From The Chicago Sun Times, Jason Straziuso writes…
\”Eudora Welty, who died last week at age 92, published no new fiction after 1973. But she spent years typing away, raising the tantalizing possibility that there is unpublished work sitting in her attic. Welty was one of the 20th century\’s most beloved authors and the first living writer to be given her own volume in the prestigious Library of America series. Any posthumous work would attract widespread interest.\” more…
Copyright scholar (and Electronic Frontier Foundation board member) Lawrence Lessing neatly skewers the DMCA:
The D.M.C.A. outlaws technologies designed to circumvent other technologies that protect copyrighted material. It is law protecting software code protecting copyright. The trouble, however, is that technologies that protect copyrighted material are never as subtle as the law of copyright. Copyright law permits fair use of copyrighted material; technologies that protect copyrighted material need not. Copyright law protects for a limited time; technologies have no such limit. Thus when the D.M.C.A. protects technology that in turn protects copyrighted material, it often protects much more broadly than copyright law does. It makes criminal what copyright law would forgive. (More from the New York Times.)
A tip of the pen to Metafilter.
Who would\’ve ever though Slashdot would be a good Collection Development source?
Not me, but it turns out we were all wrong.
This Ask Slashdot story is from a fellow looking for recommendations on what computer books to buy for a library. As always the slashdot masses came through in spectacular fashion with many good ideas.
So if you are in need of some ideas for the library at home or work, check it out.
Carrie writes \” This New York Times Story New York Times Story describes how so many of the smaller magazines are being bought out by larger magazines. \”
Consolidation in the publishing industry continues…
Last week, Time Inc. bought the British company IPC Media P.L.C., and recently bought Business 2.0.
Primedia bought Emap USA, Earlier this year,
Advance Publications bought The Golf Digest Companies, and Gruner
& Jahr, a unit of Bertelsmann, closed deals for Inc. and Fast Company.
etc….
\”Everything is for sale now,\” Chip Block, the publishing strategist at
Ziff- Davis Publishing, said. \”You have a situation where people would
love to bail out if they can. A guy who last year wouldn\’t budge for
$200 million might look out there today and say, `Guess what? $80
million will suit me just fine.\’ \”
The Times reports that the U.S. Government Printing Office has mistakenly issued to libraries a report linking the U.S. to anti-Communist death squads in Indonesia:
The American Government is trying to claw back copies of a book that reveals US links to Sixties anti-communist death squads in Indonesia. Copies of the declassified history were prematurely distributed to libraries around the world. It contains details of how the US Embassy in Indonesia supplied names of members of the Communist PKI party which backed President Sukarno, the founding father of the republic, to the Indonesian security forces. Those forces massacred more than 100,000 people.(More)
The report can be found here. Thanks to New Breed Librarian.
I was browsing around Google Groups, and I came across this rant, which concludes, "The simple truth is that Libraries are nothing more than an immoral and illegal form of welfare."
I\’m not sure whether this is genuine looney libertarian extremism, or a parody of same.
Matt Eberle
writes \”The British Council library in Patna, India is
closing. The library is reportedly being closed because
it has only 1,400 members. Members say this is
because the library has only 8,000 books and only 80
people can occupy the reading room at once.
Full Story
Membership (bclindia.o
rg) appears to be 400
Rupees annually \”
Tanya writes \”I found this story
while catching up on the news from my former
stomping grounds. The Jeff Parish School System, of
which I\’m a product, is considering cutting librarian
positions in the elementary schools due to budget
problems. Supposedly the culprit is rising health care
costs. Also on the cutting block are athletic programs
and custodial and clerical positions. Just as in Salt
Lake a few weeks ago, the librarians will be moved to
teaching positions. The article contains some great
quotes from people who oppose the move such as this
one:
\”Of all the proposals, Roberts said he is most opposed
to cutting librarians
because of their influence on academics.\”
And this one:
\”Losing the librarians and sports would have the most
negative impact on
children, said Sally Falcone…\”
Read the story HERE
\”
Sheez baaaack!
Wow, it looks like libraryland has been quite a happenin place lately. Where do I begin? I\’ll spare you all the details of my great vacation and just get down to business. I\’ve reported a few times on the woes at the Enoch Pratt Free Library system in Baltimore. Today the numbers were released. One branch only circulated 15,261 items in the last fiscal year. It doesn\’t stop there. According to the article, \”in 1993 the county library system was in the Top 5 nationwide and had the largest use per capita. Today, it doesn\’t even have the highest per-capita usage in the state.\” more… from SunSpot News.
The front page of today\’s Chicago Tribune (at least the suburban print edition I get) includes an article headlined Libraries in lurch as microfilm flaws surface. It focuses on Double Fold, but the reporter also appears to have talked to some librarians. The acting head of the Center for Research Libraries is quoted as saying that "Baker\’s book is the new Silent Spring."
Of course, looking at the story on the Web, you don\’t know that it\’s front-page news.
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