February 2003

Troy Johnson writes “At librariansbookclub.org we are accepting nominations for the March reading selection. Current nominations include 1)Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web
2)Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life: A Philosophical Inquiry 3)Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age 4)Managing in the Next Society
5)Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman.

All librarians and those interested in the profession are welcome to join us. “

Come March, next time you\’re on Everest you\’ll be able to check LISNews. Thanks to Tsering Gyalzen, grandson of a sherpa who assisted with the first ascent of Everest in 1953, climbers will have internet access at base camp.

A friend of mine was concerend about the equipment taking away from the beauty of the mountain, but he didn\’t know the situation up there. All of the sieges on Eversest have left the standard South Col route littered with expired oxygen bottles, tents, and corpses.

Profits from the Internet Cafe will benefit clean up of the mountain.

Read the full story

Slashdot pointed the way to This AP Story At Salon that says Pennsylvania is forcing Internet providers to block Web sites that include child pornography, a new legal strategy that technology and civil liberties experts worry will unintentionally interfere with legitimate surfing.

Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Republican Mike Fisher, is leading the state’s effort, which already has forced Internet providers to block subscribers from at least 423 Web sites around the world.

This PDF got submitted without a name.

It seems to be a Dept. Of The Interior Document, written in 1922, by Carl Milam, on what libraries were doing during the war back then.

\”Men and women who understand America, know its history, and [those]
who can see beyond the petty political troubles of one generation, will
almost inevitably be good American citizens. The library has a part,
and a very important part, in furnishing the means whereby every citizen
may become an intelligent citizen. Libraries have the reputation of
providing books on both sides of every important question. The radical
and the extreme conservative meet in the library on an equal footing.
The result is that the library makes for sane, intelligent
development.\”

Note: Just got an email that says it came from a GOVDOC-L post.

CNET Says a consulting group that scrutinizes the source code underlying several operating systems has found that a key networking component of Linux is of higher quality in several ways than that of competing closed-source software.

I’d love to see this repeated in other areas.

“Open-source applications…allow anyone to look at the source code. For major open-source applications, such as the Linux kernel, the Apache Web server, etc., dozens or hundreds of people will read the source code either to learn how it works, make modifications or look for mistakes,” Trappe said. “Because the development process is also open, these independent reviewers can report the defects they find and even suggest appropriate fixes.”

Charles Davis writes ”
Public records on microfiche
containing millions of personal
details have gone missing from
Bristol Central Library.
Up to 1,400 fiches that relate to
births are missing, as are 1,000
relating to marriages and 1,000
to deaths.
One microfiche was said by the
library to hold “hundreds” of
details.
They were discovered to be missing when users at the library began tracing their family history.
The library has estimated that it will cost £20,000 to replace the missing microfiches.

Full Story

“

Dave writes \”
Things would be different if the Head the Sault Library would be the Chief Librarian from Hannibal Free Public Library,
Here\’s The Story \”

The story says Unionized staff at Sault Ste. Marie Public Library are disturbed by seeing images of sexual acts and bestiality accessed by some patrons on public Internet stations, but not enough to consider launching a grievance over the matter.

“In the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI agents armed with warrants made visits to the Paterson, N.J., Public Library and took away two computers provided for the public. They apparently hoped to scan the hard drives for clues to the activities of three hijackers with ties to the city.”

“The incident made few headlines, but it turned out to be the tip of a domestic surveillance iceberg. Last June, a University of Illinois survey said local or federal authorities had asked 85 libraries across the country for information about patrons.”

“That the survey found so many is a surprise: The USA Patriot Act, passed in October 2001, made it illegal for librarians to tell anyone about FBI library raids.” (from Law.com)

“Does accessing pornography on the Internet in a public place constitute harassment of those inadvertently exposed to it? Or is it a legitimate exercising of the user’s freedom of information? That question is being debated in public libraries across the country.”

“Last fall, the Canadian Union of Public Employees filed a grievance on behalf of Ottawa librarians who complained of being exposed to pornographic images some patrons were downloading. The union says this violates the right to a harassment-free workplace guaranteed under the Ontario Human Rights Code and wants library policy to include tracking the patrons’ Web surfing. Management counters that libraries have an obligation under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to offer free access to information.” (from The Toronto Star – Editorial)

WorldNetDaily has This Article on The Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatchewan ruling by the province’s human rights tribunal that fined a man for submitting a newspaper ad that included citations of four Bible verses that address homosexuality.

Justice J. Barclay wrote in his opinion that the human-rights panel “was correct in concluding that the advertisement can objectively be seen as exposing homosexuals to hatred or ridicule.”