LISNews: Librarian Blog Since 1999

I had the pleasure of hearing David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States (and the first librarian to hold the position) speak this morning at the NFAIS conference in Philadelphia. I'll sleep better tonight knowing our national records are in good hands.

In addition to all the serious things he talked about (the twitter feed was #nfais11 and it was probably blogged somewhere) he told about a challenge put to the readers of the Prologue: Pieces of History blog: If our Founding Fathers had Twitter. Not quite The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation but still amusing.

After just a year and a half as the city librarian, Susan Hildreth may be leaving Seattle — at President Obama's request.

Hildreth has been nominated to be the director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, she confirmed on Wednesday.

"It's a great honor," Hildreth said, adding that the opportunity to serve in Obama's administration is "very compelling."

The Senate must confirm her nomination, so it would likely be months before Hildreth took the position. The institute is responsible for distributing all federal funds allocated to the country's libraries and museums, she said.

Hildreth estimated that her annual salary is about $165,000. She would not comment on whether she pursued the position or if the White House contacted her.

Hildreth was named Seattle's librarian in November 2008. Since assuming the post in early-2009, she has led the library system through a challenging period of deep budget cuts.

Seattle Times reports.

My name is Nicko and I'm with the Sunlight Foundation. I wanted to give you personal notice about a project you'll be interested in. It's called the National Data Catalog and it pulls together government data across all branches (executive, agencies, etc) and levels (federal, state, and local). This will be a very useful resource for librarians and educators because it is the most comprehensive and easily navigable index of government data.

http://nationaldatacatalog.com/
-- Read More

The International Amateur Scanning League has taken it upon itself to copy as much federal video as it can and put it online. Above, Carl Malamud conceived the project.

Full story here