April 2005

May 7 is Free Comic Book Day 2005

Get ready for the fourth annual Free Comic Book Day, coming May 7 to a comic book store near you. On this day, participating comic book retailers across North America and around the world will give comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores.

The Free Comic Book Day site has a database of participating retailers so you can find one in your neighborhood. There is also a listing of scheduled appearances of comic book creators at select locations.

The comics to be given away are mostly special “Free Comic Book Day” editions issued by sponsoring publishers just for the one-day event. You can check out titles and cover images at the site.

Graphic novel evangelists may find some useful resources on the “New to Comics?” page.

Montreal’s Grande Bibliothèque opens

Kathleen writes “The opening of the Grande Bibliothèque in downtown Montreal marks Quebec’s largest cultural project in recent decades

The collection includes almost everything published in Quebec or created by Quebecers – or published elsewhere about Quebec – since 1760. This unique repository of the province’s cultural and intellectual heritage has been gathered over the years through legal deposit, gifts and acquisitions.
The introduction of a virtual tour of the Grande Bibliothèque will also be accessible to Internet users on the Internet portal of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec (www.bnquebec.ca). The fully completed virtual tour will go on line a few days after the opening.”

Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists

Kathleen writes “The book, The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Phillip Hoose, was among the 2005 American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. Science Magazine reports on April 28, 2005 that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists in Continental North America. The ivory-billed woodpecker, long suspected to be extinct, has been rediscovered in the “Big Woods” region of eastern Arkansas. Visual encounters during 2004 and 2005, and analysis of a video clip from April 2004, confirm the existence of at least one male. Acoustic signatures consistent with Campephilus display-drums also have been heard from the region.”
Here’s a photo of John James Audubon’s Ivory-billed Woodpecker from The Birds of North America, published between 1827 and 1838.”

Blogging on the cover of BusinessWeek

vonjobi writes “I found out about ‘Blogs will change your business‘ by Stephen Baker and Heather Green (BusinessWeek, 2 May 2005) through Rambling Librarian, who found out about it through Micro Persuasion. Very Vannevar Bush, right?

This BusinessWeek cover story is proof that blogs can and should be used as more than just a personal diary in cyberspace. And Filipino Librarian is proof, I hope, that libraries in the Philippines can, in fact, take advantage of this technology.”

Game-like VR Program Helps 9/11 Trauma Victims

Given that there’s so much discussion about gaming its value within the LIS community, this seems like a pertinent article (from CNN). At the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies Program at Weill Cornell Medical College, World Trade Center survivors are working through their trauma and memories with a virutal reality program that looks much like a video game interface.

“The idea behind the treatment is to systematically expose the patient to aspects of their experience in a graded fashion so they can confront their fear of the trauma,” she told CNN.

[snip]

The treatment gives patients the ability to reconnect with their memories of that day, an important step for the healing process, Difede said.

Russians hope to control Internet, limit political change

Daniel writes mosnews.com says Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that special services need an extension of their authority to control communication networks.

Dmitry Frolov, spokesman for the FSB information security center, was speaking at the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, RIA Novosti reported. In particular, the FSB representative said his agency suggested developing new rules for internet providers that would prevent the spread of extremist ideas on the Internet, register internet activity.”

Get better at searching PubMed

Anonymous Patron writes “Check out NLM® Training Manuals and Resources: This page includes links to the training resources used in conjunction with the classes offered by the National Training Center and Clearinghouse (NTCC).

The PubMed® Tutorial offers a just-in-time training alternative. The PubMed Tutorial is a Web-based interactive tutorial that enables anyone using a computer with Internet access to learn about PubMed. The tutorial can be reached directly from the PubMed sidebar by clicking “Tutorial.” Other distance education resources for NLM products may also be of interest.”

Support Government Info on Library Leg Day

Daniel wrote in to remind us Library Legislation Day, 2005 is coming up soon. There are several opportunities for Advocacy in the near future. Many librarians will be in Washington D.C. for National Library Legislative Day (May 3-4) and the Interagency Depository Seminar (June 8-15). Please take advantage of these, or any other opportunities you may have, to tell your Legislators about the importance of bringing Documents to the People.

Return of the Fallen

Kathleen writes “The National Security Archives has released Hundreds More War Casualty Homecoming Images.
Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005 – In response to Freedom of Information Act requests and a lawsuit, the Pentagon this week released hundreds of previously secret images of casualties returning to honor guard ceremonies from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and other conflicts, confirming that images of their flag-draped coffins are rightfully part of the public record, despite its earlier insistence that such images should be kept secret.”

Andy Carnegie, please come back we need you!

Cortez writes “In this day of Amazon, the Internet, hundreds of cable channels and ubiquitous computing, what is the role of the institutions Andrew Carnegie thought were so important that he devoted himself and a good bit of his fortune to propagating them?
In the era of the Internet, will we still go to libraries to borrow books and do research? The answer seems to be a resounding yes, because libraries are more than just a place to keep volumes on dusty shelves. Carnegie’s goal was one shared by many thinking people today: to empower working people to improve their lot, as he had improved his by using the personal library of Colonel Joseph Anderson of Allegheny City, Pennsylvania.”