May 2006

search-engines-web writes “…there are up to 1.7 million soldiers who belong on the list. So they’re putting out a call: If you or a family member has been awarded the Purple Heart, they want you. More precisely, they want your information for the most comprehensive list of American military sacrifice.”

Read the full story.

not the ADHD librarian writes “Yes, it is back. The hyperactive librarian has returned to blogging, and you should check it out because I am witty and I write reel good. Um, I mean HE writes well and is funny. I’m just a random librarian who is a fan of this site and am in no way the hyperactive librarian myself. Honest?”

JET writes “Lulu.com has an article on the lifespan of a best seller.”

The average number of weeks that a new No. 1 bestseller stayed top of the hardback fiction section of the New York Times Bestseller List has fallen from 5.5 in the 1990s, 14 in the 1970s and 22 in the 1960s to barely a fortnight last year — according to the study of the half-century from 1956-2005. In the 1960s, fewer than three novels reached No. 1 in an average year; last year, 23 did.

http://search-engines-web.com/ writes “.
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/05/26 /news/library_0526.txt

Wednesday, the family received notice the fine needed to be resolved or it would be sent to a collection agency. The bill still was $22,840″

http://search-engines-web.com/ writes “A lecturer at a West Yorkshire university has abolished traditional lectures in favour of podcasts
Students will access the podcasts via their MP3 player, phone or computer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_yo rkshire/5013194.stm“

Jay writes “Mediashift, a guide to the digital media revolution, brings to us some very interesting perspectives on ebooks in the article Books Don’t Need Digital Reinvention, But…. some excerpts: “As for e-books, Murphy thinks they will complement print books the same way that audio books have – without replacing them. He doesn’t believe specialized e-book devices, like the new Sony Reader pictured here, will catch on, and would bet on e-book readers built into mobile devices such as smart phones or iPods.” and “But like it or not, digital books are already making inroads in academic settings. Milt Martin, who runs the citizen journalism site, PrattNews.com, in Kansas, reports on a home-grown digital initiative.””

Anonymous Patron writes “Hamden Connecticut’s Legislative Council voted this month to eliminate the position of Library Director as a means of balancing the town’s budget.
Here’s The story
Learning at the 11th hour that $600,000 had to be shaved from the budget, the Town Council made some rapid cuts last night before voting on the 2006-07 budget.

The ouchiest cut was library director Bob Gualtieri. His job will end June 30. The reason for the slashes — $100,000 was taken from the Board of Education; $200,000 from debt service; $50,000 from workers’ comp; etc. — was a revenue oversight.”

The ACLU Says A federal appeals court ruled yesterday on two constitutional challenges filed by the ACLU to the Patriot Act’s National Security Letter (NSL) provision, saying in one of the cases that a district court should consider the constitutionality of the provision in light of recent amendments made by Congress.

“Two separate lower courts found the Patriot Act”s National Security Letter provision to be undemocratic and unconstitutional,” said Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU attorney who argued the New York case before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. “We believe that recent amendments to the law make the provision worse, not better, and we are confident the district court will agree.”

Anonymous Patron writes “Union-represented workers in the King County Library System, a large suburban library system near Seattle, have cast an overwhelming vote of no confidence in the system’s longtime director, Bill Ptacek.
The Seattle Times Reports Ninety-two percent of the 388 librarians and library assistants voting said they don’t have confidence in Ptacek’s management or leadership, at or near the top of the complaint list is Ptacek’s policy of grouping libraries into “clusters.” Each cluster has a single manager who can assign workers to any of its libraries.”

mdoneil writes “A new global top level domain .mobi – for all things mobile – well all thing mobile communication related is now active.

Check out the new domain at mtld.mobi“