LISNews: Librarian News

Put your library card on the desk and put your hands in the air. You are being arrested because you owe us money for overdue materials. Book \'em!! From detnews.com\"-- Renee Jones is one of three Warren women in serious trouble with the law over delinquent Center Line Library materials.
For the first time, Center Line police say they\'ll arrest patrons such as Jones who don\'t respond to repeated attempts to return materials.\" -- Read More

The ever helpful Bob Cox sent in this Story from The Sydney Morning Herald. The author takes a nice look at the future of libraries as the Australian Parliment brings the copywright laws into the 21st century.

\"The prospect raises profound questions about what used to be quaintly termed the book trade. For instance, is it possible to \"lend\" a digital book? How should authors be compensated for a limitless distribution system? Indeed, what is the future of libraries?\" -- Read More

Pretty much every new site on the web is carrying a story on COPPA being unanimously ruled unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled The Child Online Protection Act violated the First Amendment right to free speech. Appeals court Judge Leonard Garth said \"Sometimes we must make decisions that we do not like, we make them because they are right, right in the sense that the law and the Constitution, as we see them, compel the result.\"

The Star Tribune has this scary article about a study that concluded that 1 in 5 children who are online get solicited for cybersex...3% of which happens in libraries.
\"The congressional study, the first scientific examination of risks to children online, also found that 1 in 4 children encountered pornographic pictures while researching homework topics or checking their e-mail. Of the 1,500 children, ages 10 to 17, surveyed in the study, teenage girls were most likely to be victims of sexual approaches, while teenage boys were most likely to accidentally come across porn\" -- Read More