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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: News
Britain Rejects Copyright Extension
The British Government has rejected an extension of copyright beyond the current 50 year term. This is interesting for a few reasons, including the impending rush of British Invasion music becoming royalty-free, but mostly because it may signal a sea change … Continue reading
Posted in Copyright, Government, News, Politics
Tagged British Government, European Union
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VuFind released
VuFind, touting itself as “The Library OPAC meets Web 2.0”, has been released. It is an open-source OPAC replacement that works for Voyager integrated library system (ILS) for now — they are planning to expand to other ILSs soon. This … Continue reading
Posted in ILS, Libraries, Library 2.0, News, Open Source, Software
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Harry Potter and the Copyrighted Material
When TechCrunch posted about images of the pages of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being available via a torrent site called The Pirate Bay, they were reporting about a newsworthy event within their blog’s scope (technology and … Continue reading
Posted in Blogs, Books, Copyright, Google, News
Tagged Google, Librarian.net, The New York Times, The Pirate Bay, torrent site
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Bowker buys AquaBrowser
Specifically, Bowker has bought the company that owns AquaBrowser. Bowker, best known for publishing Books In Print, as well as assigning ISBNs, has bought Medialab Solutions, the Amsterdam company that developed the search interface. If you haven’t used AquaBrowser lately, … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, News, Search, Software, Web Design
Tagged Amsterdam, AquaBrowser Specifically, AquaBrowser;, Bowker, Medialab Solutions, search interface
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New Digitization Project
The Kirtas–BookSurge book digitization program has arrived, digitizing books from four libraries using Kirtas’ automated book scanning equipment and BookSurge’s position as an on-demand publishing subsidiary of Amazon.com. Open Access News has a great overview of it, including why it … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Google, Libraries, News, Open Access
Tagged Amazon.com, automated book scanning equipment, Google, on-demand publishing subsidiary
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Lawrence Lessig: the next 10 years
Lawrence Lessig, chair of Creative Commons, writer for Wired Magazine, and much much more, has announced that he is changing the course of his life, and will be attempting to champion the cause of a democratic society. Don’t read my … Continue reading
Posted in Blogs, Government, News, Politics
Tagged chair, Lawrence Lessig, Wired Magazine, writer
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Public Libraries ROI
A newly released study, Taxpayer Return-on-Investment (ROI) in Pennsylvania Public Libraries (Pdf), comes to an interesting and positive conclusion: for every $10 of tax money invested in public libraries, the Pennsylvania taxpayers receive a return of $55. found on ResourceShelf
Posted in Government, Libraries, News, Politics, Statistics
Tagged Pennsylvania, USD
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Space Shuttle STS-117 Links
There is a great collection of links about the current shuttle mission on ResourceShelf. I had intended to post this on Friday, before the launch, but better late than never. FYI, spotting the shuttle in orbit is a neat experience … Continue reading
Big Google Book Search Library Project Announcement
Big news from the Google Book Search Library Project today: The number of libraries participating in the Google Book Search Library Project just got a whole lot bigger with today’s addition of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). The CIC … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Google, Libraries, News
Tagged Committee on Institutional Cooperation, Google, Illinois, Indiana University, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State University, Minnesota, Northern Illinois, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Ryan Eby, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin
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Follow-up: Elsevier and the arms business
A couple of months ago I wrote a post about the publishing company Reed Elsevier and their involvement in the world arms trade. Editors and writers from several of their journals, including The Lancet, were arguing that it was unethical … Continue reading
Posted in Blogs, Medical, News
Tagged Elsevier, Reed Elsevier
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Border Patrol, Library Style
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House has a somewhat unique situation: it straddles the U.S.-Canadian border. Now, according to this article in the Washington Times, the U.S. Border Patrol is cracking down on those who cross the border to … Continue reading
Posted in Government, Libraries, Maps, News
Tagged Haskell, Library Style The
Haskell Free Library, Library Style The
Haskell Free Library, the Washington Times;, U.S.-Canadian border, United States, Washington Times
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Bibliographic news
A couple things of note are happening in the realm of bibliographic information: The Library of Congress will be holding their second regional meeting of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control on Wednesday, May 9th. This one … Continue reading
WorldCat Local
OCLC is announcing a new pilot project called WorldCat Local, intended to provide tools to help find materials close to the user. These tools will likely include circulation information, full-text capabilities for available resources, and eventually social networking features. The … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, News, OCLC, Online Databases, Online Services, Search, Web Design
Tagged Librarian.net, social networking features, University of Washington
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CC Learn
Creative Commons is getting ready to create CC Learn, a new division that will be devoted to “education, broadly defined — from kindergarten to graduate school, to lifelong learning.” Their immediate need is to hire an Executive Director for the … Continue reading
Posted in Copyright, Education, News
Tagged Executive Director for the division
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CBS News and Plagarism
A CBS News producer has been fired for plagarizing a Wall Street Journal column by Jeffrey Zaslow about how children and adults view libraries in different ways. The CBS report by Katie Couric has been removed from their website. The article is interesting, … Continue reading
Posted in Copyright, Libraries, News, Video
Tagged CBS News, Jeffrey Zaslow, Katie Couric, producer, Wall Street Journal
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Elsevier and the arms business
Reed Elsevier, the European publishing corporation behind over 15,000 journals, is being challenged by one of them, The Lancet, in regards to its commercial involvement in the arms trade. This connects to libraries in several ways: subscriptions to many print … Continue reading
Posted in ILS, Libraries, Medical, News, Periodicals, Politics
Tagged Elsevier, Endeavor, Forbes;, online access, owner, Reed Elsevier, United Kingdom
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National Security Letter Gag Order
An article titled “My National Security Letter Gag Order” appears in today’s Washington Post, and although it isn’t written by a librarian, it puts a face on what being served a National Security Letter might be like. I am not … Continue reading
Posted in Government, News
Tagged librarian, Washington Post
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Bacon as a Bookmark
Bacon as a Bookmark? Librarians Tell All is the title of Mike Hardin’s column in today’s Columbus Dispatch. He details various objects found inside returned library books, as described by Columbus area librarians. The “cat in the bookdrop” library happens to be located … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Humor, Libraries, News
Tagged Columbus, Columbus Dispatch, Illinois, librarian, Mike Hardin
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