Hi. I’m in Phoenix today, giving a talk tomorrow at University of Arizona’s SIRLS Graduate Student Symposium. Yesterday we did what I always do in new places, went to the library. We saw my friends’ suburban library the North Valley Regional Library and also the Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix. I have a bunch of observations, it was a lesson in compare and contrast, but I’ll just link to a photo I took in the Phoenix public library parking lot.
the Cita Dennis Hubbell Library in NOLA
The Cita Dennis Hubbell library is one of three public libraries to have reopened in the city of New Orleans since Katrina. A team of volunteers have set up a website for the library’s specific community, posting news and local information in an easy to use format. For a library system that has had to lay off 90% of their staff, this is no small accomplishment. [mefi projects]
15nov Buy, Hack, or Build: Optimizing your Systems for Your Users and Your Sanity
Sadly, I have a conference budget of zero and I’ll be returning from a five day trip, otherwise I’d be all over this NEASIS&T panel next week: Buy, Hack, or Build: Optimizing your Systems for Your Users and Your Sanity with a bunch of smarties including Casey Bisson, OPAC hacker, whose libdev blog has been added to my sidebar. Free books to attendees. [thanks rich]
National Security Letters, USAPA and you
The Washington Post has an article about the USA PATRIOT Act case from Connecticut, now with details and a long discussion about National Security Letters. Please note the software angle in this article.
[The FBI] gave George Christian the letter, which warned him to tell no one, ever, what it said.
Under the shield and stars of the FBI crest, the letter directed Christian to surrender “all subscriber information, billing information and access logs of any person” who used a specific computer at a library branch some distance away. Christian, who manages digital records for three dozen Connecticut libraries, said in an affidavit that he configures his system for privacy. But the vendors of the software he operates said their databases can reveal the Web sites that visitors browse, the e-mail accounts they open and the books they borrow. [emphasis mine]
So you can configure a system to be as private as you can make it, but it may not be private enough.
Library 2.0
Sometimes when librarians talk like marketing people, the things they say work. Here’s a nifty little article that coalesces a lot of the smart talk I heard at Internet Librarian. Library 2.0 Movement Sees Benefits in Collaboration with Patrons.