January 2006

David Mehegan, writer at the Boston Globe Asks How much responsibility do publishers have to ensure that the memoirs they publish are accurate? The continuing success of ”A Million Little Pieces” — it is No. 1 again on Sunday’s New York Times paperback nonfiction bestseller list — also raises the question of why people are so easily deceived when a story meets their longing for a tale of redemption.

Some publishers dispute Winfrey’s statement that when publishers consider a memoir they should carry out the same fact-checking process expected of newspapers and magazines.

Today’s Column By Dick Herfindahl, Outdoors Writer for the Albert Lea Tribune – Albert Lea,MN – looks back at reading.

“There are times when I look back to my youth and remember the many nights spent reading books by a single nightlight.

When I think about the cold winter nights with a chilling north wind whistling at the windows I remember being curled up under a pile of blankets with a favorite outdoors book.

“

From the Baltimore Sun, in an article about a newly formed panel on collection devlopment, there is some interesting discussion on how some school librarians choose books:

“Hildebrandt said the guidelines specify that before a book can be purchased, the librarian must find two “positive reviews from reputable sources,” such as the American Library Association’s Booklist or School Library Journal.”

“But this is a beginning point. When the book comes in, we do a hands-on examination of it before it goes on the shelves,” she said. “It’s a demanding criteria.”

A piece in The Sacramento Bee (You’ll have to BugMeNot this one as it’s behind a registration) on school media centers:

“For five years, Julie Holgate-Robinson supervised Aero Haven’s computer lab, based in a windowless building away from the library. Now her lab is a collection of laptops among the bookshelves.”

“I wouldn’t have any idea what teachers were checking out in the library,” she said. “But now I can tie into what they’re reading in the classroom.”

“The libraries were designed to be flexible. Bookshelves can be wheeled aside, and lightweight tables replaced the bulky desks needed for desktop computers.”

An interesting story in the Mercury News about a consumer health facility in Los Gatos called the Los Gatos PlaneTree Library:

“Many people arrive at PlaneTree in the grip of a terrifying health crisis after they or someone they love is diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening disease, said Candace Ford, a former public librarian turned medical librarian, who has run PlaneTree since its opening 17 years ago. “They often are emotional or frail or angry,” she said.

The library is well-equipped to aid people in crisis, but Ford also wishes more people would come in to address daily challenges, such as mental health and lifestyle and relationship issues. The library’s circulating collection covers a wide array of subjects, from specific diseases, general health and alternative therapies to niche topics such as understanding teens, talking to children about illness and preparing for surgery.”

Jay writes “The U.S. Congress Votes Database now offers an RSS feed for every current member of Congress, so you can get notified each time your elected officials vote. Each member-specific feed includes the member’s position in the latest 10 votes. To reach a member’s feed, navigate to his or her page and look for the “RSS” link.”

Jay writes “Various medical journals such as JAMA, Archives of Plastic Surgery, Archives of Internal Medicine, and many other archival journals provide RSS feeds of the latest tables of contents of their new journal issues as they become available. For more information, see JAMA & Archives – RSS feeds.”

A new library deserves new chairs. And that’s just what the Fort Wayne (IN) library is getting… comfy but costly Aeron chairs (Herman Miller).

Daniel writes “Digital Deposit in Action: Alaska State Documents via LOCKSS: Since July 2004, electronic state publications have represented about half of all documents collected through the Alaska State Publications Program. To eliminate broken URLs and to improve the preservation of electronic publications of state agencies, the Alaska State Library is storing electronic state publications on our web server and turning to a technology called LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe).

coastal writes “I saw the news on Slashdot this morning that hundreds of thousands of medical records belonging to Oregon patients were stolen.

The Slashdot article is here:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/27/02 37222&from=lisnews.org
Scathing editorial here:
http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/5588 /C426/L426

Unfortunately, poor data security procedures are probably fairly common within the medical industry, except (I hope) in large hospitals. With the coming rush to implement Electronic Medical Records even in small physician practices, theft of data could occur more frequently. EMR is an exciting technology, but I fear that while giving better access, it will give patients less privacy and less control over their own records. If we should ever have such a system as a national EMR share system(and I don’t doubt that we could after billions of dollars and a couple of decades) I see it being used as much by insurance companies to deny claims based on pre-existing conditions, as much as it would be used by doctors to assist in diagnosis, and by patients to manage their own health.

HIPAA. HIPAA is an important effort and I think it has the right idea, but has it actually provided any benefits to patients? Don’t most patients sign a waiver that gives the care provider authorization to release records to basically anyone? Based only on observations, it seems to me that many health care workers see HIPAA regulations as an obstacle to doing their jobs.

Okay, enough ranting. Any medical librarians to the rescue?

“