http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td922l0NoDQ&NR Documentary filmmaking at its finest – enjoy!

A new library blog, Designing Better Libraries, has just been launched.  Created in response to the multitude of library-related blogs devoted to pointing out the problems with libraries and librarianship, DBL hopes to address the recognized problems with solutions to improve our profession and libraries.  DBL’s plan is to adapt “new ways of thinking and …Read more »

Electronic Information For Libraries, eIFL-IP Advocacy for Access to Information, has released a new Handbook on Copyright and Related Issues for Libraries on their web site in html and downloadable PDF. The Handbook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license. Sponsored by UNESCO, the handbook is a practical guide to topical legal questions …Read more »

The History Channel is offering grants to libraries and other organizations for Save Our History projects.  The grant program application states: “The key to a Save Our History grant project is a partnership between a history organization, museum, historical society, preservation organization, archive, library, or a government agency and a school district, a coalition of …Read more »

Check out these two contrasting views posted on blogs today about libraries in Second Life: Stephen Abrams’ “Rev up your avatars – future libraries’ third presence in Second Life” The Librarian’s Guide to Etiquette, “Second Life, Joining” [And in the same vein, see also: “Get a First Life.”] Where do you fall in the Second …Read more »

Click here to see the Web 2.0 video on YouTube that has been making the rounds on library blogs this week. The video, Web 2.0 … the Machine is Us/ing Us, highlights the idea of the web linking people – sharing, trading, and collaborating. Library 2.0 brings those concepts to libraries – community, collaboration, and …Read more »

Lawrence Lessig’s presentation of his orphan works proposal is now available on his blog.  Libraries are particularly interested in what Congress will enact regarding “orphan works” (copyright-protected materials whose copyright owners cannot be located) for library digitization projects. Lessig’s proposal covers only published works, not unpublished works.  Because many digitization projects include unpublished, unique materials …Read more »

Read or listen to this great story from NPR. “Librarians are finding that patrons are eager to switch over from checking out CDs and cassettes because they love the portability and convenience of digital downloads.” “…downloading a digital book from the public library works pretty much like downloading audio material from a commercial site — …Read more »

Yesterday I posted to this blog about Will Sherman’s 33 reasons that librarians are still important. Today, I found a good follow-up blog post by Helene Blowers in her LibraryBytes blog, suggesting five more reasons that she gleaned from listening to her stakeholders: A literate society is import for our community to prosper. Libraries provide …Read more »

Copyright law professor, Lawrence Lessig, is posting a series of presentations on his blog over the next couple weeks.  The presentations will outline arguments for five Internet-related proposals that he believes Congress should enact this year: Orphan Works, Remix Culture, Network Neutrality, Spam, and Harmful to Minors Material.  The first presentation will be posted later …Read more »