December 2004

Pages Magazine

Cortez writes “Its been about a year since “Book Magazine” died and it looks like “Pages Magazine” is trying to fill the void. Flashy articles, author interviews and publishing news and some archived articles, hopefully they’ll be able to make a go of it. What caught my eye was “The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes“; sounds like it was a great research project.”

Company trademarked the term “Library Card?”

Anonymous Patron writes “I can’t quite get a handle on what this product does based on this puffed-up press release, but apparently, they’ve trademarked the term “Library Card.”

From the news release:

“The Boloto Group (http://www.bolotogroup.com), an Arizona based technology firm introduced a revolutionary free software, titled the Library Card (TM) that makes possible the next generation Internet. The Library Card is an electronic pass that consumers use to access features of the web by filling out a simple registration. With the Library Card, users will be able to unlock a private community that provides access to products, services and entertainment ranging from online dating to career connections, personal finance to multi-lingual communications, and media, all for free.”

At first I was surprised that this company was able to trademark a common phrase that has been in use for decades, but then I did some research. Since they have only the (TM) next to the name, it is possible that the trademark registration is pending, which means it may or may not become official through the US Patent and Trademark Office. Other companies have trademarked “librarycard” and “library card” already, so it doesn’t look like libraries need to worry much about continuing to use the term.

Ten Stories that Shaped 2004

As an encore to last year’s recap, read on for the top library stories of 2004. Comments are welcome!

As an encore to last year’s recap, read on for the top library stories of 2004. Comments are welcome!

10. Forfeiture Pamphlets Destruction Order

In July the U.S. Department of Justice had the Government Printing Office order federal depository libraries to destroy materials related to forfeiture laws. The explanation given was that the items were not "appropriate for external use." The publications were described by one lawyer as guides "to help people get their stuff back" from the government.

After some public scrutiny, the order was rescinded. Pleas for an investigation as to why the items were targeted went unanswered.

9. Library News from… Iran?

In November Librarian of Congress James Billington visited Iran to establish an exchange of library materials.

This year the federal government also lifted a contentious embargo against publishing edited works from trade-sanctioned countries (Iran, Cuba, and Sudan).

8. Laura Bush, Politics, and Librarians

Despite the First Lady’s literacy initiative, she is occasionally the butt of jokes. During the presidential campaign Teresa Heinz Kerry quipped that former-librarian Laura Bush never had "a real job." This prompted Jay Leno to comment: "Let me tell you something, if you’re a librarian married to George W. Bush, there is no harder job on earth."

In more political news, Radical Reference made a splash at the Republican National Convention. And some comments by Rory Litwin caused a stir right here at LISNews.com.

Other librarians making headlines this year included action-figure namesake Nancy Pearl and the fictional TV movie hero The Librarian.

7. Clinton Library Opens

There was fanfare in Little Rock in November as the Clinton Presidential Center (with Presidential Library) opened. Styled after the "bridge to the 21st century" metaphor, the building contains millions of items on everything from impeachment to saxophones.

In sadder news, Ronald Reagan, who died in June at age 93, was buried at his library in California.

6. USA PATRIOT Act Hysteria Continues

More accusations flew this year between civil libertarians and the government over the privacy of library records. At the heart of the debate is the inevitable contradiction between the stalwart "I will not surrender liberty to gain security" adherents and those who accept the dichotomy of "can law enforcement view your reading habits or do you have something to hide?"

Barack Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech included the jab, "we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries." Not long after the November election, John Ashcroft, the oft-demonized poster child for the perils of government surveillance, "resigned" as the United States Attorney General.

On a related note, concerns over the use of RFID tags in libraries show how technology remains no panacea. As for the USAPA’s allowances for secret library searches, the sunset clause on some of the act’s provisions was repealed, and variations of the Freedom to Read Protection Act remain stalled.

5. RIAA Floods Libraries with CDs

As settlement for an anti-trust lawsuit, many public libraries received free CDs from the recording industry. The titles selected for unloading raised some eyebrows. The Milwaukee Public Library, for example, received 1,235 copies of Whitney Houston’s 1991 recording of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Just think how many copies the lawyers got!

4. Disasters

In September a fire devastated the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany. Tens of thousands of books were lost, including many rare and older titles.

In October the University of Hawaii’s library suffered from flooding. Damage estimates range in tens of millions of dollars.

In both cases, restoration efforts are underway. Although library damages are the least of the worries about last week’s South-Asian Earthquake and Tsunamis, here’s hoping that all relief efforts from this disaster are a success.

3. The Modern Reichstag

There were several challenges to library materials this year. To keep funding, many libraries adopted Internet filters as CIPA went into effect on July 1st. And the Phoenix Public Library filtering debate was one of many this year.

More censorship of library items happened throughout the country. In August the Kansas Attorney General pulled more than 1,600 "inappropriate" music CDs from state libraries. In April, a blitz of parental challenges to library books with gay themes occurred in states including South Carolina, South Dakota, and Washington. School textbooks that mentioned marriage or evolution were also repeatedly targeted.

2. Libraries Play Catch Up

Be it coffee shops, chat services, wireless access, blog feeds, or tolerating cell phones, many libraries remain slow to get on the bandwagon with providing the services and technologies that attract customers.

The acclaimed launch of Google Scholar in November, followed by an announcement this month about the commercial company’s ambitious digitization plans (plans that, if realized, would have far-reaching implications for the role of modern libraries), showed how those pricey library buildings are struggling to maintain relevance in the digital age.

1. Open Access and the Economy

Viable alternatives to for-profit publishing gained steam this year with the popularity of Wikipedia, the successes of the Public Library of Science, a proposal by the National Institutes of Health, and the milestones reached by Project Gutenberg. Open Access publications holds great promise for addressing the hyper-inflating cost information.

Librarians are charged with spreading and preserving information. Despite advances in technology, copyright extensions and fair use limitations are opposing these tasks like never before. Librarians are also getting the squeeze from spiraling publishers’ prices and budgetary constraints.

Being stifled by profiteering content providers and their legal campaigns against the freedom of information is the greatest obstacle facing libraries today.

Thanks to Blake, Rochelle, and Daniel for contributions to this list.

FirstGov site on Tsunami Disaster

Thanks to Karen Schneider who passed along this information from FirstGov.gov about the tsunami disaster. Links to all sorts of information, from families looking for loved ones to relief agencies.

FirstGov.gov, the official web portal of the U.S. government, is constantly updating its special page covering the earthquake and tsunamis. To access it, go to www.FirstGov.gov.

On this page, you’ll find timely information you can trust from agencies like the U.S. State Department, currently operating a hotline to help
you find out about the welfare and whereabouts of American citizens affected by the disaster (1-888-407-4747 in the U.S. and Canada.
Outside those countries, call 202-501-4444).

Thanks to Karen Schneider who passed along this information from FirstGov.gov about the tsunami disaster. Links to all sorts of information, from families looking for loved ones to relief agencies.

FirstGov.gov, the official web portal of the U.S. government, is constantly updating its special page covering the earthquake and tsunamis. To access it, go to www.FirstGov.gov.

On this page, you’ll find timely information you can trust from agencies like the U.S. State Department, currently operating a hotline to help
you find out about the welfare and whereabouts of American citizens affected by the disaster (1-888-407-4747 in the U.S. and Canada.
Outside those countries, call 202-501-4444).

Learn how to access the International Red Cross’ special FamilyLinks
website, helping concerned friends and family members affected by the
tragedy connect with one another.

Get news updates on the tragedy directly from the embassies of the
affected countries and learn what the U.S. government and military are
doing to help.

Use the list of international relief organizations to find out what you,
your family and your community can do to join in providing humanitarian
assistance.

And understand more about the power of earthquakes and tsunamis with
information, maps and photographs from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Federal
Emergency Management Administration.

Be sure to check back frequently as FirstGov.gov continues to update
information on the disaster and the relief efforts.

The future from an architect of the past

Cortez writes “Jason Epstein has had a long and distinguished career in publishing. In the MIT Technology Review he describes the history of American book publishing in the last 60 years and where he thinks we are headed.”

“The impact of today’s more powerful technologies can scarcely be imagined. What seems to me certain is that these technologies will soon overwhelm the obsolescent Gutenberg system and confront us once again with unprecedented risks and opportunities”

Why the web is often woeful

Pete writes “BBC technology commentator Bill Thompson asks why we settle for less when it comes to web searching http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4131793.stm

“Unless I am looking for a straightforward piece of factual information – yesterday Max wanted to know what the five tastes were and could only remember sweet, salt, sour and bitter – I always search on two or three sites.

And I am making a lot more use of specific searches on places like Wikipedia and subscription database services.

But it has proven harder than I expected it would be to stop going straight to Google when I need to find something out, and I think it is time to admit defeat.

Google is, as sites like Searchenginewatch have been saying for some time, the best search engine.

The trouble is, it is still not very good.””

From porn in the library to “Porn is the Library”

Bob writes “While the rest of the country is trying to figure out what to do about pornography the Center for Sex and Culture is busy collecting, cataloging, and in general making sure its available for academics:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/ 12/29/DDG92AHN9T1.DTL
“This is not about titillation; it’s about research. In the growing field of human sexuality, erotica is an indicator of people’s desires, community standards, aesthetic and artistic expression and the intersection where all those things come together.””

Neither the article or the Center’s web site say anything about how access to the collection will work, or whether professional librarians will be brought in to catalog the holdings. The SF Gate article does indicate that the library will be the site of “show and tell”. Read the article if you’re interested.

The Da Vinci Crock

The Noisy Librarian writes “Salon.com provides a scathing indictment of the popular novel, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown:

‘A cozy situation for Brown, but it became somewhat less so recently when, in the U.K., a lawsuit was filed against him for “breach of copyright of ideas and research.” The complainants, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, are the coauthors, with Henry Lincoln, of “Holy Blood, Holy Grail,” a bestseller from the early 1980s. Virtually all the bogus history in “The Da Vinci Code” — nearly everything, in other words, that today’s readers’ find so electrifying in Brown’s novel — is lifted from “Holy Blood, Holy Grail.”‘

The site requires membership, but you can get a day pass by watching a short ad. Hey, at least you don’t have to surrender your address or birth year!”