June 2005

Anonymous Patron writes “eGov monitor says Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, today predicted a switch from print to digital publishing by the year 2020.

“Most people are aware that a national switch to digital broadcasting is expected by the end of this decade. Less well known is the fact that a similar trend is underway in the world of publishing: a study by EPS , commissioned by the Library, projects that, by the year 2020, 40% of UK research monographs will be available in electronic format only, while a further 50% will be produced in both print and digital. A mere 10% of new titles will be available in print alone by 2020.”

Anonymous Patron writes “MercuryNews.com Reports The quest for the Holy Grail of Web searching — the ability to offer search results tailored to each person’s interests — may have taken an important leap forward Tuesday.

Google announced it is publicly testing a new service that uses the search histories of individuals to influence what search results they see. Google is hoping the customization will make the results more relevant and useful to searchers.”

Here’s the Hillsborough County (FL) policy (and the reason why the gay pride exhibit was removed from the library there): “to abstain from acknowledging, promoting and participating in gay pride events”. The policy was voted in, but not unanimously, on June 15 after West Gate Regional Library received three complaints about its Gay Pride Month display.

But people don’t know what the so-called ‘policy’ means. There’s confusion since Monday’s appearance of Nadine Smith, executive director of the gay and lesbian rights group Equality Florida, on public access television. Since then, librarians, the county’s Citizen Advisory Committee, gay rights activists and others have complained the policy is vague and confusing.

“This shows the policy for what it was all along: a gratuitous attempt to foment a culture war in Hillsborough County,” said Tampa lawyer Rochelle Reback, who sued the county in 2002 to restore funding to public access television. Story here.

About fifteen years ago, a few families emigrated from Somalia to the little town of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, now home to a thriving 800 family Somali population. Families came here due to the reasonable cost-of-living, rent-subsidized housing, and the availability of jobs for immigrants from East Africa.

This article from the Star Tribune states: “In response (to the influx of people from Somalia), the city has taken steps to make its new Somali residents feel more at home in the city’s schools and other public places. The library , for instance, now stocks Somali books and newspapers, and it has volunteers such as Khadra Duale, one of the first to move here at the end of the 1980s. Duale, who has a job in the city’s Office of Housing and Human Services, volunteers at the library to work with Somali women and introduce them to what the library has to offer.”

Gary Price noted a Government Report Says MSN Search Adult Filter Most Effective. Information Week has an article, and you can read The Report or just Highlights.
The House Government Reform Committee asked the GAO to determine how easy it is to access pornographic files on popular peer-to-peer programs and the risk of inadvertent exposure. In conducting the examination, GAO looked at Google, MSN, and Yahoo, and how well they filtered requests for hard-core content.

Grumpy Librarian writes “The ALA has a press release on the Supreme Court ruling in the Grokster case.

The American Library Association (ALA) today applauded the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, LTD, hailing the ruling as a victory for libraries and consumers.

Focusing its ruling on the inducement principle of patent law rather than on Sony [the 1984 ruling that a company can’t be held liable just because it’s product could be used to infringe on copyright], the Court clarified that peer-to-peer file sharing companies could be held responsible for copyright infringement only when they actively encourage infringement.

ALA President Carol Brey-Casiano said, “today’s Supreme Court decision marks a victory for fair use and the rights of libraries and the public in a digital age.” She continued, “the Court has protected the ability of consumer electronics manufacturers to develop new products and services without fear that they will be held liable for unintended infringement.”“

The AP Reports Novelist and historian Shelby Foote, whose Southern storyteller’s touch inspired millions to read his multivolume work on the Civil War, has died. He was 88.

Foote, a Mississippi native and longtime Memphis resident, wrote six novels but is best remembered for his three-volume, 3,000-page history of the Civil War and his appearance on the PBS series “The Civil War.”

A couple of interesting posts from the LIS blogosphere. One from The Crafty Librarian: “Pack up the books bring in the Computers” and “Where’s the information” from The Library Diva. They both cover that “Packing Up The Books” article from The Chronicle Of Higher Ed. Interesting thoughts all around. As the digital tidal wave crashes over college campuses (campii?) libraries seem to be slowly replacing the printed word with bits and bytes. Librarians are, understandably, concerned that learning will be impacted. The Krafty Librarian asks “The big question is who is going to teach these students about information retrieval and evaluation” and The Library Diva answers “…until students take responsibility for what they learn in and out of the classroom our hands our tied.”

Found on the Google Blog:

Google Earth is Google Maps‘ popular satellite views on steroids. Download the free, but resource-intensive application and get rotatable, 3-D views of locations all over the planet. It also offers some travel-planning options, and I’m curious whether it includes one of my must-have choices: driving directions with multiple stops (not everybody wants to take the interstate, you know).

[Edit] There is a set of Forums for Keyhole users (the technology Google bought to make this all possible), and their answer on the driving directions question seems to be “no” for now.

Anonymous Patron writes:
From the Tufts University E-News:

What many patrons don’t know is that the Fletcher School graduate was also part of the espionage boom of the 1960s, serving a stint in the CIA, where she spied on the United Nations, prepared presidential intelligence briefings and learned how to rig a toilet with explosives.

“Here I am, a little librarian, but I know how to get rid of someone while they go to the bathroom,” Moran recalled to the Bangor Daily News

Now there’s a skill they should teach in library school.