A U.S. music industry group said on Wednesday it sued 477 more people for online copyright infringement as part of its effort to stop music piracy, blamed for a prolonged sales downturn.
Read the story at Reuters.
April 2004
Advocates for blind fight cutback
rteeter writes “The Sacramento Bee has this story, Advocates for blind fight cutback, about service for the blind being cut in our illustrious governor’s budget. Former state librarian Kevin Starr is leading the fight against the cuts.”
Children’s health and reading
nbruce writes “Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (April 27) had 2 articles about reading and children in the health section. Those interested in either might take a look.
One reported on a story that poor readers show changes in brain activity after highly intensive reading intervention. Underuse of the left hemisphere results in poor reading skills. After 105 hours of tutoring, the children read more accurately and fluently.
The other reported on a parent training program, designed to save Medicaid costs. The parents of children in HeadStart programs were taught to use research material instead of the emergency room for help for minor illnesses. Prior to training, 69% chose ER as a first source; after training, that was down 32%.
The research training gave the parents confidence to 1) first go to a reference book, 2) learn to define symptoms in reporting it, 3) taught them to use a thermometer, 4) taught them to use OTC medications, fluids and sponge baths, and 5) to call to consult with a medical person.
What to do when your child gets sick is a book designed for readers with low literacy. The goal of the pilot project is to educate 12,000 families by the end of 2005. The program also reduced days missed from work by the parents, which went down by 41%.”
Public libraries fading fast in Britain
From the Independent:
The blue paintwork is fading fast on its drab 1970s premises but there is no lack of innovation at the Heald Green public library as staff wage a daily battle to entice readers through their doors.
According to a new report on the future of the public lending library, it is a battle the librarians of south Manchester and the rest of Britain may not win. Libri, a new campaign group formed to save that most revered of national institutions, has warned there could be as little as 20 years left for Britain’s public lending libraries …
Complete article, with reflections by Nick Hornby, Billy Bragg and others. The BBC ran a related article yesterday. More information is available at Libri’s homepage.
Russell Crowe Helps Rebuild Library
Anonymous Patron writes “According to Movie/TV news from the Internet Movie Database, Russell Crowe is helping to rebuild a Montreal school library after it was attacked and burned.”
Intelligence Sources Monitoring Blogs?
Here’s a story from Investor’s Business Daily that talks about the possibility that US intelligence is gathering information from and monitoring blogs.
Intelligence gathering, according to Jock Gill, former Clinton Internet adviser “is about listening with a critical ear, and blogs are just another conversation to listen to and evaluate. They also are closer to (some situations) and may serve as early alerts.” Gill spoke at an Intelligence conference in D.C. in mid-April.
H.S. Student Questioned over Anti-war Art
School officials at Proesser (WA) High School notified police after an art teacher handed over some anti-war drawings done by a 15-year-old student. According to this CNN story, “the drawing that drew the most notice showed a man in what appeared to be Middle Eastern-style clothing, holding a rifle. He was also holding a stick with an oversize head of the president on it.” The student, who ended up being grilled by the Secret Service, was not arrested, but received unspecified discplinary action at school. The district’s superintendent commented, that “it was not a freedom of speech issue, but a concern over the depiction of violence.”
Mass. bookmobiles in trouble
Rich writes “Monday’s Boston Globe reports that bookmobiles in Massachusetts are facing extinction.
Boston.com news has the story.”
“. . . some residents and librarians argue that it’s important to preserve the bookmobile — particularly in communities where it provides the only access to books for the disabled, day-care centers, and shut-in elderly residents.
“
Well, Here We Go…
The first real trial challenge to the Patriot Act is coming up in Idaho. Although this is not directly related to libraries, the repurcussions to civil liberties, and the future of the Patriot Act (or Patriot II) are obvious.
As a Web master for several Islamic organizations, Hussayen helped to maintain Internet sites with links to groups that praised suicide bombings in Chechnya and Israel. But he himself does not hold those views, his lawyers said.
His role was like that of a technical editor, they said, arguing he cannot be held criminally liable for what others wrote.
Civil libertarians say the case poses a landmark test of what people can do or whom they can associate with in the age of terror alerts.
Link is to article in the International Herald Tribune. Looks like it should appear in tomorrow’s NYT?
LII Launches Annual User Survey
An Anonymous Patron writes “(Please forward to relevant lists and blogs.)
Attention all users of Librarians’ Index to the Internet, http://lii.org :
We hope you can set aside a few minutes to take our short, ten-question annual user survey.
To take our survey, follow this link:
If you run into technical problems with the survey, e-mail [email protected]
Responses are due by midnight (Pacific Time), Friday, May 14.
Thank you in advance for your valuable input!
Karen G. Schneider
Director, Librarians’ Index to the Internet,
Information You Can Trust!
http://lii.org/“
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