Very fascinating article and research by Walt about library blogs. Instead of pullquotes and links, he crunches some (admittedly somewhat subjectively chosen) numbers to line up 60 library blogs in some semblance of order. Don’t like his conclusions? You can download his data and fiddle with it yourself. Which reminds me, I need to get my mission statement back on this page. Fiona notes: we need tools, and fast and puts out a call for more non-USian bloggers.
stop the press… or … the scanner
The Google Print Library Project is going to hold off scanning books which are still under copyright until November. More over at Wired. This information was available on the official Google Blog [according to another Google blog] and quoted in the BBC article, and elsewhere, but the post itself is no longer there. Curious. [update: the post wasn’t missing/deleted, it was being update with new info, it’s back]
using your author superpowers for good (causes)
This September, Neil Gaiman and other authors you may have heard of — John Grisham, Stephen King, Dorothy Allison — are having an unusual auction. If you’re the high bidder on these eBay auctions, these authors will put your name, or the name of your choosing I assume, in their upcoming books as specified. All the proceeds go to benefit the First Amendment Project. The auction page is fun reading, this is what King is offering…
“One (and only one) character name in a novel called CELL, which is now in work and which will appear in either 2006 or 2007. Buyer should be aware that CELL is a violent piece of work, which comes complete with zombies set in motion by bad cell phone signals that destroy the human brain. Like cheap whiskey, it’s very nasty and extremely satisfying. Character can be male or female, but a buyer who wants to die must in this case be female. In any case, I’ll require physical description of auction winner, including any nickname (can be made up, I don’t give a rip).”
Laura Crossett wins!
If you read the EFF blog you’ve probably been keeping up with their Blog for Freedom where people have been writing on their blogs about their first experiences with standing up for their digital rights. What I didn’t know was that it was a contest of sorts. Today I learn that contest was won by …. a librarian. Rad Refster and library student Laura Crossett who runs lis.dom won Best Overall post for this entry. Nice going Laura! I hope they send you the pajamas.
librarians sort of rock This American Life
Erica redid the Librarian Avengers site and has posted some reactions to the This American Life show which recently aired about a band playing across libraries in Michigan. She thinks we manage to even sound frumpy over the radio and offers some tips.