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Who will control information?
Every day, it seems, there is another article in the popular press that whittles away at the very meaning of the word "library." The worst of these conflate what Google is doing with what a library does. (E.g., "The Google Library".) And every day we seen new articles about library budget cuts, library closings, library service reductions. We are, it seems, losing our libraries. There are also those ocassional articles by people of a certain age who grew up with libraries and paper-and-ink books and revere them, but these always strike a hollow note with me. Hollow, first, because they are harkening to the past and not looking for potential benefits of the future. And, second, because our collective choices are seldom driven by nostalgia; they are driven by politics and economics. It is simply unhelpful to do no more than wish for the past. In this context, I was pleased to read a piece that, though it begins sounding merely nostalgic, turns out to make some important points about the collective choices we seem to be making.
- In Defense of the Memory Theater. By Nathan Schneider. Open Letters Monthly (July 2010)
Now our job is to figure out how to be cleverer than the search engine; when certain ways of finding information become easy, the knowledge really worth having becomes what those methods don't turn up, what the crawlers somehow managed to miss. As the Temple of Knowledge comes to look ever more like the Googleplex, public libraries are downsizing their reference desks, presuming that for every query an internet search will suffice. Libraries absolutely cannot keel over and let Google replace them. They are our collective bookshelves, the memory theater for a community.What is the relevance to government information? As Schneider says:
Just as a personal bookshelf becomes the extension of one's body, a democratic society must ensure that its books are held democratically.By "held" I think he means physically controlled in the OAIS sense of digital libraries. This is about control of information. Continue reading
House Bill Would Allow Copyright Protection for Some Government Works
ARL reports that House of Representatives Bill 5704 "would amend title 10 of the US Code (Armed Forces) to allow faculty members at Department of Defense service academies and schools of professional military education to secure copyrights for certain scholarly works that they produce as part of their official duties.... Currently, there is no copyright protection for government works (with a few exceptions) including those prepared by an officer or employee of the US Government as part of that person's official duties." It is not clear why this is necessary or useful, but even more surprising is this provision of the bill that the author shall (not "may") transfer the copyright to the publisher:
Upon acceptance for publication of a work for which copyright protection exists by reason of subsection (a), the person holding the copyright shall transfer the copyright to the owner or publisher of the medium in which the work will be published.Continue reading
Financial Reform Bill Available On FDsys
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 16, 2010 No. 10-24 MEDIA CONTACT: GARY SOMERSET 202.512.1957, 202.355.3997 cell gsomerset@gpo.gov FINANCIAL REFORM BILL AVAILABLE ON GPO'S FEDERAL DIGITAL SYSTEM WASHINGTON-The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has made the financial reform bill passed by the U.S. Congress available in electronic form. The authentic, electronic version of H.R. 4173, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is available on GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys), named by Government Computer News as one of the government's best websites. GPO authenticated the document by digital signature. This signature assures the public that the document has not been changed or altered. A digital signature, viewed through the GPO Seal of Authenticity, verifies the document's integrity and authenticity. Link to FDsys: www.fdsys.gov Direct link: H.R. 4173, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr4173ENR/pdf/BILLS-111hr4173ENR.pdf Continue reading
AASL names NARA’s Digital Classroom one of Top Websites for Teaching and Learning
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has named the The National Archives' Digital Classroom as one of the Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning.
- Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. American Association of School Librarians.
GPO Establishes First Preservation Librarian Position
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 14, 2010 No. 10-23 MEDIA CONTACT: GARY SOMERSET 202.512.1957, 202.355.3997 cell gsomerset@gpo.gov GPO ESTABLISHES FIRST PRESERVATION LIBRARIAN POSITION WASHINGTON-The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is continuing its commitment to preserving the documents of our democracy by establishing the agency's first preservation librarian position. GPO's preservation librarian will be tasked with updating the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) collection management plan for the preservation of federal government documents. David Walls will serve as GPO's first preservation librarian; he is a member of the American Library Association (ALA) and comes to the agency from Yale University where he worked as a preservation librarian for 12 years. While at Yale, Walls established practices for the digital conversion of library and special collection materials. Digital preservation is an ongoing initiative for GPO. In 2009, the agency launched GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys), a content management system, preservation repository and advanced search engine that provides the public with permanent public access to federal government information. GPO is also a member of LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe), a worldwide digital preservation alliance that collaborates with libraries and organizations on preservation initiatives. Link to FDsys: www.fdsys.gov "David's experience and expertise in preservation will be an asset to GPO and its mission of Keeping America Informed," said Acting Superintendent of Documents Ric Davis. "This is an important position for the agency as we work with the library community on the continuing transition to a primarily electronic FDLP, and ensure that the content can be migrated in the future to guarantee current and permanent public access to federal government information." The GPO is the federal government's primary centralized resource for gathering, cataloging, producing, providing, authenticating, and preserving published U.S. government information in all its forms. GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of information products and services for all three branches of the federal government. In addition to publication sales, GPO makes government information available at no cost to the public through GPO's Federal Digital System (www.fdsys.gov) and through partnerships with approximately 1,220 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program. For more information, please visit www.gpo.gov. Follow GPO on Twitter http://twitter.com/USGPO and on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/gpoprinter. Continue reading
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