June 2013

Whether it’s logs of phone calls or GPS data, commentator Geoff Nunberg says it still says a lot about who you are: “Tell me where you’ve been and who you’ve been talking to, and I’ll tell you about your politics, your health, your sexual orientation, your finances,” he says.

Full piece

According to Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley, local officials are searching for new ways to innovate and make urban centers more livable. Judy Woodruff talks with Katz and Bradley, authors of “The Metropolitan Revolution,” about major moves at U.S. city halls to breath new life into the American economy and democracy.

Dwight Opperman, a Drake University law graduate who rose to the top job at West Publishing after starting work there as an editor and was a key figure in the company’s development of the Westlaw online legal research site in the 1970s, died Thursday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 89 years old.

“He was instrumental in leading West from a book publisher and moving into electronic publishing,” former West executive Grant Nelson told the Star Tribune. “Dwight had the vision that there was something else on the horizon. He really felt in his core that West Publishing was providing a vital service to the courts, to the legal system and to the country, and he took great pride in that.”

Full piece at the ABA Journal

Online search engines that protect users’ privacy are seeing a spike in traffic after the NSA surveillance revelations. DuckDuckGo, which does not track users at all, says it’s seen record-breaking traffic.

Listen to story here.

See search engine — https://duckduckgo.com/

A new form of DRM developed in Germany alters words, punctuation and other text elements so that every consumer receives a unique version of an eBook. By examining these “text watermarks”, copies that end up on the Internet can be traced back to the people who bought and allegedly pirated them. The project is a collaboration between researchers, the book industry and the Government and aims to be a consumer-friendly form of DRM.

Full story

Hundreds of people gathered at a public vigil tonight to say goodbye and honor the memory of Lori Bresnahan, the school librarian who was killed in the Town of Clay three months ago, after she left a class at the mall.

Full article

The Library of Congress has announced a transition to online-only publication of its cataloging documentation. As titles that are in production are released, the Library’s Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) will no longer print new editions of its subject headings, classification schedules and other cataloging publications. The Library will instead provide free downloadable PDF versions of these titles.

For users desiring enhanced functionality, the Library’s two web-based subscription services, Cataloger’s Desktop and Classification Web, will continue as products from CDS.

In 2012, the Library of Congress conducted an extensive study on the impact and opportunities of changes in the bibliographic framework and the technological environment on the future distribution of its cataloging data and products. The Library’s transition from print to online-only for cataloging documentation is a response to a steadily declining customer base for print and the availability of alternatives made possible by advances in technology. This shift will enable the Library to achieve a more sustainable financial model and better serve its mission in the years ahead.

Beginning July 1, print publications that are currently sold through CDS will become available as free, downloadable PDF titles through the Library’s Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate website at www.loc.gov/aba/. Because all of the content cannot be made available simultaneously, the retrospective titles will be phased in over time as PDF files.

The Library of Congress has announced a transition to online-only publication of its cataloging documentation. As titles that are in production are released, the Library’s Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) will no longer print new editions of its subject headings, classification schedules and other cataloging publications. The Library will instead provide free downloadable PDF versions of these titles.

For users desiring enhanced functionality, the Library’s two web-based subscription services, Cataloger’s Desktop and Classification Web, will continue as products from CDS.

In 2012, the Library of Congress conducted an extensive study on the impact and opportunities of changes in the bibliographic framework and the technological environment on the future distribution of its cataloging data and products. The Library’s transition from print to online-only for cataloging documentation is a response to a steadily declining customer base for print and the availability of alternatives made possible by advances in technology. This shift will enable the Library to achieve a more sustainable financial model and better serve its mission in the years ahead.

Beginning July 1, print publications that are currently sold through CDS will become available as free, downloadable PDF titles through the Library’s Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate website at www.loc.gov/aba/. Because all of the content cannot be made available simultaneously, the retrospective titles will be phased in over time as PDF files.

Print editions of already-published titles, including the just-released 35th edition of the six-volume “Library of Congress Subject Headings,” will be available from CDS until inventory is depleted. The most up-to-date sources for subject headings, classification data and other cataloging documentation remain the Cataloger’s Desktop and Classification Web services.

The great green room and the purple crayon are here; so are the wild things and the poky puppy, Charlotte’s web and Alice’s wonderland, the very hungry caterpillar and the stinky cheese man. It is a reunion of creatures, characters and creations, gathered from memories of childhood and parenthood, and celebrated in “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter,” a remarkably rich new exhibition at the New York Public Library.

Story and slide show from the New York Times.

For years, thousands of children throughout the world have been studying a poem about sunflowers believing it to be the work of the 19th-century poet William Blake.

Reading lists have included it for study, websites have included it in lesson plans and four US state school boards have recommended it to students. There is even anecdotal evidence of one of Britain’s Ofsted inspectors accepting “the fact” of Blake’s authorship of the poem when it was presented to her by a group of young students via a project on their display board.

Now though, after a 12-year misunderstanding which illustrates how effectively the internet can spread misinformation, the record could finally be put straight thanks to the diligence of a Hertfordshire librarian and blogger.

Thomas Pitchford, aka “The Library Spider”, has verified that the poem – “Two Sunflowers Move into the Yellow Room” – was written by a 1980s US poet, Nancy Willard, and published in an anthology of hers dedicated to Blake’s work, A Visit to William Blake’s Inn.

Story from The Independent.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) is offering a library amendment to the immigration bill that the Senate is considering this week. The amendment, #1223, would make public libraries eligible for funding for English language instruction and civics education, and would also add Susan Hildreth, the director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to the Task Force on New Americans. The American Library Association (ALA) is asking its members to call their Senators in support of Reed’s amendment.

According to the Congressional Record, Reed said that the amendment “recognizes the longstanding role that libraries have played in helping new Americans learn English, American

civics, and integrate into our local communities. It ensures that they continue to have a voice in these critical efforts… This amendment expands on the recent partnership between U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and IMLS.” He also cited IMLS statistics which say that more than 55 percent of new Americans use a public library at least once a week.

Story from Library Journal.