April 2012

Convicted terrorist complains about jail library facilities
A convicted terrorist serving 14 years for his part in amassing stockpiles of bomb-making chemicals has argued he should not serve a further lengthy jail term for other crimes – because the Goulburn Supermax library is not up to scratch.
Convicted terrorist complains about jail library facilities
Not enough books about maths and Islamic art in the library
Lawyer argues he should not serve further jail for other crimes

Women’s Library campaign gathers steam with 5,000-strong petition
The library, part of London Metropolitan University, is threatened with drastically reduced opening hours unless a new home, owner or sponsor can be found by December. The university is trying to save £1m a year across its two special collections, the Women’s Library and the Trades Union Congress Library. Its board of governors has said that, if a new home or owner cannot be found, the Women’s Library’s opening hours will be reduced from five days a week to a skeleton service of just one day a week from the end of 2012.

Complaint: Library of Congress biased

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission could issue an opinion soon on an ex-Library of Congress worker’s discrimination allegation because he’s gay.

Redesigning libraries for today’s climate and tomorrow’s needs
The financial pressures facing libraries today are arguably the most challenging for years, with cuts and closures making the headlines. What is less evident is the way that libraries are tackling the challenges they face through radical new ways of working: merging services across authorities, forging new partnerships, and moving into community management.

Berkeley library not thrilled about yarnbombing
One creative contribution to the newly reopened North Branch Library was not seen by the crowds of supporters who turned up on Saturday to celebrate the library’s return to service. Local “yarnbomber” Streetcolor had made some custom knitted coverings for the new circular bike racks outside the library — but they barely saw the light of day as they were quickly removed by librarians displeased with the rogue artistic action.

Sacking a Palace of Culture
It was with a surge of emotion, therefore, that I read newspaper reports about the determination of Anthony W. Marx, the president of the library, to spend $300 million to transform the main building, long devoted to reference, into what sounds like a palace of presentism. He wants to close the library system’s biggest circulating branch, the Mid-Manhattan (located just across the street) and the Science, Industry and Business Library (also in Midtown) and somehow wedge their contents into the already overstocked central research library.

This week’s episode of LISTen looks at Terms of Service in the social infrastructure operated by the private sector and contemplates consequences.

Direct Download Link: Ogg Vorbis Audio

Related link:
Paid Content: OWS protestor doesn’t own his tweets, judge rules
CBC News: Google Drive terms of service spark privacy concerns
Ars Technica: Google Drive files can end up in ads, even though you still own them
PC World: The Problem with Google Drive
VodkaPundit: Who Owns You? Google Owns You
FreedomBox Foundation
StatusNet
MediaGoblin

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program — Episode #196 by The Air Staff of Erie Looking Productions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Every once in a while the.effing.librarian has a good point….
Why Clifford Stoll is RIGHT about the internet:
Yet for his goofs, Stoll gave me one of the wisest pieces of wisdom, ever. On one television program, he espoused having two computers, one for online and one that never touches an outside network. Because that was the only way to guarantee that your data would be safe. One day, you’ll wish you’d listened to him.

The more things change…

Image from the New York Public Library Manuscripts Division.

The Internet will be a fad
He thought the Internet had no future. Merely a fad. A passing fancy.
We were reminded of scientist Clifford Stoll yesterday when we posted a photo from when the Internet first came to NPR. MPR News reporter Curtis Gilbert recently stumbled upon a gem from the MPR archives, a 1995 interview with Stoll by MPR host Paula Schroeder. Stoll was promoting his book Silicon Snake Oil (at the same time he also published a Newsweek article titled, “The Internet? Bah!”)

“STOLL: I’d say it’s not that important. I think it’s grossly oversold and within two or three years people will shrug and say, ‘”Uh yep, it was a fad of the early 90’s and now, oh yeah, it still exists but hey, I’ve got a life to lead and work to do. I don’t have time to waste online.” Or, “I’ll collect my email, I’ll read it, why should I bother prowling around the Worldwide Web or reading the Usenet” simply because there’s so little of value there.”