Curmudgeony

CT Town Manager Wins Public Administration Award

Anonymous Patron writes “From The Herald of New Britain Connecticut

Berlin Connecticut town manager Roger Kemp writes library reference books as a hobby. His writings contributed to his recent award of the San Diego State University 2007 Donald B. Leiffer Outstanding Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Public Administration.

Kemp’s current project,in collaboration with Berlin library director Marcia Trotta, ‘focuses on the trend of bigger cities using arts and entertainment to draw certain crowds, as well as bringing nature back into the cities’.”

National Library Service Celebrates its 75th year

Matt Navitsky writes “As we celebrate our nation’s libraries during National Library Week (April 15-21), the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress, is recognizing the many ways its network library partners engage people in reading and keep them connected to the world around them. For more than 75 years, NLS has provided blind and physically handicapped readers with free reading materials. Through its talking-book program, books on tape and special playback equipment are mailed directly to patrons at no cost to them. The program is a lifeline to many, enabling them to read independently.

The program does more than facilitate reading, it also brings people together. Talking-book clubs, offered through NLS regional and subregional libraries, provide patrons with the opportunity to discuss the books they have read and to share their love of reading with others. ‘My interest in books has developed, says talking-book club member, Michael Conrad, a patron of the Los Angeles regional library. “The meetings also get me out to socialize. I have great discussions and meet new people.'”

Ripped-Off Congressional Videos – Get it Here

Kelly writes “Today’s LISNEWs about C-Span dinging Nancy Pelosi using some of their footage reminded me of a story from today’s stash of Boing Boing articles. In this story, this guy is ripping Congress webcasts, which are streaming only, and archiving them! (Like a good librarian?) This is cool. Here’s the scoop from the article:

`The U.S. Congress provides webcasts for many of their hearings. In all cases, the hearings are streaming only, in many cases they are “live only” (no archive of the stream). In some cases, the committees even put a “copyright, all rights reserved” notice on the hearings! This is really dumb. So, I’ve started ripping all congressional streams starting with the house and posting them in a nonproprietary format for download, tagging, review, and annotation at Google Video and another copy at the Internet Archive (just to prove this is a nondenominational issue.

This is a Tom Sawyer hack, a la “painting this fence is *loads* of fun!” I intend to prove to the Congressional webmasters that it is so much fun doing their web sites for them that they’ll want to do it themselves so that I go away. Until then, look for “Carl Malamud on behalf of the U.S. Congress” for official news.

Link to Boing article
Link to ripped videos

Fire victim upset at library`s request

Bearkat writes “”A Maryville (Missouri) fire victim is outraged at a library`s request that came just days after his family`s home went up in smoke…(they) are upset with a letter they received asking that they get their insurance company to pay for books that burned in a fire.””

Leonardo’s New ‘Fingerprint’ May Reveal EVERYTHING

Search Engines WEB writes “Anthropologists said they have pieced together Leonardo da Vinci’s left index fingerprint; a discovery that could help provide information on such matters as the food the artist ate and whether his mother was of Arabic origin. The research was based on a first core of photographs of about 200 fingerprints, most of them partial, taken from about 52 papers handled by Leonardo in his life.”