Troops at a US base in Afghanistan mistakenly burned Korans and other religious texts, in an effort to eliminate materials containing “extremist communications.” This has sparked riots reminiscent of those caused by pastor Terry Jones burning a Koran in his church last year. Read the latest at The New York Times; CNN; MSNBC.
John
Elsevier Filters Recommendation Engine to Show Elsevier Titles Only
As the Elsevier boycott continues to gain attention, a good example of what the company stands for: the Ex Libris bX service is a neat little recommendation tool that displays suggested citations, working from a known item and based on search traffic. It provides researchers with suggestions based on their area of interest, and the items displayed are usually additional relevant articles (similar to Amazon’s “people who bought this also bought…” feature). The Elsevier ScienceDirect site embeds this service in their own custom application, but librarians noticed the results it was displaying were only for Elsevier titles. Here is the Ex Libris explanation:
bX itself is entirely publisher and platform neutral and sends and displays all relevant articles regardless of journal, publisher or platform. But those who build their own applications – like Elsevier did – can manipulate the data by filtering before displaying it. For the app on Science Direct Elsevier indeed filters the bX articles by those available from Science Direct.
Is it any wonder this company gets a bad rap?
Is the Loss of Objective Search a Bad Thing?
Imagine a research database, that upon searching for “wind energy,” gives top results about the benefits of turbine technology to one student, while another student (with a different search history, or in a different state) is instead shown articles that focus on the noise and vertigo that wind turbines produce. Sound fishy? Google has unveiled a more personal search that does exactly this sort of thing, called “Search, plus Your World. Is this more about advertising revenue than providing access to information? For a nice review of the issue, see a competitor’s Escape your search engine Filter Bubble! When, if ever, would you want filtered results?
Ten Stories That Shaped 2011
It’s time again to look back at the good, the bad, and the ugly library stories of the past year.
Honorable Mention: Lenny Bruce Should Have Been a Librarian
Hot on the heels of the popular book Go the Fuck to Sleep comes a straight-talking site that all library marketers should take note of: Go the Fuck to the Library.
10. Neither Fax nor E-mail nor IM
Print-based industries are struggling, and the United States Postal Service is no exception. I couldn’t help but hear the Postmaster General boast about not paying bills online and wonder how many analogous things librarians do, such as instructing students in the “old ways” of doing research.
9. Terry Jones burns a Quran
A copy of the Quran was burned by pastor Terry Jones in his church on March 20, 2011. Although not widely covered by mainstream media, the burning was condemned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. During the ensuing protests in Afghanistan, at least 30 people were killed. Among the dead were United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan employees, who were shot and decapitated.
8. Occupy Wall Street makes a “People’s Library”
The OWS movement in New York City got attention for forming a library. When the protests ended, things didn’t go so well for the library, however. Depending on who you ask, it’s either the “destruction of a library” or the “eviction of illegal squatters who had some books confiscated.”
7. Greg Mortenson: Humanitarian or Swindler?
Though not as flashy as the James Frey or Jayson Blair scandals, Mortenson’s publications were also charged with containing inaccurate and possibly fabricated information. A 60 Minutes hit piece was followed by a class action lawsuit against Mortenson’s charities.
6. Borders Goes Bankrupt
The headlines Why Borders Failed While Barnes & Noble Survived and Borders Closes the Book as Decisions Come Back to Haunt Chain sum up the bookseller’s demise. The cheeky Closing Borders Store Tells Customers Where To Find A Restroom is also worth a look.
5. Publishers Continue to Lawyer-Up
Hard to believe, but the Google Books Settlement first made this list four years ago, and the dispute over royalties and orphan works continues to this day. You can now add Authors Guild v. HathiTrust to the list of pending litigation over libraries making digital copies of their materials available online.
4. Find the Future at NYPL
Tired of the libraries and video games trend yet? Well you shouldn’t be, any more than you’re taking affront at a modern library collection containing pleasure reading.
This year saw the launch of Find the Future, a collaborative game built around the collections of The New York Public Library. Whether innovations such as this entail the withering of traditional libraries (or even if that’s a bad thing) is unclear.
3. HarperCollins Busts a Cap in E-book Circulation
Can you imagine a library agreeing to buy a book under the condition that after 26 uses the copy be destroyed? Well that’s just what HarperCollins wants libraries to do with e-book lending. Penguin Books also yoinked titles from library e-book collections.
Border’s bankruptcy and Netflix’s pricing kerfuffle also demonstrate how companies are still fumbling with technological evolution. As with supporting Open Access publications, it is time for libraries to show a little backbone and vote with their wallets: refuse to support publishers’ efforts to maintain contrived scarcity with online formats.
2. Watson Wins Jeopardy!
What does a computer winning a game show have to do with libraries? Just the potential demise of the need for human librarians. We already have full-text indexing, which has by and large superseded subject cataloging. With the potential for AI librarians on the horizon, how long until we are playing the role of John Henry at the reference desk?
1. E-Books Go Mainstream
It took over 11 years to go from The Plant to Pottermore. In that time, technological improvements have given rise of what is now a crowded tablet market. As Amazon’s sales indicate, there is now widespread consumer adoption of electronic books. Considering new programs such as Kindle lending, with this advent of electronic formats and other digital forms of information, the future role of libraries as a place for storing paper books, or even the need for them, remains to be seen.
Ikea even got in to the mix with a redesign of a bookcase to hold things other than dead-tree books. But laggards fear not, if you still miss the smell of paper books, you can always get the perfume.
What was your favorite story of the year?
WorldCat Turns Forty
News today from OCLC that WorldCat has turned the big 4-0. Some more statistics are available.
Vatican to Digitize Prohibited Archives
Hot on the heels of their successful iPhone app/Apple Store and drive-through confessional, the BBC News reports that the Vatican has announced plans to digitize their pornography collection and make it available online to paying subscribers. Given what the church has planned for the project’s profits, here’s hoping they learn lessons from the the New York Times paywall loopholes. Is anyone in on the Indulgentia beta?
All The News That’s Fit To Sell
The New York Times is again playing with online subscriptions. A new model unveiled today gives you 20 article views a month before you hit a paywall. Other online papers have tried to charge for access with limited success. It’s been interesting to watch the news models and industry develop over time.
Ten Stories That Shaped 2010
It’s time again to take a look at the memorable headlines of the year.
10. YouTube Sensations
Although viral videos are nothing new, libraries found themselves involved in a few catchy clips this year, and even got Old Spice guy involved in their cause.
9. Libraries and DVDs and Netflix, Oh My
Libraries check out a lot of movies, in case you haven’t heard. A library touting their use of Netflix, however, ran afoul of many due to the admitted violation of Netflix’s terms of use.
8. Piracy Crackdown
Many Chicken Little essays cropped up over the seizure of domains by Homeland Security, questioning the due process involved and decrying the potential for censorship that the new law affords.
7. Under New Management
The corporate takeover of public libraries and the commercialization of academic libraries should have us all thinking about our workplace of the future.
6. Gizmo of the Year: iPad
Since its spring release, Apple’s life-changing tablet has been put to use by many libraries. How is your library using iPads?
5. I For One Welcome Our New Media Overlords
My how times have changed. Gone are the days of video stores and print magazines, right?
4. Web 2.0 Fatigue
Oops, I forgot, it’s called “emerging technologies” now. With all the information overload surrounding social media and who knows what else that’s on the horizon, many of us may feel sympathetic with this take on the next big thing.
3. Sign of the Times: Libraries = Offices for Unemployed
Hardly a news flash, but as library budgets continue to spiral while others question the need for libraries at all, library use during the recession has filled a need for those seeking employment.
2. Google eBookstore Opens
The advertising company that organizes so much of the world’s information is, gasp, actually going to try and make money by selling it. The Google eBookstore launched this month. It should give any librarian pause about the Google Books Settlement — and the future of publishing and lending in general.
1. Wikileaks Freakout
The release of secret diplomatic cables received substantial coverage this year. The Library of Congress even became involved. Several free speech issues are raised by how the leaks are being handled.
Don’t forgot to post your favorite library story!
Ten Stories That Shaped 2009
It’s time to take another look back at the notable headlines of the past year.
10. Censorship Lives On
We may as well get this permanent entry out of the way. Aside from the usual headlines, some of the more peculiar stories involving censorship included Harvard literally barring books, prisons banning political titles, librarian self-censorship, G. W. Bush giving J. K. Rowling the cold shoulder, and a jab over the hypocrisy of "banned" books.
9. E-Books and Orwell
News flash: widespread electronic book adoption is just around the corner. Well, maybe not, but upgrades in e-book technology continue along with new releases of Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader, and Barnes & Noble’s nook. However the most important e-book story of the year would have to be Amazon’s deletion
of an illegal copy of 1984 (it slipped through their store) from customers’ Kindles.
8. Decline of Newspapers
Dwindling newspaper subscriptions are so prevalent they’ve become the butt of jokes. But where will free aggregators rip off paid stories from? Even Reading Rainbow fell victim to the winds of change this year. What’s next, school libraries?
7. Whither Wikipedia
Yes, the site’s still around, but growing pains and a loss of volunteers have raised some questions about the future of the encyclopedia. I guess a project with the goal of "every single person on the planet has free access to the sum of all human knowledge" is bound to encounter some bumps in the road.
6. Aren’t We Cool?
Libraries with video games are nothing new; I played games on a computer in a public library thirty years ago. But like the "Librarian Shushes Stereotypes" headlines of the past decade, all of a sudden libraries offering video games (and comic books) to patrons has become big news.
5. Judith Krug, 1940-2009
The American Library Association lost a lion with the death of Judith Krug, a fervent campaigner against censorship.
4. Bookless School Library
What better way to make your mark than plan a school library with no printed books. A private boarding school in Massachusetts is doing just that. Given that this approach is a little imbalanced these days, it is still a sign of things to come?
3. Google Books Settlement
The Google Book Search settlement agreement is a significant case regarding the future of digital copyright law and how libraries + capitalism = controversies.
2. New Moon Mania
Although the series has garnered mixed opinions, the appeal of Twilight to teen readers is undeniable. Many libraries capitalized on this phenomenon with events related to the New Moon film debut.
1. It’s (Still) the Economy
Many stories on these lists are repeats, but for the first time ever, there’s the same top story two years running: money woes for libraries. This fall the Philadelphia Free Library had to threaten to close to get a budget. Many other libraries have closed or had significant cutbacks. Here’s hoping these stories come up less next decade. In the meantime, happy furlough everyone!
Ten Stories That Shaped 2008
It’s that time again! Read on for some highlights from this year’s library news.
10. OCLC Claims Ownership of Data In OPACs
As if charging libraries to provide it cataloging records wasn’t enough… what’s next? Suing a library-themed hotel?
9. Annoyed Librarian Joins Library Journal
Though some love to hate her, everyone’s favorite snarky semi-anonymous blogger continues to garner attention.
8. Censorship Roundup
Penguins continue to make intellectual freedom headlines, as does violence, homosexuality, and sex. Even Sarah Palin made some of the papers she reads with a story about her dealings with the city librarian while mayor of Wasilla.
Truthiness issues aside, Wikipedia and other user-generated sites continue to grow. If you haven’t already familiarized yourself with such sites as Wikipedia, Digg, and Facebook, turn in your library degree now.
Kindle, e-paper, and related gizmos made further inroads and advances this year, but mainstream adoption is perennially a few years away.
5. Lawsuits Aplenty
Notable publishing lawsuits this year involved Jerry Seinfeld, Harry Potter, and Electronic Reserve.
4. California Librarian Fired for Reporting Man Viewing Child Porn
Yes, sadly, you read it right. There’s more to the story than that, but it remains a reminder that some libraries are short of a full deck.
3. Google Books Settlement
This fall, a payment system was worked out between Google, authors, and publishers, including a subscription model that left some libraries feeling shorted.
Video games in libraries are nothing new, but this year saw incredible growth in the use of video games by libraries to meet patron demands.
1. Can You Spare A Dime?
Those “Recession Boosts Library Use” stories were common this year, but the real news is how hard hit libraries have been in this terribad economy, as typified by the Philadelphia Free Library closings.
What was your favorite story of the year?
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