sarcastic overtones.\"We\'d probably want to clear the shelves of most news magazines. Definitely The N&O and its competitors. And what about all these Harry Potter books that have the kids all jazzed? Must be dangerous. And I hear they are satanical. Oh and the Bill of Rights, that radical ol\' rag. Wouldn\'t want that to make the rounds.\" -- Read More