Category — Libraries and Archives

US: EPA Closes Its Libraries, Destroys Documents:
The EPA Closes Its Libraries, Destroys Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun closing its nationwide network of scientific libraries, effectively preventing EPA scientists and the public from accessing vast amounts of data and information on issues from toxicology to pollution. Several libraries have already been dismantled, with their contents either destroyed or shipped to repositories where they are uncataloged and inaccessible.
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if you remove the products of scientific practice, that is if you delete knowledge that is not broadly available, you increase the base of ignorance in society, which then enables you to mount counter-truth campaigns more effectively…. that is ‘destroy the libraries if you want people to believe things that go counter to the evidence in the libraries’.

The IFLA Internet Manifesto:
The IFLA Internet Manifesto

Unhindered access to information is essential to freedom, equality, global understanding and peace. Therefore, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) asserts that:

Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual both to hold and express opinions and to seek and receive information; it is the basis of democracy; and it is at the core of library service.

Freedom of access to information, regardless of medium and frontiers, is a central responsibility of the library and information profession.

The provision of unhindered access to the Internet by libraries and information services supports communities and individuals to attain freedom, prosperity and development.
Barriers to the flow of information should be removed, especially those that promote inequality, poverty, and despair.

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Oh there’s more, but this is a start.

Open scholarship:
Liz Lyon, Reflections on open scholarship: process, product and people, keynote presentation at the 2nd International Digital Curation Conference (Glasgow, 21-22 November 2006).
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this looks good

Largest archive of free culture to be built in the Netherlands:
From the Netherlands, the “Images for the Future” project is building a large-scale conservation and digitization project to make available 285,000 hours of film, television, and radio recordings, as well as more than 2.9 million photos from the Netherlands’ film and television archives. A basic collection drawn from the archive will be made available on the Internet either under CC licenses, or in some cases, in the public domain. The Government of the Netherlands, a long time supporter of the local Dutch CC project, will invest a total of 173 million Euros over a seven-year period. Their aim is to spur innovative applications with new media, while providing valuable services to the public.
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this will be great… free content is the backbone of innovation and production.

PrattNews:
PRATT INSTITUTE SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SCEINCE LAUNCHES COUNTRY’S FIRST ADVANCED CERTIFICATE IN MUSEUM LIBRARIES NEW YORK, N.Y.

November 8, 2006 – Pratt Institute’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS) introduced the world’s first program focusing on museum libraries this fall semester. The Advanced Certificate in Museum Libraries will yield a Master’s degree in a course of study that consists of four required areas of study: research/curatorial, digital technology, education and outreach, and field experience.

The Advanced Certificate in Museum Libraries, which was approved by the New York State Education Department in June 2006, will prepare graduates to assume leadership roles in museum libraries, and in a range of other cultural institutions, including research and academic libraries and “virtual” libraries.

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This is a new program. There are some interesting developments in this field. It will also be great to get more people involved with museum libraries.

UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize: Call for nominations:
Significant contributions to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage are now being sought to be nominated for the second UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize.

The Prize of US$30 000 was created to commemorate the inscription of the Buljo jikji simche yojeol, the oldest known book of movable metal print in the world, in the Memory of the World Register. The Jikji is the second volume of “Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests’ Zen Teachings”. It contains the essentials of Zen Buddhism compiled by Baegun, a priest. This book was printed at the old Heungdeok-sa temple in Cheongju city, using movable metal type in July 1377. The book was printed in two volumes: the first volume has yet to be found and the second volume is being kept in the National Library of France. View the Digital Jikji .

The Prize is awarded every two years to individuals or institutions in recognition of their contribution to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage as a common heritage of humanity. Funded by the Republic of Korea through arrangements made with the Municipal Council of Cheongju City, this Prize was approved by UNESCO’s Executive Board in April 2004.

Nominations to this second edition of the Prize should be submitted by 31 December 2006. Each nomination must include, in English or French, a description of the candidate’s background and achievements, a summary of the work submitted for consideration and a review of the way in which this work has contributed to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage.
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this is a great idea and program….

The Irreverent Archivist: Recipe for Appraisal of Random Items:
This recipe for appraisal of random items is a tried and true formula, tested in many archival work places throughout the world over the past century. It never fails to produce a certain light-headed, clean feeling, and it is possible to modify this recipe to include different proportions and ingredients without negative side effects.

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ohhhhh nooooeeeeesssssss! the truth of work practices is out in the wild. this changes everything.

What About Public Trust?:
Not too many years, the Harvard Program for Art Museum Directors sponsored a series of lectures about art museums and the notion of the public trust. As James Cuno, editor of the results of these lectures published as Whose Muse? Art Museums and the Public Trust (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), ISBN 10:0-691-12781-6, argues as a starting point for these lectures, “The more art museums look like multinational corporations and the more their directors sound like corporate CEOs, the more they risk being cast by the public in the same light” (p. 17). In other words, such behavior throws into question just what public good art museums address (if any, anymore). What is fascinating to me as an archivist is the greater dexterity by which art museum directors and those of other museums can discuss the idea of public good. A few examples from Whose Muse? will demonstrate my point.

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This looks like a great book….

LIS Zen Heaven:

LISZEN: Library Blog Search Engine

“Wanting to find out what other librarians are saying about Library 2.0? Or perhaps you can’t remember who talked about ‘Fighting the Stereotypes!’ a few weeks ago. Welcome to the search engine for librarians!

I’ve been slaving away, taking links from LISWIKI and importing them to Google Co-op. The result is a custom search engine that sifts through 530 individual blogs.” [Library Zen]

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This looks cool