Celine

From the San Francisco Business Times comes this interview with Brewster Kahle, co-founder of San Francisco-based Internet Archive. The project, described as the world\’s largest library, goes live tomorrow.

\”Users will be able to type in the http://www.archive.org url into their browser and access 10 billion web pages dating back to 1996 when project leaders began their mission of preserving digerati.\”

Kahle admits, though, that the first thing people will probably search for will be their own corporate or personal web pages since \”people are always interested in themselves.\”

Find out more about the life of a librarian at Freedom Forum International News Library in Budapest, Hungary in this interesting article. There are other articles about Freedom Forum Libraries in other countries.
The Freedom Forum is a \”nonpartisan foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people\”. It\’s sad to note, then, that they will be closing all international operations at the end of 2001 and discontinuing all international programs. I don\’t know the reasons, but it seems a shame.

Did you know that September is Library Card Sign-up Month? This story from the Poughkeepsie Journal was news to me and the ALA\’s official page will tell you all about it.

Librarian career development newsletter Info Career Trends is seeking article contributors. The immediate need is for the November issue on \”networking and mentoring,\” but queries are also welcome for future issues. For more information, see the web page
– click on \”Contributor Guidelines\” for more on contributing and a list of upcoming themes. Back issues and an online subscription form are also accessible from this page.
Rachel, the editor, mentioned that the theme of January\’s issue will be \”keeping current\” and she thought some of the LISNews authors might have something to say, hint, hint!

The library of the London School of Economics (LSE) is one of the largest social sciences libraries in the world and it has just been \”redeveloped\”, with improved environmental standards for the books, more floor area, 500 extra student workplaces and a pair of glass lifts (or elevators for the US readers!). Read all about it in this story.
It all sounds lovely but I can\’t help wondering how long it will be until the library staff discover that the lightbulbs are too high to replace, or the fancy central atrium means the whole building is too noisy. I know, I\’m just a library renovation cynic.

The IFLA Annual Conference in Boston saw the launch of the first IFLA/FAIFE World Report on libraries and intellectual freedom:
\”a major project, a first attempt to provide a picture on the status of libraries and intellectual freedom throughout the world. More than 140 countries have been contacted and 46 have submitted their report.\”
As expected, the reports already collected confirm that \”all is not well\” with freedom of expression and freedom of access to information.
This sounds like such an important project and I don\’t think anyone has posted it already: here is the official press release from IFEX, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange.

The Punjab government have imposed a ban on the purchase of books by libraries in the province which is causing a slump in the book trade. It appears to be part of a reorganisation of library affairs, controlling who is responsible for the provision of books and furniture for libraries established in the province. This story from the Business Recorder isn\’t very clear, but it would be good to find out more about what is going on in an area that relies heavily on libraries to promote literacy.

Following the recent story that 60% of British people are now online, a study by the Ministry of Finance, Economy and Industry in France has found that only 20% of French people have internet access at home. More significantly, more than half of the people surveyed did not foresee ever going online from home. The only other Western European country with the same slow growth of internet use is Spain, also with only 20% online at home. The full story from the BBC tries to suggest some possible reasons for these cultural differences.

British Internet monitoring company Envisional have carried out research which shows that over 7,000 copyrighted books are now available free on the internet. These pirated works are being swapped \”on Napster-like file-sharing systems\”. The most popular are apparently science fiction and fantasy. Read the full story from Excite News.
Internet monitoring – hmm, sounds like what I do all day!

The Vodka Library is situated 200 miles north of Moscow in the Russian town of Uglich on the Volga, hometown of Pyotr Arseneyevich Smirnov, founder of the Smirnoff brand. No books, just thousands of bottles of vodka encased in glass. It aims to celebrate the national drink but also to educate on the problems its consumption can cause.
\”Vodka has never done anything good, but without it, Russia would not exist\”
So you can get a taste test but also a lecture on responsible drinking. The full shot glass from The Boston Globe.