LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

In 1989, The National Security Archive requested documents from the CIA regarding the Iran-Contra affair. This year, the CIA released them. President Barack Obama promised a new era of transparency and adherence to the Freedom of Information Act, but has he followed through? Yvette Chin, FOIA coordinator for the NSA, tells the story behind the long, long wait for information.

Now available at the LJ site.

The idea is to document either or both of your library roots - how you got into the profession in the first place, and what made you decide to do so - and your library routes - the career path which has taken you to wherever you are today. As well as being interesting of itself, it will also provide much needed information and context for those just entering the profession or wishing to do so.

What happened to Second Life?
Not long ago Second Life was everywhere, with businesses opening branches and bands playing gigs in this virtual world. Today you'd be forgiven for asking if it's still going. But just as quickly as it had flared, media interest ebbed away. References plummeted by 40% in 2008 and dropped further this year. And businesses diverted their resources back to real life.

Nook sold out for the holidays

If you were interested in buying the Barnes & Noble Nook as a holiday gift, strike it off your list. The e-reader is now officially sold out through 2009, according to the B&N Web site.
"The hottest holiday gift is out of stock," a message at the top of the page reads. "Order the Nook today to be first in line for the new year."
If this sounds familiar, it's because last year Amazon had a similar message on its site when it stock ran out of the Kindle. However, in the case of the Nook, the company hasn't shipped a single unit yet, and it's a little unclear what day it actually will. (We've yet to receive word when we'll get our review sample).

Full story here.

MakeUseOf.com story, about the new site, Book Rix, a social network for bibliophiles.

"Commonly all book lovers sites revolve around a community. An online ‘town square’ meet-up to see what others are reading and why they reading it. If you club together a few likeminded book lovers, you are bound to come across a lot of books.

BookRix is just such a book lovers website, a community platform where you can read, rate and rant away on books. BookRix is also a place where new authors can present their own works. In that respect BookRix acts like an online publishing house for free via the medium of the browser."

Can we call it a fortress?

First artists sketches of the future George W. Bush Presidential Center at SMU from Talking Points Memo. Seven renderings are shown.

A librarian from Mount Anthony Middle School in Vermont was recently banned from working in all Vermont schools for inappropriately using the Internet.

David Wohlsen, a prekindergarten through Grade 12 library media specialist, surrendered his teaching license to the state Department of Education earlier this month on the grounds that he "violated school policy on appropriate Internet use," according to an Education Department Web site posting.

According to the school district's policy, unacceptable use of the Internet is "threatening or obscene materials, antisocial behaviors like hate mail, harassment or discriminatory remarks, for profit or illegal activities, product advertisement, political lobbying, other non-academic uses and non-educational mailing lists."

According to a previous article in the Bennington Banner, Wohlsen had retired at the beginning of this school year.

The Rutland Herald reports.

You can download the full mp3 of the song on Amazon for free. It is here.

The Times's personal technology columnist, David Pogue, teams up with media columnist David Carr to take a look at different electronic book readers.

See video here.

This piece is part of the - "Pogue & Friends 2009 Holiday Guide"

Sarah Palin, once at the center of book-banning controversy while mayor of Wasilla, is causing a bit of a headache for libraries this week as they decide how much shelf space and budget to devote to her new book – as well as the multiple other titles being released about her.

AK's Homer Tribune reports: Deciding how many books about Palin to stock on their shelves turns out to be a tricky question. On one hand, libraries have limited budgets for ordering new materials and limited space to shelve them. On the other hand, they want to meet readers’ demands. Terri Burdick, director of the Joyce K Carver Memorial Library in Soldotna, said "it’s difficult to order books on hot topics, like Palin. There tends to be demand for them when they first come out, but it fizzles quickly."

Burdick said she plans to order “Sarah from Alaska: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar,” by Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe, and The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star by Matthew Continetti. She said she’s also considering ordering a copy of Going Rouge: An American Nightmare. The book is a response to Palin’s book from the editors of The Nation magazine, published by OR Books. It’s a collection of essays about Palin, including from two Alaska writers.

See comic at Teleread.org

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comment, due by December 8th, asking for public input as to the research efforts that need to be taken to establish the United States as a global leader in broadband access. (PDF) (MS Word)

From BookPage (they are running a contest--add your comment and maybe you'll win)...two picture books for the upcoming holiday...

Duck for Turkey Day
By Jacqueline Jules
Albert Whitman & Company, $16.99, 32 pages, ages 4-8
9780807517345

Thanksgiving Rules
By Laurie Friedman
Carolrhoda Books, $16.95, 32 pages, ages 4-8
9780822579830

Nice article by BBC Commentator Bill Thompson discussing the transition to a digital world, and if we will ever get there.

"On first glance, the laptop and the typewriter are just two different ways of putting words in order, but there is a fundamental difference: the laptop remembers."

Interesting commentary on yesterday's NYTimes 'Library in a Pocket' article on the future of reading vis-a-vis Kindle, Nook, Palm Pilot, Fictionwise, smart phones, etc. What's your preference?

Brenda Johnson, who currently serves as University Librarian at the U.C., Santa Barbara, has been named Ruth Lilly Dean of the Indiana University Libraries, Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson announced today (Nov. 18).

Says the new Dean: ""I am delighted to have been selected to serve as the next Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries at IU," Johnson said. "I believe a library is the greatest metaphor for a university. It provides essential resources for academic research, is a repository for scholarly achievement, a source of intellectual inspiration, a stage for public discourse, a center of cultural life, an incubator for new ideas, and is, in and of itself, a 'community'."

Here's a follow up on The Jessamine County Library story (that's the place the firing of two library workers for allegedly taking matters into their own hands to prevent what they regarded as obscene material from getting into the hands of children.)

Director Critchfield can not talk about the firings, but he did say he was surprised Tuesday to receive a petition saying The Black Dossier and 3 other books represent a threat to public safety.

The petition reads in part, "This community is known to have sexual predators, and works such as these encourage those predators to act out their desires or at the very least justify their desires."

Opposition mounts against library outsourcing
Petition signature gatherers have hit the streets in hopes of convincing the Nevada County Board of Supervisors against contracting operation of the public libraries to a private company.
“We really feel as though the county librarian can come up with a belt-tightening answer,” McAdoo said Tuesday. “We feel we could lose the professionalism of our staff.”
[That's CA not NV]

Laura Bush says presidential library not intended as a monument
The design of the George W. Bush Presidential Center at SMU, which will be formally unveiled today, is a showcase for exhibits, not a monument to the 43rd president, former first lady Laura Bush said this week.