February 2001

Lee Hadden writes:
\” There is an interesting article about what is and what isn\’t put on
the Internet from our government representatives in Congress. If you want
to compile a record of how a particular congressman has voted, for example,
you will have to cobble your own results together- it is not readily
available. Congress protects itself by not putting public information
online.

For more information about how Congress protects itself. go to the
Federal Computer weekly site and read the article, \”Wiring Congress: How
Public Officials Keep Legislation Private by Staying Offline.\”

Read more about it!\”

Wired has a interesting Story on Bruce Taylor, he\’s the president of The National Law Center. Don\’t miss their NLC Proposal and Internet Use Policy for Libraries and Memorandum of Law in Support (It\’s a PDF).

He sounds like a rather nasty fellow from this story.

\”If we get grownups in the Justice Department and the White House, maybe they\’ll follow the law,\” says Taylor — who, like other anti-pornsters, has complained that the Clinton administration was not sufficiently serious about defending the Communications Decency Act and its progeny in court. \”

Bob Cox sent in This Nice Story from the NY Times on one woman\’s visit to her old college library (James Gamble Rogers\’s Butler Library at Columbia).

\”Gone are the long library tables that were underused because students prefer to space themselves out for privacy. In their place are individual carrels and square desks that seat four to six. But the old, sturdy Windsor armchairs are still the seats of choice, with easy chairs in small corner rooms that have been opened up for study.\”

Charles Davis writes \”The Bodleian Library Map Room\’s web site, run by Nigel James, has been
selected as a featured site in Lightspan\’s StudyWeb® as one of the
best educational resources on the web. It will be featured in the
People & Places: Geography: Places & Regions: Historical Maps section.
StudyWeb® claims to be \’one of the Internet\’s premier sites for
educational resources for students and teachers\’.
Each site in StudyWeb® includes a detailed review describing its editorial and
visual merits.
The site can be found at studyweb.com/.
\”

Brian writes \”The Glassbook version of Alice in Wonderland comes with the following condition: \”This book cannot be read aloud.\”

Does it mean what it says, or say what it means? Story on The Standard. \”

The permissions read as follows:

No text selections can be copied from this book to the clipboard. No printing is permitted on this book. This book cannot be lent or given to someone else. This book cannot be given to someone else. This book cannot be read aloud.

Adobe say \”Read Aloud,\” is Adobe\’s brand name for a text-to-speech feature available on its more advanced e-book Plus Reader. Read the full story and make up your own mind on this one.

Science and Technology Librarians:

Are you looking for a place to publish your work in a peer-reviewed journal?

The editors of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (ISTL) invite
you to submit your work to to our Refereed Section. Articles submitted to
the Refereed Section are put through a blind review by at least two
referees. Our turnaround time, from receipt of your article to notification
of publication status, is a short 6-8 weeks.



Unlike journals from commercial publishers, ISTL does not have a
subscription fee or page charges. It is a high quality, society produced
electronic publication, freely available to all.

More info follows….

Science and Technology Librarians:

Are you looking for a place to publish your work in a peer-reviewed journal?

The editors of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (ISTL) invite
you to submit your work to to our Refereed Section. Articles submitted to
the Refereed Section are put through a blind review by at least two
referees. Our turnaround time, from receipt of your article to notification
of publication status, is a short 6-8 weeks.



Unlike journals from commercial publishers, ISTL does not have a
subscription fee or page charges. It is a high quality, society produced
electronic publication, freely available to all.

More info follows….
Check out two of our recent articles:



Comparing Patterns of Print and Electronic Journal Use in an Academic Health
Science Library

Free Scholarly Journals : How Good Are They?

Titles of forthcoming articles in 2001:

Web Sites of Science-Engineering Libraries: Issues and Trends (Winter 2001)

Characterization of Unique Serials Indexed in the Zoological Record (Spring
2001)

The Coming of Age of E-Prints in the Literature of Physics (Summer 2001)

Have questions, comments, or an article to submit? Send them to
bchoinski @ istl.org.

Lee Hadden writes:

\”The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story of an entrepreneur
who has placed \”reading vending machines\” in the London Underground to sell
short stories to commuters. The stories are packaged like folded maps, and
can be read easily in a crowded subway car. The cost is one pound each
(about $1.50), and are designed so the average reader would spend about 40
minutes reading the story.

At the Baker Street Station, for example, are short stories about
Sherlock Holmes. Elementary, of course. Backers claim there is massive
potential in this market, and others claim it is the best new idea in
publishing since the paperback book. The backers of the new service want to
end the practice of commuters reading tabloids on the train.

Their website is: travelman.co.uk.

Wade Lambert. \”Publisher Puts Story Machine in London Tube.\” Wall
Street Journal. February 22, 2001, page B1, B4.