February 2003

“The Minneapolis Public Library Board on Thursday chose a former state official with no background in library management to be its new director.”

“Katherine G. “Kit” Hadley, until recently the commissioner of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, was offered the library job and has agreed to take it, a library official said.”

“The offer came after the board conducted final interviews with Hadley and the other top candidate, William Gordon, retired head of the American Library Association and a career librarian.” (from Pioneer Press)

“NARA has launched a powerful new research tool called Access to Archival Databases (AAD). AAD will give researchers the opportunity to search selected archival databases directly through the Internet…”

“The Access to Archival Databases (AAD) System gives you online access to electronic records that are highly structured, such as in databases. The initial release of AAD contains material from more than 30 archival series of electronic records, which include over 350 data files totaling well over 50 million unique records. The series selected for AAD identify specific persons, geographic areas, organizations, or dates. Some of these series serve as indexes to accessioned archival records in non-electronic formats. The AAD system does not, however, support quantitative or statistical analysis of data.” (from NARA News and Events)

“As the leader of the A-Team liked to say: “I love it when a good plan comes together.” Or words to that effect. So I am happy to report that an institution where I enjoyed a too-brief, but most memorable learning experience will cosponsor an award bearing the name of one of my all-time favorite American authors.”

“The new literary prize, officially titled the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, will be sponsored by the Stanford University Libraries in partnership with the William Saroyan Foundation. Aimed at encouraging new or emerging writers rather than established authors, it will recognize a newly published work of fiction or memoir with a purse of $12,300.”

“The Saroyan Writing Prize (the monicker which I suspect it will be most commonly used) will be awarded every other year, with January 31, 2003 set as deadline for entries in the first competition. Entries are limited to works published in English in book form during calendar 2002 and available for purchase by the general public. Complete information, including entry forms and rules, are available at this website:” (from IOBA Standard)

“The Stephen King novella “Riding the Bullet” is headed for the big screen three years after it was released as an e-book.”

“Producer Brad Krevoy is set to turn the ghost story into a feature film through his Motion Picture Corp. of America shingle, with production financing provided by German backer ApolloMedia.”

“Casting for the film is under way, with a tentative May start for shooting.”

“In March 2000, Simon & Schuster released the “Bullet” novella in a strictly electronic format, with over 400,000 downloads recorded in the first 24 hours.” (from Reuters)

“The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says it helped 245 consumers submit comments to the Librarian of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office requesting protection for certain ordinary uses of CDs and DVDs. The consumer comments support the EFF’s Dec. 18 request to the government to grant four exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in order to permit bypassing of certain technological protection measures for copyrighted works.”

“Currently, the DMCA prevents users from making the following four uses of some digital media: listening to copy-protected music CDs on certain stereos and personal computers; viewing foreign movies on DVDs on U.S. players due to region-coding restrictions; skipping through commercials on some movie DVDs; and viewing and making fair uses of movies that are in the public domain and released on encrypted DVDs.” (from Internet.com)

“I think all of us who work on a reference desk have at least one story of persistence and satisfaction. A time when we were asked a question and we had to work hard to find the answer.”

“I know there are days when I have two or three slips of paper taped to my telephone receiver, reminders of searches I am pursuing.”

“Many of these are never resolved. I am the last resort of someone who has already searched everywhere. But if small acts define us, stubborn would be my definition. I gather clues and keep them, sometimes for weeks, hoping I’ll come across an answer.” (from Contra Costa Times)

ALA Presidential Candidates Herman Totten and Carol Brey
give a long interview
in the current issue of Library Juice. Robert
Newlen never replied to my request for an interview. A
friend of his says he’s been out of town and may get back
to me when he returns. For now, it’s just the two
nominated candidates.

“The library is talking about a pizza box advertising campaign. They’re half kidding, but touting self-promotion and stretching for solutions is exactly the idea.”

“It’s the battle between Google and the library — and Google just might be winning.”

“I had a senior history major in the other day asking how to use [library] research databases,” Assistant Director for Research and Instructional Services at Van Pelt Library, Marjorie Hassen says. With four years of Ivy League college under his belt, not to mention a reading and writing intensive history major, “you’d think he would have done a lot of research before.” (from The Daily Pennsylvanian – Thanks Genie)

“Government efforts to block offensive Web sites are technically problematic and legally worrisome, a new study says.”

“The study from Harvard University’s Berkman Center highlights how modern Web standards have permitted thousands of domain names to share one Internet address. It concludes that instead of precisely targeting only objectionable sites, attempts to restrict Internet addresses with pornographic, political or gambling-related content inevitably make legitimate sites unreachable too.”

“The numbers are staggeringly high,” said Ben Edelman, a student fellow at the Berkman Center and author of the report. “According to my results, two-thirds of sites are hosted on Web servers with 50 or more domain names.” (from CNET)

Ron Force writes “In a guest editorial in the Seattle Times, Bill Gates says, “Investing in libraries connects us to the future.

“America’s public libraries are making a tremendous difference. Today, more than 95 percent of community libraries offer free Internet access, up from 73 percent just four years ago. For many people who cannot afford computers or do not have Internet access at school or at work, the public library is the only place to go.

“Here in Seattle, the public library offers classes on computer basics, e-mail and using the Internet for job searches. The main library also provides Spanish-language courses and several tailored for senior citizens. The library’s traveling laptop lab offers training in the branch libraries in as many as nine foreign languages, including Chinese and Vietnamese.

“I am excited about what’s happening in my hometown and in libraries across the country. But I worry about whether our society will support public libraries so they can sustain this critical community service. In my view, investing in public libraries is an investment in the nation’s future.”