June 2004

mdoneil writes “A State law in Utah to ban spyware has been put on hold after a judge grants a preliminary injunction to Spyware firm.
WhenU.com appealed the enforcement of the law saying that it would harm their business. WhenU’s product is installed when computer users download and install software such as games or screensavers from WhenU’s website. The web sites visited are tracked and advertisements pop up when WhenU’s clients businesses match the computer user’s website choices. A car manufacturer may pop up an ad every time someone looks at car websites.
The Utah law would outlaw this type of software saying the users were tricked into installing the software, or failed to understand the license agreement.
This seems to fall into the no free lunch category. If you get some nifty game or screen saver there must be some reason the company can develop and distribute the application. If you fail to read a license agreement, or if you don’t understand it you shouldn’t install it. It seems government, including the State of Utah, should concern itself with more pressing matters of public safety.”

wordy1 writes “We’ve heard of revisionist history but just cutting pages out of history books, well, that’s another story…this time from Calgary Univeristy, where some houligan historian has found it interesting to steal pages from rare books and from survey and western geological map plates from the 1890s. Estimated damage is $25K.”

Chris Olson writes “Emerald Group Publishing Limited has established the Annual Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards. To mark the upcoming release of Emerald Management Xtra, a new Award will be given annually to twelve outstanding doctoral research projects. Each award includes a cash prize of £1000 ($1200 US), a certificate, and the prospect of publication in the sponsoring Emerald journal.

Chris Olson writes “Emerald Group Publishing Limited has established the Annual Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards. To mark the upcoming release of Emerald Management Xtra, a new Award will be given annually to twelve outstanding doctoral research projects. Each award includes a cash prize of £1000 ($1200 US), a certificate, and the prospect of publication in the sponsoring Emerald journal.

Subject Area & Sponsoring Emerald Journals

The following research award subject areas are being sponsored by Emerald journals.

1. Interdisciplinary accounting research: Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

2. Enterprise applications of internet technology: Internet Research

3. Business-to-business marketing management: Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

4. Human resource management: Personnel Review

5. International marketing: International Marketing Review

6. International service management: International Journal of Service Industry Management

7. Leadership and organizational development: Leadership & Organization Development Journal

8. Information science: Journal of Documentation

9. Management and governance: Management Decision

10. Operations and supply chain management: International Journal of Operations & Production Management

11. Organizational change and development: Journal of Organizational Change Management

12. Public sector management: Journal of Organizational Change Management

Eligibility

To be eligible for the award, the research must address an issue of importance in the journal’s specific subject area. Awards are open to those who have satisfied examination requirements for a Doctoral award, or will do so between June 1, 2003 and December 1, 2004. All entries will be listed on the Emerald research site, http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister

Criteria

Awards will be granted for research which demonstrates originality and innovation, and makes an outstanding contribution to theory and its application.

Entries will be judged by members of the Emerald Research Fund Awards Committee, consisting of members of the sponsoring journal’s editorial team, Emerald senior management and external experts. Entries will be judged according to: Significance, Quality of the literature review, Appropriateness and application of the methodology, Analysis and presentation of the data, and Implications for theory and practice.

The closing date for receipt of online applications is December 1, 2004. Winners will be announced during the first week of March 2005. Specific queries can be directed to Emerald staff member Kate Snowden ([email protected]). Application can be made online at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/awards

About Emerald http://www.emeraldinsight.com

Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd. is the leading English language publisher of academic and professional literature in the fields of management and Library & Information services and is a globally recognized source of online management information. Over 85% of Emerald’s content from key journal web sites is indexed within Googleâ„¢, making Emerald the highest-ranking commercial publisher in this venue. Consistently ranked at 98% in customer satisfaction surveys, Emerald was voted “Best Customer Support” in 2002 by readers of The Charleston Advisor. Emerald publishes over 150 titles such as Management Decision, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Documentation, Library Hi-Tech, Journal of Knowledge Management and The TQM Magazine. Emerald’s flagship product, Emerald Management Xtra, combines core content from Emerald Fulltext and Emerald Management Reviews into a fully searchable portal.

Contact:

Gill Crawford
Head of Corporate Communications
Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd.
10/62 Toller Lane, Bradford, BD8 9BY UK
Telephone: 011 44 274-777700
Fax: 011 44 1274-785201
Web site: http://www.emeraldinsight.com
[email protected]

Or

Chris Olson
Chris Olson & Associates
Arnold, Maryland USA
Phone: 410-647-6708
[email protected]


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An Anonymous Patron writes sent along This One on the Rosenberg Library’s Galveston and Texas History Center.
A prized possession is a letter, complete with pieces of reddish-brown candle wax attached, from the private residence of U.S. President Andrew Jackson to Sam Houston, president of the Republic of Texas, in 1844. The letter concerns the notion of Texas joining the United States, and Jackson speaks of the anxiety building in Congress.

Want to read Bill Clinton’s My Life without turning all 957 turgid pages? Slate can help! Slate’s “Juicy Bits” team has constructed a reader’s guide to Clinton’s memoir, with handy jumps to Hillary, Chelsea, Ken Starr, Marc Rich, George Stephanopoulos, and Monica Lewinsky.

From an Anonymous Patron

A 79-year-old Lake George, NY man is in hot water.

Raymond Barber is accused of scratching out words in books from the Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, substituting biblical phrases in the page margins, and writing “God is Enough” inside many covers.

Omaha, Nebraska is starting a One City, One Book program called, Omaha Reads. The library nominating committee narrowed public nominations down to six finalists. The people of Omaha are being asked to vote for the final selection via a ballot that was in the newspaper or on the website. Has anyone heard of another city that actually had people vote for the final book in one of these programs?

An Anonymous Patron sends us this book review for “The Five Minute Illiad and Other Instant Classics” by Greg Nagan. Besides the Illiad, other works given the Five Minute treatment include Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” Melville’s “Moby-Dick,” Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” Wilde’s “Picture of Dorian Gray,” and Joyce’s “Ulysses.”


More than an introduction to literature, this book can also entertain those who are familiar with the works. From the review: “The book is well-worth the read, whether you have read these classics or not. Of course, if you have read “Catcher in the Rye,” “1984,” and all of the others, you may understand some of the more humorous elements of the mis-told and hardly-told tales.

An Anonymous Patron sends news on the first Flip Book Contest, to be held in Seattle. A documentary movie is being made about the contest, and the winning three flip books will be featured in the film.


Check out the contest website for rules and more information.

Blake sends us this article from the Guardian regarding how even an infusion of 2 million pounds fails to deal with some important issues facing England’s public libraries. From the article:

“The money will do nothing to restore the value of book budgets or improve drab buildings, two factors often seen as being central to libraries’ falling popularity over the past 20 years. One report forecasts they will cease to exist in a further 20 if trends continue.”