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Blog for Success! Survey Shows New Media Popular, Useful in Libraries
In 2005, Library Journal 2006 Mover & Shaker Meredith Farkas, distance learning librarian at Norwich University (Northfield, VT) and a blogger herself (Information Wants To Be Free) conducted an informal survey of librarians who blog. That survey elicited a respectable 165 responses. In August 2007, she repeated the survey and just two years later received a substantial 839 responses, a spike that not coincidentally reflects the rapid rise in popularity of blogs in libraries today.
In 2005, the notion of a "librarian blogger," evoked images of a tech-savvy, late 20s or early 30s, librarian, Farkas writes in the December edition of Library Journal. The reality in 2007, however, is that "blogging has become central to communication in libraries and traditional library media," and not just in tech-related areas. "The largest groups of bloggers," Farkas notes, "work not in tech but in public service areas such as reference (15 percent), general public services (7 percent), and youth services (5 percent)."
Also notable in the survey, public librarians have nearly caught up with the blogging activities of academic librarians. "Two years ago, twice as many academic librarians blogged as public librarians, but now the percentages are almost equal," she writes. Still, academic librarians "remain overrepresented," considering that the number of public librarians is significantly higher than the number of academic libraries in the United States. Why are academic librarians more likely to blog? "Perhaps because so many academic libraries encourage or require their staff to publish," Farkas proposes, noting that academic librarians are also overrepresented among "published librarians and conference speakers."
A core library value-sharing-seems to motivate today's librarian blogger. The majority (69 percent) cited "sharing ideas with others" as their reason for blogging, while "building community" (38 percent) and "contributing to the profession" (23.2 percent) also rated highly. Nearly a quarter said they use their blogs to reach patrons.
Farkas also found that blogs have become a formidable tool for professional and career development. Nearly 40 percent said their blogs help them to keep up with trends in the profession, and an increasing number said blogging was good for their careers. "In 2005, only 4.3 percent of respondents said they were motivated in part by potential career promotion," Farkas writes. In 2007, that number tripled to 13 percent. "Some of the profession's most influential practitioners and scholars are bloggers," she writes, and several librarians "have gained name recognition and respect through their blogs, leading to speaking engagements, faculty positions, and book deals."
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Cons of PROIPA: EFF, Public Knowledge Say New Copyright Legislation "Counterproductive"
In congressional testimony released late last week, Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn told lawmakers that new copyright enforcement legislation dubbed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (PROIPA) could "harm consumers and innovators while not creating an effective deterrent to copyright violations." Sohn added her voice to an increasing chorus of critics, including noted copyright blogger William Patry, (now copyright counsel for Google), who said the proposed legislation "may be the most outrageously gluttonous IP bill ever introduced in the United States."
In testimony to the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, Sohn agreed that "enforcing IP laws" was vital, but challenged the assumption that "ever-higher penalties" create an effective deterrent. "Of all the changes that need to be made to IP law," she testified, "increasing the severity of the penalties is one of the least necessary, and quite possibly, the most counterproductive."
A coalition of library associations, the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA), has also lodged its opposition to PROIPA's raising of potential penalties, arguing that "greatly increasing the amount of statutory damages plaintiffs could recover for infringements of compilations and derivative works will make libraries and their patrons even more reluctant to use orphan works."
In her testimony, Sohn offered lawmakers an alternative six-point approach for balancing copyright legislation:
- Specifically protect fair use for the digital age.
- Honor the 1984 "Sony" standard that protects devices from secondary liability if they are capable of substantial non-infringing uses.
- Enact protections against copyright holders recklessly sending takedown notices.
- Develop a more rational licensing scheme, particularly for music.
- Address orphan works
- All technical and legal restrictions on copyrighted works must be clearly and plainly disclosed to consumers.
In testimony, Sohn stressed that subjecting "ordinary home consumers" and those who "believe they are exercising fair use" to the same harsh penalties as criminal enterprises was dangerous. "When the mere act of forwarding your email or updating your blog can infringe copyright, it makes more sense to have the law comport with reality before increasing the sanctions that accompany infringement," she said.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) joined Public Knowledge in that assessment. "Going after commercial pirates is a good idea, but copyright law often fails to distinguish between commercial counterfeiters and regular folks," reads the EFF blog: "People who reasonably believe that what they are doing is a fair use, for example, shouldn't face ruinous liability if a court doesn't agree with them. Similarly, the thousands of music fans arbitrarily singled out for file sharing shouldn't have to risk their homes just to have their day in court. And, of course, technology companies shouldn't be put out of business just because their multi-purpose products are misused by their customers."
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Oregon State University's Library Child Care Plan a Success
As finals finish up for the Fall Semester at Oregon State University (OSU), library officials say that its innovative new childcare program has passed with flying colors. The OSU Valley library and the Associated Students of OSU (ASOSU) teamed up this fall to create Our Little Village Library, billed as a "short-term childcare center" for student parents. The service, headquartered in one of the library's meeting rooms, allows any currently enrolled student to drop off their children for two-hour blocks so the parents can get a little study time in the library. As the semester now winds to a close, OSU's Kristi King, who oversees the debut program, said the feedback has been great.
"Our first two months were successful," King told the LJ Academic Newswire. "We are hearing positive feedback from the library staff and student-parent families are saying great things about us."
King offered some "fast facts" about the program's first semester:
- It opened on October 16th, offering slots all day on Tuesday/Wednesday and Saturday/Sunday.
- 16 families used the service, accounting for 23 different children.
- The 16 families used the service 46 times. One family brought their two children in ten times.
- The program accommodated all comers: no families had to be turned away.
The next phase, King added, is more marketing of the service on campus and a possible expansion. "The program is continuing to grow, with increasing numbers of children cared for as parents hear about us," King noted. "We continue to advertise and plan to double our numbers for next term." OSU library director Karyle Butcher told the LJ Academic Newswire that the effort has been problem-free and that other parts of the library have not been burdened by the center. "We spent a lot of upfront time anticipating issues and possible problems, and I think we are seeing the benefits of that time," she said.
There is another part to the story: the number of library supporters who have e-mailed Butcher to congratulate OSU on the program. "I have had two other libraries ask me about the center," she noted, "so maybe this will be the start of something big."
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UT's Norman Mailer Collection To Open Next Month
On January 3, 2008, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) will open to the public the "Norman Mailer Papers." The Ransom Center announced the acquisition of the Mailer archive in 2005, and just under two years later, lightning-fast for a major special collection, the archive has been processed, organized, and cataloged. Unfortunately, despite UT's speed, Mailer, who passed away on November 10 at the age of 84, did not live to see the opening.
UT officials said Mailer's archive includes materials associated with "every one of his literary projects, whether completed or not," although materials from the acquisition in 2005 to Mailer's death will be integrated into the archive at a later date. The Mailer materials represent the Ransom Center's largest single-author archive. It includes handwritten and typed manuscripts for all of Mailer's works, galley proofs, screenplays, correspondence, research materials and notes, legal, business and financial records, photographs, audio and video tapes, books, magazines, clippings, scrapbooks, electronic records, drawings, and awards that document "the life, work and family of Mailer from the early 1930s to 2005."
Steve Mielke, lead archivist for the project said the "sheer volume and variety of materials" make the Mailer archive unique. "The correspondence alone is staggering," he noted, "documenting more than 60 years of Mailer's life and influence on American literature and culture." The archive contains some 40,000 of Mailer's letters.
A finding aid, which provides an inventory of the archive, and additional Mailer resources can be found here.
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Library Journal Academic Newswire
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