New and improved libraries, on CBS
(requires Windows Media Player 11 or Real Media Player)
The CBS Early Show explores the ways libraries are reinventing themselves in the 21st century, with a visit (4:21) to ALA President Leslie Burger and the Princeton (N.J.) Public Library....
The Early Show, Mar. 23
A new pedia in town
Larry Sanger, a cofounder of Wikipedia, this week launched an alternative resource, Citizendium. His goal is to capture Wikipedia’s bustle, but this time avoid the vandalism and inconsistency that are its pitfalls. Like Wikipedia, Citizendium will be nonprofit, devoid of ads, and free to read and edit. Unlike Wikipedia, Citizendium’s volunteer contributors will be expected to provide their real names. Experts in given fields will be asked to check articles for accuracy.....
Associated Press, Mar. 25
Books getting more digital
The International Digital Publishing Forum has announced a conference in New York City for May 9. Digital Book 2007 will feature digital publishing and mobile device innovations. Librarians might remember the IDPF as the OeBF, or Open eBook Forum. It dropped the old moniker when it became clear that the group was essentially a trade organization, and not primarily an effort to create an open e-book standard....
Hectic Pace blog, Mar. 28
British schools refuse boring classics
Dozens of schools have rejected gifts of free classic books because today’s pupils find them too “difficult” to read. Around 50 schools have refused to stock literary works by the likes of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens after admitting that youngsters also find them boring. The worrying figures were released by the Millennium Library Trust, which donates sets of up to 300 books to schools around the UK....
Evening Standard, Mar. 20
World internet censorship map
In an effort to counter the once borderless internet, states are seeking to create informational boundaries in cyberspace. This is accomplished through a combination of technical and regulatory means—including laws, licensing regimes, industry self-regulation, national filtering, and content removal—thereby creating a matrix of controls. The OpenNet Initiative has created this interactive global map to highlight those countries with restrictions....
OpenNet Initiative
FBI misues Patriot Act, FBI audit says
Poorly trained FBI agents underreported the number of times the agency issued National Security Letters to obtain financial and telecommunications records in antiterrorism investigations, neglected to provide proper justification for their use, and failed to put in place record-keeping procedures to ensure civil liberties were protected, according to a Justice Department audit released March 9. ALA President Leslie Burger said in a March 9 release that the “findings confirm many of ALA’s most repeatedly stated concerns about the lack of oversight into the FBI’s surveillance activities”....
Book ban turns intra-Palestinian fight into a cultural one
For more than 30 years, anthropologist Sharif Kanaana has been collecting and studying Palestinian folk tales so that people at home and abroad would understand the story of his people. This week, the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority added a new chapter: a directive to pull Kanaana’s book Speak Bird, Speak Again from school libraries and destroy it. The decision underscores the struggle for ideological and political hegemony, one that is making itself felt more strongly than ever before....
Christian Science Monitor, Mar. 9
The Wikipedia scandal
Wikipedia’s latest scandal is the revelation that a high-ranking administrator, and employee (until March) of the associated commercial venture Wikia, had falsified his academic credentials. It turns out the contributor nicknamed Essjay was not a tenured professor at a private university but a 24-year-old named Ryan Jordan who holds no advanced degrees....
The Guardian (U.K.), Mar. 8
Who’s watching your space?
A video summary (2:53) of the OCLC Symposium at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 19, in Seattle. More than 400 people attended this discussion of social networking practices and trends. Participants included moderator Michael Stephens (right) and panelists Howard Rheingold, danah boyd, and Marc Smith....
YouTube, Mar. 9
How the library changes lives (PDF file)
Last spring, as part of its ongoing partnership with ALA, Woman’s Day asked its readers to send in stories about how the library affected their lives. The 2,000 heartfelt, funny, and touching essays submitted prove that the library isn’t just the place you go to check out books. Ellen Breslau presents four stories of hope and inspiration....
Woman’s Day, Mar. 6
