intellectual freedom Archives | Page 26 of 29

Carol Brey-Casiano Tells a Patriot Act Story

June 29, 2010

The Leroy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund—established in 1970 to provide financial aid to librarians who are in jeopardy for their stand on intellectual freedom, who face discrimination, or who have been denied employment rights—celebrated its 40th anniversary Monday with a gala dinner in the exhibition hall of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Besides the Shakespeariana and Elizabethan … Continue reading Carol Brey-Casiano Tells a Patriot Act Story →

GPO Must Go

June 7, 2010

There are two things that Congress and Libraryland need to eliminate from their thinking before government information can truly move into the digital age. The first is the word “printing,” as in Government Printing Office (GPO). The second is the word “documents,” as in Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc), the branch of GPO that actually runs … Continue reading GPO Must Go →

Massive SirsiDynix Reorganization Streamlines Customer Service

By Sean Fitzpatrick | May 12, 2010

Company announces new logo, new brand, and "all hands on deck" approach to customer service SirsiDynix announced May 12 that the company is undertaking a massive overhaul that will include consolidating its customer support staff under one roof, launching a new website, unveiling a new brand, revamping its Customer Support Center, and expanding the firm's … Continue reading Massive SirsiDynix Reorganization Streamlines Customer Service →

Gates Foundation, IMLS Research Proves Value of Online Access

By Jill Nishi | April 14, 2010

The economic downturn has led to dramatic increases in library visitation across the nation, including unprecedented demand for free computer and internet access. Over the last year, Americans have flocked to libraries to get online and find help from trained staff to conduct job searches, complete online coursework, apply for government services, and learn new … Continue reading Gates Foundation, IMLS Research Proves Value of Online Access →

Bostonians Deplore “Downloadables” as Branch Substitutes

By Gordon Flagg | March 16, 2010

[UPDATED March 17] “Not the computers, not the high-tech, not the downloadables,” said Boston resident Maria Rodriguez at a March 9 Boston Public Library board meeting. “Libraries are about books and librarians. I didn’t hear anything about that in your vision.” Rodriguez was one of nearly 400 people who came for details about the planned … Continue reading Bostonians Deplore “Downloadables” as Branch Substitutes →

Mirabile Visu

by Joseph Janes | March 15, 2010

Things I never thought I’d see: 1. The Saints winning the Super Bowl. 2. The Mariners making off-season moves that might actually help for this year. 3. A Google commercial. I couldn’t quite believe it at first; there it was in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, as it really began to look like … Continue reading Mirabile Visu →

Planning for a Mobile Site

By Cindi Trainor | March 11, 2010

This article was adapted from a blog post on ALA TechSource Blog. View the original article. Mobile, mobile, mobile. It’s all we hear these days. Mobile…it’s the new black. Mobile…you just GOTTA. At my library, mobile web browsers have only accounted for .3% of the total site traffic so far this semester. Taking all the public PCs … Continue reading Planning for a Mobile Site →

My Favorite Medium

Will Manley | March 3, 2010

The guy driving the airport shuttle van couldn’t get over it. I had arrived at the Philadelphia airport and was to be driven to a speaking engagement at a library conference in New Jersey. I had called the driver from home before I left to give him the details of my flight arrival. Nonchalantly, he … Continue reading My Favorite Medium →

Thorny Fairness Issues Delay Decision on Google Books Settlement

By Beverly Goldberg | February 22, 2010

“I am not going to rule today,” stated Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court in New York City February 18 before hearing testimony at the long-awaited fairness hearing about settlement of the five-year-old lawsuit against Google over its massive book-digitization project. Judge Chin went on to explain, “Voluminous materials have been submitted [with] … Continue reading Thorny Fairness Issues Delay Decision on Google Books Settlement →

Is Technology Catching Up?

By Leonard Kniffel | February 18, 2010

Even non-techies can offer cutting-edge services right away, says Ellyssa Kroski in her cover story for the March issue of American Libraries. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter make it easier for all of us to communicate and collaborate, she says, and her main point is that you no longer have to be an … Continue reading Is Technology Catching Up? →

Whither Wikipedia?

by Joseph Janes | February 12, 2010

You’ve got to feel a bit for Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales. Here’s a guy with a fairly simple but incredibly powerful idea: Create a way for people to share what they know with the wider world and in the process build a resource that can be of great benefit to everyone. As he said in … Continue reading Whither Wikipedia? →

Justice Department Objects to Revised Google Books Settlement

By Gordon Flagg | February 5, 2010

The Department of Justice filed a statement of interest February 4 saying that despite "substantial progress" it still had objections to the proposed settlement of lawsuits challenging Google’s Book Search project, noting that the agreement continued to raise copyright, antitrust, and class certification issues. While the filing said the amended settlement “is more circumscribed in … Continue reading Justice Department Objects to Revised Google Books Settlement →

Latest Library Links

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Sheila Craft-Morgan writes: “Citations are a key measure of the impact of a researcher’s work. However, research in a variety of disciplines has found that women are less likely to be cited than men; citations contain geographic bias; and the Matthew effect—in which those who begin with advantage continue to gain advantage—leads to more citations for prominent scholars in a specific discipline. These findings contribute to the notion that scholarly knowledge comes from a homogenous group of researchers, thereby overlooking the contributions of other groups.”

American Libraries column, June
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Mel Baldwin writes: “Regardless of why someone comes into a library, every patron should be free to interact with staff, browse materials, and use the internet without fear of harassment or worse. That freedom depends on libraries upholding patron privacy. With nearly 400 active anti-trans bills pending in state legislatures as of April 2024, it is a dangerous time in the US to be gender nonconforming, someone whose gender expression does not align with the traditional male or female binary. And for trans people of color, studies show the risk of discrimination and violence is higher.”

American Libraries column, June
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Greg Landgraf writes: “On a school morning last September, small groups of 5th-graders crowded around tools connected to scientific research—a microscope, a robotic camera, and even a snake named Morgan Freeman—clipboards and pencils in hand. They were at the Melrose branch of Roanoke (Va.) Public Libraries (RPL), judging graduate students from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on their research. The event was RPL’s second Flip the Fair, introduced in 2022 to help graduate students develop skills to effectively communicate their research while engaging local elementary students with STEM topics and the library.”

American Libraries Trend, June
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Aaryn Bierly writes: “Disability Pride Month is traditionally celebrated in July to celebrate the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The ADA regulates laws regarding service animals, requires employers to accommodate their employees’ physical and medical needs, stipulates the number and placement of accessible parking spaces and restrooms, and more. One in five Americans has some type of disability that makes working more difficult, and the ADA has made working conditions easier for a significant number of Americans. We’ve got several great lists of books for kids and teens of different ages featuring characters with a range of disabilities.”

Herrick District Library (Holland, Mich.), July 1
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“Many people already turn to libraries as sources of trusted information ahead of elections, and organizations like ALA and the League of Women Voters are hoping to expand those numbers. We’ve curated a selection of resources, tools, and ideas to help inform your library’s approach to this important work.”

WebJunction, July 3
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“A federal appeals court in New Orleans is taking another look at its own order requiring a Texas county to keep eight books that deal with subjects including sex, gender identity, and racism on public library shelves. Llano County officials had initially removed 17 books from its shelves amid complaints about the subject matter. The June 6 order was vacated July 3 after a majority of the 17-member court granted Llano County officials a new hearing before the full court. The order did not state reasons and the hearing hasn’t yet been scheduled.”

Associated Press, July 7
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Todd Spangler writes: “In the days after Paramount Global disabled mtvnews.com and mtv.com/news in June—removing a trove of hundreds of thousands of articles about music and pop culture from the internet—the not-for-profit Internet Archive assembled a searchable index of 460,575 web pages previously published at mtv.com/news. The Wayback Machine’s archive of MTV News is not the full complement of what was published over the span of more than two decades. But the new collection at least ensures, for the time being, that much of MTV News’ articles remain accessible in some form.”

Variety, July 2

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