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May 13, 2008

News

LJ/SFPL Design Institute West: More Green
Library Journal’s Design Institute West, held at the San Francisco Public Library (which cosponsored the program), drew on the expertise of architects and librarians for both the nuts and bolts of sustainable buildings and the roles libraries can play in the war on climate change. » » »

LC and National Libs Issue Joint RDA Statement
The Library of Congress, National Agricultural Library, and the National Library of Medicine issued a joint statement on Resource Description and Access, saying they have committed to collectively undertaking steps to complete a “systematic review of RDA” before making any further decisions. » » »


NYPL Names Nominees for Bernstein Journalism Award
The New York Public Library has revealed the contenders vying for this year’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. The winner will be named May 20. » » »

Fundraising: The True Story
Susan Curzon, dean of the University Library at Cal State, Northridge, and LJ’s 1993 Librarian of the Year, offers caveats and advice for directors on the fundraising track in this web-exclusive feature. » » »

Blogs

ASP’s Civil War Images Goes Live
The beta release of Alexander Street Press’s Images of the American Civil War: ... Read On »

What Would Gumby Do? Read Xpress Reviews!
On the eve of his retirement from full-time work in 2006, John N. Berry III gave me a... Read On »

Indiana Jones: Golden Idol
The legend goes that in May of 1977 Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas were hiding ou... Read On »

May 16, Brooklyn: Dance, Dance, LIBRARY REVOLUTION!
Dance party this weekend, courtesy of The Desk Set, a literary group cofounded by Gre... Read On »

LJ Talks To

Reviewer Profile: Shirley N. Quan
A California girl and ten-year LJ reviewer of Asian American fiction, Shirley N. Quan collects pigs and rubber stamps, loves inspirational chick lit and novels set in Hawaii, and considers the value and shortcomings of Amy Tan’s influence in the United States. » » »

Wyatt's World

Start Your Engines

  • Le Mans starring Steve McQueen, directed by Lee H. Katzin (dist. by Cinema Center Films)
  • Sunday Money: Speed! Lust! Madness! Death! A Hot Lap Around America with NASCAR by Jeff Macgregor (Harper Perennial)
  • Hover Car Racer (Audio CD) by Matthew Reilly, narrated by Sean Mangan (Bolinda)
  • The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World by Alexander Roy (HarperEntertainment)
  • Sunday Driver: The Writer Meets the Road—at 175 MPH by Brock Yates (Da Capo)

    • For more on Collection Development, click here

    Review

    Freedom of Expression

    Freedom of Expression: Resistance & Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property.

    color. 52 min. Media Education Fdn., 60 Masonic St., Northampton, MA 01060; 800-897-0089;     www.mediaed.org. 2007. DVD ISBN 978-1-932869-18-7. $34.95; HS $125; acad. libs. $250. Public performance. LAW

    Typically, there are two distinct sides of the seemingly eternal argument over copyright and freedom of expression: those who wish to keep their stranglehold on intellectual property rights ad infinitum and those who respect copyright yet believe there should be a loosening of the legislation that has extended copyright protection to more than 90 years. Freedom of Expression in part attempts to explain why extended copyright terms are impeding the creativity of a society with more access and more means for creating works than ever. The costs in time and money to obtain clearance necessary to use preexisting works in a newly created one can be overwhelming and ludicrous. Cited as one egregious example is the film Mad Hot Ballroom, for which the producers paid $10,000 to use the theme from Rocky as a cell phone ringtone. Why do we care? We have a right to analyze, comment, critique, and even parody our own culture, but we must use existing works in order to do so effectively. This film stands for and justifies the use of preexisting works for legitimate purposes; the filmmakers are certainly in favor of copyright but not the corporate excesses that exist today. Freedom of Expression is well made and would be an excellent addition to any collection containing legal and public policy films, though it should be noted that the language used is not legalese. A true bonus is a DVD-quality version of the YouTube hit A Fair(y) Use Tale, a rudimentary and entertaining explanation of copyright by various Disney characters.

    —Brian Burns, Hampden-Sydney Coll. Lib., VA

    Xpress Reviews

    Xpress Reviews—First Look at New Books
    Lewis Black's Me of Little Faith, Augusten Burroughs's A Wolf at the Table, and other reviews just in!  » » »

    Highlights

    Online Databases: New Order, New Thinking
    Tenopir’s report from the National Federation of Advanced Information Services stresses that librarians and publishers need to include users in generating new products while keeping an eye on quality. » » »

    Backtalk: Diversity and the MLS
    Tony Greiner contends that the financial burden of acquiring a pricey master’s for entry-level library jobs is the biggest hurdle for minorities wanting to join the field. » » »
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    LJ Alerts

    Deep Indexing Webcast May 20
    Join a panel of experts for an informative 60-minute discussion on the research need for deep indexing, the context it brings to content, and the value it brings to researchers, faculty, students and library staff. Attendees will learn how to dig deeper into periodical content through a new search retrieval capability based upon deep indexing of charts, tables, and other graphical objects that have not been previously accessible using traditional article-level and full-text searching. The Webcast will be of interest to all electronic resources and reference librarians, particularly those working in the sciences, medicine and technology, and to collection management librarians. Register for free here

    Best Sellers


    Fiction
    7. You've Been Warned James Patterson and Howard Roughan
    8. Playing for Pizza John Grisham
    9. The Choice Nicholas Sparks

    View All

    Nonfiction
    7. The Nine Jeffrey Toobin
    8. You: Staying Young Michael F. Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D
    9. Into the Wild Jon Krakauer

    View All

    Job of the Week

    Consortia Licensing Consultant

    The Southeastern Library Network, Inc. (SOLINET) is seeking a professional to serve as our Consortia Licensing Consultant (CLC). The CLC will participate in the Consortial Licensing Program (CLP) by managing the acquisition, licensing, invoicing, claiming, renewal and cancellation of electronic and other resources on behalf of other library organizations that have sourced those responsibilities to SOLINET. View More

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