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National Security Letters Reform Act introduced
Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives July 26 that will provide crucial checks against the National Security Letters authority expanded under the USA Patriot Act. At an event in the Cannon House Office Building, the National Security Letters Reform Act of 2007 was introduced by Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), William Delahunt (above, D-Mass.), and Ron Paul (R-Tex.). ALA Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff (right) said the legislation would “minimize this unconstitutional intrusion into library patrons’ records.”...

Senators hear arguments for internet safety education
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held hearings July 24 to review steps that Congress could take to protect children from online predators. The hearings were called to solicit input on a revised version of the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act (S. 49) that Committee Vice Chairman Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said his staff is working on, following the bill’s failure to come up for a vote....

Strike closes Vancouver’s 22 branches
Some 790 employees of the Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library went on strike July 26, the first such walkout in the library’s 77 years as a unionized workplace. The action shut down the system’s 22 branches as well as its online services....

Michigan man loses nonresident lawsuit
A resident of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, has lost an appeal to the state Supreme Court of his claim that Michigan public libraries must sell nonresidents library cards on request. The July 26 decision ended plaintiff George Goldstone’s quest to regain borrowing privileges at the Bloomfield Township Public Library, which ceased offering those services to Bloomfield Hills residents in 2003 after the municipality declined to renew a 39-year contract with BTPL by rejecting a proposed $187,550 fee increase....

Toronto cuts Sunday hours, cancels purchases
The Toronto (Ont.) Public Library board voted July 25 to eliminate Sunday service at 16 of its more than 100 branches, including the downtown reference library (right), and cancel the purchase of 14,000 items. The actions were among measures taken to cut $1.2 million from the library budget as part of a citywide effort to make up a $575-million shortfall....

Pepper spray likely cause of sickened patrons
Seven people were treated at two local hospitals July 25 after a mysterious substance caused many patrons of the Ann Arbor (Mich.) District Library branch in the Westgate Shopping Center—as well as those at a neighboring Kroger supermarket—to complain of a strange smell, nausea, burning eyes and skin, and difficulty breathing. After receiving a call from the library around 9 p.m., emergency crews arrived at the shopping center and treated as many as 25 people....

Sibel Edmonds at Annual Conference
During the 2007 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee and Committee on Legislation cosponsored a program that featured Sibel Edmonds, president and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition. Edmonds gained worldwide attention in 2002 after she was fired by the FBI for reporting shoddy work and security breaches that may have prevented the 9/11 attacks. Also speaking was Stephen Kohn, president of the National Whistleblower Center....
Don Wood: Library 2.0 blog, July 26

Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium: A Wrapup
Jenny Levine writes: “GLLS 2007 turned out even better than I had hoped. All of our nonlibrarian keynote speakers saw great potential for librarians in the areas of gaming and participatory culture. Nintendo lent us a Wii to play with and a second one to give away to one lucky attendee. After a brutal round of Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree and then a victory in the final playing Marble Madness, I’m happy to announce that Marcie Smedley (above) from the Henderson (Nev.) Libraries was our Wii champion.” Pictures of the event are available on Flickr in two places....
The Shifted Librarian blog, Aug. 1

Nominate a Copyright Scholar
The ALA Office for Information Technology Policy is seeking individuals interested in serving as Copyright Scholar for the Copyright Advisory Network, a forum where librarians discuss copyright dilemmas and concerns online. Since 2005, eight librarians have served as Copyright Scholars on the forum. It is time to recruit a new batch of librarians who are keenly interested in copyright and want to volunteer their time to the network....
District Dispatch blog, July 26

Harry Potter and the censor’s flames
Office for Intellectual Freedom Director Judith Krug (right) writes: “Harry Potter snuck up on me. In 1999, I’d yet to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when a South Carolina librarian reported that parents were seeking to remove the book from school libraries and classrooms. Naturally, I was curious as to what was behind this attempt to censor a popular children’s book that, by all reports, was encouraging even reluctant readers to settle in for hours of reading.”...
ILoveLibraries.org, July 30

Graduated dues research study
ALA has issued a Request for Information (PDF file) for a Graduated Dues Research Study. The Association is seeking information including project scope, recommendations. and cost estimates from individuals or organizations interested in conducting research and facilitating focus group discussions as part of the study....

Blogging for the ALA Katrina Relief Fund
Blogathon 2007 participant Mary McCoy completed her 24 hours of straight blogging at 6 a.m. on July 29 and gathered a total of $2,102 in pledges for the ALA Katrina Library Relief Fund, making her one of the top 10 Blogathon fundraisers. McCoy blogged about Gulf Coast literature, dispatches from libraries hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, testimonials from library patrons in the Gulf Coast, historical tidbits, and contests related to southern culture, art, and history....
This Book Is for You blog, July 29

Lawyers for Libraries in Colorado
The Rocky Mountain Regional “Lawyers for Libraries” Training Institute will be held in Denver on November 8 as a preconference to the Colorado Association of Libraries’ Annual Conference. It is the 11th of a series of regional institutes following two national institutes in 1997 and 1998. The workshop is intended to equip attorneys with tools they need to effectively defend the First Amendment in libraries....

Catholic Library Association joins ALA as affiliate
ALA Council granted the Catholic Library Association, headquartered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, affiliate status during Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., joining 23 other nonprofit membership organizations....

Honor dance for Loriene Roy
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian played host June 22 to a traditional honor dance to celebrate the inauguration of ALA President-Elect Loriene Roy. In this 3:25 video shot during the 2007 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., Master of Ceremonies Dennis Zotigh encourages the large crowd to participate in a “round dance,” followed by a short speech from Roy....

“Speaking Technically” panel discussion
American Libraries “Technically Speaking” columnist Andrew Pace joins Marshall Breeding to moderate “Speaking Technically,” an exhibit-hall discussion with several top library vendors. In this brief snapshot from the panel, representatives from TLC, OCLC, SirsiDynix, Talis, Medialab, Innovative Interfaces, and Ex Libris talk about how to balance technology and business decisions in the field of library automation....

Interview: Nick Baker
March of the Librarians: It was just a short parody video about the 2007 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, but it became an internet sensation. American Libraries Associate Editor Daniel Kraus catches up with librarian/filmmaker Nick Baker on the floor of the 2007 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., where Baker was in the midst of shooting—you guessed it—a sequel, Grand March of the Librarians....

AASL National Conference school tours
The AASL 13th National Conference and Exhibition in Reno, Nevada, will offer four school tours with separate focus on rural, elementary, independent, and public schools. Planned as full or half-day excursions on Wednesday, October 24, and Thursday, October 25, the tours will showcase examples of excellence in a wide range of school library media programs....

A closer look at the Harris poll data
Linda Braun writes: “I’ve been looking over the raw numbers from the Harris Interactive poll (PDF file) that asked 8- to 18-year-olds about their use of libraries both in person and online. When I heard about the survey, I was curious about what the data said regarding use of libraries by teens. Looking at the raw data, I see quite a bit to take in, but here are some of the things I noticed.”...
YALSA blog, July 31

Mirrorstone to sponsor Teen Read Week
Mirrorstone, an imprint of Wizards of the Coast, will be the 2007 Corporate Sponsor of YALSA’s Teen Read Week, October 14–21. Founded in 2004, Mirrorstone publishes fantasy fiction for children and teens with a goal of turning reluctant readers into lifelong readers, which meshes well with TRW’s mission to encourage teens to read just for the fun of it....

Map Collection Security Guidelines (PDF file)
The MAGERT Task Force on Library Security for Cartographic Resources has distributed a draft of its Map Collection Security Guidelines for comment. The guidelines discuss marking, cataloging, inventory, establishing value, copying and scanning, monitoring access, staffing levels, and reader access policies. Send comments to David A. Cobb....
Map and Geography Round Table

Carnegie-Whitney grants
The ALA Publishing Committee will award Carnegie-Whitney grants of up to $5,000 for the preparation of print or electronic reading lists, indexes, or other guides to library resources that promote reading or the use of library resources at any type of library. Proposals must be received by November 5....

UNESCO 2007 Literacy Prize winners
Literacy projects in China, the United States, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania are the winners of the five UNESCO Literacy Prizes this year. One of the two UNESCO Confucius Prizes for Literacy went to Reach Out and Read, an organization based in Boston that works closely with health care groups to reach low-income children most at risk of school failure by offering literacy guidance to their families and by promoting a reading culture....
UNESCO, July 17

Bill seeks disclosure on presidential library fundraising
Legislation requiring organizations that raise money for presidential libraries to disclose who is funneling donations to their efforts is set to be considered by a Senate panel, despite unresolved objections from one committee member. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) argued that the legislation would unfairly force President Bush to disclose donors for his presidential library while he’s still in the midst of raising funds....
CQ Today, Aug. 1

Amazon to copy and sell National Archives footage
The National Archives and Records Administration announced July 30 that it has reached a nonexclusive agreement with Amazon.com to reproduce and sell to the public copies of thousands of historic films and videotapes in the Archives holdings. The arrangement allows Amazon and a California subsidiary, CustomFlix Labs, to make digitized copies of historical footage. Spokeswoman Stacey Hurwitz said the first six DVDs became available on Amazon July 16 and are already selling....
Washington Post, July 31

Elizabeth Martinez to head Salinas library
Former ALA Executive Director Elizabeth Martinez has accepted the position of director of the Salinas (Calif.) Public Library, effective in September. Library supporters gathered at the City Hall rotunda on July 27 to welcome Martinez, who will be the first Salinas library director in three years. Martinez, who was at ALA from 1994 to 1997, has been an instructor at the San Jose State University SLIS since 1998....
Monterey County (Calif.) Herald, July 28

Blowback from closed Medford libraries
A few businesses near the downtown Medford, Oregon, library are reeling from a drop-off in customers after the busy 80,000-square-foot building closed April 6. “We were getting killed,” said Ben Tresser, owner of the Yellow Submarine Sandwich Shop, which closed for the first time this summer because his business declined sharply immediately after the library shut down. Mellelo’s Coffee Roasters, which leases space in the library building, had also been successful until all 15 branches in Jackson County closed their doors....
Medford (Oreg.) Mail-Tribune, July 29

Flood had benefits for CSU library
No one saw the benefits when an 8-foot wall of water smashed through the bottom floor of the Morgan Library on the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins in 1997. But today, many say the flood swept in needed change to Morgan and made it one of the technological leaders among college libraries in the country....
Denver Post, July 30

Overdue books? No computer access at Waco
More library scofflaws are paying their overdue fines, thanks to a new policy that denies computer access to those who don’t pony up. Waco–McLennan County (Tex.) Library system patrons are now prohibited from using library computers if they have $5 or more in fines on their account. Since the policy took effect in April, the fine collection rate has risen about 10%....
Waco (Tex.) Tribune-Herald, July 28

Library DVD thief gets choice of sentences
A judge called a mother who used her young children to steal thousands of dollars worth of DVDs from the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County a “female Fagin,” straight out of Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist. Judge Ethna Cooper gave Maria Daniels a choice July 30—six months in prison and then probation during which she’ll have to pay almost $17,000 restitution to the library, or two years behind bars. She must decide by August 30....
Cincinnati Enquirer, July 31

Floods delay Bodleian Library construction
Oxford University has postponed plans for a £29 million ($59 million U.S.) extension to the world-famous Bodleian Library at Osney Mead along the banks of the Thames while the impact of severe flooding is assessed. University authorities remain confident the proposed repository, which will hold nearly 8 million books, will withstand flooding even on the scale seen in recent days when hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes....
The Guardian (U.K.), July 27

York school libraries approved for thumbprint recognition
Schools in York, England, have been given the go-ahead to continue thumbprinting their pupils for use in high-tech library systems. Greg Knight, Member of Parliament for East Yorkshire, issued new guidelines on the controversial issue, saying that data must only be used for its stated purpose, it must not be shared with anyone else, and it must be destroyed as soon as the pupil in question leaves the school....
York (U.K.) Press, Aug. 1

World survey analyzes how youth use technology
Globally, the average young person connected to digital technology has 94 phone numbers in his or her mobile phone, 78 people on a messenger buddy list, and 86 people in his or her social networking community. Yet despite their technological immersion, digi-kids are not geeks—59% of 8–14 year-olds still prefer their TV to their PCs, and only 20% of 14–24 year-olds admitted to being “interested” in technology. They are, however, expert multitaskers and can filter different channels of information....
PRNewswire, July 24

Simple photo editors
Jan Ozer writes: “Cameras are usually sold bundled with image-editing apps, but which is right for you? At a high level, there are three key areas to care about: First is how much you intend to organize your images; second, how much you want to edit them; and finally, how you’d like to use them. I’ll cover each in turn, and a table will highlight the key features of each program.”...
PC Magazine, July 11

Microsoft’s photo standard comes into focus
In coming months, 16 national standards groups will formally vote on whether the Joint Photographic Experts Group, after which the JPEG file format is named, should make Microsoft’s relatively new HD Photo format (formerly called Windows Media Photo) a standard. Getting to this stage is a good sign in Microsoft’s view, and the company has hopes the format will be accepted as a standard called JPEG XR by mid-2008, said Robert Rossi, principal program manager at Microsoft for emerging image and video technology....
C|Net news.com, July 31

Ten things your IT department won’t tell you
Vauhina Vara writes: “For many of us, our work computer is a home away from home. So in between typing up reports, we use our office PCs to keep up with our lives. However, our employers sometimes don’t like it and ask the IT employees to block us from doing our home work. Here, then, are 10 secrets your IT department doesn’t want you to know, the risks you’ll face if you use them—and tips about how to keep yourself (and your job) safe while you’re at it.”...
Wall Street Journal, July 30

Glossary of spam terms
Sophos, an Anglo-American company that makes antivirus and antispam software, has compiled a spam glossary that includes definitions of terms like “dictionary attack,” “munging,” “ratware,” “social engineering,” and “tarpitting.”....
Sophos

Five tech mistakes to avoid
Joel Durham Jr. offers this list of five common tech tasks that many people overlook: leaving your wireless network unprotected, failing to update firmware, failling to update drivers, installing memory modules in the wrong slots, and failing to provide enough airflow in your computer case....
Extreme Tech blog, July 25

LC’s Packard Campus ushers in a new AV era
Audiovisual conservation work by the Library of Congress took a giant leap forward as the Library acquired its new Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation in a July 26 signing ceremony. The 415,000-square-foot Packard Campus in Culpeper, Va., will consolidate audiovisual collections from across four states and the District of Columbia and will enhance the library’s efforts to make accessible the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of moving images and sound recordings....
Library of Congress, July 26

Ithaka report on university publishing
In American colleges and universities, access to the Web is ubiquitous; consequently nearly all intellectual effort results in some form of “publishing.” Yet universities do not treat this function as an important, mission-centric endeavor. The result has been a scholarly publishing industry that many in the university community find to be increasingly out of step with the important values of the academy. University Publishing in a Digital Age argues that a renewed commitment to publishing in its broadest sense can enable universities to more fully realize the potential global impact of their academic programs....
Ithaka, July 23

Guidelines for Library Services to Babies and Toddlers (PDF file)
The IFLA Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section has coordinated the development of a set of guidelines for services to babies and toddlers. The document includes an assessment checklist and a sampling of best practices from libraries around the world....
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

Barbara Ford reelected to IFLA governing board
Barbara J. Ford, director of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Mortensen Center for International Library Programs, was reelected to another two-year term on the board of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions....
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, June 27

Take the 2007 survey of the biblioblogsphere
AL columnist Meredith Farkas writes: “In August 2005, I conducted a survey of people in the LIS profession who blog to get some sense of the demographic characteristics of bibliobloggers. After two years, it doesn’t take a survey to see that the library blogosphere has changed a great deal. Nonetheless, I decided to design a survey for 2007. If you consider yourself a biblioblogger, consider taking this survey and pass the word on to other library-related bloggers.”...
Information Wants to Be Free blog, July 29

Fundraising for collections care
(PDF file)
Collections care can be an engaging and colorful resource for generating contributions, increasing membership, and attracting visitors. This Heritage Preservation publication outlines some principles and strategies that can help garner support from the private and public sectors. Examples from a variety of collecting institutions show how to raise the visibility of collections care so that fundraising for preservation and conservation can be successful....
Heritage Preservation

Rupert Giles slated for BBC-TV movie
The former Sunnydale High School librarian, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Rupert Giles (played by actor Anthony Stewart Head), will be starring in his own 90-minute TV movie for the BBC. Ripper tells the story of Giles back in London after he leaves the craziness of Sunnydale and winds up getting sucked back into the craziness of Watcherdom....
Firefox News, July 29

Blind Date: A teacher and a school librarian
Texas elementary school librarian Doug Valentine (right) created this parody video (6:04) of the Blind Date reality TV series to explore classroom teacher/ librarian collaboration, complete with pop-ups that reveal what the characters are really thinking (such as “Sounds like it’s time for our boy to make his move”)....
TeacherLibrarianNing, July 27

First library to land on Mars
In May 2008, the spacecraft Phoenix will land in the northern polar regions of the planet Mars. Nestled among busy instruments, a small DVD called Visions of Mars, prepared by the Planetary Society, will carry personal messages from leading space visionaries of our time, as well as a priceless collection of Mars literature and art. H. G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, Poul Anderson, Percival Lowell, Judith Merril, and Carl Sagan will all be represented....
Planetary Society

Browse celebrities’ bookshelves
Ever wonder what famous people read in their spare time? No? Well, Oprah Winfrey’s O, the Oprah Magazine did, and you can now see what books Dan Brown, J. K. Rowling, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kathy Bates, Kenneth Branagh, Don Cheadle, Cate Blanchett, Anderson Cooper, Claire Danes, and other celebrities have been perusing....
O, the Oprah Magazine

Possessed Books a bit lame
These “Possessed Books” might be an economical ($25) way to freak our your youngest patrons during the Halloween season. Looking like a standard set of Victorian-era staples, the set contains a motion detector to spot passers-by, and slides Silas Marner toward them as if moved by a ghostly hand. What actually happens, however, is that a loud servo whirs as the book clunks in and out, accompanied by a badly-cropped 8khz sample fizzling like potassium in a bucket. Watch the videoclip....
Wired Gadget Lab, July 30

Semi-postal stamps helped Philippine libraries in 1949
Larry Nix writes: “World War II devastated public libraries in the Philippines. On April 1, 1949, the Philippine postal administration issued a set of three semi-postal stamps to raise funds to help rehabilitate the public libraries. Semi-postals have two values assigned, one to pay the postage and the other to go to some charitable activity. This set of stamps included the first semi-postals for the Philippine Republic.”...
Library History Buff