LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

On March 10, 2010 appropriations committees in the Florida House and Senate adopted positions eliminating all funding for Florida’s State Aid to Public Libraries program.

We are now looking for Volunteers to protest at the Florida State Capitol Building, 400 South Monroe Street in Tallahassee on Tuesday March 16, 2010. If you are interested in holding a sign in protest of the State Aid to Libraries being reduced to zero dollars please contact me at systemslibrarian@gmail.com.

On Tuesday the Committee (see below) that is in charge of determining library funding will meet. Meet them prepared with your picket signs!

Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee
March 16, 2010 at the Morris Hall (17 HOB) 2:15 PM - 6:00 PM

Here's a Sample Picket Sign (Word 2007 Format)to download - Feel free to modify. Free Word 2007 Viewer

A quarter century ago, Apple touted itself as the alternative to computer hegemony. But its new iPad grows works only with applications approved by and sold through Apple. Host Guy Raz talks to Slate technology columnist Farhad Manjoo about whether Apple is stifling innovation by building the type of empire it once warned against.

Listen to full story on NPR

A somewhat tenuous connection to librarians, but I think it's funny:

A bright student from the outer edges of nowhere (the middle was overcrowded) graduates high school with an impressive record and a scholarship to Harvard.

Showing up on campus, he proceeds to explore the area and find his classes. Eventually, after what felt like hours of searching (probably 10 minutes) he finds an upperclassman and asks for help, saying "Do you know where the library's at?"

The unimpressed upperclassman responded, sounding as though he was speaking with a speck of dust, "At Harvard we do not end sentences with prepositions. Try again."

After a few moments of thought, our hero does just that:

"Do you know where the library's at, jerk?"

Betty White will guest-star on the season finale of The Middle. The four-time Emmy winner will play a school librarian who goes after a student over several overdue library books.

What? A librarian chasing down an overdue library book? What hijinx! Oh, one can only wonder where these writers get their ideas. We can only hope that zaniness and uncontrolled hilarity ensues.

President Obama recently signed into law the re-authorization of three contentious provisions of the Patriot Act. Shane Harris, author of The Watchers, returns this week to discuss the implications for the future of American surveillance. Transcript here.

Very cool project here in Brooklyn, NY, the Reanimation Library.

Below, a video explanation of the project via Rocketboom. Ella Morton interviews Andrew Beccone, master librarian and founder of the Reanimation Library:

Additional information at the Reanimation Library website.

Sounds like THE perfect place to send of some of those old weeded illustrated volumes....

Gina Preoteasa: Thought you might be interested in news that Springer has finalized an agreement with OCLC, which means that libraries will no longer receive any invoices from OCLC for MARC 21 (AACR2) records for Springer eBooks delivered via the WorldCat Collections Sets Services. Springer will be covering these delivery costs.

For additional information on MARC Records for the Springer eBook Collection click here.

Morning Edition on NPR

The growing popularity of e-books has raised a difficult question in the publishing marketplace that used to have an easy answer: What's a book worth?

Because they cost less to produce, consumers think e-books should be cheap. But publishers are afraid that if the price goes too low, they may never recover from the diminished expectations.

Some observers wonder if the publishers' pricing strategy is short-sighted. Jason Epstein, a well-known editor, publisher and author who has worked in the business for more than a half-century, says e-books are "the most exciting event, as far as books are concerned, in 500 years."

Full piece

Recently the dispute between the Oregon Library Association and the Pacific Northwest Library Association had some new life breathed into it through at least one posting I caught over on LISWire. I've read through what Samantha Hines, PNLA President, has written as well as the statement of reasons by OLA relative to withdrawal as well as the PNLA response to OLA. A quite valid question that could be asked is if said situation will be discussed on LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast.

Nope.

Separatism within regional structures is a painful thing without a doubt. Just as divorce happens within human couples, this is essentially a divorce between two legal entities. Just as every single divorce is not given more than perhaps just passing mention in a newspaper's "legal news" section, this has not seemed to have risen to the level of frankly an interesting story. That it has dragged on since October 2009 with only occasional statements being issued infrequently by either side casts it either in the light of not being too worrisome of a concern or otherwise too far outside the usual weekly production cycle of the podcast.

I hope that both sides reconcile and come to a suitable peace either between them or through reintegration.

This week a federal judge heard arguments to determine whether to approve the settlement between Google and two major arms of the publishing industry over Google Books. Many groups used this week's hearings to air grievances with the project. Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig argues an unintended consequence of the settlement could alter print culture as we know it.

Transcript and MP3 file here

About 10 years ago I was having my annual holiday party, and my niece had come with her newly minted M.B.A. boyfriend. As he looked around the room, he noted that my employees seemed happy. I told him that I thought they were.

Then, figuring I would take his new degree for a test drive, I asked him how he thought I did that. “I’m sure you treat them well,” he replied.

“That’s half of it,” I said. “Do you know what the other half is?”

He didn’t have the answer, and neither have the many other people that I have told this story. So what is the answer? I fired the unhappy people. People usually laugh at this point. I wish I were kidding.

Full article here.

New Zealand: Government Internet Filter Now Being Used by Two ISP’s
The Resource Shelf points out the government managed Internet filter is now being used by two ISP’s, Maxnet and Watchdog.

On March 10, appropriations committees in the Florida House and Senate adopted positions eliminating all funding for Florida’s State Aid to Public Libraries program. This devastating action will result in some Florida library branches closing and will seriously cripple libraries’ ability to serve Floridians. Libraries have already taken their share of local and state budget cuts. This will be especially damaging to libraries in Florida’s rural communities, as these libraries rely heavily on provisions in the program that help communities with lower tax bases.

ps - to commentators: would some of you jokers please add some jokes to our Librarian Joke Contest? thanks~

Behavior Changes Linked to March Madness
Charles Clotfelter, Z. Smith Reynolds Professor of Public Policy at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, used data from 78 research libraries in the U.S. to determine the number of articles viewed from February through April in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The number of articles viewed on Monday through Wednesday of those weeks averaged more than 1,000 a day per library.

Clotfelter found that the number of articles viewed through the JSTOR digital repository of academic journals increased an average rate of 5 percent a week in the weeks leading up to “Selection Sunday,” but fell 6 percent in the week right after the NCAA field was announced. The following week, library usage resumed its increase, at a rate of 3 percent a week.

Librarian Lightbulb Jokes

How many academic librarians does it take to change a light bulb?
Just five. One changes the light bulb while the other four form a committee and write a letter of protest to the Dean, because after all, changing light bulbs IS NOT professional work!

How many catalogers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Just one, but they have to wait to see how LC does it first.

How many cataloguers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Only one provided it is in AACR2.

How many reference librarians does it take to change a light-bulb?
(with a perky smile) "Well, I don't know right off-hand, but I know where we can look it up!"

How many reference librarians does it take to change a lightbulb?
None if it has a LCSH heading.

How many library system managers does it take to change a lightbulb?
All of them as the manual was lost in the last move (or flood).

How many library managers does it take to change a lightbulb?
At least one committee and a light bulb strategy focus meeting and plan.

How many library technicians does it take to change a lightbulb?
Seven. One to follow approved procedure, and six to review the procedure. (8 if you count the librarian they all report to)

Having a Nose for Degraded Documents
At long last, scientists have developed a “sniff test” to measure the telltale aroma of old books and irreplaceable historical documents. You know the smell — that “combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness,” as the authors put it. Inhale and smell the Industrial Revolution!

Nation Shudders at Large Block of Uninterrupted Text
"Unable to rest their eyes on a colorful photograph or boldface heading that could be easily skimmed and forgotten about, Americans collectively recoiled Monday when confronted with a solid block of uninterrupted text...Dumbfounded citizens from Maine to California gazed helplessly at the frightening chunk of print, unsure of what to do next. Without an illustration, chart, or embedded YouTube video to ease them in, millions were frozen in place, terrified by the sight of one long, unbroken string of English words."

Literary Monster Mashup
Seth Grahame-Smith started it. He wrote a monster mash-up of Jane Austen and his own imagination called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” It sold a million copies and set off an avalanche: “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters” … “Emma and the Werewolves” … “The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies” … “Alice in Zombieland” … “Jane Bites Back.” Now Grahame-Smith is back with his follow-up — “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” Literature and zombies. History and vampires. Selling like hotcakes. What’s going on?
This hour, On Point: the monster mash-up craze.

One of my favorite lists to read is NGC4Lib "'next generation' library catalogs" list. I'm not much of a cataloger, nor do I even use a catalog at work, but NGC4Lib has some of the best discussions anywhere. This one is no exception, and worth a read. Set off by This Article over on LJ about the dispute over cost to use non-OCLC records for ILL. It's a great discussion on the role of OCLC, WorldCat, SkyRiver and DIY approaches to resource sharing and collaboration. Tim Spalding of LibraryThing takes a big swing at OCLC:

The real work here is done by librarians, not OCLC.... Today, when libraries are starting to realize OCLC's core service isn't worth what it was worth in 1967, OCLC is looking to permanently lock up their central position with viral contracts and, as the MSU case makes clear, monopoly pricing and flat-out bullying.