February 2016

Library freedom, free speech and the freedom to tinker

But, we’re not as great at dealing with our patrons’ digital interactions. We’re not as great at making sure their web transactions are secure, we’re not as great at making sure their wifi transactions are secure, that they can browse the internet securely. And so there’s this awesome project called the Library Freedom Project, which is all about raising awareness about that issue, number one, but number two actually giving libraries the tools that they need in order to do this. I mean we’re a democracy and so part of that is that everybody is equal to every other person. And you deserve, you know, the same rights to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, that kind of thing, as everybody else gets. But in reality we’re a very tiered system where people who are more rich or more powerful have access to more and better services, more and better access to things, to tools, to jobs — as well, to obscure stuff like privacy.

From Library freedom, free speech and the freedom to tinker — Medium

February 11, 2016 by Censorship Internet Librarians Libraries

Why Alabama plans to use schools, libraries to fill broadband coverage gaps

And that’s by targeting secondary education. By working with 35 school districts across the state, the Office of Broadband Development will use the Federal Communication Commission’s E-rate Modernization Order, which makes it possible for schools and libraries to construct and operate their own fiber networks. The districts will make competitive bids, and if their needs qualify as more cost-effective than lit services, they can take advantage of the match-rate program.
“Through this program, if the state will help pay required match, the FCC will kick in an additional 10 percent, making it possible for schools and libraries to build and own their fiber network that is paid for up to 90 percent with federal funds,” Johnson said. “This offer was made available due to the high cost of getting adequate connectivity to schools and libraries.”

From Why Alabama plans to use schools, libraries to fill broadband coverage gaps – Birmingham Business Journal

February 11, 2016 by American Library Association Libraries School Libraries

Proposal to change the name of American Association of Law Libraries has failed

The proposal to change the name of American Association of Law Libraries to the Association for Legal Information has failed by a vote of 1998 (80.11 percent) opposed, to 496 (19.89 percent) in favor. A record number of members voted on this proposal, with 59.51 percent casting a ballot.

The votes were verified this morning by two members, who served as the election tellers.

http://www.aallnet.org/hc/NewsCallout/AALL-ebriefing-feb11.html

February 11, 2016 by Legal Issues Libraries

Come Talk Security And Privacy At ALA Annual!

LITA Preconferences: Friday, June 24, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Digital Privacy and Security: Keeping You And Your Library Safe and Secure In A Post-Snowden World

Orlando Convention Center, 
Presenters: Blake Carver, LYRASIS and Jessamyn West, Library Technologist at Open Library

Learn strategies on how to make you, your librarians and your patrons more secure & private in a world of ubiquitous digital surveillance and criminal hacking. We’ll teach tools that keep your data safe inside of the library and out — how to secure your library network environment, website, and public PCs, as well as tools and tips you can teach to patrons in computer classes and one-on-one tech sessions. We’ll tackle security myths, passwords, tracking, malware, and more, covering a range of tools from basic to advanced, making this session ideal for any library staff. 
 

From LITA Highlights at 2016 ALA Annual Conference | Library Information Technology Association (LITA)

February 11, 2016 by American Library Association Libraries Privacy

Deficit Threatens Stability of University of California

The chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, said Wednesday that the university had a “substantial and growing” deficit that could threaten its long-term stability and that it needed to reduce expenses and raise revenues to maintain its position as a premier public institution.

From Deficit Threatens Stability of University of California, Berkeley, Official Says – The New York Times

February 11, 2016 by Academic Libraries

Fistfights and Beggars: Found Street Life in Old Prints

All we see of teh bridge though is is decking, though we do see a huge rise, which gives us a hint of teh bridge’s nature–it turns out that this is the oldest elliptic arch bridge in the world.  While the architecture is beautiful and teh perspective intersting, teh characters populzting the foreground are sometimes even more interesting. In general figures like this were used to take up empty bits of space and to provide perspective, and were depicted in the standard ways in which walking/riding humans are represented. In this case, however, there is a lot of social drama going on amidst the simple space fillers. 

From JF Ptak Science Books: Fistfights and Beggars: Found Street Life in Old Prints (1757)

February 11, 2016 by EBooks

On the Merits of Disturbing Literature

Yet I do not only want the reader to fear for Elsie. I tried to both intensify and relieve that fear by placing it alongside the hope that Elsie will heed the best in herself, as she is, intermittently, able to do. Elsie’s journey does not ultimately paint a disturbing portrait of life. Rather, Wreck and Order sets a young woman’s disturbing behavior against her attunement to the “countless earthly riches” of having a body and a mind, showing how difficult and how necessary it is to honor the simple and the good.

From On the Merits of Disturbing Literature

February 11, 2016 by Uncategorized

The Research Pirates of the Dark Web – The Atlantic

So why go through all this trouble to provide access to pirated academic research? In a letter submitted to the New York district court where she was being sued, Elbakyan said her experience as a student in Kazakhstan drove her to set up the website. Paying upwards of 30 dollars to access a paper is “insane,” she wrote, when researchers regularly need to access tens or even hundreds of articles.

Elbakyan says free access to academic research also helps promote researchers’ independence. “Today, subscription prices are very high; an individual person cannot pay them,” she wrote to me in an email. “You need to join one of the few available research institutions, and for that you need to conform to … standards that suppress creativity.”

From The Research Pirates of the Dark Web – The Atlantic

February 10, 2016 by Internet

J.K. Rowling’s new play, ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,’ will be published as a book

When J.K. Rowling announced last October that her Harry Potter series would get a new story—in the form of a play that featured her beloved book characters as adults—fans greeted the news with mixed feelings. As I wrote at the time, it was exciting to see the author experiment with a new medium and a non-Harry-centric tale in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The play picks up the story 19 years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and focuses on Harry’s relationship with his son, Albus Severus. The casting choices that were later announced—with a black actress, Noma Dumezweni, in the role of grown-up Hermione—were even more heartening.

From J.K. Rowling’s new play, ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,’ will be published as a book by Scholastic and Pottermore – The Atlantic

February 10, 2016 by Books Harry Potter Publishing

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