“People have been coming in tears. Yeah. I mean one of our programming people, who does programming for children here at the library, her son was shot,” Library Director Janet Woycik said Saturday afternoon, as she stood on the second floor of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library on Main Street.
“It’s just unbelievable… My neighbor’s grand daughter was shot,” Woycik said before falling into tears.
Post discussing the philosophy underpinning Facebook, Twitter., etc, and what web users have lost by adopting it.
Earlier this month, a new version of Jeffrey Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers 2013 was posted at scholarlyoa.com. Since then, faked quotes have been posted to multiple blogs, claiming that Jeffrey Beall has been trying to extort money from publishers. This is an apparent smear campaign to discredit the efforts to name predatory publishers. The criteria for listing these publishers is also posted at scholarlyoa.com.
There are no related links this week as there is no miscellany. The President’s weekly address dated December 15th is replayed. A brief message relative to the situation in Connecticut is presented along with readings from Psalms and Ecclesiastes. Lighter fare will air in seven days.
Download here (MP3) (Ogg Vorbis), or subscribe to the podcast (MP3) to have episodes delivered to your media player. We suggest subscribing by way of a service like gpodder.net. Stephen’s Silly Summation of Christmas Wishes can be found here via Amazon, as always.
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It’s that time again… let’s look back at this year’s top library headlines.
10. Bird Flu Study is Published
After researchers found a way to spread H5N1 to humans, an interesting test ensued of the bounds of free speech versus public health. Citing concerns over bioterrorism, a government panel wanted to ban publication of the scientific findings. The paper was printed, in full, in the journal Science.
9. Remember Those Boycotts?
Multiple generations of librarians have lamented over costly journal prices. Aside from the continued drive for
public access to funded research, libraries and now finally scholars are boycotting Elsevier and the American Chemical Society. Here’s hoping the Open Access movement against profiteering publishers keeps growing.
Quote of the Year
"The economics of publishing print no longer worked and that’s why we’re going to go all digital" – Newsweek editor Tina Brown. How does your employer intend to survive?
8. Begun, the E-Book Wars Have
As e-books continue to gain mainstream dominance, thorny issues over lending, pricing, and the future of publishing remain crucial to follow.
7. Library Evolution Sparks Protests
Some library administrators now realize that running a change averse institution no longer has the survival value that it once did. The very notion of change, however, is still antagonistic to some. Two notable examples of adapting libraries this year are Harvard University and the New York Public Library.
6. National Library Efforts
Though still vaporware, the concept of a Digital Public Library of America, now with some major backers, holds promise. An initial launch is planned for 2013.
Honorable Mention
More libraries are going to the dogs. Has yours?
5. Georgia State E-Reserve Case
Libraries would not exist if copyright was an absolute. In a complicated case (as with Google Books and HathiTrust, aren’t they always) of publishers suing over the use of electronic reserve readings, the verdict came out in the library’s favor.
4. Kiosk Libraries Take Root
Kudos to the innovative Little Free Library project. Is there one in your community?
3. 3-D Printing
Those devices that create custom three-dimensional products on demand also generated a lot of buzz this year. There are promising business applications but also legal battles looming for such products.
Dis-honorable Mention
Regarding this year’s bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey, Salman Rushie says it best.
2. Innocence of Muslims
As with the burning of the Quran by Terry Jones and later by soldiers in Afghanistan, people are dead because of this movie. Google has blocked access to the film in certain countries. Should there ever be limits to the freedom of speech?
1. Have you heard of… the Internet?
This year saw the continued growth of the Web and its interaction with human intelligence, not to mention our dependence on it, to the point of our devices now serving as an external drive to the brain. Prince and Clifford Stoll were wrong: the Internet is not a fad. What else will be taken for granted in a few more years? Cloud computing? Web-scale discovery? And where do libraries fit in this picture?
What’s your favorite story of 2012?
University of California removed the book from their logo. It was all downhill from there.
Two stories:
UC Logo Fail: How The Updated Design Fails To Represent University Of California
Oprah Winfrey says her Book Club grew out of a desire to talk to authors after finishing their books. While the original version of the club ended when Winfrey’s television show went off the air in 2011, it has now been rebooted online and on the new Oprah Winfrey Network as Book Club 2.0.
Apparently over 40 phone calls or so to your local public library that are harassing in nature may lead to charges being filed against you, according to WOIO news in Cleveland. Further details are available from The Akron Beacon-Journal.
The fight to keep libraries open has dominated the headlines but the UK has quietly lost more than 200 branches over the past year, according to a detailed national survey.
The rate of library closures has increased, reveals the annual report from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy: 146 branches closed between 2010 and 2011, with the number stepping up to 201 this year. The UK now has 4,265 libraries, compared with 4,612 two years ago, and the number of closures is likely to grow. Campaigners in Newcastle are currently fighting plans to close 10 out of the city’s 18 libraries, with Billy Elliot playwright Lee Hall calling on the council to protect the city’s heritage last month.
Wired’s This Day in Tech Blog remembers Paul Otlet and his dream of organizing the world’s information. Sound familiar?
“Some historians see in Otlet’s work a prototype of the World Wide Web and the hyperlink. Although unsuccessful, it was one of the first known attempts to provide a framework for connecting all recorded culture by creating flexible links that could rapidly lead researchers from one document to another — and perhaps make audible the previously unheard echoes between them.”
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