How much are the big Internet service providers going to cooperate with the record and movie industry’s requests that they hector and eventually punish customers who are exchanging copyrighted files?
So far, not so much. But AT&T has released data that a compromise plan — nagging with no punishment — may be almost as effective.
Apparently, today’s a good day for bad news, with Google laying off 200 employees, our own cutbacks here at The NY Times, and now, Amazon.com weighing in with some cost-cutting of its own. Over the next two months, the online retailer will close three distribution centers: in Red Rock, Nev.; Munster, Ind.; and Chambersburg, Pa.
The 210 employees in those three facilities were informed Wednesday. They will get severance packages and an opportunity to transfer to other Amazon shipping locations.
Wind will power KU library: Wind will generate the electricity needed next year to power the University of Kansas’ Anschutz Library.
The Student Environmental Advisory Board this month began buying wind power credits from Westar Energy to offset fossil fuel power to the library. That group spearheaded a Student Senate initiative in 2007 to reduce the campus’ dependence on unsustainable energy.
Stacks of unsold books and glum publishers stood for three days inside the cavernous Dallas Convention Center this past weekend at the Christian Book Expo, a first-of-its-kind event designed to connect publishers and authors directly with readers in the evangelical Christian market. Only problem was there were few readers to connect with, despite the show’s location in Dallas, the buckle of the Bible Belt and a top market for Christian publishers. The show, sponsored by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, attracted 1,500 consumer attendees; it had hoped for 15,000-20,000.
After 20 years selling cookbooks to epicures in Los Angeles, the Cook’s Library bookstore will close April 30. “I am extraordinarily proud of what I’ve done,” owner Ellen Rose told Jacket Copy. “I wish I could be open for another 20 years.”
Historian John Hope Franklin died Wednesday at the age of 94. Franklin’s work defined the field of African-American history, and he played a crucial role in pivotal civil rights events of the 20th century.
Listen to 7 minute piece on NPR.
Mr. Franklin’s major work is: From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans
His autobiography: Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin
Unusual story of a young man out of work who wanted to prepare for a job exam at his local library. When it was discovered that he owed the library $80, he was allowed to work off the amount reshelving books.
From the New York Times:
Anthony Morris’s job search hit a snag this month when the Queens Borough Public Library notified him that he could not get a new library card until he paid about $80 in fines.
Mr. Morris, 31, had been unemployed for eight months and did not have the money. But he had amassed an armful of library books he needed to prepare for an exam that was part of the application process for a job at Con Edison, and he also needed a library card to browse online classified sites. So he asked if he could work off his debt.
After 22 hours of sorting books in the reference section at the Jamaica branch, Mr. Morris got his library card — and was asked to apply for a part-time position at the library.
“We’ve been in the job-search business for decades,” said Paul LeClerc, the president of the New York Public Library, noting that President Obama has said that a librarian helped him find his first job as a community organizer. “This is a continuation.”
The cloud computing concept takes another hit. Techcrunch dropped a story this morning on more holes found in the popular online application Google Docs. This news arrives right on the heels of another security problem discovered earlier this month.
In short, images embedded in Google Docs could be accessed outside Google Docs itself because the images are uploaded to another server. I’ve seen something like this myself because if you use Blogger, your uploaded images show up in your Picassa account.
If you share a document carrying a diagram, the person will be able to view previous versions of that diagram whether you want them to or not.
Finally, removing another user’s access to a document doesn’t always ensure that they can’t access that document again later.
These flaws seem serious enough to put at risk the ability of libraries to comply with relevant privacy rules as to patrons if Google Docs is in the mix. Free (as in freedom and as in beer) alternatives like Citadel may prove profitable for libraries to evaluate.
Virginia Tech’s University Library plans to cancel nearly $900,000 worth of subscriptions in the 2009-2010 budget year.
In a letter to the university community, Eileen Hitchingham, dean of university libraries, wrote that potential budget cuts and anticipated inflation costs facilitate a need for mass cancellations.
Hitchingham said that the university must cancel $500,000 worth of subscriptions to accommodate library budget cuts. They must also cover $400,000 worth of cuts to meet inflationary cost increases.
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