February 2016

The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) named Annie Peterson, Preservation Services Librarian at LYRASIS, the winner of the 2016 Esther J. Piercy Award. The award will be presented on Saturday, June 25 at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony during the 2016 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, FL.

From ALCTS’ Piercy Award to Annie Peterson | News and Press Center

The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) named Annie Peterson, Preservation Services Librarian at LYRASIS, the winner of the 2016 Esther J. Piercy Award. The award will be presented on Saturday, June 25 at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony during the 2016 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, FL.

From ALCTS’ Piercy Award to Annie Peterson | News and Press Center

Louise Rennison, author of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, has died.
The book, which was part of her series of her hugely popular books The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, was made into a film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson in 2008.
Her publisher Harper Collins confirmed the news of her death.
“It is with huge sadness that we can confirm the death of our much loved author and friend, Louise Rennison.”
She was in her sixties.

From Angus, Thongs author Louise Rennison dies – BBC News

Louise Rennison, author of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, has died.
The book, which was part of her series of her hugely popular books The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, was made into a film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson in 2008.
Her publisher Harper Collins confirmed the news of her death.
“It is with huge sadness that we can confirm the death of our much loved author and friend, Louise Rennison.”
She was in her sixties.

From Angus, Thongs author Louise Rennison dies – BBC News

Why is this relevant to libraries? I think it’s past time that we start paying very close attention to the details of our data in ways that we have, at best, hand-waved as a vendor responsibility in the past. There have been amazing strides lately in libraryland in regards to the security of our data connections via SSL (LetsEncrypt) as well as a resurgence in anonymization and privacy tools for our patrons (Tor and the like, thank you very much Library Freedom Project).

Data about our patrons and their interactions that isn’t encrypted at rest in either the local database or the vendor database hosted on their servers (and our electronic resource access, and our proxy logins, and, and, and…) is data that is subject to subpoena and could be accessed in ways that we would not want. It is the job of the librarian to protect the data about the information seeking process of their patrons. And while it’s been talked about before in library circles (Peter Murray’s 2011 article is a good example of past discussions) this court case brings into focus the lengths that some aspects of the law enforcement community will go to in order to have the power to collect data about individuals.

From Apple, the FBI, and Libraries | Pattern Recognition

Why is this relevant to libraries? I think it’s past time that we start paying very close attention to the details of our data in ways that we have, at best, hand-waved as a vendor responsibility in the past. There have been amazing strides lately in libraryland in regards to the security of our data connections via SSL (LetsEncrypt) as well as a resurgence in anonymization and privacy tools for our patrons (Tor and the like, thank you very much Library Freedom Project).

Data about our patrons and their interactions that isn’t encrypted at rest in either the local database or the vendor database hosted on their servers (and our electronic resource access, and our proxy logins, and, and, and…) is data that is subject to subpoena and could be accessed in ways that we would not want. It is the job of the librarian to protect the data about the information seeking process of their patrons. And while it’s been talked about before in library circles (Peter Murray’s 2011 article is a good example of past discussions) this court case brings into focus the lengths that some aspects of the law enforcement community will go to in order to have the power to collect data about individuals.

From Apple, the FBI, and Libraries | Pattern Recognition

When Sir Ernest Shackleton set off for Antarctica on his ship Endurance, he made sure he had plenty of reading material. But details of precisely what books he took have remained hidden in this photograph – until now.

From What books were taken to the Antarctic 100 years ago? – BBC News

When Sir Ernest Shackleton set off for Antarctica on his ship Endurance, he made sure he had plenty of reading material. But details of precisely what books he took have remained hidden in this photograph – until now.

From What books were taken to the Antarctic 100 years ago? – BBC News

Beirut: Lebanon boasts the highest rate of reading among Arab states and ranks an impressive 37th globally. But, despite its 95 per cent literacy rate, many believe that the pursuit of knowledge remains an elitist privilege in the country as many Lebanese cannot afford to buy books.

This is why public libraries have always been and continue to be an important resource for Lebanese.

From Lebanese refuse to turn the page on public libraries | GulfNews.com

Beirut: Lebanon boasts the highest rate of reading among Arab states and ranks an impressive 37th globally. But, despite its 95 per cent literacy rate, many believe that the pursuit of knowledge remains an elitist privilege in the country as many Lebanese cannot afford to buy books.

This is why public libraries have always been and continue to be an important resource for Lebanese.

From Lebanese refuse to turn the page on public libraries | GulfNews.com

“I felt conflicted, frankly,” said Steve Song, a telecommunications policy activist. “I do think it’s problematic to have one of the largest companies in the world managing a large chunk of the world’s personal data. It’s clearly an issue that we need to be thinking about, and we don’t want to—in the name of doing something good—unintentionally do something bad by creating a de facto monopoly. At the same time, I felt that it just didn’t seem ethical to say, ‘You should just turn this service off.’”

From The Plan to Give Every Cellphone User Free Data – The Atlantic

“I felt conflicted, frankly,” said Steve Song, a telecommunications policy activist. “I do think it’s problematic to have one of the largest companies in the world managing a large chunk of the world’s personal data. It’s clearly an issue that we need to be thinking about, and we don’t want to—in the name of doing something good—unintentionally do something bad by creating a de facto monopoly. At the same time, I felt that it just didn’t seem ethical to say, ‘You should just turn this service off.’”

From The Plan to Give Every Cellphone User Free Data – The Atlantic

For many, the Library of Congress is the most beautiful library in Washington, D.C., if not the DMV area. Maybe even the nation. But there are plenty of other libraries in the nation’s capital that deserve some extra love and maybe an Instagram pic or two.

To help put together a guide to the most gorgeous libraries in D.C., Curbed is turning to the readers for some advice. Which libraries do you like? And why?

From What Are the Most Beautiful Libraries in Washington, D.C.? – Curbed DC

For many, the Library of Congress is the most beautiful library in Washington, D.C., if not the DMV area. Maybe even the nation. But there are plenty of other libraries in the nation’s capital that deserve some extra love and maybe an Instagram pic or two.

To help put together a guide to the most gorgeous libraries in D.C., Curbed is turning to the readers for some advice. Which libraries do you like? And why?

From What Are the Most Beautiful Libraries in Washington, D.C.? – Curbed DC

Abstract: Consumers constantly enter into blind bargains online. We trade our personal information for free websites and apps, without knowing exactly what will be done with our data. There is nominally a notice and choice regime in place via lengthy privacy policies. However, virtually no one reads them. In this ill-informed environment, companies can gather and exploit as much data as technologically possible, with very few legal boundaries. The consequences for consumers are often far-removed from their actions, or entirely invisible to them. Americans deserve a rigorous notice and choice regime. Such a regime would allow consumers to make informed decisions and regain some measure of control over their personal information. This article explores the problems with the current marketplace for our digital data, and explains how we can make a robust notice and choice regime work for consumers.

From Notice and Consent – Schneier on Security You can read the Paper Here.

Abstract: Consumers constantly enter into blind bargains online. We trade our personal information for free websites and apps, without knowing exactly what will be done with our data. There is nominally a notice and choice regime in place via lengthy privacy policies. However, virtually no one reads them. In this ill-informed environment, companies can gather and exploit as much data as technologically possible, with very few legal boundaries. The consequences for consumers are often far-removed from their actions, or entirely invisible to them. Americans deserve a rigorous notice and choice regime. Such a regime would allow consumers to make informed decisions and regain some measure of control over their personal information. This article explores the problems with the current marketplace for our digital data, and explains how we can make a robust notice and choice regime work for consumers.

From Notice and Consent – Schneier on Security You can read the Paper Here.

Polish photographer Michal Huniewicz, 31, has been traveling the world for the last seven years with the goal of visiting and photographing some of the most interesting – and remote – places on earth. And while on a trip through Mauritania in West Africa, Huniewicz discovered the ancient stone city of Chinguetti, a remote destination home to to one of the world’s most impressive collections of ancient Islamic manuscripts.

“I love libraries and old books,” Huniewicz told weather.com. “I felt like I had found treasure within the stone labyrinth of Chinguetti [seeing] all those old manuscripts and vellums.”

From Amazing Photos of the Sahara Desert’s Lost Libraries (PHOTOS) | The Weather Channel (Pretty sure this is the first time in almost 16 years I’ve posted a link to The Weather Channel)

Polish photographer Michal Huniewicz, 31, has been traveling the world for the last seven years with the goal of visiting and photographing some of the most interesting – and remote – places on earth. And while on a trip through Mauritania in West Africa, Huniewicz discovered the ancient stone city of Chinguetti, a remote destination home to to one of the world’s most impressive collections of ancient Islamic manuscripts.

“I love libraries and old books,” Huniewicz told weather.com. “I felt like I had found treasure within the stone labyrinth of Chinguetti [seeing] all those old manuscripts and vellums.”

From Amazing Photos of the Sahara Desert’s Lost Libraries (PHOTOS) | The Weather Channel (Pretty sure this is the first time in almost 16 years I’ve posted a link to The Weather Channel)

The Yahoo Webscope Program is a reference library of interesting and scientifically useful datasets for non-commercial use by academics and other scientists.

All datasets have been reviewed to conform to Yahoo’s data protection standards, including strict controls on privacy. We have a number of datasets that we are excited to share with you.

Yahoo is pleased to make these datasets available to researchers who are advancing the state of knowledge and understanding in web sciences. The datasets are only available for academic use by faculty and university researchers who agree to the Data Sharing Agreement.

From Webscope | Yahoo Labs

The Yahoo Webscope Program is a reference library of interesting and scientifically useful datasets for non-commercial use by academics and other scientists.

All datasets have been reviewed to conform to Yahoo’s data protection standards, including strict controls on privacy. We have a number of datasets that we are excited to share with you.

Yahoo is pleased to make these datasets available to researchers who are advancing the state of knowledge and understanding in web sciences. The datasets are only available for academic use by faculty and university researchers who agree to the Data Sharing Agreement.

From Webscope | Yahoo Labs