LISNews: Librarian News

The guys who wrote the CP Hack program that showed how to bypass Cyber Patrol, the \"cphack\" program also discloses the list of sites the product blocks users from viewing.

Earlier this month, the company sued and Judge Edward Harrington issued a preliminary court order ordering a halt to the distribution of the program.

The judge also blocked distribution of the software by \"those persons in active concert or participation with them.\" Microsystems lawyers said the order extended to any Web sites that \"mirrored\" -- or made copies available -- of the \"cphack\" software.

So what will happen with the program? It was originally released under the GPL, so technically it should be alive and well. -- Read More

A couple of stories are running in the Denverpost on the Columbine High School Library.

Story 1Construction is set to start May 29 on the new Columbine High library, with many of the contractors - including those working on the new Denver Broncos stadium - donating their services to help offset the $3.1 million cost.

Story 2A group of average people has organized a not-so-average event to help raise some of the $3.1 million needed to build a new library for Columbine High School.

Donations can be sent to HOPE Columbine Atrium and Library Fund, c/o The Denver Foundation, P.O. Box 24035, Denver 80224. Make checks payable to HOPE. -- Read More

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a report on troubling mold in the library at UNLV.

\"UNLV\'s troubled Lied Library has suffered another setback with the discovery of dangerous molds growing in the unfinished building.
Workers this week are trying to get rid of moldy materials that otherwise would pose a threat to the students, librarians and books that this summer are expected to fill the $53 million facility. \" -- Read More

THe BBC is carrying a story on A primary school in England that is banning pupils from reading the best-selling Harry Potter children\'s books because she says they go against the Bible\'s teachings.

\"As a head teacher I have a responsibility to ensure that we give the children the best that we possibly can.

\"We are a Church of England aided primary school which means the church ethos is very important to what we do,\" she said. -- Read More

This story is making the rounds from Reuters.Demonstrating the wide reach of Holocaust restitution efforts, the World Jewish Congress said Wednesday that Austria\'s libraries had 186,000 books that the Nazis had stolen from Holocaust victims.
``The documents made clear that the books are almost entirely of Jewish origin -- that is, having been seized from Jewish victims in Austria and the Netherlands,\'\' Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, told Reuters.

Yahoo! News has the entire story. -- Read More

I was just checking out a new serach engine called Metaclic.com. It\'s a graphical interface, more so than most sites, Unlike other search engines, in MetaClic you create your search queries by dragging and dropping icons, the icons are then a graphical representaion of your boolean search. Dragging and dropping icons is neat idea for a search engine. You can create your own new directory for a very targeted topic you may be interested in which can then be made into a shared directory for others to use. I\'ll leave judgement on the site up to you, please let me know what you think.

News.com has a story on a move by Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com to post statements that say they don\'t endorse the views expressed in \"The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,\". The actions are already drawing criticism from an online civil rights group.

\"The book is anti-Semitic (and) used by haters every day of the week to promote their ideology,\" said Myrna Shinbaum, the ADL director of media relations. She said the ADL contacted the booksellers after receiving hundreds of complaints.\" -- Read More

This is a follow up to This Story on an ugly battle to ban the book \"My Brother Sam is Dead\" in an Oregon Elementary School. The parents have now decided to pull their children from the school.

``We have lost all faith in the public schools,\'\' Kelly Dunn said. ``Look what they can assign without our knowledge.\'\'

Read the full story at The Register Gaurd -- Read More

La Grange Park and Lyons public libraries in Chicago are now sending out select chapters of books to their patrons by email. Check out The Chicago Sun Times for the full story.

\"We\'re trying to find a balance between books and computers,\" said Dixie Conkis, executive director of the La Grange Park Library. \"It\'s a marriage of the old and the new.\"

\"The American Library Association said this is the only service of its kind. About 30 libraries across the country have signed up, said Suzanne Beecher, founder of the Chapter-A-Day Internet site, which made its online book club available to libraries in January.\" -- Read More

The USAToday has this story on a ruling in an important case involving the bility to link to other sites.

\"U.S. District Judge Harry Hupp said hyperlinking was not illegal as long as consumers understand whose site they are on and that one company has not simply duplicated another\'s page. -- Read More

Yesterday a number of Washington, D.C. area Linux User Group (LUG) members met outside the U.S. Capitol to protest the deconstruction of fair use implied by the DMCA. Timothy of slashdot wrote up the experience; his writeup and a bunch of great photos are available here.

Brian Smith sent in this link toPJStar.com which has a story on local fundraising efforts.
Peoria Public Library is selling fiberglas swine to local businesses, for the purpose of raising funds for a new bookmobile. Pigs will be decorated and displayed, a la the \"Cows on Parade\" in Chicago last year.

The 5-foot-long fiberglass replicas due Friday are destined for artistic expression as part of a Peoria Public Library fund-raiser for a new bookmobile. Under the Peoria Is Great (PIG) program, Friends of the Library have sold 16 of the porkers at $500 a pop to local businesses or organizations.

The buyers have engaged artists to thematically decorate the pigs, which will be displayed early next month at the offices of sponsors before being offered for sale. -- Read More

MySan Antonio.com has a report on a mischievious hacker that shut an OPAC down in San Antonio, TX.

\"
I warn you before,\" it read in part. The hacker also left greetings for friends and signed himself as the \"Great Magoo.\" He blamed President Clinton for his actions.\" -- Read More

I really wanted to put this one under Humor.The Times of India has a very funny story by John O\'Farrell, who seems to honestly believe the internet is a waste of time.

\"The usefulness of the Internet has been hyped out of all proportion. All it does is make information more easily available. The downside of this is that in doing so it creates an enormous amount of new material, most of which is just information for its own sake. Clearly, there are some specialist occupations for whom the Internet is a vital resource, but since I am not a white supremacist with an interest in hardcore pornography, I find that most of the sites are not really for me.\"

He does go on to defend Libraries.... -- Read More

Dan Schweer writes \"The Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) and Nylink are please to present \"A LITA Regional Institute: Proxy Web Servers & Authentication.\" This one-day program from the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association, provides instruction on the theory of proxy servers and their use in library situations. This institute is being offered nationally on a limited basis. Seating is limited so please register early. Register before April 1 and be entered into a drawing for an O\'Reilly technology book!

Click below for the Workshop description: -- Read More

Company Press Release

SOURCE: Harper Collins Children\'s Books

In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of The Lion, The Witch, And the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis\' best-selling classic fantasy, Harper Collins Children\'s Books announces a massive year-long program of activities culminating in
a celebrity anniversary gala event in New York this November. The program, underwritten by Harper Collins, is anticipated to reach over 10 million American children.

Celebrations will involve every school in the U.S., partnerships with major media sponsors and one of the largest children\'s charities in the country. Libraries, bookstores and a host of non-traditional retail outlets will take part. Fans will be able to follow the festivities on the web-site, http://www.narnia.com, which will be launched this summer. Monthly announcements will reveal the various aspects and details of the plan which include the introduction of a ``once in a lifetime\'\' special collector\'s
edition of the entire Chronicles of Narnia. -- Read More

Read this Story from the Toledo Blade.

Alonzo Costilla walked away impressed. Kim Johnson walked away wondering if she was still in Toledo.

Both came to see the grand opening yesterday of the 85,000-square-foot addition to the Toledo-Lucas County Main Public Library.

Read this Story from the Register Guard.

Glen and Zarifah Spain depend on the Eugene Public Library to supplement the courses they teach their two 6-year-old children,Nathan and Jemila, at home.

It\'s not only the books the couple values, but also the educational programs the library sponsors.

This past week, the family joined more than 100 children and their parents for the fourth annual Great Redwall Faire, an event sponsored by the library that examines the medieval period. -- Read More

A group of average people has organized a not-so-average event to help raise some of the $3.1 million needed
to build a new library for Columbine High School.

Take a look at this Story from the Denver Post.

Read this Story from the Macon Telegraph.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough spent more than an hour Monday night singing the praise of libraries. -- Read More