August 2006

Betjeman love letter is horrid hoax

Anonymous Patron writes “From the:Times Online. One regret, Sir John Betjeman once said, was that he had not had enough sex. So the late poet laureate’s biographer could be forgiven the thrill of discovery he felt when someone sent him a passionate love letter supposedly written by Betjeman to a mistress.
Now, however, it turns out that the poet, born 100 years ago tomorrow, never wrote the letter. Instead, AN Wilson, the biographer, admitted this weekend he had fallen victim to an elaborate hoax.”

MA Company helps save libraries from disaster

Anonymous Patron writes From The Republican in MA: A specialized company with an office and climate-controlled warehouse in this town’s Three Rivers section, has long helped planners anticipate moving large library collections during construction projects.

But more recently, National Library Relocations has been responding to climates out of control in the form of destructive wet weather–north and south.

First it was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when a series of recommendations from other campuses landed the job of clearing out the water-damaged Alexander Library at Dillard University in New Orleans.”

Gallery of Photoshopped Pictures

In light of the recent flap over the slimming of Katie Couric via image manipulation, CNET News.com is running a exposé on Pictures that lie.

Highlights include Time’s darkening of OJ Simpson’s mug shot, and a PC maneuver straight out of The Onion.

Missing shots include the

9-11 tourist,
evil Bert, and
Kimberly Williamson Butler.

You can see more touch-up work done by
Greg Apodaca,
Brian Dlig, and (surprise)
Maxim.

Does your library adjust images being digitized?

Digital library needs more help from UK

Anonymous Patron writes Technology News at silicon.com: The UK is being urged to step up its efforts to contribute to a Europe-wide free digital library.

The European Commission is asking all member states to boost efforts towards making its dream of a continent-wide library — containing over books, films, photographs, manuscripts and other cultural works — a reality.”

AT&T Foundation Gift to Gulf Coast Schools

Anonymous Patron writes San Antonio Business Journal: On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina touching down along the Gulf Coast, the AT&T Foundation is giving $1 million to the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries to help rebuild school libraries that were destroyed by the flood waters.

The two-year grant will initially assist 10 schools in Louisiana and Mississippi replenish their supplies of books and educational materials. Additional schools will be helped next year based on their needs, says Eric Hausken, a spokesman for the AT&T Foundation.”

Georgia Libraries Going Evergreen

Anonymous Patron writes Rome News — TribuneGeorgia’s PINES libraries will debut new Evergreen software and a new Web-based catalog on Tuesday.

Evergreen will also include a wealth of security enhancements designed to protect the personal information of patrons who use the service from their homes or from public-access computers at their local libraries.”

Does Yahoo have the Right Answers?

Anonymous Patron writes Does Yahoo have the right answers? An online Q&A service, Yahoo Answers (check out the disclaimer page here) has become the second most popular Internet reference site after Wikipedia, according to Comscore. In June, Yahoo Answers attracted 12.3 million unique visitors, a 35 percent spike from the previous month. (For comparison, media sensation YouTube had 13.4 million visitors in June.) During the same period, 947,000 people clicked on Google Answers, down 4 percent from May.

The secret to Yahoo Answers’s success?

Get your tens of millions of users to create your next hot product — and then give it away.”

Librarian’s collection brings her the world

Anonymous Patron writes Librarian’s collection brings her the world Some people collect shot glasses, matchbooks or baseball cards, but not Carla Smith of Tempe.

The Phoenix College reference librarian has an impressive collection of library cards from around the world, from Finland, to Yuma, Ariz. Each has its place in a 3-inch-thick scrapbook and, as you might expect, is alphabetized and categorized based on current events, geography and life’s moments.”

Net Neutrality Issue Heating Up as Vote Approaches

There are those in favor ( Digital Divideand Aplus.net) and those opposed (Qwest Communicationsand Institute for Liberty), but the issue of Net Neutrality is a complicated one. Should the telephone and cable companies be allowed to offer premium cable service to some internet sites and not others? Is restricting price options a limitation of growth for the telcos? Will it stifle competition among cable providers? Impede profits?

As the telephone industry has been around a long time, regulations are enforced that don’t apply to the relatively new industry of the internet. Check out our earlier story for more background on the issue. Please cast your vote in the new poll, and feel free to add a comment.