Paul Coleman writes \”This article in the New York Times reports damage to libraries, museum collections, and historic site archives wrought by the floods in central Europe. \”[O]ne of the librarians,\” the reporter writes, \”was near tears as she recounted how hundreds of rare books were soaked despite being moved for safekeeping.\” \”
August 2002
Web site flouts linking bans
Someone passed along Web site flouts linking bans, from CNET.
David Sorkin, associate professor of law at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, is the man behind Don\’t Link to Us, a Web site that exists merely to flout what it terms \”stupid linking policies.\”
Speaking of \”Flouting\”, I haven\’t seen Don Saklad around in quite some time….
The Bookless Library, Continued
An interesting discussion on
the future of academic libraries from D.C.\’s excellent public affairs program \”Public Interest\”. Featured are Association of College and Research Libraries president Helen Spaulding, Trinity College president Pat McGuire, Des Moines Community College dean Anthony Pauston, and Goucher College president Sanford Unger.
NOTE: Real Audio is required – the link to this segment is roughly 1/2 way down the page under the heading \”Tech Tuesday: Future of Libraries\”. Sometime in the next few days it will be moved to the archive.
Gender interests divide silver surfers
Bob Cox points to A BBC Story that says Silver (over 55) surfers may be getting web-savvy but there is a marked difference in what the sexes are doing online. Men prefer to use it to pursue hobbies and find out information whereas women see the net as an alternative to the telephone, using it to chat with friends and families.
Comic Book Store Manager Sentenced to 6 Months in Jail
News From TX on a guy who was convicted by a jury in August 2000 of \”display of obscenity\” for selling Demon Beast Invasion #2 to an adult. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, a year\’s probation, and a $4,000 fine.
They say the original conviction was surprising. The store in question handled its adult materials carefully, with three display areas: its general display area, an 18 and up section in the back of the store, and explicit adult materials kept in a box behind the counter. Store employees also required proof of age before selling adult materials to younger customers.
Library users as consumers
Mike Winter writes \”Since Troy Johnson, the moderator at the Librarians\’ Book clubhas just posted the most recent titles slated for discussion, and one of them is \”Why We Buy,\” by Paco Underhill, a self-styled \”retail anthropologist,\” this seems like a good time to ask for comments on a topic I have been thinking about lately. In comparing libraries as they are today to what they were in the U.S. in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it seems to me that library building and design, and arrangement of the collection and services, etc., points to a definite shift in the overall nature and function of libraries. In brief, what I see is that libraries were once much more like religious or governmental agencies, but that now they are much more like retail outlets, both real and virtual.
Part of this is that the library, which was once much more solidly connected with reading as part of reflection, discussion, and argumentation, has lost these functions as the publishing sector has lost some of them as well. Also, as publishing has become much more commercialized and profit-oriented, the library has followed suit and become much more like a place marking off a large, potentially very lucrative set of consumer markets. From the citizen, that is, the reader is now more like a customer; and library, from being a public agency with all sorts of idealistic ideas about the public good, is now more like a Nordstrom or a Safeway than a church or a government agency. I\’d be interested in hearing what others think about this general idea. \”
U.S. [Un]Patriotic Act Under Fire
Michael Nellis writes \”The Free Expression Network has a story about a number of free speech advocate groups protesting the secrecy legislated into the act. You can read the news release
here
And a copy of the letter at PEN American,
\”
Cops Swoop, Librarians Prevail
The following appeared in the 8/21 issue of The Seattle Times: \”Child pornography is illegal and anyone who tries to satisfy a despicable appetite via the computers of the King County Library System will be confronted and police called if needed. That fundamental message got lost in a bruising dispute between the library system and the Kent Police Department. The library filed a lawsuit against police when authorities seized two computers last month as part of an investigation that started off on the wrong foot. The library\’s lawsuit blocked police from conducting any computer search. All this morphed in some minds as the library system aiding and abetting and defending child pornography. That is just wrong…\” Read the rest.
Lawmakers Square off with Justice Dept. Over Request for Patriot Act Disclosures
John Ashcroft may have to appear in court under subpoena if the Justice Department doesn\’t agree to turn over some records over how often citizens are being monitored. While the Justice Department is monitoring Americans, the Justice Department is also being monitored. \”Very little is known about how often the government relies on the Patriot Act in its terrorism investigations. In July, several libraries across the nation said FBI agents had demanded information on reading records. The process by which the FBI gains access to records under the Patriot Act is quick and mostly secret.\” Read More.
Academic-Library Groups Still Oppose UCITA
Jen Young pointed us to Chronicle.com where they are Reporting Academic-library groups say they\’re still opposed to a model law intended to make software-licensing agreements uniformly enforceable in all 50 states, even though the legal group that drafted the measure eased some of its provisions this month. The library groups say the changes to the law, called the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, or Ucita, are a step in the right direction, but don\’t go far enough to protect scholars\’ interests.
The text of the model law and the revisions are both available online.
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