February 2006

Saturday’s Wall Street Journal (registration required) profiled Jimmy Carter’s post-White House career as “a publishing juggernaut”–since 1981 he has published 18 books, the last three of which have 1.4 million copies in print in hardcover.

The paper called Carter, 81, “a versatile writer and relentless marketer” who works hard at his appearances, sticks to his schedule and has won over booksellers because of his efficiency and crowd-pleasing ways. For example, he signs his name “J. Carter” to save time and autographs as many as 800 books an hour. He speaks to everyone on line and makes eye contact. Moreover, “I tell the little girls they’re pretty and ask the little boys how old they are,” he told the Journal.

mdoneil writes “The M4 (named after the M4 Enigma machine) code breaking project is looking for a few spare CPU cycles to help crack the 3 (well now 2) remaining encoded messages from World War II

More about this interesting project, and the installers if you wish to help (a la the SETI@home concept) is available here .”

Anonymous Patron writes “AskJeeves fires its butler: AskJeeves.com said on Monday that it has retired Jeeves, its mascot servant, and will now answer the door simply as Ask.com, adopting a self-service approach for users looking for a focused way to search the Web beyond guessing keywords.

The new Ask.com features a slick, do-it-yourself toolbox that helps users refine more types of searches with the first click of their computer mouse for maps, images, dictionaries, weather, local info or documents stored on their computers.”

The BBC Reports Schools spend more than five times as much on computer-based resources as on books, an analysis suggests.
The figures, reported by the Times Educational Supplement, also suggest schools spend two and a half times more money on exam fees than on books.

Ministers said numeracy and literacy hours had led to a rise in standards.

Jay writes “Public Knowledge is a Washington DC based advocacy group working to defend your rights in the emerging digital culture. It is a group of lawyers, technologists, lobbyists, academics, volunteers and activists dedicated to fortifying and defending a vibrant information commons.

Access this resource at: Public Knowledge.”

The Jackson Sun (Jackson,TN) is reporting companies wishing to manage the Jackson-Madison County Library have to make their pitch for taking over library operations at a savings while offering expanded services.

Last week, the Library Board voted unanimously to bid out management in hopes of offering additional services within the bounds of an ever-tightening budget (currently about $935,000), board chairman Gary Kerr said.

Library Director Thomas Aud said the 28 full- and part-time staff “are naturally concerned and are watching this closely.” He also said that current library management can “bid on the process – in effect, we can bid on keeping our own jobs.” He made the comments while explaining the highlights of the proposal during a recent Madison County Commission meeting. The library is jointly funded by the city and county.

The big-screen adaptation of the best-selling book The Da Vinci Code, which features Midlothian’s Rosslyn Chapel, is set to be delayed by a legal challenge.

The film, which is directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard, is set to be released in Britain on May 19, but a copyright claim by the writers of a non-fiction book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, is due in the High Court in London next week.

ABC Reports The contents of 800 Australian libraries will go online today, with the launch of a new free service by the National Library in Canberra.

Libraries Australia has been used by professional librarians for 25 years.

The National Library’s Fran Wilson says from today that will extend to everyone.

“It will be accessible to all Australians, basically anyone who has access to the Internet,” she said.

Greg Schwartz has Announced Open Stacks #19. This issues topics include “Speed dating @ your library”, “SLA on the EPA”, and “Pornland Security”
If you’ve missed any past casts, have a Listen.

We’ve all heard of the mid-life crisis (and some of us have been there, done that) but now author Abby Miller has written about an interesting and somewhat difficult time in our lives as young adults (from 18-25), the”Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties”. More on the phenmenon and the book here from the North Jersey Media Group.