August 2004

Filed under August memories for Kathy Amrhein is hanging out at the Allegheny Regional Library on the North Side.
To get relief from sweltering summer days, Amrhein and her sister would climb wide marble stairs. Inside, marble pillars and walls created a cooling, cave-like sanctuary. Here, as a young reader, Amrhein learned the joys of rousing tales and soaring facts. Many of her interests have continued into her adult life. Primary among them is her interest in books and libraries. Read more.

An article in USA Today focuses on a decision that Multnomah Cty Library Director Molly Raphael will soon be making regarding the filtering of ALL internet searches for children twelve and under (unless parental permission is given).

FOL President Stephanie Vardavas points out the problems with this kind of all-inclusive filtering: “One filter even blocked a search for the site for the 30th Super Bowl because it was listed as Super Bowl XXX, she said.

“What it comes down to is that filters aren’t good at assessing content,” Vardavas said. “They’re good at applying rules.”

Library officials say there are scores of Internet filters on the market but their uses can vary.

The filter currently used by the county uses a “low threshold” that weeds out pornography, Raphael said, but also sites dealing with breast cancer and other subjects.

“It’s not a perfect system, no matter what kind of filter you have,” she said. “We’re trying to provide some flexibility so parents can make a choice.”

Walt writes “Library Journal sez Office Depot’s doing a nationwide promotion for library cards as “the smartest card.”

No, I’m not going to go into a rant about corporate-ALA tie-ups. I think this one’s a winner all around. From what I can tell, OD falls in the relative “good guy” category for national chains.

Office Depot’s also been doing a considerable good deed in cooperation with HP through this summer’s PC-recycling program: I know I was able to get rid of a 17″ display and a long-unused PC, without having to pay dumping fees and with the expectation that salvageable parts will be reused.”

You’ve got to read it to believe it.

From USA Today

Here from the Washington Post (registration required) is the obituary for Hardy R. Franklin, the man who revitalized the DC Public Libraries during the 1970s, 80s and 90s, only to resign under a cloud of scandal in 1997. He had Alzheimer’s disease, complicated by diabetes. He died on August 22 at the age of 75 in Washington, DC.

Dr. Franklin took over the struggling library system in July 1974 and during his tenure expanded the library’s holdings fourfold and gained national attention for introducing an online catalogue, launching programs at day-care centers and increasing the library’s services across the city.
In his years as director, he became a popular figure in Washington and a political force. In 1989, he unsuccessfully challenged Mayor Marion Barry for control of the library’s budget in court. He was nationally recognized in library circles and in 1993 was named president of the 52,000-member American Library Association.

Charges of theft, mail fraud and sexual harrassment were raised against him in the last years of his life.

Everyone knows that public libraries have problems when people don’t return books or records or CDs.

But, in Norfolk Nebraska, one CD, more than any other, keeps disappearing. It is Pink Floyd’s 1979 release The Wall. Here’s the scoop .

What’s a music lover to do?

California Senator Debra Bowen’s electronic privacy bill, SB 1841, which requires employers to notify employees before they read their employees e-mails or track Web sites they visit, is heading to the governor’s desk. The measure, backed by consumer and privacy advocates, passed the Senate this week on a 23-11 vote.

Governor Schwarzenegger will have until September 30th to sign, veto, or let it become law without his signature. Read more.

Here’s an excellent, lengthy story from CNET surveying the state of ebooks. The article addresses why ebooks have not yet taken off, indicting heavy-handed and non-compatible Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes. Security is another issue that keeps many publishers from offering ebooks, with John Grisham and JK Rowling being two authors who refuse to allow e-versions of their titles. The biggest roadblock however, might be due to slow reader adaptation.

Current book reading habits are the result of centuries of accumulation, notes Gary Frost, conservator of the libraries art the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Reading text on a screen and in search-equipped formats represents a profound behavioral shift, equivalent to the transition millennia ago from scrolls to multipage codexes, Frost said. Even digital enthusiasts will need time to adjust, he said.

The article also talks about improvements in ebooks and what many publishers and distributors are doing right.

he fight started at school, when some eighth-grade girls stole a pencil case filled with makeup that belonged to a new classmate, Amanda Marcuson, and she reported them.

But it did not end there. As soon as Amanda got home, the instant messages started popping up on her computer screen. She was a tattletale and a liar, they said. Shaken, she typed back, “You stole my stuff!” She was a “stuck-up bitch,” came the instant response in the box on the screen, followed by a series of increasingly ugly epithets.

That evening, Amanda’s mother tore her away from the computer to go to a basketball game with her family. But the barrage of electronic insults did not stop. Like a lot of other teenagers, Amanda has her Internet messages automatically forwarded to her cellphone, and by the end of the game she had received 50, the limit of its capacity. Read more.

Sabrina Pacifici writes “Gumshoe Librarian: “Where in the World Is…”
This bibliography by Barbara Fullerton and Sabrina I. Pacifici includes business and corporate data, global news, search engines, guides to international and comparative law, country profiles and statistics, locating people, businesses, places and useful services around the world, banking resources, and data on terrorism and security issues. Available at
http://www.llrx.com/features/gumshoe.htm“