This NY Magazine Article that says long ago authors, and the book industry, set the cultural agenda, made lots of money, and were the generational voice. For a long time, anybody with any creative ambition wanted to write the Great American Novel. But starting in the fifties, and then gaining incredible force in the sixties, rock-and-roll performers eclipsed authors as cultural stars. But now, the music industry is becoming, in size and profit margins and stature, the book business.
June 2002
A Look At CIPA Loss
SomeOne writes \”Hi, Eugene Volokh has outlined a A few key points he thought were important in the CIPA ruling, your readers may find them interesting as well.\”
LII Reaches 10,000th Record
On Thursday, June 6, 2002, lii.org (the
Librarians\’ Index to the Internet) added its 10,000th Web site. The
hallmark record–describing Americorps, a service organization whose
members earn educational credits for activities such as mentoring youth
and building affordable housing–was contributed by volunteer indexer
Julianna Hamann, a San Diego resident who has contributed close to 200
records to the lii.org database.
On Thursday, June 6, 2002, lii.org (the
Librarians\’ Index to the Internet) added its 10,000th Web site. The
hallmark record–describing Americorps, a service organization whose
members earn educational credits for activities such as mentoring youth
and building affordable housing–was contributed by volunteer indexer
Julianna Hamann, a San Diego resident who has contributed close to 200
records to the lii.org database.
When asked why the self-described \”grandmotherly\” type would contribute
content to the lii.org database, Hamann replied: \”When I was a little
girl, six years old, a refugee, new to the United States from Hungary, I
was afraid to utter a word because of my language barrier. My mother\’s
words still ring in my ears, \’Open your mouth and ask questions. This is
America. They don\’t punish you for asking. Knowledge will set you free.\’
Since then, words became my allies.\”
Hamann will receive an lii.org t-shirt and a certificate for a free
course through Infopeople, a training project that has brought thousands
of courses to librarians and end-users throughout California.
lii.org began in 1990 as a gopher bookmark list created by Berkeley
reference librarian Carole Leita. In the mid-90s, lii.org was adopted by
Berkeley Public Library as an in-house resource. lii.org moved to
federal funding in 1997, acquired several part-time staff, and became a
signature project of the Library of California in 2000.
Diane Davenport, Library Manager, Berkeley Public Library, commented,
\”what Carole Leita started as her own bookmark file over ten years ago
has grown to be one of the most respected Internet sources. As a file
now updated and maintained by hundreds of librarians, it\’s a testament
to librarians\’ abilities at evaluating, organizing, and making reliable
information available.\”
Lii.org has three core services: a high-quality, searchable, browsable,
multi-subject Web site; a weekly mailing, New This Week, that reaches
over 13,000 subscribers; and–an initiative less than a year
old–special thematic collections, topics for which have included
September 11, Black History Month, Tax Time, Yucca Mountain, and The
Grapes of Wrath.
Under the leadership of librarian Karen G. Schneider since October,
2001, lii.org content is created and managed by over 130 volunteer
indexers and four other permanent staff: Martha Gifford, Assistant
Coordinator and Senior Editor; Wendy Hyman, Associate Editor; Pat Fell,
Cataloger, and Bill Moseley, Programmer. lii.org has received additional
grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the
Library Services and Technology Act, and is hosted by UC Berkeley
SunSITE.
On Internet speech, librarians to the rescue
The Great & Powerful Gary Price sent over This One with some fun quotes for all those celebrating last week\’s big victory in Philly.
Today, storming the barricades of censorship and rejecting
the demands of conformity, we have a different group of firebrands: America\’s librarians.
Your image of a librarian may be a prim spinster whose idea of proper communication is to
put a finger to her lips and say, \”Shhhh!\” This time, though, the librarians\’ message to
the federal government is: \”Don\’t you dare shush my patrons!\”
Note: ChicagoTribune requires assinine registration.
Meta Search + Invisible Web + Virtual Librarians = Wondir!
So I was reading through This One over at SearchEngineWatch, somewhat interested in a new Googly/AskJeevesy looking thing called, Wondir and thinking to myself that we don\’t need another search engine, and thinking this has already been done, but then I got to the part that says Wondir will be an open source project, and then I said \”Great Googly Moogly,\” they might be on to something.
Wondir is currently ramping up to begin alpha tests of the service, and is
seeking help both from volunteers and from sources interested in
sponsoring the effort.
How Wondir is Different.
\”We\’re aiming to fill a void that\’s not there,\” said Koll. \”Expert
services don\’t really address the universality of trying to integrate all
these different kinds of sources into the answer.\”
Library Surveillance: the Trading Card
SomeOne writes \”This Orwellian Library Surveillance trading card provides some visual counter-propaganda for resisting John Ashcroft\’s new library surveillance policy. Permission is given on the site to reproduce it for noncommercial use, so it\’s usable for posters, etc. This design is part of the larger American Crusade 2001+ antiwar trading card project by The Infinite Jest satire site.
\”
![Library Surveillance trading card](\"http://goddoubleplusblessamerica.org/jest/card-library_surveillance.jpg\"){kind=link}
Hackers to Save the Day?
An archvist at a Norwegian museum died without leaving record of the password into the museum\’s electronic library. How rude! To pull themselves out of this quagmire, they decided to interview l33t h4xOrs to crack the password. The director of the museum even made a plea on Norwegian national radio asking hackers to solve the mystery.
Read the full story from Ananova.
Call for schools to ban Chopper’s book
SomeOne writes \”This Story says The Australian Federal Government wants state schools to ban the latest book by notorious criminal Mark \”Chopper\” Read because it doesn\’t like the author.
Education Minister Brendan Nelson said someone with Read\’s background should not become a role model for young Australians, no matter what the content of his book.
\”
Books I’d prefer not to Read
Salon has a Story by Tom Bissell, who says whether one chooses to admit it or not, every reader has a secret list of writers one is, for whatever reason, incapable of reading.
The story is a long look at reading, and how we choose our books, and how books are written.
Check it out, it\’s a great read!
Smelly feet man denied access to library may start new life in Germany
Ananova is reporting the smelly feet guy says \”When this trial is over I will seriously think of leaving for Germany. There they don\’t mind a man walking about in his socks.\”
A journalist says he had to hold his nose during an interview and compared the smell to a bag of rotten potatoes that had been kept in a cupboard for two weeks. Smelly feet guy says he wasn\’t aware that his feet smelt.
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