October 2001

Is It Cornstarch, or is it Anthrax?

Lee Hadden writes: \”An article by Matthew Rose, \”Cornstarch Dries Ink, but Terrifies
Magazine Buyers,\” is in today\’s Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2001, on
pages B1 and B4. Cornstarch is used in the publishing business to dry ink,
and to prevent static electricity so pages won\’t stick together when
binding or mailing. It is used in many popular publications, such as Vogue
or Reader\’s Digest or Vanity Fair. However, the white powder residue can be
terrifying to those who aren\’t familiar with the magazine publishing
business, and many people think it may be anthrax spores. \”Before we sell a
magazine, we have to convince consumers it isn\’t going to kill them,\” one
publisher said. Read more about it in the Wall Street Journal.
\”

Road Rage on the Information Superhighway

Aaron Tunn sent along
This Transcript of an excellent interview with from Radio National down in Australia.


I\’m not even sure how to summarize this one. It\’s about copyright, control of information, the information services industry, the publishing industry, libraries, and who owns what.


It really is worth a read.

\”So in that process there are a whole series of players, and how this will all shake out ultimately electronically, is going to be one of the fascinating questions. Either it will increase to a few very small, dominant, very great profit-making multinationals, or there\’ll be a deconstruction of the vast majority of the literature back to the authors for self-archiving and distributing in the old electronic college way.\”

The Invisible Library

The Cutest Dog In The World sent along a link to The Invisible Library, which I think we linked already, but I can\’t find it.


The Invisible Library is a collection of books that only appear in other books. Within the library\’s catalog you will find imaginary books, pseudobiblia, artifictions, fabled tomes, libris phantastica, and all manner of books unwritten, unread, unpublished, and unfound.


Check out The Catalog of books and The Librarian\’s Office

Supreme Court zaps violent game law

Andrew Mutch writes \”A precursor to the Filtering legislation\’s fate before the Court?

Full Story \”


The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision by a lower appeals court to block the enforcement of an Indianapolis law that required children to have parental consent and/or supervision when playing arcade games that are deemed too violent.

Filtering Deadline Passes

I came across this one at Geek.com. Not that anyone necessarily wantd to read more about filtering and its affect on federal funding, but editorials are always worth a perusal, or three. be sure to scroll down for the opinions of Bob, et. al.

Libraries are a Whole New Business

Once viewed as cold edifices, where equally cold, bun-laden librarians shushed everyone, including the mouse in the corner, libraries have evolved into hi-tech businesses which successfully mix and match tradition with trend, creating a hub of community services and a fun gathering place for all. more…

Safeguarding European Photographic Images for Access

Mark writes \”SEPIA (Safeguarding European Photographic Images for Access) is a EU-funded project focusing on preservation of photographic materials. On this website (http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/sepia/) you will find information about :



research: \’scanning equipment and handling procedures\’, \’preservation aspects of digitisation\’, \’ethics of digitisation\’ and \’descriptive models for photographic materials\’


news and events: containing announcements and press releases about the latest SEPIA news, a calendar of events and references to relevant resources
training: about SEPIA workshops, seminar and national SEPIA training events
orginal proposals for SEPIA I and SEPIA II
SEPIA partners and associate partners: cooperating SEPIA institutions

This website is also a platform and a source of information for anyone who wants to know more about the preservation of photographic materials.
\”