The Latest from the Library

Focus groups of students and faculty have given us much food for thought about our library's Web page. Thanks to Anna Hulseberg and Michelle Twait, as well as to Laura MacPherson and Paul Coleman, the library's Academic Assistants, for taking on this project - and to the students and faculty who participated. We'll be discussing your suggestions at a meeting next week.

More new books can be browsed in our latest acquisitions list.

Jane Kirtley's visit was well attended last Thursday evening. Thanks to faculty who publicized the event to interested students. We may be having one more September Project event this year - a follow-up to the Hurricane Katrina Teach-In. So many of our students are doing service learning in the wake of both Katrina and Wilma we think we'll want to get together and catch up on the issues some time this spring.

If a picture's worth a thousand words, how much for a map? This graphic account of damage to libraries during the Katrina disaster is certainly telling. It's very simple, yet somehow the extent of the damage has much more impact in this cartographic form than a simple list would have.

Speaking of pictures - the photo at the top of this post is one that Stacia Senne took a while ago. Quite nice!

Sidney Verba thought he was coasting toward a peaceful retirement ... but now he's in the center of a controversy. The New York Times has a nice article on this Harvard librarian's reaction to the Google library project. (Can't help adding - what a great surname for a man in his profession!) One of the practical problems with digitization projects - when you don't have Google's deep pockets - is figuring out who to ask for copyright permission. The "orphan works" issue is a real head-scratcher. The Council on Library and Information Resources has produced an interesting report on that problem.

All Things Considered has just considered a Connecticut library's fight against the built-in gag order that comes with PATRIOT Act's National Security Letters. Last Friday a bipartisan group of senators unexpectedly put the brakes on racing to reauthorize the provisions due to sunset at the end of December. Stay tuned ...

Barbara