In Seattle last week ALA passed this Resolution in Support of Immigrants Rights: Resolved, that ALA strongly supports the protection of each person’s civil liberties regardless of that individual’s nationality, residency, or status; and be it further resolved that ALA opposes any legislation that infringes on the rights of anyone in the USA (citizen or … Read more ALA Council supports immigrant rights
Just briefly mentioning two important things that I have neglected to follow here. 1). The 9th Circuit Court’s rejection of Brewster Kahle’s constitutional challenge to copyright laws that prevent people from using orphan works. That link is to the Cyberlaw project at Stanford and will be updated with commentary and future developments. This couirt decision … Read more 9th Circuit rejects Kahle vs. Gonzales, AAP PR
Here is an excerpt from Jesse Shera’s 1936 article in The Bulletin of the American Library Association, “The College Library and its Future.” (Vol. 30, pp. 495-501.) A PROFESSIONAL CREDO Having seen that technologically librarianship has made significant progress, and that investigatory activities have already achieved impressive beginnings, we now turn our attention to a … Read more Jesse Shera on academic librarians’ professional values
Library Juice readers on most university campuses should be able to read this new one from EDUCAUSE Review: “If the Academic Library Ceased to Exist, Would We Have to Invent It?” It’s a brief think piece that demonstrates why academic libraries are necessary, answering the idea, apparently familiar to the EDUCAUSE crowd, that they are … Read more EDUCAUSE on libraries (with friends like these…)
Thomas Mann at the Library of Congress has written an update to his critical summary of changes there: More on What’s Going On at the Library of Congress, published through the Library of Congress Professional Guild, AFSCME 2910. The cover page lists these topics in the 24 page document: Series authority records Integrating the Web … Read more More on What’s Going On at the Library of Congress
Rebekah Azen resigned from her post as the director of the library at Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, because she believes that exposure to WiFi emissions is a health hazard and got no response from administrators after complaining. Library Journal covered this story yesterday. The Council on Wireless Technology Impacts, a group that … Read more Library Director resigns over WiFi irradiation risks
Tom Wilson has announced the new issue of Information Research, an electronic journal about information organization and information seeking behavior. This issue has some neat stuff in it, in my opinion: an article about casual, social information spaces used by college students, analyzed through the theory of “information grounds;” a study of how people organize … Read more New Issue of Information Research
Jim Carroll blogged this on January 4th: Why “Bandwagon Innovation” Doesn’t Work. Carroll states very succinctly what is wrong with bandwagonny innovation ideas (including Web 2.0 ideas as they are commonly approached). He is a futurist whose primary interest is innovation; he is not anti-tech at all. His points about innovation bandwagons have to do … Read more “Bandwagon innovation”
The Progressive Librarians Guild has endorsed a resolution by the American Historical Association, titled Resolution on United States Government Practices Inimical to the Values of the Historical Profession. The resolution addresses the Bush Administration’s violations of historic preservation practices and other principles held by historians, in the context of the war in Iraq. The violations … Read more PLG endorses AHA resolution on US gov’t and historical preservation
Stephen Talbott’s NETFUTURE: Technology and Human Responsibility, the electronic newsletter he has edited since 1995, is back in publication after a fifteen month hiatus. I wondered if it would ever resume publication, and I am very glad that it has. In Talbott’s words, NetFuture is an electronic newsletter with postings every two-to-four weeks or so. … Read more NETFUTURE is back
After his last address on Iraq, President Bush broke with precedent and refused to be photographed at the podium by journalists, instead distributing an official, government produced photo which he expected the media to publish. Some media outlets did publish the official photo, and some published still video captures from the address. Put it on … Read more Bush refuses to be photographed
ALA has started up some blogs. Some belong to staff members, but there are many that belong to units. Check out the Office for Intellectual Freedom blog, and then look at some of the others linked at the top of the top level ALA blogs page…
Library Juice Concentrate Edited by Rory Litwin Preface by Kathleen de la Peña McCook Price: $25.00 ISBN-10: 0-9778617-3-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-9778617-3-6 6″ by 9″ Published: December 2006 Library Juice Concentrate is a compilation of the best of Library Juice, an e-zine published by Rory Litwin between 1998 and 2005 that dealt with foundational questions of librarianship … Read more New from LJP: Library Juice Concentrate
Library Daylight: Tracings of Modern Librarianship, 1874 to 1922 Edited by Rory Litwin Introduction by Suzanne Stauffer, Ph.D. Price: $25.00 ISBN-10: 0-9778617-4-0 ISBN-13: 978-0-9778617-4-3 6″ by 9″ Published: December 2006 Library Daylight: Tracings of Modern Librarianship, 1874 to 1922 is an eclectic collection of thirty-six articles about libraries and librarianship published between 1874 and 1922. … Read more New from LJP: Library Daylight
I’ve been tardy in blogging this… The Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service has issued a report on the EPA library closures. That link goes to a PDF of the document hosted by the Federation of American Scientists. Thanks to ALA’s Don Wood for distributing this info.
I had announced a small Library Juice Press book release party at ALA Midwinter in Seattle, saying that I would announce the location when I had more info. I have since decided not to attend Midwinter, so I won’t be in Seattle. I was looking forward to showing off the first four books and to … Read more ALA Midwinter