LISNews: Librarian News

A key line this week:

"Content remains content regardless of the form it is fixed in."

You'll hear more in this week's episode.

Related links:
Yahoo News bringing word on WikiLeaks
John Perry Barlow on the first infowar
John Perry Barlow equating Julian Assange with Salman Rushdie
How to nuke your Amazon account
WikiLeaks moving to Elastic Compute Cloud
Wikileaks getting kicked off the Elastic Compute Cloud
Dave Winer on WikiLeaks
Reporters Without Borders on WikiLeaks
Julian Assange And The Potential Case of a Very Nasty Assassination

Related links to materials posted since the recording session concluded:
WikiLeaks releases US listing of critical infrastructure across the planet
RedState.com: Wikileaks now comic-opera Bond Villian group.
The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables claim al-Jazeera changed coverage to suit Qatari foreign policy
Meitar Moscovitz on running a cablegate mirror
Twitter versus WikiLeaks

The Desk Setup

Like many technologists, I may have had some vague notion that librarians had something to contribute to discussions about information and metadata and standards and access, but my concept of what librarians did and what they knew probably had more to do with stereotypes and anecdote than on an understanding of reality. Which is a shame. Although in the last few years I think we’ve done a really good job of making clearer connections between libraries and technology, I don’t think anyone is surprised when librarians are omitted from discussions about and between prominent technologists, such as the one facilitated by the Setup. (Note: by “librarians” I mean anyone who works in, with, or for libraries. Hat tip to Eli Neiburger for saying what I’d been thinking, only less clearly, for some time before he said those words out loud.)

The Obama administration has told Congress it supports renewing three provisions of the Patriot Act due to expire at year’s end, measures making it easier for the government to spy within the United States.

In a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department said the administration might consider “modifications” to the act in order to protect civil liberties.

“The administration is willing to consider such ideas, provided that they do not undermine the effectiveness of these important authorities,” Ronald Weich, assistant attorney general, wrote to Leahy, (.pdf) whose committee is expected to consider renewing the three expiring Patriot Act provisions next week. The government disclosed the letter Tuesday.

It should come as no surprise that President Barack Obama supports renewing the provisions, which were part of the Patriot Act approved six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Full article at Wired.com

It may be too soon to know how high libraries will fare on President-elect Barack Obama’s agenda, but it’s safe to say that the profession has a special place in the heart of the next president of the United States.

Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Washington office, says she’s confident that Obama will recognize the “importance of what we do” because he has a track record of supporting libraries in the past. Take, for instance, his address to ALA in June 2005.

“The library has always been a window to a larger world—a place where we've always come to discover big ideas and profound concepts that help move the American story forward,” he told the audience. More from this article at SLJ.