April 2010

…by cartoonist Mikhaela B. Reid.

New York Times Book Review of ‘The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It’ by Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake. 290 pages. Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers. $25.99.

Gas pipelines explode. Chemical plants release clouds of toxic chlorine. Banks lose all their data. Weather and communication satellites spin out of their orbits. And the Pentagon’s classified networks grind to a halt, blinding the greatest military power in the world.

This might sound like a takeoff on the 2007 Bruce Willis “Die Hard” movie, in which a group of cyberterrorists attempts to stage what it calls a “fire sale”: a systematic shutdown of the nation’s vital communication and utilities infrastructure. According to the former counterterrorism czar Richard A. Clarke, however, it’s a scenario that could happen in real life — and it could all go down in 15 minutes. While the United States has a first-rate cyberoffense capacity, he says, its lack of a credible defense system, combined with the country’s heavy reliance on technology, makes it highly susceptible to a devastating cyberattack.

from blog without a library

Baltimore’s health department launched the Virtual Supermarket Project last month as part of a push to make healthy food more accessible where supermarkets are scarce. Under the program, patrons order groceries online, wait for the orders to be filled by longtime Baltimore grocer Santoni’s and pick them up at one of two library branches.

Full story on “All Things Considered” on NPR

OXFORD, Ohio — “Do you have the latest Danielle Steel book?”

“Who is the district manager at Kroger?”

“What is the weather like in New York?”

No two questions are alike for a reference librarian, meaning each day on the job is a drastically different affair.

Rebecca Smith, branch manager at the Oxford Lane Library, said in her 10 years of working she has heard just about every question under the sun.

“There is no typical day for me,” Smith said. “People will come in and ask their question and it’s not always clear what their information needs are. Sometimes knowing the question is just as difficult as finding the answer.”

In the age of Google and Wikipedia, is there as much demand for a reference librarian? That is one of the few questions Smith can’t answer.

“We’re still used, just in a different way,” Smith said. “The amount of homework questions for kids has decreased and we’re not sure if it’s because teachers are focused on a more specific curriculum or if students are just using Google for everything.”

Middletown (OH) Journal.

Well, they have alot in common, librarians and booksellers…and publishers, distributors, authors, publicists and other adjuncts in the book-selling industry are trying to attract more librarians to BEA. Makes sense to me.
Lauren Gilbert, information services manager, Cold Spring Harbor (NY) Library, writes in this week’s Publishers Weekly, “If Rodney Dangerfield were a librarian at BEA, he might say: “we don’t get any respect.” (Dangerfield, M.L.S., has excellent grammar.) Librarians are considered the dowdy, poor relations at the BEA publishing family reunions. We pay less to attend, and we don’t spend much money there, and so our long-lost cousins in publishing are not always overjoyed to see us at the party. Last year at BEA, I was amused by the special “librarian-friendly” welcome mats in selected booths, which made me wonder what that implied about the others. But librarians are a big part of BEA—and we could be even bigger.”

Here’s how BEA is trying to entice librarians to attend the show…”BookExpo America (BEA) is Librarian Friendly and looking forward to having you join us this year. Here are just some of the things you will enjoy and benefit from this year at BEA.” The show runs from May 25-27 at the Javits Center in NYC.

If state lawmakers and the University of Hawai’i have their way, the 50th State could soon be known as the home of the Barack Obama presidential library, in addition to sea, sun and surf.

A measure urging the president to choose his home state as the site of his presidential library passed the Senate Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs committee yesterday and will go to the full Senate for a vote.

The measure also has the support of the state House. “I think we’re one of the top contenders,” said Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka’i, L?na’i). “It can be anywhere in Hawai’i.” Honolulu Advertiser.

The first call for Solano County (CA) residents who receive calls about overdue library books should be to the police, law enforcement officials said this week. Lt. Gary Faulkner of the Solano County Sheriff’s Department warned Thursday that a scam operation could be underway in the county after a resident received a call demanding payment from someone who claimed to be from a collection agency.

The male caller told the resident she owed money to her local library and demanded payment over the phone by credit card, claiming the collection agency had a special arrangement with the library to collect the outstanding funds, Faulkner said.

But Cary Duffy Swarz, the county’s assistant director of library services, said that while the library may call people who owe more than $50, county libraries do not accept payments over the phone or by any kind of electronic transfer, the sheriff’s department said.

…entitled “Legislators should seek funds, not muddle in library politics”.

It’s Time for Public Libraries to Get Creative

Libraries also need to start forming alliances with hacker spaces. These are springing up all over the place, inspired by the pioneering hacker spaces in Germany. Remember the internal combustion engine? That came from Germany. Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Eastern Europe, Holland, Italy – all have some of the most creative minds on the planet. We would do well to watch, listen, and learn from them.