In the current phase of library automation, we're inundated with the language of openness. Open source ILSs have promised to give libraries more control over their software than has been possible with proprietary products. Companies that produce and provide service for proprietary products have redoubled their efforts to offer more flexibility, openness, and interoperability through … Continue reading Opening Up Library Systems
What began as a personnel matter in September involving the actions of two employees of the Jessamine County (Ky.) Public Library has grown into a local controversy about the artistic merit of Alan Moore’s graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier and whether two circulation clerks should be applauded for taking the … Continue reading Kentuckians Take Sides about Graphic Nature of Graphic Novel
The American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, and ALA’s Association of College and Research Libraries have responded to the proposed settlement of lawsuits challenging Google’s Book Search project with a guide describing the major revisions, particularly those relevant to libraries. A Guide for the Perplexed Part III: The Amended Settlement Agreement (PDF file), … Continue reading Library Groups Release Guide to Revised Google Books Settlement
The George W. Bush Presidential Center has been designed to achieve LEED platinum certification and will include numerous sustainable design strategies, including locally sourced and 20% recycled building materials, solar hot water panels, native landscaping to reduce irrigation, and a storm-water management system that conveys, cleanses, and collects surface runoff and roof rainwater and will … Continue reading Bush Presidential Library Unveiled
Shortly before a midnight deadline on November 13, Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers filed a revised version of their proposed settlement of lawsuits challenging Google’s Book Search project. The original deal, reached in October 2008, drew criticism over antitrust concerns and treatment of orphan works and foreign publications, and an … Continue reading Revised Google Books Settlement Tackles Foreign Titles, Orphans
Intellectual-freedom advocates are expressing disappointment at the November 16 refusal of the Supreme Court to hear their appeal of ACLU of Florida v. Miami-Dade School Board. The decision lets stand a February appeals-court ruling that permits the Miami-Dade School Board to keep Vamos a Cuba and its English-language translation A Visit to Cuba off media-center … Continue reading Supreme Court Lets Miami-Dade’s Vamos Ban Stand
Five days after the abrupt November 12 decision to close the only two libraries in Colton, California, library board President Peter Carrasco was anticipating an outpouring of library support from disaffected area residents at the city council’s November 17 meeting that night. “A library is an institution in the community. It’s not like closing down … Continue reading Board President Denounces Closing of Colton Libraries
The Cheshire (Conn.) Public Library Advisory Board voted 5–1 November 16 in favor of Director Ramona Harten’s decision to purchase two copies of Brian McDonald’s In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood for the collection. The library’s acquisition of the title drew controversy because the … Continue reading Cheshire Library Retains True-Crime Book about Town Murders
Effie Lee Morris, 88, children’s librarian extraordinaire and advocate for children’s literature and library service to youngsters with impaired vision, died of cancer November 10 at her home in San Francisco. Calling Morris the “Grand Dame of children’s librarianship,” Andrew P. Jackson, former president of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), made … Continue reading Children’s Champion Effie Lee Morris Dies
A pair of librarians traveled from Hawaii to Pago Pago to help in recovery efforts following the devastating tsunami that struck September 29. Triggered by a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, the waves killed 34 people in American Samoa and around 160 in neighboring Samoa and Tonga. Lynn Davis, head of preservation at the University of Hawaii … Continue reading Hawaiian Librarians Aid in Tsunami Recovery in American Samoa
In the ongoing discussion about open source ILSs, one wouldn’t expect a big ILS vendor selling closed, proprietary products to have anything nice to say. Nonetheless, when SyrsiDynix Vice President of Innovation Stephen Abram did weigh in on the issue, his harsh criticism created quite a dust-up on Twitter and the blogosphere. But Abram’s white … Continue reading Open Source Advocates Reject SirsiDynix’s Warning
Concerned citizens in Reading, Pennsylvania, have been brainstorming about how to keep the three branches of the Reading Public Library open ever since the board announced in late October that it had to close the three facilities at year’s end and lay off nine of the 20 branch library workers, leaving the city of about … Continue reading It May Cost Too Much to Close Libraries in Reading, Pennsylvania
