Bookmobile Day 1: Free? What does “free” mean?
James Jacobs, Sarah Washburn from Techsoup and I (Shinjoung Yeo) are currently on a tour around CA driving the Internet Archive's bookmobile for 2 weeks and visiting 10 rural libraries in Northern California. Please stop back here or at Sarah's blog for pictures and updates of our adventures.
Our first stop today was the Placer County Library in Auburn, CA. After having breakfast at Awful annie's in Auburn's old town (it's not awful at all so you should check it out!) we drove to the library. Delightfully all the staff were excited and waiting for us to see the Bookmobile. Everyone was extremeley curious about the technology that we're carrrying to download, print, bind, cut and make books (especially satellite on the top of the bookmobile which is not quite working but is well-used for a prop :-) ) and how we're able to make books on a fly.
As any well-trained bookmobilista knows, the first thing you need is power, so we pulled up to the front of the library and finally found a plug by pulling our power cord through the bookdrop. You never know how book drop box can be used when the bookmobile's in town!
Despite being a little remote from Auburn's downtown area, the library was very lively and heavily-used by community members. As soon as we set up the table around 10am, there was a steady stream of people stopping by and asking us questions. Surprising (or *not* so surprising in living in capitialist society!) one of the most common questions that we were asked was what we were selling. We told them that we were not selling anything but promoting free public domain books which are freely available to everyone at archive.org. One person, obviously still a little confused about our intentions, asked again if we were selling machines ( referring to our heavy duty cutter, bookbinding machines we use to demonstrate how to make a book). We told the person no (kindly), but he persisted and asked if we were selling software. It was not just one person asking questions like this, but more than 50% who dropped by asked similar questions. Maybe we should have put a tip jar out; that may have alleviated their cognitive dissonence :-)
We noticed that some people couldn't grasp the concept of FREE. Just free with no "but" and no ginsu steak knives. It makes you wonder. I think we are all well-trained in our market-oriented society to think that there are producers and consumers and there seems to be no room for FREE between them.
While we were promoting FREE public domain books it might be our chance to educate our community about what should be "FREE" - free books, free library, free health care, free eductation, free government documents(!) ....
Here are some photos from our first day and you will see some government documents as well.
Tomorrow we will be setting up the bookmobile in the town of Quincy, California [pop.4,300, 90% White].
Please check back for progress reports and photos. We'll be on the road until September 15, 2007. We'd love to hear your comments on our trip.
Continue readingCass Hartnett, BOTM for September, 2007
Cass Hartnett is U.S. Documents Librarian at the University of Washington Libraries, a position she's held since 1997. She also teaches the Government Publications class at the University of Washington School of Information, loving the energy and inspiration she receives from students. Her main interests are American women's history and the historical/popular value of federal government information. She co-founded the Northwest Government Information Network (NGIN) and is currently Chair-Elect of the American Library Association's Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT). She's thrilled to be contributing to FGI as a novice blogger! Continue reading
Lunchtime Listen: Greg Elin of the Sunlight Foundation
Here is a good lunchtime listen:
- Jon Udell's Interviews with Innovators: Greg Elin, Chief Architect, Sunlight Foundation, ITConversations (2007-08-18)
If you want a preview, read Udell's blog post about the interview here:
- A conversation with Greg Elin about the Sunlight Foundation Jon Udell, August 20, 2007.
The Sunlight Foundation aims to make the operation of Congress and the U.S. government more transparent and accountable.Continue reading
Microsoft Loses Vote on File Standards
Microsoft Loses Vote on File Standards by The Associated Press, New York Times (September 4, 2007) "Microsoft Corp. has failed in a first step to win enough support to make the data format behind its flagship Office software a global standard, the International Standards Organization said Tuesday."
There is an ongoing battle between the proprietary "open" format that Microsoft is proposing and the Open Document Format standard created by open source developers. The result of the battle will help determine how governments and libraries will archive digital documents.
See also: Open Document Standards (2007-08-10)
Continue readingYes, EIS’s matter! Hawaii Superferry
This is my first blog entry ever, and I can't think of a better topic than Environmental Impact Statements (EIS's). We govdocs-loving, tree-hugging types are quite attached to EIS's, as in this fine example of an EIS regarding Columbia River water management, plucked from my library's online catalog.
The Northwestern University Transportation Library has a lovely page defining EIS's and providing a guide to their own extensive collections in this area. My library has its own internal cheat sheet as well. And you may wish to check out this list of impact statement announcements appearing in the Federal Register since 1994, some of the past few years with linking out to full text documents (thank you, Environmental Protection Agency).
Why do I have EIS's on the brain? I was reading my local Tacoma News Tribune last Monday, when I saw on page A5 a stunning color photo of an enormous vessel emblazoned with the words Hawaii Superferry, along with a surfer catching a wave in the foreground! I am no stranger to ferries. I grew up on Lake Champlain, vacationed in Maine, and now live in Puget Sound, home to some of the hardest-working ferries on the planet (my personal favorite is the
Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay ferry in nearby British Columbia). But I am used to the thought that one must take an inter-island flight to get around in Hawaii, not board a big honking ferry to get from Oahu to Maui to Kauai.
The article's author, Jaymes Song, notes that the Superferry's first attempt to dock in Kauai was blocked by a dozen surfboarding protesters in the water. What a sight this must have been, as the ferry with 500 passengers and 150 cars had to turn back. The protestors, joined by hundreds more on the shore, say that the ferry company failed to perform a full environmental analysis before beginning operation. Think of it: no EIS published, and our surfers will block your dock -- that Is seeing the real power of government information. There are many twists and turns to this tale, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran an informative article on September 2.
The Superferry itself is maintaining a list of news articles about its own fate. Yes, people, EIS's matter.
Continue reading