November 2013

Quote attributed to George Carlin

“Don’t just teach your children to read … teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything.”

One thing to question is whether this is a Carlin quote.

Big story from Naples Italy via The New York Times. Here’s the perp, Marino Massimo De Caro, now on trial.

It was one of the most dramatic thefts ever to hit the rare-book world, the disappearance of thousands of volumes — including centuries-old editions of Aristotle, Descartes, Galileo and Machiavelli — from the Baroque-era Girolamini Library in Naples. Now, prosecutors at a trial here are trying to show how such a wholesale violation of Western cultural patrimony could have taken place.

The very man charged with protecting these treasures, Marino Massimo De Caro, a politically connected former director of the library, is accused of being at the center of a network of middlemen, book dealers and possibly crooked conservators — all part of what prosecutors say is a sometimes corrupt market for rare books in which much is spent and few questions are asked. Apart from Mr. De Caro, 13 others are charged, including a priest.

Some interesting backstory on the theft here and and here from the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-defend-yourself-against-hacking-on-any-device-2013-11
If you can plug it in or connect it to a network, your device—no matter what it is—can be harnessed by someone else. And that someone doesn’t have to be a Chinese superhacker to do some serious damage with it, either on purpose or by accident. It can be your Uncle Roger, who doesn’t have his new iPhone figured out and is cluelessly turning your lights on and off via your Belkin WeMo.

Privacy And Why It Really Matters
https://markopolojarvi.com/privacy.html
“As much as privacy is about one’s ability to control what others know about one, it’s also about protecting the freedom of the modern democratic society.

The processes that make our democratic and free society possible are built on transparent and fair decision-making. If you strip out transparency you end up with totalitarianism. The current practice of harvesting and analysing individual’s private and public data jeopardises the whole system of fair decision-making.”

http://www.lysator.liu.se/etexts/the_internet.html

“As the Nineties proceed, finding a link to the Internet will become much cheaper and easier. Its ease of use will also improve, which is fine news, for the savage UNIX interface of TCP/IP leaves plenty of room for advancements in user-friendliness. Learning the Internet now, or at least learning about it, is wise. By the turn of the century, “network literacy,” like “computer literacy” before it, will be forcing itself into the very texture of your life.”

From CNN.com: “The world’s most valuable book sold Tuesday for $14.16 million at Sotheby’s in New York, according to the auction house.

The rare Bay Psalm Book is the first book ever written and printed in what is now the United States. Its sale set a record for a book sold at auction, Sotheby’s said.”

So this might be a big deal: Google Scholar Library. Google does citation management. http://t.co/0T4W9Ih4VH

— Jason Griffey (@griffey) November 20, 2013

@griffey @adr OH: that's cool, but I would never trust them, because they can get rid of it at any moment.

— David Kinzer (@dtkinzer) November 20, 2013

@griffey @adr Insert tweet here about Zotero and my cold, dead hands.

— Graham Fawcett (@gmfawcett) November 20, 2013

Google Scholar library is great idea… until they stop supporting or eff it up with Plus. Use Zotero, kids. OS and proven track record.

— Sarah Glassmeyer (@sglassmeyer) November 20, 2013

Conflicting views over the announcement by Google of Google Scholar Library.

The Star Beacon reports that embattled Ashtabula County District Library will keep its levy win in northeast Ohio. The margin of victory, the difference between votes in favor and votes against, moved from what was previously discussed in LISTen #261 of being only 60 votes to being 94 votes. This will be the first recent locally-derived tax money to fund library operations in lieu of Ohio’s state-administered Libraries & Local Government Fund.

This could be a library meme.

Story via librarian Roz Warren.

Even though librarians like Warren have to deal with these characters, they also have to also maintain their cool. She suggests that she might write a book with survival tips someday, and she already has title ideas:

Because we librarians are helpful and courteous by nature, we refrain from telling these folks off. Or telling them to get the hell out of our library. Instead, we smile and do what we can to help them. Which, given what we’re dealing with, calls for its own special guide book. “When Difficult Patrons Happen to Good Librarians.” Or “Impossible People For Dummies.” Some day I might just write that book.