Hardly a month goes by without a story in the newspapers or elsewhere in the media about a scholar who has “discovered” a lost or hitherto unknown manuscript of a text or musical work by a famous author or composer. Typically, following a headline such as “Twain’s Lost Story Discovered by Professor” or “Scholar Asks: … Continue reading The Unknown Cataloger
There probably isn’t a person alive who’s read the Terms of Service (TOS) of every technology or service they use. Those TOS statements are usually quite long and full of boilerplate legalese that any company must include. When you’re quickly trying to load and use new software, reading a TOS statement is not a priority, … Continue reading Read the Fine Print
One of the best aspects of being ALA president is the opportunity to be a part of state chapter conferences. I’d like to focus on my experience at the Kentucky Library Association/Kentucky School Media Association joint conference in Louisville, September 15-18. The hospitality of colleagues in Kentucky was outstanding, thanks to Emmalee Hoover, Leoma Dunn, and … Continue reading Some Good News Out There Too
In the midst of new outbreaks of violence in Pakistan, the United States Consulate in Karachi has announced plans to reopen its Information Resource Center, which has been closed for four years. Schools and universities in Karachi shut down October 20 and library programs were cancelled after a group of armed men opened fire in … Continue reading Violence Grips Karachi, but U.S. Consulate Announces Plans to Reopen IRC Library
Organized by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the Pakistan Library Association, the “21st Century Vision for Libraries” conference brought librarians from all over Pakistan to talk with specialists from the embassy and from consulates in Lahore and Karachi and from the United States and India, October 13-14, followed by discussions at several libraries, including the historic Frere Library … Continue reading Pakistan: People, Places, Libraries
The libraries at Stanford University have been a juggernaut of innovation over the last 20 years. They have reenvisioned scholarly communications with the launch of HighWire Press, initiated digital preservation and archiving tools LOCKSS and CLOCKSS, become a founding member of the open-source course management software Sakai, and developed numerous enhancements to Blacklight, the open-source … Continue reading The Stanford Innovation Juggernaut
The 13th annual LITA National Forum brought library and information technology professionals together in Atlanta September 30–October 3 to discuss projects and developments surrounding the conference theme, “The Crowd and the Cloud.” Expert speakers shared knowledge of, and experiences with, the leading trends and innovations in library technologies, including mobile, social, and web services. Keynoting … Continue reading Crowd Discusses the Cloud at LITA Forum
Connecticut State Sen. John Kissel (R-Enfield) met October 6 with state Department of Corrections Commissioner Leo Arnone to discuss the removal of books containing graphic violence from Connecticut prison-library collections. The meeting took place several days after jurors returned a guilty verdict for the first of two defendants in the murder of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and … Continue reading Ban Violent Books from Prison Libraries, Urges Connecticut State Senator
When Boardwalk Empire, the new series about Prohibition-era Atlantic City, debuted September 19, it had plenty of factors in its favor: an acclaimed director (Martin Scorsese), writer (Terence Winter), and network (HBO). But it also had a powerhouse researcher in its corner: Atlantic City Free Public Library’s Heather Halpin Perez. “I was one of the … Continue reading Boardwalk Empire’s Librarian
What makes younger library users, past or present, so interesting to researchers? At the Library History Seminar XII, September 10–12, many scholarly papers focused on youth services. The ideas in circulation at the Madison conference suggested that two factors ignite academic interest—censorship and new technology. Forces of change make young people visible in the library, … Continue reading Hearts and Minds in Play
METRO (Metropolitan New York Library Council) has gathered 30 case studies for Digitization in the Real World: Lessons Learned from Small and Medium-Sized Digitization Projects. Examples range from the Chelsea (Mich.) Library District’s collection of 15,000 obituaries, created using volunteers and open source software, to Hudson River Valley Heritage, a collaborative project coordinated by the … Continue reading Digitization for the Rest of Us
