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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Libology Blog
Established July 2006
ISSN: 1946-1852
by Rick Mason
Category Archives: Ethics
The Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity
The ALA Council has approved a new award, The Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity, to be awarded annually to a librarian who “has faced adversity with integrity and dignity intact.” It will be interesting to see … Continue reading
Long Copyrights Kill Books
This. The Hole in our Collective Memory : How Copyright made Mid-Century Books Vanish These are frightening numbers, and they should force us to consider the negative effects of longer copyright terms. The publication of knowledge and creativity blossomed during … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Copyright, Ethics, Government, OCLC, Publishing
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Weeding… or Mowing?
The Urbana Free Library in Urbana, Illinois, just conducted a major weeding project. Those of us who work in libraries understand that proper weeding is critical. A collection that isn’t weeded well becomes clogged up with irrelevant and unnecessary volumes, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Classification, Ethics, Libraries
1 Comment
Five Laws of Library Science (Ebook edition)
Andy Woodworth has printed an update of Ranganathan’s Five Laws, only how they relate to Ebooks: Five Laws of Library Science (Ebook edition) Ebooks are for use. Every reader his or her ebook. Every book, any ereader. Save the time … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Ethics, History, Libraries
Tagged Andy Woodworth, Books, ebooks, Ethics, five laws of library science, Libraries, Ranganathan
2 Comments
OCLC Questions
Jonathan Rochkind at Bibliographic Wilderness weighs in on the OCLC issue, and ultimately asks a lot of significant questions that don’t have easy answers. We all need to be asking significant questions, not only of OCLC, SkyRiver, and III, but … Continue reading
Posted in Cataloging, Classification, Ethics, Groups, History, ILL, ILS, Libraries, OCLC, Online Databases, Online Services
Tagged Cataloging, Ethics, III, Jonathan Rochkind, Libraries, OCLC, Online Services, SkyRiver
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OCLC’s Response to Lawsuit
Just received via OCLC Member Update e-mail: The following statement is from Larry Alford, Chair, OCLC Board of Trustees, and Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO: “On July 29, SkyRiver Technology Solutions and Innovative Interfaces, Inc. filed suit against OCLC, … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Libraries, News, OCLC, Online Databases, Online Services
Tagged III, Innovative Interfaces Inc, Jay Jordan, Larry Alford, Library automation, OCLC, OCLC Board of Trustees, Online Computer Library Center, SkyRiver, SkyRiver Technology Solutions
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The Positive No
No One Nos : Learning to Say No to Bad Ideas is an article on A List Apart that discusses when and how to address those situations where, for a variety of reasons, your best option is to tell someone … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Definitions, Ethics, Language, Web Design
Tagged A List Apart, Ethics, Language, No, Web Design, William Ury
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InfoToday Article on Lawsuit
InfoToday has posted a very good overview of the SkyRiver/III/OCLC suit on their website, written by Edward M. Corrado, who also blogs at http://blog.ecorrado.us (I have quoted him on this blog several times, and follow his posts closely). My post … Continue reading
Posted in Blogs, Cataloging, Ethics, ILS, Libraries, Library 2.0, Licensing, News, OCLC, Online Databases, Online Services, Software
Tagged Blog, Edward M. Corrado, Ethics, III, Libraries, OCLC, SkyRiver, Software, technology
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SkyRiver sues OCLC
SkyRiver, the new bibliographic records company created by Innovative Interfaces, Inc. (III) owner Jerry Kline, has filed suit against OCLC, alleging that they are “unlawfully monopolizing the markets for cataloging services, interlibrary lending, and bibliographic data.” SkyRiver has been joined … Continue reading
How to Respond to Bad Press, continued
In a post a few days ago I referred to a letter written by Mary A. Dempsey, Commissioner for the Chicago Public Library, as a response to a Fox Chicago News story that asked Are Libraries Necessary, or a Waste … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Government, Groups, History, Libraries, News, Online Services
Tagged Anna Davlantes, Anthony Bourdain, Author, California State Library, Chicago, Chicago Public Library, city services, Commissioner, DC, Digital media, e-book, Education, English as a second language, Google Books Library Project, Harold Washington Library Center, hour Internet sessions, Illinois, job search assistance, journalist, librarian, Library, Library and information science, Library Board, Library Board of Directors, MacArthur Foundation, marketing, Mary A. Dempsey, online information, online research collections, pdf, Public Library, School library, Science, Talking Book Center, the Ravinia Music Festival, USD, Walter Cronkite, Washington, WFLD
1 Comment
How to Respond to Bad Press
Mary A. Dempsey, Commissioner for the Chicago Public Library, responded exceptionally well to a story on Fox Chicago News that suggested that the $120 million spent on the library was a waste, given the amount of information on the internet … Continue reading
The Scope of the Illinois Crisis
The New York Times is running an article in today’s edition that highlights just how poorly the state budget in Illinois has been managed: Payback Time : Illinois Stops Paying Its Bills, but Can’t Stop Digging Hole The article doesn’t … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Government, Libraries, News, Politics
Tagged Business/Finance, Comptroller, Daniel Hynes, Government of Illinois, Illinois, Illinois Comptroller, library systems, The New York Times, The New York Times Co, Triage, United States
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Top Ten Customer Service Skills for Library Staff
ALA Learning’s Top Ten Customer Service Skills for Library Staff is not only a great review of those habits that can make us more effective when we interact with the public, but are also good reminders of what we can … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Libraries
Tagged ALA, ALA Learning, customer service, Libraries, Library, library staff
3 Comments
SSNs @ Your Library?
My former place of work (FPOW) used to have Social Security numbers as college ID numbers, which were written on book checkout cards. About ten years ago, we switched to an ILS and began generating in-house ID numbers for students. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Ethics, ILS, Libraries, News
Tagged Ethics, Identity theft, ILS, News, Social Security number, University of Toledo
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Inspirational Library-related StoryCorps
This morning I heard one of the most inspirational library-related stories I have encountered. It was a StoryCorps segment on NPR’s Morning Edition radio program, and I feel that everyone who works in libraries should listen to it, if only … Continue reading
Posted in Audio, Books, Ethics, History, Libraries
Tagged Ethics, Human Interest, librarian, Morning Edition, NPR, NPR's Morning Edition, StoryCorp
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Professionalism
Circulating Zen posts about dealing with a staffing issue on a holiday weekend. She is faced with a student worker scheduled to cover several shifts (allowing other students to travel home for the holiday weekend) who has come down with … Continue reading
Books : A Plan To Scan
A very straightforward and readable overview of the issues surrounding Google’s book scanning project appeared in yesterdays Financial Times : Books : A plan to scan. A prime focus of the analysis is the Orphan Works issue, books that fall … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Copyright, Ethics, Fair Use, Google, Libraries, Library 2.0, Licensing
Tagged Book scanning, Copyright, Digital libraries, Financial Times, Google, Library and information science, Orphan works, United States copyright law
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