Archive for November, 2006
Another Michigan public library director has added a Director’s blog to the library website. Jennifer Ray, Director of the Cass District Library, has just introduced her blog, Director’s Diary. Yay Jennifer!
I really like Jennifer’s approach of using her blog to ask her library patrons what they want from the public library — what films to purchase for movie nights, what databases to purchase or renew. What a great way to reach out to your customers! It will be fun to watch as residents of the community begin to offer their suggestions via the blog.
November 29th, 2006
Yesterday, the Laughing Librarian (Brian Smith) posted a new music video on his blog – a must-see for librarians who are less-than-happy with their OPACs. The video is also available on YouTube and the lyrics are posted here.
Pretty timely video for us here at MLC as we put the finishing touches on the agenda for our upcoming OPAC & Beyond special program in The Library Rebooted series. “The OPAC Sucks†might just become the unofficial theme song for our program.
[MLC trivia contest:Â we'll send an MLC travel mug to the first person who posts a comment below correctly identifying the original song and artist that inspired SNL's "more cowbell."Â Contest NOT open to MLC staff - sorry Heather.]
November 27th, 2006
Effective today through October 27, 2009, the Librarian of Congress issued a rule setting out six exemptions to U.S. copyright law’s circumvention of technology. Under this rule, persons making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) during the next three years:
1. Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors.
2. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and that require the original media or hardware as a condition of access, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a library or archive. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
3. Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete. A dongle shall be considered obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a replacement or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
4. Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.
5. Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.
6. Sound recordings, and audiovisual works associated with those sound recordings, distributed in compact disc format and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully purchased works and create or exploit security flaws or vulnerabilities that compromise the security of personal computers, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of good faith testing, investigating, or correcting such security flaws or vulnerabilities.
For further details and background documents, see LC’s anticircumvention web page.
November 27th, 2006
Last week, I asked the library listservs about public libraries who serve as archival repositories for local historical documents. Below is a list of public libraries who responded.
While compiling this list, I realized that this type of information would be more useful if presented via a wiki, instead of a blog or listserv. Our MLC director, Randy Dykhuis, has been playing around with setting up an MLC wiki. Perhaps when it is set up, I can add the “local history archives list” and ask Michigan public libraries to add their own information to the wiki. In the meantime, if your public library houses a local history collection, please feel free to tell us about your collection via a comment to this blog. Thanks!
Alpena County Library has the Marine Sanctuary collection and is increasingly getting historical documents to store, including an incredible collection from the local power company and an heir.
Galesburg Memorial Library houses a history room for Galesburg area / local history. Contains: scrap books, genealogies, local history books, Michigan Pioneer Collection, local history files.
Grand Haven, Loutit District Library, houses a Local History and Genealogy Department. They have an archival collection of photographs and documents for the Grand Haven area and actively seek items to add to the collection.
Grand Ledge Area District Library houses part of the research archives of the Grand Ledge Area Historical Society at the library to increase access to the public.
Grand Rapids Public Library, has the Grand Rapids History & Special Collections Department and maintains the Archives for the area.
Manchester District Library has a local history room with several marvelous original documents, including a hand written log of civil war soldiers from the area.
Sault Ste. Marie, Bayliss Public Library, has the Judge Joseph H. Steere Room, an archive of historical books, photos, microfilm, manuscripts and papers.
Shelby Area District Library has local history archival materials in a local history room. The collection is continually growing with donations and staff is indexing the collection (labor intensive but a very popular service).
November 21st, 2006
In response to a threatened lawsuit from the American Association of Publishers (AAP), Cornell University has agreed to regulate electronic reserves using guidelines developed jointly by Cornell and AAP. See:
Seattle PI “Professors get ‘F’ in copyright protection knowledge.â€
Cornell Daily Sun “C.U. Changes E-Reserve Policy to Avoid Lawsuitâ€
Library Journal “In Response to AAP Concerns, Cornell Issues New Guidelines on Electronic Reservesâ€
Cornell’s new Guidelines (PDF)
In U.S. copyright law, there is nothing specific in the statute or case law about e-reserves. Since 1978, academic institutions have relied on ALA’s model policy and more recently on ALA statements on e-reserves. The articles suggest that Cornell is not the only university that AAP has targeted for e-reserves practices. It will be interesting to see whether other universities agree to work with AAP to adopt guidelines similar to Cornell’s or instead decide to chance a lawsuit from AAP.
November 21st, 2006
The staff at MLC are in the middle of a strategic planning process. We’re using a method called scenario analysis.
Last August we began with an envrionmental scan to try to assess what’s happening outside and might have an impact on us. We set up an internal blog for the staff, who all volunteered to monitor a web site, newspaper, magazine, TV show, or other media outlet and scan them for interesting tidbits that might portend a trend that we need to be aware of. We gathered dozens and dozens of posts every week. At the end of September, we gathered all the posts so that we could discern the important trends. The trends fit into broad categories, such as technology, social, demographics, government/political, and science.
Now we’re painting the picture, so to speak. We have four teams, each with a different worldview, based on the trends and uncertainties we face. It’s up to each team to come up with a story about how MLC copes in their world. By writing these stories and discussing them, we would like to find some unexpected opportunities or uncover organizational problems that need fixing. All to help us develop the services that will serve Michigan libraries well into the future.
We’d love to hear some of your thoughts about the trends and events that you think will affect your library over the next several years.
November 21st, 2006
The photos have been added to MLC’s account on Flickr. Click here to view the new set.
November 17th, 2006
More than 100 people attended the second Library Rebooted special program, “New Technologies: Blogs, Wikis, IM and more,†on November 15. Library 2.0 bloggers Darlene Fichter, Aaron Schmidt, Meredith Farkas, and Jessamyn West wowed the crowd.
Four guest bloggers agreed to blog about the presentations, and their posts are now available on The Library Rebooted: Unwrapped blog. Please visit the blog and feel free to add your own comments about the presentations. We’re interested in hearing from our member libraries on these and other Library Rebooted issues.
The next special program in the Library Rebooted series is “R U A nOOb? Bridging the Gap between Boomers and Gamers,” on February 15, 2007. Hope to see you there!
November 16th, 2006
Please see the following from the McKune Memorial Library:
The director and staff of the McKune Memorial Library (aka Chelsea District Library) would like to invite a special day exclusively for our library peers:
McKune Memorial Library Open House for the library community!
Friday, Dec. 8, 2006, 10 am to 5 pm
Come see our new library and enjoy Chelsea’s wonderful selection of restaurants and shops!
Enjoy light refreshments in the McKune Room.
We hope you will join us!
Shawn Personke
Community Relations and Development Coordinator
221 S. Main Street
Chelsea, MIÂ 48118
734.475.8732
chelsea.lib.mi.us
What a cool idea! Thanks for the invitation Shawn!
November 16th, 2006
Here at MLC, we’re getting excited about next week’s special program on blogs, wikis, IM and more. Registration is already over a hundred attendees – yay!
I thought you’d like some insight into our four presenters — all big bloggers in the Library 2.0 realm. A great way to get to know them is through their blogs. Check them out!
Darlene Fichter
Home page: Darlene Fichter’s Home Page
Blog:Â Blog on the Side
Meredith Farkas
Blog:Â Information Wants to Be Free
Aaron Schmidt
Blog: Walking Paper
Jessamyn West
Blog: Librarian.net: Putting the Rarin’ Back in Librarian
If you’re not able to attend the special program, don’t despair! After November 15, four guest bloggers will post on The Library Rebooted: Unwrapped blog about the speakers’ presentations. Please visit the blog and feel free to add comments of your own.
Looking forward to seeing many of you next Wednesday!
November 10th, 2006
Previous Posts
