Strike affects the British Library - you tell me, was it open or closed?

Library theft isn't merely an external evil, and this story explains why.

The E-book industry is pulling out all the stops to get people downloading.

There's library fines, and then there's imprisonment: is this going a bit too far?

"Technology for Social Change" - now there's a phrase worth hanging your hat on. Thanks to Infoxchange, Australia is a small step closer to bridging the digital divide.

Just discovered 1Do3: a specialized search engine for those who don't need 764,000 hits per search.

Disturbing news: book banning is picking up momentum.

Libraries in the UK are soon to be wired.

Has it come to this? Seattle libraries have to resort to drastic measures to save money.

Here's some more discussion on the topic of fingerprinting in UK schools.

This neat little article talks about the life cycle of a book.

Rare book notes: an update on that Pride and Prejudice sale we've been talking about.

[I've moved Site Stuff to this page because I know not everyone cares about what I read, or how often I redesign the cats page.]

They may be short-staffed, but at least they're staffed: DC will not cut hours this Fall after all.

Laura Flanders at The Nation has something to say about librarians being harassed by law enforcement. Professor Leigh Estabrook's study, which Flanders refers to, is here, and the data is here (PDF).

Taking digitization to the next level: the University of Texas is working on a project called the Digital Knowledge Gateway, that will see a diverse array of objects and artifacts digitized - from the Gutenberg Bible to dinosaur bones.

I've recently become aware of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. What they basically do is research the ways in which the Internet impacts modern life. Their reports are worth keeping an eye on.

Your library a little over budget this year? You could politely encourage your patrons to pay up.

The world needs more Harry Potter: this report suggests that books like J.K.Rowling's not only get kids reading more - they get parents reading more too.

Rare book notes: that first edition of Pride and Prejudice I mentioned is up for auction today. Take a peek at the three volumes here.

This article suggests that public libraries are in good shape not despite the Internet, but because of the Internet, and here's the data to prove it.

Further reinforcements: the Hawaii State Public Library System is funding a study that will look at the value of libraries within a community.

Is this another entry in the everyone-knew-this-but-me file? the FTC has recommended full disclosure of paid content to search engines.

If you already love Inktomi, the addition of categorization is going to be a nice little treat for you.

On the topic of search engines: ever wonder what people are looking for? These sneaky tools will help you find out.

And, add this to the acronym list: this databse is generated from Medline abstracts. [via Matt - thanks)

Stats Canada has reported a drop in internet use in Canada.

This report addresses the digital divide in Canada and the use of computers by Canadian youth.

News on the cult of Marian front: Let's keep blasting those stereotypes.

UNESCO has launched a new library portal.

Industry Canada has released this neat little map indicating which communities in Canada have broadband access, and which don't. Nothing revelatory here, just good to know that such a thing exists.

Some clever reference tricks: tools to help demystify all those bizarre reference/ILL requests, proving to every patron that yes, you are the uberlibrarian:
*the acronym database
*Wiley's Acronym Finder
*acronymfinder.com
*jake.

Looking for your nearest Federal Depository Library? GPO Access has just put up this handy clickable map.

The move to automate school libraries in the UK is now seeing school children being fingerprinted. It's a good thing somebody is looking out for these kids.

Here's one for the Say-It-Ain't-So file: eBay is zeroing in on library territory.

We could all use a little more $s: The nice folks at ARL are offering an online course in Library Fund Development.

Chapter-a-day, the brainchild of Suzanne Beecher, sends excerpts of books to her mailing list, to encourage people to start reading again. She's encouraging libraries to do the same.

I am loathe to report that book banning at public libraries is not a thing of the past.

This month's issue of Information Highways includes this interesting discussion on information literacy.

Rare book notes: A first edition of Pride and Prejudice has just been discovered.

Librarians rule: this article outlines pay-per-use online reference services and concludes with a recommendation to make use of services that tap into librarians' skills.

An ode to the public library card catalogue.

The Vancouver Public Library has started a book club for men only, in a move to encourage men to become more active readers. And excluding women is really going to accomplish that.

This discussion thread on LIBREF-L on database interfaces and usability is worth a read (use the "next in topic" icon to follow the thread).

Ray Tomlinson sounds like a neat guy. And he invented e-mail.

Good news for Googlers everywhere: Ask Jeeves and Google are now partners.

Speaking of Google, they had a problem with Amazon Light's flatteringly similar search interface.

[Site stuff: finished reading My Darling Dead Ones and Woman: An Intimate Geography]

ACRL is planning another ad-campaign to promote libraries/librarianship in academia. See last year's ad in the Chronicle. They're taking suggestions, so get in touch with your ALA section president.

EndNote 6 is out, and now manages images as well as bibliographic citations. Sweet.

Goodbye Oprah, hello Mary. Mary Walsh has a new show on CBC Sunday called "Open Book" (premieres this week), that takes its cue from Oprah's Book Club, minus all the warm-and-fuzzies.

Beach reading? Apparently this is the summer of content.

Site stuff: updated work bookmarks.

With the ever-growing undergrad dependance on the web for research (earlier post), web site evaluation is more important than ever. Here is a decent list of online sources that might help.

Stats Canada has released the 2001 Census Age and Sex Data. Press Release from The Daily.

This article provides a nice plug for the ALA's Caldecott and Newberry Awards as a good source for kids books; also includes decent book/reader's advisory links.

Can't keep abreast of library literature? I periodically check this list of recently received items in an attempt to stay on top of things. Of course I'm not biased.

Another little treat - if you are an academic librarian, the JAL Guide to Professional Literature is published in every issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship and works as a great one-stop current awareness shop.

FirstGov has entered the world of e-commerce, with the addition of government auctions to the site. Have a look.

What a surprise. Budget cuts in DC are affecting libraries.

A massive public services strike in the UK leaves libraries closed for the day.

Site stuff: finished reading The Barking Dog; and Peter Scott put me on his list of library-related blogs. Thanks Peter.

"Net thinking" takes over as undergrads use the Internet as their sole source of research. Librarian, Marylaine Block, has something to say about it.

Louise Tsang, law librarian extrodinaire at York University Law Library, has put together this great page on sources of Canadian law on the web.

This isn't entirely on topic but I thought it was interesting: a working paper called Revisiting Feminist Research Methodologies.

The San Francisco Chronicle has published a mini industry report on public libraries and librarianship.

An angel returns to rural Mexico with books in hand and plans to build a library.

On the topic of heavenly bodies, just found out that St. Lawrence is the patron saint of libraries. St. Catherine of Alexandria and Jerome are also associated with archivists, librarians and libraries.

This is worth spending a few minutes on: an online exhibition on the Vatican library at the Library of Congress.

That copy of The Hobbit I was telling you about? Well, it broke records at Sotheby's.

Another report on the insufficience of copyright laws in the e-book arena.

Could it be that teens are reading more?

This is probably old news, but I just discovered Libraries FAQ. Includes great annotated bibliographies on librarians in comic books and comic strips.

ALA has a page on how libraries should respond to law enforcement's demands. Thanks, LII.

E-libraries are coming to India.

This report claims that the e-book business isn't doing too badly, thanks to eBook Web.

Site stuff: reviewed Paris to the Moon.

Richard Posner has written an article in Atlantic Monthly on the commercialization of higher education, with students now being regarded as customers.

IFLA has a nice little list of quotations about libraries and librarians. Indexed, of course.

Site stuff: did a redesign and shuffle of the books page. It's less design-y now; links and lists and reviews, oh my! Also planning on doing something about the main page, I'm bored with it.

There's a memorial service for Timothy Findley planned for July 14th in Stratford.

Site stuff: New pics added: Best of the EAC (the what?) and Heidi.

Here's how to get folks into your library: advertise air-conditioning.

Over 21,000 civil employees are on strike in Toronto. Public Library workers are not on strike, thanks to a decent library board.

Found a great site devoted to all things flaneur. (See review of The Flaneur for details of flaneur-ism in Paris).

Of course, everyone else knew about this but me: you can adopt-a-book at the British Library, to cover restoration and preservation costs. Neat! I'll have to drop my highway adoption.

The Guardian Unlimited's books page has a great listing of sites of the week - all book/author related.

Site stuff: Reviewed Destiny by Tim Parks. Scanning some more images today, so stay tuned.

Here's a great article on one of life's little pleasures: the joy of reading and travelling.

Postmodernism is alive and well, per Stanley Fish.

Library borrowing is down, but book sales are up in the UK. Story here, report here.

And here are a couple of interesting pieces of research: what we dream influences what we read, and women in the 21st Century are hampered by images of Victorian women.

Site stuff: added some wedding pics. Hope to have the cats on there soon.

National Statistics has published a report on Internet use in the UK. Seems that numbers are up. But what does that really mean?

Speaking of the whole digital divide thing, the UN says the Arab world is trailing.

Site stuff: home bookmarks are now online; expect some overlap with the work ones. Can't guarantee that all links are good, that would just take way too much work.

The Winnipeg Public Library's website has been targetted by an anti-abortion group by way of a nasty redirect.

Another ode to the passing of good literature at the hands of pulp fiction.

Free textbooks to students in Trinidad and Tobago.

The National Library of Malaysia has launched a campaign to promote reading.

Finally, Canadian universities are getting some money, and here's a neat online course on the G8.

Site stuff: site map is up; migrated and updated links on the France 06.01 page; library school stuff has been migrated too (see map); my bookmarks at work are up; and reviewed Realia by Will Aitken.

A neat article on the creative writting process, including the creative tribulations of authors like Atwood, Gowdy, Ondaatje, and Mistry.

Public libraries in South Africa are getting a monetary boost of 16m Rand (approx. $2.3m Canadian).

More good news for school libraries in the US.

Parents are complaining about their kids' summer reading lists.

I checked out the listings of Canadian newspapers on dmoz, only to find that there are hardly ANY independent dailies left in Canada. So, I did some more research and guess what? Of the 102 daily newspapers published in Canada, only five are still independent.

The National Library of Canada is plagued with more water damage. You'd think they would have figured something out by now.

Is a study guide for Harry Potter really necessary?

A signed, first edition of The Hobbit goes on auction at Sotheby's on July 12th.

And we've been talking blog ad nauseum, and sure, maybe blogging went mainstream ages ago, but here's news: UC Berkeley is offering a full credit course on the medium.