LISNews: Librarian News

Charley Hively sent over news The original construction plans believed used for a major expansion of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in 1941 have been found in a Berlin flat, Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Saturday.

Most people today appear to me to love Google, but how much do people really know about this 'indispensable' tool? I'm not going to post an extended rant about how evil Google is in some people's eyes, but I do think that this AP story is worthy of consideration, especially considering the integration that Google is developing with libraries.

Google's growth makes privacy advocates wary

Summary:

This article discusses how information that is collected by Google could be used in violation of current privacy statutes. Some Google tools, such as their Chrome web browser transmit your keystrokes before you press the Enter key. This information is then analyzed by their systems to predict your search terms and offer suggestions. There is an option to turn this feature off, but the activity still occurs, just without user notification, giving the sense that web activity is now 'private'. Along with the information typed into the web browser, your computers Internet address is also recorded, creating a history much like what is visible in your local web browser, but on their servers.

Key concepts from the article:

"It's about having a monopoly over our personal information, which, if it falls into the wrong hands, could be used in a very dangerous way against us,"

“Court says that with all its products, Google has more opportunities than its peers to capture personal information without users realizing it. “ -- Read More

NYTimes, November 5, 2008 A Historic Day for the USA and the World
Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls(report) / (editorial)

The Christian Science Monitor will stop publishing a daily newspaper just after it turns 100 years old.

The newspaper will not close, it will continue to publish a weekly newspaper, and its online presence will become the daily edition of the paper.

"The new weekly paper edition of the paper will cost $89 per year. The daily Web edition will cost $219 per year."