Richard Khavkine writes, \”Once repositories of unique and primary sources such as newspapers, government documents and journals, public libraries have steadily but noticeably conformed to the electronic times.\” [read more…] from The Monroe News Online.
May 2001
Libraries in the Ancient World
Lionel Gasson has written a book about the history of libraries dating all the way back to ancient times. Who would have ever thought libraries to have such a colorful history dating all the way back to dinosaurs…well okay that may be an exaggeration since we all know the only readable text for that time was the Thesaurus…(ahem, sorry) … Anyway, check out this review by Peter Jones at Books Online.
Napsterized
Lee Hadden writes: \” Steven Levy has an
interesting article in the May 28th issue of
Newsweek on what it is like to have your book placed
on the Internet for
people to download for free. A discussion of writers\’
rights, copyright
infringement, and the World Wide Web.
Steven Levy. \”The Day I Got Napsterized: First they
Came for
Metallica. Then They Came for Tom Clancy. And Now
They Came for Me..\”
Newsweek. May 28, 2001. Page 44.
Read more about it at:
MSNBC
Map Maker Fired Over Arctic Chart a Cult Hero
Someone sent along This LATimes Story on Ian Thomas, that dude that got fired by U.S. Geological Survey when he posted a map of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge\’s caribou calving areas on a federal Web site. I\’m still not sure who to believe on this one.
It\’s a good story because they have a quote from Fred Stoss:
He became a cult hero because this is the story that everyone wanted to hear,\” Stoss said. \”There is urban legend growing out of this.\”
See also, the new Ian Thomas Web Site
Higher Access Rates Good For Libraries?
AOL announced that it is raising its monthly fee to $23.90, its first price hike in more than three years, and This News.com story says that competitors such as EarthLink won\’t be far behind in trying to boost rates.
I\’ve seen elsewhere that DSL and Cable Modem companies are raising rates as well.
According to a recent survey by Telecommunications Reports International, the number of U.S. homes with Internet access dropped slightly during the first quarter of 200 (Let\’s just ass-u-me it\’s accurate).
So… Does all this point to more people using their friendly neighborhood library to access the internet, and if so, is this even good for libraries?
Porn is mainstream, says NYT
Frank Rich reports in the New York Times that porn is not only big business, it\’s part of mainstream American entertainment.
As one person put it, \”We realized that when there are 700 million porn rentals a year, it can\’t just be a million perverts renting 700 videos each.\”
Collection development librarians, take note.
The State of Copyright Etc…
Worldwide Copyrights a Quagmire? from Wired on The Hague Convention.
Free Software Leaders Stand Together is an interesting rebuttle to some dumb things Microsoft said.
CNET has Professor warns of threat to free speech on how bad things are getting.
eBook Experiments
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a Report on The University of Virginia and a new eBook program.
They have a few courses \”designed to take advantage of two of the most celebrated features of digital textbooks — their capacity to hold reams of data and their ability to let readers easily search for any word or phrase.\”
The books still have bugs, sometimes crash, and the screens are small, but it\’s interesting to see people doing this sort of thing.
Son of CIPA
The Who Is E-mailing Our Kids Act was introduced in Congress last week as H.R. 1846. If it becomes law, this bill would require schools and libraries in the e-rate program to block access to anonymous e-mail and Web surfing services. Presumably, we\’ll then know who is sending e-mail to our kids.
In related news, giant pink dragons are playing croquet with leprechauns on my front lawn.
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