LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

A report from The Galesburg Register Mail, recalling the big fire of 1958 started by an exhaust fan in the attic of the Galesburg Public Library. Family documents and letters from Abraham Lincoln were among items lost in the classic Carnegie library fire 50 years ago.

“The whole history of the city has gone up in smoke,” lamented C. Russell Carlson, a library director, in the May 10, 1958, edition of The Register-Mail.

While early estimates were that the library had lost everything, about 40,000 books were salvaged, although many were water damaged. Some of the rarest books in the library’s collection were spared because they had been kept in a vault.

But what did go up in smoke, according to Galesburg Public Library archivist Patty Mosher, was around 200,000 books worth about $500,000 at the time, the only existing copies of Galesburg newspapers dating to the mid-1800s, 60 oak chairs and 28 oak tables, 600 stereo optic view cards and 30 to 40 percent of the library’s archival material, including several letters signed by Abraham Lincoln.

It’s not known how many photographs, papers, letters, local family histories and artifacts were lost — but to Mosher, those were the most valuable items destroyed by the fire because those documents told the story of Galesburg’s founding.

The deputy CEO of Norfolk’s (Ontario) library system has resigned. Terri Pope, a branch librarian in Simcoe before she was promoted in 2006, left her post last week. Officials close to the situation suggest her departure was abrupt. "All I know is she cleaned out her desk, dropped off her keys and left a voicemail saying she would no longer be part of this organization," Bill Hett, acting CEO of the county library system and Norfolk’s general manager of community services, said yesterday. "I don’t know her future plans."

Library board chair Tom Morrison, of Port Dover, also suggested yesterday that Pope’s departure was abrupt. Morrison said Pope provided no notice. "I would have expected more professional courtesy," he said. "But we’re fortunate that, with the administrative team we have in place, we’ll be able to get through this with a minimum of turbulence." Canoe News.

They're just wild about Harry...the Harry Potter Lexicon that is.

Publisher Roger Rapoport, of RDR Books, is waiting to set the presses a-printing on the book by author and former Grand Rapids school librarian Steven VanderArk. The decision -- possibly to be made today -- is whether RDR Books can publish a 400-page lexicon/reference book about Harry Potter; J. K. Rowling is suing to stop the work from being published.

"It's very rare to stop the press. I honestly don't know what's going to happen," Rapoport says. "My goal is to publish the (lexicon) the best way possible."

But "no matter what else happens," Rapoport has reached beyond the boundaries of his own case to help other writers, publishers, documentary producers, Internet users "and so on" who might be faced with the same kind of litigation. Rapoport says he still has accumulated a "six-figure" legal bill despite receiving aid from Stanford University Law School's Fair Use Project. Report from Michigan Live.

Though it's rare for any post at LISNews to get more than a few comments, on rare occasions a thread will take off and degenerate into the worst of what the internet has to offer; name calling, profanity, anger, stupidity and raw emotions. There have been a few occasions when people suggested I shut the comments down on specific discussions because of what they're seeing.

So I put the question to you, the raving lunatics that cause it to be raised in the first place: Is it ever appropriate for us to shut down a thread on LISNews because of what's being written?

Conway should back library assistant:

"It is reckless and irresponsible in a predominantly Christian community such as our own, to allow a good person to to be targeted and punished for a selfless act of protecting our children and our families from sexual predators. Thank God for people such as this librarian, I only wish those who act supposedly on our behalf were as selfless and beneficial to our community.
I firmly believe that the death penalty would make a fine deterrent to those that act in such egregious capacity against our children."

Here's the backstory in a March LISNews report on the firing of Brenda Biesterfield.

It may have taken a while, but it appears that a ruckus kicked up by a library user over bicycle parking has had some effect.

Ten new bicycle racks now sit near the entrance of the Singapore National Library Board's community library at Victoria Street. Unlike 24 older racks facing Bain Street, these new racks are located near the library's glass-door entrance, for its users' convenience.

That might make cyclist and regular library visitor Bin Hee Heng happy, and then again, it might not. The Electric New Paper News has his story; a long and complex tale of bike parking, bike moving, bike locking, bike disabling, and more...

So who's in charge here?

That's the question the trustees are passing around the table at the Yakima Valley Regional Library (WA) where some members of the library board feel that the director is taking her authority too far. While the trustees aren't in agreement over the issue, newer members of the board claim that powers wielded by the director should be exclusively in the board's domain.

In an e-mail to the director, one of the board members stated "...you appear, act and perform as if your (sic) totally in charge. Board trustees for the most part seem to simply follow your directions rarely questioning your actions or spending."

More from the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Not every librarian is a fashion enthusiast...but those who are might be interested in...

... "Dirty Librarian Chains". Want one for yourself or a friend? Here's their website.

I recently discovered Xobni ("inbox" backwards), a tool that seems like it might have a particular appeal for librarians. Xobni is a sidebar that works with Outlook and offers analytics, searching, email organization, a social networking method of organization and more.

From Hartfordshire, UK, a response to a Letter to the Editor from a librarian/educator (John Harris, Director of Children, Schools and Families, Herts County Council) about how yes, all age groups occasionally make noise at the library, but that's what modern libraries are all about. Get with the program cross and grumpy Mr. Hart!

Sometimes I say to myself, "Blake, why not work in a public library?" Sometimes the answer is clear... Knife-wielding man at library: man held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill himself this morning at the Batavia Branch of the Clermont County Public Library. Police subdued him without injury to anyone, a library official said.

Four employees and three other patrons – including a woman with a small child – were in the library at 180 S. Third St. at the time, said Dave Mezack, interim director of the 10-library system.

Pornography found on a computer at the Ragland (AL) Public Library back in February has members of the town council and library board at odds.
Actions taken to remove the computer from the library premises and clean off the hard drive have also raised questions.

“One of the council members wanted to take the computer to District Attorney Richard Minor, and I said, ‘no.’ Why? Because I couldn’t prove no more than anyone else could who was the one responsible for the pornography. I’m not going to get this town sued over what someone thinks. I don’t care who they are. I’ve been here 16 years, and I’ve never been in a lawsuit we ain’t won.”

State prison officials have decided to allow a publisher of legal self-help books to distribute its materials in Massachusetts prisons.
The decision comes after mail-order publisher Prison Legal News sued Department of Correction Commissioner Harold Clarke. The Seattle-based publisher claimed Clarke was banning its publications in state prisons by refusing to add it to a list of approved vendors who can send books to prisoners.

Unfortunately, due to an anticipated budget shortfall, the Forbes Library in Northampton, MA will probably cut part-time staff at the circulation desk, possibly resulting in a cut in hours. Also, it will have to cut its outreach program -- "which delivers books to people in nursing homes and other individuals" -- by about half.

Professor Roy M. Mersky, the Harry M. Reasoner Regents Chair in Law and longtime director of the Tarlton Law Library and Jamail Center for Legal Research at The University of Texas School of Law, died May 6, 2008 in Austin after a brief illness. Mersky, a decorated World War II veteran and civil rights advocate, was 82.

Paragraph above is from University Texas at Austin website. There is additional information there you will want to look at.

More on the passing of Professor Roy Mersky . . .
at the Legal Writing Prof Blog

Here we go again.

The Internet Archive protested the receipt of a National Security Letter from the FBI back in November. Today it won its case.

The Internet Archive, a project to create a digital library of the web for posterity, successfully fought a secret government Patriot Act order for records about one of its patrons and won the right to make the order public, civil liberties groups announced this morning.

On November 26, 2007, the FBI served a National Security Letter (.pdf) on the Internet Archive's founder Brewster Kahle, asking for records about one of the library's registered users, asking for the user's name, address and activity on the site.

Wired reports on the story.

A former Bartlett librarian who was accused of stealing money from the Teinert Memorial Public Library in central Texas has signed a letter of apology and paid more than $4,000 in restitution in lieu of prosecution. Here's Teresa Stockton's letter of apology to the community.

Bartlett city officials began investigating Stockton last June after they discovered irregularities in the library's bank account. Preston Singleton, the city's financial auditor, found $11,000 worth of questionable reimbursements from the city to Stockton, many of which he said were unsupported by documentation. The auditor reviewed records from October 2004 to June 2007.

Assistant city attorney Roger Gordon said Singleton's review pinpointed $4,545.71 in questionable or unsubstantiated reimbursements to Stockton. American-Statesman reports.

Libraries across the country are seeking alternatives to Rosetta Stone after they pulled out of the library market. This attests to the commitment in public libraries to help people learn foreign languages, especially if the foreign language happens to be English.

As new options become available, and as libraries explore the idea of adding video games to their collection, a publisher for the wildly successful Nintendo DS hand held video game system is already publishing games to teach English to Japanese students.

Games have long been used as a teaching tool. Why should it be any different in the digital age?

One of a modern parent's nightmares is finding out there's a gunman on campus at their children's school. It's hard to get information in and out of that situation and it's incredibly nerve wracking.

So what if a student knows how to Twitter?

In a recent incident at the University of Richmond, a report of an armed man on campus brought a lockdown. Students were able to get information in and out and comfort each other using Twitter.

From CNet: Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), who is seeking re-election this year, staged a press conference at a library in his suburban Chicago district on Tuesday to highlight what he called the "dangers" of the virtual world to children. Flanked by local officials, he also released a letter asking Federal Trade Commission Chairman William E. Kovacic to "take action to warn parents of the similar dangers and s#xu@lly explicit content found on Second Life."