This journal issue examines the available research on how computer use affects children’s development, whether it increases or decreases the disparities between rich and poor, and whether it can be used effectively to enhance learning.
Detroit News has a Sad Story on the growing trend of rare book theft from libraries. Demand for rare books and maps is skyrocketing, and the best place to find one is a library. Put it on eBay for a quick profit!Of course, rare books are not the only stuff stolen!
\"If you steal an atlas, and say there are 100 maps in there that you can sell for $50 each to a decorator, or a collector, it is very, very lucrative for thieves,\" said Detroit rare book dealer John K. King, who recently caught a seller trying to pass on an almanac lifted from the Detroit Public Library. \"Now people are stealing them, cutting them up and selling them on eBay.\"
PressRepublican.com has a Long Story on The Clinton-Essex-Franklin(NY) Library System Bookmobile. They want to add a rolling connection to the internet some day!
\"The libraries are becoming increasing important They’re no longer just (for) books; they’re part of the Information Age. They’re teaching schoolchildren how to access the information that’s available worldwide. They’re getting kids in the North Country ready for the dot-com jobs that are there.\"
Questia is officially live now. Inside.com has a Story.
Questia, ebrary and netlibrary are the big three for-profit on-line library competition for libraries. Ebrary charges on a per-page basis, NetLibrary focuses on providing e-books And Questia charges a per-month fee. They say Questia\'s texts were selected by a team of librarians. Now, will students pay for something that is already free and easy?
\'\'We\'re really a software solution in the same way that a word processor is a software solution,\'\' Williams says. \'\'Questia lets people write better papers, easier.\'\'
\"A copyright is a right to own and exploit your work. The copyright law is a property right of your creations,\" said Lehman. \"That includes the right to stop anyone from getting your copyrights. That is a fundamental right of the creator. Most creators don\'t do that, and want people to have access because they want to earn a living off that. That was the idea of the DMCA.\"
There\'s a Neat Little Story about Vinton Cerf at The USA Today. He was co-inventor of protocols called TCP/IP that run the \'net, the first commercial e-mail system at MCI in the \'80s and co-founded the Internet Society in 1992.
They also have a cool Internet Quiz, for those internet history buffs out there. I love history that only goes back a few years.
The NY Times has a Story on The Children\'s Internet Protection Act.
The A.C.L.U. will file a lawsuit within two months to attack the constitutionality of the law.
\"This law requires, for the first time in the nation\'s history, that local libraries censor speech for every adult and every child. That\'s got to present First Amendment problems,\" said Chris Hansen, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.\"
The best way to market a new book is to say that it will be the next \"Oprah\" book. Just make sure that the Oprah people know about it first.\"On Wednesday, WMA agent Mel Berger submitted Sandbox Wisdom: Revolutionize Your Brand with the Genius of Childhood, by Tom Asacker, to Warner. Accompanying the hardcover, which was originally published last March by Eastside Publishing, was a letter on Harpo letterhead, indicating that it was to be the next Oprah book club pick. There was just one problem: Harpo, the company that produces The Oprah Winfrey Show, says it has nothing to do with him. \'\'Tom Asacker has no affiliation with Oprah Winfrey, the Oprah Winfrey show or Harpo Productions, and we are looking into this matter further,\'\' a Harpo spokesman told Inside.\"
I saw this library joke and thought you guys would like it:
One morning a chap went up to the counter in the library and asked the
librarian, \"Have you got any books about committing suicide?\"
The librarian said, \"Yes. Take a look over there, somewhere on the middle
shelf.\"
The chap came back a few moments later and said, \"I can\'t find any at all.\"
The librarian replied, \"Yes, it\'s awful. The swines never bring \'em back!\"
\"Look, I\'m fairly sure [Laura Bush] is going to be doing things connected to literacy, making books available, teaching kids how to read -- literature is one thing, but reading is another, and those of us currently paying our rent as writers would probably be better off anyway if there were more focus on literacy rather than on celebrating professional authors.\"
Salon has a rather Interesting Story on Peggy Kamuf, a professor at the University of Southern California, insists that teaching kids to read initiates them into the patriarchal construct of the family unit and society at large, and learning to read is brutal and painful rite of passage.
This Story from Online Journalism Review is a very interesting look at a rather cool News Site.
For those of us into Information Architecture and cool stuff like that, it\'s a must read.
Check out IHT.com, it\'s a pretty neat cutting edge site. It doesn\'t work in Netcape 4.x, but seems to be good in IE 5 and Netscape 6.
They say Yahoo and other information Web sites have taken over many of the functions of public libraries. A great deal of information is not accessible, because it is in libraries, and not on the internet which is a much more effective means of accessing information.
So what to do?
Each library would be responsible for maintaining and updating detailed Web sites in one or more narrow subjects, and this would be available on the internet. This will need a national task force to figure out and Laura Bush would be perfect for the job.
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I was Googlin\' the other day, and ran across a few cool things. It\'s amazing what you can find when you\'re looking for something else on Google
Eric Lease Morgan has written a nice piece called On Being a Systems Librarian that provides a job descrition and a nice FAQ.
He says they are librarians first and computer users second. \"Systems librarianship is the art and science of combining the principles of librarianship with the abilities of computing technology.\"
If you\'ve never been over to LISJobs.com and had a look at all Rachel has done there, you\'re really missing out. Be sure to check out Info Career Trends (January 1, 2001 Issue), the electronic
newsletter for information professionals interested in developing
their own careers. If you are looking for a job, or just want to keep up on what\'s going on, it\'s a great resource.
Rachel\'s new book \"Teaching the Internet In Libraries\", has just been released by ALA Editions as well!
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