The lastest news and advice on library legislation includining the US Patriot Act, Library Services and Technology Act, privacy, and more from Library Journal.
New Congress May Help Libraries By Lynn Blumenstein & Norman Oder - 12/15/2006
Locally, an Austin win, an Oakland setback; three TABOR measures fail. More
A stealth attack on U.S. freedoms—intellectual, academic, and personal—came to a halt in early April, at least for the time being, when quick action by librarians restored the term abortion to the search function of a health database.
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Section 108 Study Group Issues Report on Copyright Exceptions for Libraries Andrew Albanese - 04/02/2008
The Section 108 Study Group has delivered its long-awaited report, but it remains unclear how quickly, or if, the group's carefully-worded, conditioned recommendations for updating the Copyright Act will ever make it into law.
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EPA Will Reopen Five Libraries; Is Plan Sufficient? Norman Oder - 03/31/2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week said it will re-establish five closed libraries, but an employee group warned that the plan was insufficient.
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OverDrive Breaks the iPod Barrier for Downloadable Audio Norman Oder - 03/19/2008
For years, librarians and patrons have complained that the most popular digital audio player, the iPod, is incompatible with the Windows Media Audio (WMA) files, the format for library downloadable audio titles. Now OverDrive will offer at least 3000 titles—about 15 percent of its catalog—in MP3 format, which means compatibility with nearly every MP3 player and mobile phone, including iPods.
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Vancouver Library Under Fire for Hosting Controversial Author Called Anti-Semitic Norman Oder - 02/15/2008
Depending on whom you ask, the Vancouver Public Library, BC, either is taking freedom expression seriously by welcoming a harsh critic of Israel or giving an undeserved platform to a fringe author whose books appear in very few libraries.
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Supreme Court Declines To Hear Orphan Works Case Andrew Albanese - 01/16/2008
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Kahle v. Ashcroft, brought by Internet Archive and Open Content Alliance founders Brewster Kahle and Rick Prelinger in 2003, which challenged the constitutionality of the current copyright regime.
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LJ Insider Rebecca Miller, Executive Editor, Library Journal April 10, 2008 Radical Is More than a State of Mind
I made myself late for class at Pratt last night when I ducked in to hear Jenna Freed... More
In the Bookroom Wilda Williams, , Library Journal October 9, 2007 Too Hot Even for New York?
I guess we book review editors must be in a New York state of mind today (see Mi... More
Blatant Berry Blog John N. Berry III, Editor-at-Large, Library Journal September 26, 2007 Back to Bloggin'
You may not have noticed, but I haven’t blogged here since last April. I was si... More