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Archives for October 2005

Copyright and Heroic Librarians

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A couple of things caught my eye today.  First, I found this article by David H. Holtzman in the Oct. 25 issue of BusinessWeek.  It’s called "Share the Knowledge, Expand the Wealth" and makes the case that copyright, while still an incredibly valuable legal protection against intellectual property theft has been badly abused by the giants of the publishing, entertainment and software industries to the detriment of you and me, or other folks who might want to make use of IP licenses for our own creative efforts. I’m not sure how effectively Holtzman makes his case, as he writes in broad strokes for the layman instead of making use of actual case law, but it’s worth reading because I think his main point is a good one.

My other find today was an article called "Our Librarians, Our Heroes" from the De Moines register, which I put behind the cut (it was forwarded in an e-mail so I don’t have a URL for it.)

Enjoy!

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Article in Am. J. Psych.

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The following article by David V. Forrest, M.D., appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry’s ‘Introspections’ column: the most elegant title is " The Librarians."  In part:

"Bank robbers go where the money is, and we bookworms and journal raccoons are found in libraries. At the New York State Psychiatric Institute, arguably the premier interdisciplinary psychiatry institute, the library has the honored position of a top floor location in the new Oldham Building, and it is my habitat, so much so that my Columbia University mail is sent there. The multitiered library in our old building had a cachet that the new one in a new computer-age building, reminiscent of the corridors and staterooms of the starship Enterprise, cannot quite replace. Nevertheless, the company of our librarians is rewarding. These devoted keepers of the literature, who have taken an oath of near silence, are themselves an underconsulted resource."

One wishes that we keepers of the literature all had employers and co-workers who appreciated us this much.

The rest of the article is here.

“‘Meta-Utopia'”? Who Said That?

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Google Alert just dumped a link in my lap that I’m a bit conflicted about: it’s called "Metacrap" and it’s an angry and obnoxious attempt by Cory Doctorow to make what should be an excellent point. Namely, that not all meta-data is reliable and the level to which it is unreliable necessarily degrades its utility for everyone, including (especially?) libraries.

I’ll just say now that I have no idea who Doctorow is or why he’s so unhappy with the idea of meta-data–he seems really annoyed by the fact that the stuff is routinely misused by everybody from porn site designers to slick web marketers and novices who don’t know a thing about HTML getting involved.  But he concludes by saying that meta-data are actually quite useful:

"Certain kinds of implicit meta-data is awfully useful, in
fact. Google exploits meta-data about the structure of the World Wide
Web: by examining the number of links pointing at a page (and the
number of links pointing at each linker), Google can derive statistics
about the number of Web-authors who believe that that page is important
enough to link to, and hence make extremely reliable guesses about how
reputable the information on that page is.

This sort of observational meta-data is far more reliable
than the stuff that human beings create for the purposes of having
their documents found. It cuts through the marketing bullshit, the
self-delusion, and the vocabulary collisions.

Taken more broadly, this kind of meta-data can be thought of
as a pedigree: who thinks that this document is valuable? How closely
correlated have this person’s value judgments been with mine in times
gone by? This kind of implicit endorsement of information is a far
better candidate for an information-retrieval panacea than all the
world’s schema combined."

To him, I say only: Dude, calm down.

I think he’s making a few errors of his own here: a popular web site may be a better source of disinformation than fact, for example, no matter how many Google links point to it or how many hits have been logged over time–what about a completely factual site that nobody chooses to give credence to, for that matter? (Good info, no coverage. He also ignores Roy Tennant’s analysis of Google’s limitations). He’s right that as more and more pages spring up from more and more sources that nobody has first-hand knowledge of, the general quality of the information disseminated goes down, but that’s just common sense , or it should be.  People have all manner of bias and those biases invariably find their ways into the work they create.  No argument there.

Second, and perhaps more importantly: has anyone actually written anything on how the increasing use of meta-data will somehow solve all  information seekers’ problems? Has anyone actually put that idea forth? Or is "meta-utopia" something Doctrow just came up with because it sounded cool?  (I suspect the latter, but what do I know?)

Yes, meta-data are misused, sometimes badly abused, to the detriment of many. Of course there are problems.  Show me anything created by the human race without the potential for misuse or problems. If you can’t–and we both know you can’t–stop your whining and help those of us who believe in meta-data’s value as an information locating aid to fix the problems that you’ve found.   Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

This concludes the sermon. As I said, his general point has value; he’s just burying it beneath a few tons of cranky hyperbole. I’ve included the link above so you can go read what he says and judge for yourself.

Baker & Taylor News Bit

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Baker & Taylor and OCLC Announce Cataloging Partnership

I’m not really sure if this is good news or not, but it’s probably good to know for those libraries who do business with B&T. In part:

"CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – October 13, 2005 — Baker & Taylor, the leading distributor of books and audio-visual materials and provider of library services, and OCLC Online Computer Library Center, the world’s largest library cooperative, today announced a partnership that will offer OCLC cataloging records to subscribers who receive books and audio visual materials from the Baker & Taylor family of companies."

Stephen’s Guide Index of Logical Fallicies

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Okay, new house rule: new stuff must appear here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’ll do more if I can but never less often. Deal? Deal.

And today’s Nifty Link comes courtesy of LRC (as so much does these days, at least to me): The Stephen’s Guide Index of Logical Fallacies, which is not the most complete list on the planet, but for yokels like me (and perhaps you, although I’m sure you’re smarter than I am which is why you are out there living a glamorous and exciting life and I’m here typing at this stupid keyboard when I should be clearing out the monthly serials claims folder) it’s very cool indeed, with a well-defined all-text structure  and complete explanations of all the most common logical fallacies I learned about when I took public speaking in college. And it’s a million times more accessible than any logic textbook I have ever encountered, which probably means that I need to read even more than I do already, which is sad enough, since reading is why I’m not living as exciting a life as you are, which brings us back to why I’m typing this here and you’re not (though you are reading it . . . hmmm . . . you may not be quite as glamorous as I’d originally thought . . . oh, heck, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt here and say that you’re exceptionally, amazingly, agonizingly glamorous and popular and brilliant, which is why I hate you to pieces and often spend my nights curled up in a ball in my apartment sobbing under the covers.)

Be warned: this page took forever to load on my PC (it’s mostly text, so I’m not sure why that should be); your mileage may vary.

Enjoy!

The State and Future of NOPL

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I’d heard that the New Orleans Public Library was in deep trouble, more from the city’s intent to shutter it than anything that Hurricane Katrina did. I’d wanted details, though, so I went to Google news, put "New Orleans Public Library" into the search field, clicked on the patented (if not then soon, I’m sure) Ye Olde Magic SEARCH Buttonne and got four completely contradictory results. That is, the results were fine, the stories they pulled up were contradictory.

First I got this one, "Purchasing Guide Good Start in getting N.O. Library Back Up" from 2theadvocate.com, dated October 9.

October 10 edition of Library Journal carried this one: "New Orleans to Slash Jobs; Library Likely to Suffer".  Note that I’m not disputing the veracity of the headline (seeing as how libraries always suffer when tax revenue collapses), I’m just wondering how timely it is.

The reason I’m wondering is that way back (comparitively speaking) on October 7, American Libraries Online published this tidbit titled "New Orleans Public Library Services Terminated."
It’s an ugly, ugly headline but if it comes earlier than the other articles–if the place was officially terminated, why was the buying guide issued? ANd this particular article sort of makes the Library Journal story redundant, doesn’t it?

Or does it? That’s when I foud this gem, also from ALAO: "Retired New orleand Public Library StafferWins Big in Casino":

"A 30-year veteran of the New Orleans Public Library, who had moved to
Opelousas, Louisiana, to stay with family after Hurricane Katrina left
her homeless last month, won $1.6 million at a casino October 4 after
spending only $4.25 in a Wheel of Fortune game.

Jacquelyn Sherman, who had worked at the East New Orleans Regional and
Nora Navra branches before retiring about 10 years ago, stopped at the
Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino in Opelousas with her sister
Clarissa to try her luck at the casino games. “She told me that if I
needed her she would be at the Wheel of Fortune machine,” Clarissa said
in the October 6 Opelousas Daily World. “I received a
hysterical call from her telling me that she wanted me to meet her at
the machine. When I arrived, she was surrounded by security guards. The
first thing I asked her was, ’Did you break these people’s machine?’”"

Maybe Ms. Sherman can help the library out a bit?

All About The Flu

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I’m not seeing much reporting on what might be one of the most interesting (and alarming) medical stories of the year: scientists have recreated (under tightly controlled conditions) the 1918 Influena virus that killed anywhere from 50 million to 100 million people world wide, depending on who you listen to. The NY Times had this story. The journal Foreign Affairs carried a better article by Michael T. Osterholm , titled "Preparing for the Next Pandemic", which, because it’s meant to be read by people with  a higher than 6th grade reading level, has a much more comprehensive view on both that particular strain of flu and the nature of the flu virus in general.

And that is that. The CDC has their general flu web page up, the World Health Organization has theirs as well, but has this page devoted to the Avian Flu too; Science Daily carried this story about the 1918 virus resurrection, but as far as general discussion goes, not a peep. I’m hoping that this is due to my lousy research skills, and not the far more frightening idea that nobody gives half a hump about the topic.

I’ll keep looking (and hoping) but please feel free to send articles my way.

Update: I came across this story from BusinessWeek and this (more alarmist) article from Bill Sardi care of LRC.com. I’ll keep looking.

Emergency Record Management 101

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I found this article, titled "How to prepare for One really Quick Getaway"  in today’s NY Times. It’s not the most comprehensive word on managing records, as it deals only with people’s personal situation: household finances for the most part, which is, of course, a far cry from the comparatively serious record management needs of even a small business. And, of course, nothing compares to the massive record keeping needs of even a small institution with 50+ employees.  Having said that, this article hits the important points, makes mention of a variety of cheap yet high-tech solutions to record storage, and suggests what you and your family should be keeping track of on a yearly (semi-yearly?) basis. The main thrust is toward what happens if you need to bug out NOW! in the face of a Katrina-like emergency rather then just what happens if you happen to not come home today.

Worth a look; the text is below the link.

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