LISNews: Librarian News

A Story on a crack down on cell phone use in SC.

There\'s less talk in Lexington County\'s nine libraries these days, and officials are happy about it.
A two-month effort to curtail mobile telephone conversations among the bookshelves is working well, members of the County Library Board were told Tuesday.

Signs put up asking that such calls be made in hallways or outside are reducing the talk that annoys others users, library Executive Director Daniel MacNeill said.

\"I would say at this point this is all we need to do,\" he said.

A Story from Sacbee.com on a quiet first night of operations.

After months of planning and anticipation, the Central Library stayed open at night for the first time Wednesday.
It was, well, quiet as a library.

With the exception of nearly constant activity at eight Internet-access computers, patronage was sparse in almost every corner of the downtown library.

After a brief, post-work rush, there were few children on the children\'s floor, study carrels were mostly empty, photocopy rooms were dark and but a few eyes peered at periodicals. -- Read More

An Article from Reason Magazine outlines how copywright laws are causing problems for the online community.

There is an inherent conflict between intellectual property rights and freedom of speech, a tension between your right to control a story you\'ve written and my right to use it as raw material for my own work. Thanks to two trends, that tension is turning rapidly into a collision... -- Read More

The Washington Post has a very interesting Article on how Usenet newsgroups are being used less and less.

For many Usenet denizens, this low-tech meeting place is an effective resource for person-to-person advice. \"My main use of Usenet . . . is consumer research,\" e-mailed Maria Post Rublee, a doctoral student at George Washington University and a regular in the misc.consumers.frugal-living, dc.dining, rec.food.cooking and rec.birds newsgroups. \"What Usenet adds is the real-life \'scoop\' that you won\'t get in books or magazines.\"

A Story from MN on how to use the internet as a bookmobile.
Northern Wisconsin library system linking books, patrons.

Members don\'t need to make long drives or lots of long-distance calls in search of a book located in a distant library. Materials in Presque Isle, for example, can be accessed from a terminal in the Superior Public Library.

Through interlibrary loan, materials can be delivered to people\'s home libraries. Through the mail-a-book program, they can even be sent to patrons\' homes. -- Read More

The Salt Lake City (UT) Tribune has a short Report on new filtering regulations.

The House Public Utilities and Technology Committee has unanimously approved a bill that would block state funding to any public library that does not restrict minors from accessing obscene material.
The sponsor, Rep. Marlon Snow, R-Orem, said the bill is intended to ensure that children are not viewing obscene material, intentionally or unintentionally, at the public library. -- Read More

The writer of the popular \"Harry Potter\" children\'s books has been named author of the year in the British Book Awards after being beaten by \"Beowulf\" in two other recent prestigious literary competitions.

J. K. Rowling, whose books about the adventures of a child wizard enrolled in a witchcraft school have been the focus of controversy in the United States, beat five other contenders, including horror writer Stephen King, to take the prize Thursday night.

Her latest tale, \"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,\" had twice come second this year to Irish poet Seamus Heaney\'s translation of the Anglo Saxon epic poem \"Beowulf,\" which won the top prizes at both the Whitbread Book Awards and the South Bank Show Awards.

Read this press release Here.

In honor of National Condom Week (Feb. 14-21) and Valentine\'s Day, vive la difference! is beginning a series of free mother-daughter safer sex workshops in the public libraries of Los Angeles. The first workshop is scheduled for Feb. 19 at the Los Feliz Branch in east Hollywood.

Read this press release Here.

Ontario Libraries Receive $8.4-Million Grant to Provide Library Patrons With Increased Internet Access From Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Read about this program Here. From the Cleveland Live at cleveland.com.

The Mentor Public Library is offering help to students preparing for proficiency tests.

The project, called Access Plus: Partnership for Proficiency, is a joint effort with the Cleveland Area
Metropolitan Library System.

College first to leave management to outside company. Read about it Here. From the The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Chatham College has turned management of its campus library over to a Maryland company under an 18-month contract, hoping to boost efficiency and enable the school to increase technology offerings on campus.

Read about it Here. From the The Boston Globe\'s boston.com.

A Southern Connecticut State University librarian is accused of stocking her home library with books and other items she purchased with taxpayers\'money.

An interesting story from New Zealand. Read about it Here. From the The Press On-line.

The Invercargill City Council has proposed contracting out some of its services, including the public library.

If you\'re into the short history of the web, be sure to
check
out the \"Netscape Museum\" HERE

  \"Origin of a Browser\" is a project dedicated to web
archaeology - the study and preservation of rapidly
disappearing artifacts associated with the Early Netscape
Period

The NYTimes has a story on the proliferation of so called expert sites on the web. They liken it to a virtual library, with out the \"intimidation\".

\"I think sometimes people are looking to avoid going to a professional,\" Mr. Russo said. \"Sometimes it\'s easier to not be face to face with someone.\" Visitors to most of these expert sites can disguise their identities by adopting screen names and can even choose to have their questions and answers hidden from public view.

Heartwarming News for the little library on the prarie, from MSNBC

A federal lawsuit involving the Wright County Library system and the estate of Laura Ingalls Wilder has gained national attention and support.

“We have been getting responses from all over the country,” said Carrie Cline, a librarian. “People have been e-mailing us, ‘What can I do to help.’” -- Read More

Eight valuable books taken from locked display case. Read about it Here. From the Post-Crescent.

Lawrence University\'s Seeley G. Mudd Library Heritage Room is some book nook. The curtained, dimly lit alcove is home to a collection of 2,600 rare volumes dating from the 16th
century. Some of the volumes in the Heritage Room are illuminated manuscripts. Some are art books designed to be pieces of art themselves.

Although it houses a book collector\'s wealth of treasure, the room is not under lock and key.

Read about it Here. From the The Herald-Tribune News Coast.

Using the most basic of Internet tools, the Sarasota County Public Library\'s Online Book Club could be a trendsetter for libraries across the nation.

A good read from Boston.com discussing just what this thing called Cyberspace is. I\'m not sure what or where it is, but I know I\'m there an awful lot.

No one had even heard of cyberspace until William Gibson coined the term in his 1984 cyberpunk novel NEUROMANCER. Now just about everyone in the industrialized world seems to know about it. But even scholars who have spent years studying it can\'t agree on what it really is. -- Read More

Silicon Valley has an interesting STORY on the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative an ambitious, decentralized project to map all manner of cultural and historical data from around the globe. -- Read More