March 2014

Women’s Library to reopen doors at London School of Economics

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/10/womens-library-reopen-london-school-economics-lse

The Women’s Library, the oldest and most extensive collection on women’s history in Europe, is about to open its doors again in what campaigners hope will be a permanent home, after almost a century of repeatedly having to pack up and move a unique archive of books, letters, diaries, magazines, protest banners, pamphlets and photographs.

Although the London School of Economics, whose founders shared many of the radical ideals of the women who started the library, has pledged to care for the collection and keep it open to members of the public as well as academics, the move was bitterly contentious to some.

March 10, 2014 by Librarians Libraries School Libraries

India’s Plan To Resurrect Ghost Libraries

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140310/jsp/nation/story_18064282.jsp

“You have come across them in your city, town or village — cramped, dusty and poorly lit buildings with racks of tattered, hard-bound books no one seems interested in. Short of staff and new publications, these public libraries can count themselves lucky if they can attract a handful of readers looking for the day’s newspapers. The Union culture ministry now plans to upgrade at least the top 10 per cent among the country’s 54,000-odd public libraries, most of which seem to be on their deathbed. First, it wants to start a nationwide survey of about 5,000 of these libraries — the bigger and better ones.”

March 10, 2014 by Libraries

Budget cuts leave about half of L.A. Unified’s elementary and middle schools without librarians

Budget cuts leave about half of L.A. Unified’s elementary and middle schools without librarians

The crisis has exacerbated educational inequalities across the nation’s second-largest system, as some campuses receive extra money for library staff and others don’t. It has also sparked a prolonged labor conflict with the California School Employees Assn., which represents library aides.

Since 2011, the union has alleged that L.A. Unified laid off their members, then illegally allowed parent volunteers, instructional aides and others to do their work at nearly four dozen campuses. The district issued a bulletin last year clarifying that library work can be performed only by those with proper credentials, but the union asserts that violations are still occurring. The issue is set for a hearing by the state Public Employment Relations Board in May.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-lausd-libraries-20140224,0,5992443.story#ixzz2vYldq2mO

March 10, 2014 by Legal Issues Librarians Libraries School Libraries

Sony And Panasonic Announce New 300GB “Archival Disc” Storage Medium

Sony & Panasonic announced that they have formulated “Archival Disc”, a new standard for professional-use, next-generation optical discs, with the objective of expanding the market for long-term digital data storage.

Optical discs have excellent properties to protect themselves against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them robust media for long-term storage of content. Recognizing that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage going forward, particularly given the anticipated future growth in the archive market, Sony and Panasonic have been engaged in the joint development of a standard for professional-use next-generation optical discs.

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201403/14-0310E/index.html

March 10, 2014 by Archives

What You Think You Know About the Web Is Wrong

If you’re an average reader, I’ve got your attention for 15 seconds, so here goes: We are getting a lot wrong about the web these days. We confuse what people have clicked on for what they’ve read. We mistake sharing for reading. We race towards new trends like native advertising without fixing what was wrong with the old ones and make the same mistakes all over again.
http://time.com/12933/what-you-think-you-know-about-the-web-is-wrong/

March 10, 2014 by Internet

‘Seed libraries’ try to save the world’s plants

The circulating-library model might seem like a strange fit with gardening. When you check out books and DVDs, you’re supposed to bring them back so others can use them, but with seeds, there’s a strong chance nothing will come back at all. And, in a world where fruit and vegetable seeds are available for just a few dollars a packet, free seeds aren’t a pressing need most places.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/03/09/seed-libraries-try-save-world-plants/XnM6HJ8GCfPoo6JWtU6DQL/story.html

March 9, 2014 by Libraries

S.F. library proposes new code of conduct with penalties

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-library-proposes-new-code-of-conduct-with-5300570.php

The mayor’s letter to the commissioners proposed creating a Family and Education Fun Zone around the library and suggested that the first step should be instituting actual penalties for breaking the library’s long-standing code of conduct. Previously, most bad behavior was met simply with a warning to stop.

In response, library staff beefed up the Patron Code of Conduct with much harsher penalties than the admonishment, “Uh, that’s a sink – not a bathtub.” Under the proposals, which will likely be tweaked after community input and voted on by the commissioners this spring, repeat offenses could result in being banned from all the city’s public libraries for up to a year.

March 9, 2014 by Librarians Libraries

Anne Rice signs petition to protest bullying of authors on Amazon

Anne Rice has tackled vampires, werewolves and witches in her fiction, but now the bestselling novelist is taking on a real-life enemy: the anonymous “anti-author gangsters” who attack and threaten writers online.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/04/anne-rice-protests-bullying-amazon-petition

The Interview with the Vampire author is a signatory to a new petition, which is rapidly gathering steam, calling on Amazon to remove anonymity from its reviewers in order to prevent the “bullying and harassment” it says is rife on the site. “They’ve worked their way into the Amazon system as parasites, posting largely under pseudonyms, lecturing, bullying, seeking to discipline authors whom they see as their special prey,” Rice told the Guardian. “They’re all about power. They clearly organise, use multiple identities and brag about their ability to down vote an author’s works if the author doesn’t ‘behave’ as they dictate.”

Here’s The Petition

March 8, 2014 by Amazon Authors Internet

Rare books stolen from Becker College Library

A British man named Joseph Heath was ordered to pay $3,000 to Becker College library after stealing 100 rare books, including one signed by Abraham Lincoln, The Telegram reports.

The 53-year-old Leicester native had smuggled around $115,000 out of the antique book collection of the library. One of the books he took was a first edition o Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

Heath, a janitor at the college, had offered the missing books or sale to private collectors, as well as posting them on Craigslist.

Heath’s book pilfering was discovered when he tried to sell books to the Leicester Historical Society, and one of the board members recognized the editions.

March 6, 2014 by Academic Libraries Books Librarians Libraries

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