Obama's Library

Plans for the Presidential Library are underway.

Will it be in Chicago?
Will it be in Honolulu?
Who will design it and what will it encompass?

Thoughts from WITOLD RYBCZYNSKIFEB op-ed contributor in the New York Times.

'A Burnable Book' Is Fragrant With The Stench Of Medieval London

The "burnable" book of the title is a work of poetic prophecy, ostensibly written during the reign of William the Conqueror, which foretells in gory detail the demise of thirteen English kings. In a society where it's a hanging offense merely to think of the king's death, this is seditious stuff. More to the point for Chaucer's contemporaries, Liber de Mortibus Regum Anglorum prophesizes the assassination of the sitting ruler, Richard II. The central mystery of the book leads us through the mucky lanes of London, with cunning surprises around every corner.

Full article

Darwin's Children Drew All Over the On The Origin of Species Manuscript

http://theappendix.net/blog/2014/2/darwins-children-drew-vegetable-battles-on-the-origin-of-...

But there are other drawings in Darwin's papers that defy explanation - until we remember that Darwin and his wife Emma (who, famously, was also his cousin) had a huge family of ten children. Scholars believe that a young Francis Darwin, the naturalist's third oldest son, drew this on the back of Darwin's manuscript for On the Origin of Species.

Library Consortium Tests Interlibrary Loans of e-Books

http://chronicle.com/article/Library-Consortium-Tests/144743/
Worried about security and sales, many publishers and vendors permit individual e-book chapters to be shared but don’t routinely include the lending of whole e-books in library contracts. Even when licenses do allow e-book lending, libraries typically lack the technology to make it work. You can’t just pop an e-book into an envelope and ship it off by delivery van or the post office.

But lending e-books may soon get easier. This spring a pilot project called Occam’s Reader will test software custom-built to make it both easy and secure for libraries to share e-book files while keeping publishers happy—or so the software’s creators hope.

Letter: Forum’s story on NDSU librarian deeply flawed

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/426662/

"There were factual inaccuracies contained in Cali Owings’ Feb. 3 article and her use of factually flawed documents to negatively and unfairly portray my client Michele Reid.

Reid left her position of dean of libraries voluntarily and without knowledge of Provost J. Bruce Rafert’s apparent intention to terminate her employment as North Dakota State University negotiated the settlement. She received a reasonable settlement in exchange for withdrawing her claims against NDSU, having concluded that under the current administration, she had accomplished as much as she could as dean of libraries. "

2014-02-16 Status Update -- We're Still Off The Air

In light of current circumstances, there is a status update provided by the Air Staff of Erie Looking Productions. Matériel purchasing needs can be met via donation through an Amazon wishlist. We encourage you to enjoy episodes online of the 2013 reboot of The Tomorrow People while we remain off the air.

1:30 minutes (3.57 MB)
mp3

Facebook made my teenager into an ad. What parent would ever 'like' that?

I’ll get right to the worst part. The settlement authorizes Facebook, with the blessing of the court, to continue doing what California and six other states specifically prohibit by law: using children’s images to make money without asking their parents first. (The other states are Florida, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.)

With the support of privacy, consumer-rights and children’s-rights nonprofits, I and several other parents urged the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to throw out the settlement this week – because Facebook can’t buy our children, and it can’t sell them either.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/15/facebook-advertising-opt-in-privacy-issues

World's Biggest Bookstore to be replaced by row of restaurants

Four restaurants will replace the World’s Biggest Bookstore, which is now scheduled to close at the end of March, it was announced Tuesday.

The location, just a block from the Eaton Centre, was purchased by Lifetime Developments from the family that founded Coles Books and Coles Notes in Canada.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/02/11/worlds_biggest_bookstore_to_be_replaced_by_row_of...

Most Literate Cities 2013

Central Connecticut State University has the line-up:

1. Washington, D.C.
2. Seattle, Wash.
3. Minneapolis, Minn.
4. Atlanta, Ga. (tie)
5. Pittsburgh, Pa. (tie)
6. Denver, Colo.
7. St. Paul, Minn.
8. Boston, Mass.
9. St. Louis, Mo.
10. San Francisco, Calif.

Impatience Has Its Reward: Books Are Rolled Out Faster

The practice of spacing an author’s books at least one year apart is gradually being discarded as publishers appeal to the same “must-know-now” impulse that drives binge viewing of shows like “House of Cards” and “Breaking Bad.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/books/impatience-has-its-reward-books-are-rolled-out-faste...

“I think the bottom line is that people are impatient,” said Susan Wasson, a longtime bookseller at an independent shop, Bookworks, in Albuquerque. “With the speed that life is going these days, people don’t want to wait longer for a sequel. I know I feel that way. When I like a book, I don’t want to wait a year for the sequel.”

This Is What a Librarian Looks Like

From Slate. Photos of librarians taken by Kyle Cassidy at the recent ALA Midwinter Conference.

Guess what? They look kinda like the rest of us.

Director of Queens (NYC) Library Under Fire for Spending on Office Decor & Having a Side Gig Too

Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens) said spendthrift Thomas Galante’s undisclosed side gig — which paid $287,100 in less than two years — as a business consultant to a Long Island school district was the last straw. Galante also spent $140,000 in library funds on renovations to his executive offices. ‘I urge you to consider the interests of the library and its patrons and resign,’ Avella wrote.

The excessive spending was previously reported on LISNews .

Last year, Queens Library President Thomas Galante was paid more than the mayor or the MTA chairman, and spent $140,000 to renovate his offices at the Central Library. Meanwhile, Galante eliminated nearly 130 library jobs through layoffs and attrition over the past five years.

Story from The NY Daily News.

Libraries Participating More in World Book Night

From Library Journal:

Library participation in World Book Night US is increasing, with libraries hosting launch events around the country for the fourth iteration of the annual April 23 event, which encourages public reading by distributing about a half-million free books and honors Shakespeare’s birthday.

Some libraries and bookstores host a special reception when the books arrive to foster community spirit among the volunteers. Last year, World Book Night US had volunteers in 5,200 towns and cities in all 50 states and a record 1,055 libraries and bookstores participate, program director Carl Lennertz said.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) main building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street will host a public talk April 22 with several authors whose books have been selected for 2014 World Book Night US distribution. This is the first time NYPL is holding official World Book Night launch events; prior World Book Night events were held at the Barnes and Noble store in Union Square.

The guest list at the main library event includes writers Victoria Bond, Malcolm Gladwell, Garrison Keillor, Walter Dean Myers, Esmeralda Santiago, T.R. Simon, and Tobias Wolff. The talk will take place at 6 p.m. in the 250-seat Edna Barnes Salomon Room, and will also be live-streamed on the Internet.

I'm a "giver" for the third time and delighted to be handing out copies of Jamie Ford's "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet." I will be picking up my books at my local branch library in Brooklyn, how about you?

Virginia History and Bunny Men

From The Washington Post:

"We Virginians, we really love our history,” said Laura Wickstead, director of the Virginia Room at the City of Fairfax Regional Library. “That’s for sure.”

“We’re sitting within a virtual stone’s throw of the Library of Congress, the National Archives and these fabulous university collections,” Laura said, “but even these smaller public library collections are superb and have things you don’t find other places.”

There’s certainly a lot to love. After all, this is the part of the country that produced George Mason, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Virginia was a hotbed of the Civil War. More recently, it’s where the mysterious urban legend known as the Bunny Man did whatever it is that Bunny Men do.

Bidding Starts Early For Site Of Obama's Future Library

President Obama doesn't leave office until January of 2017, but already the competition has begun for the right to host his presidential library and museum.

A new foundation has been set up to raise money and to begin the site selection process, and there are already bids in the works from Chicago, Honolulu and elsewhere.

Full piece here

The Race to Save America's Public Media History

A new archive is trying to digitize thousands of hours of tape from TV and radio stations across the country—before those tapes disintegrate. "The scary thing about it is that they are on physical formats that are deteriorating," Karen Cariani, director of WGBH's library and archives told me. "Video tape and audiotape is not a stable format. After 40 or 50 years, they are disintegrating. And the information—pictures, sounds on that physical medium—is disappearing. Unlike a piece of paper or a photograph that might last 100 years, media formats are extremely fragile."

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/02/the-race-to-save-americas-public-media...

IT Security for You and Your Library

http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jan14/Carver--IT-Security-for-You-and-Your-Library.shtml

STAY SAFE WHILE YOU’RE ONLINE

It’s easy, in theory, to keep your PC safe. It all comes down to three things:

Keep everything patched and updated.
Never trust anything.
Use good passwords.

It's The End Of The Story For Sony's E-Bookstore

It's The End Of The Story For Sony's E-Bookstore
See: Story on NPR

The Stupidity of Computers

The Stupidity of Computers
The good news is that, because computers cannot and will not “understand” us the way we understand each other, they will not be able to take over the world and enslave us (at least not for a while). The bad news is that, because computers cannot come to us and meet us in our world, we must continue to adjust our world and bring ourselves to them. We will define and regiment our lives, including our social lives and our perceptions of our selves, in ways that are conducive to what a computer can “understand.” Their dumbness will become ours.

http://nplusonemag.com/the-stupidity-of-computers

You don’t want your privacy: Disney and the meat space data race

http://gigaom.com/2014/01/18/you-dont-want-your-privacy-disney-and-the-meat-space-data-race/

We’re all wringing our hands over the NSA, and meanwhile we’re handing our data as fast as we can to other entities for next to nothing. If the NSA were smart, it would buy Candy Crush Saga, change the permissions, and be done with it.

If we’re honest, we give privacy lip service, but we vote with our keypresses and our dollars, and the bands we strap to our wrists.

Expect your future meat space world to feel very much like your cyber space one. The next time your RFID tag lets Mickey know you’ve got diarrhea, maybe the stall door can make suggestions to you: “Customers who got funnel cake diarrhea also bought Maalox.”

[Thanks Elaine!]

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