The FBI raided the Detroit Public Library over allegations a library official had ties to a contractor hired to update the library's computer systems and personally benefited from the contracts--which were in the $2 million dollar range. Interestingly the president of the Detroit Library Commission says the the issues were longstanding the raid was overdue in happening.

An interesting organization but sounds ultimately like a variation of the LOCKKS concept, namely preserving a digital archive by means of multiple copies on data nodes, so if one fails others step in to replace it.

Not really breaking new ground but an interest piece about the St. Louis County Library after county residents improved a tax increase for the system and some details about Vartan Gregorian, the current president of the Carnegie Corporation and the past president of the New York Public Library.

I've posted a few articles about the Little Free Libraries, it's good to see that they are starting to catch on as a trend.

A general overview about the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and how libraries have responded to it, and about disaster planning in general. While not treading too much new ground, it does show how some ideas and strategies work in practice.

An idea that came from the "Risks and Rewards" conference to give away skateboards branded with the libraries logo. While it would serve for good advertising and word of mouth, I question how much additional patronage it would bring.

A short article about privacy topics, in this case where a library's local privacy policy conflicted with state law regarding the disclosure of of a minor's library records to a custodial parent or legal guardian.

An update on the state of libraries in the Northeast after hurricane Sandy. 85 out of 90 branches of the New York Public Library have reopened. New York has three systems; the NYPL, Queens, and Brooklyn. The Brooklyn system closed 9 out of 60 branches--but some may be long term closings, and Queens closed 7 out of 62. The New Jersey libraries, however, are facing a more chaotic situation and are still assessing their damage.

The two PDF files linked on the pages are reports from the House of Commons about the state and future of libraries in the United Kingdom. One thing I found concerning was how the operation of many libraries has been turned over from Councils to community volunteers.

An ongoing dispute is happening between libraries in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area where the Brown County system has decided to start billing other county library systems because their residents are use the Brown County libraries. Many of the libraries are close to neighboring counties so residents will often go to a physically nearby library even if it is for another system. The reason for this dispute is Brown County is facing a funding shortfall and is trying to raise more money.

A positive article about how library use has increased for the public library of Burlington, Iowa. Much of the increase has been attributed to a new building with a single floor for books, several meeting spaces, and in general more programs and events as a result of the heavier patron count.

An interesting article that may spell bad news for makers of e-readers and particular E Ink. I would tend to agree with the assessment that dedicate e-readers are transition devices--much the same as electronic PDA's have been almost entirely replaced by smartphones. However, I would go further and say it's a format issue; people would tend to devices that are multifunction more often than one dedicated to a single purpose.

A generally positive article, notable that reading is a prominent part of the 16-29 age groups lives. Further, over half have used a library in the past year and consider eBooks not as a replacement for print but a supplement to their general reading habits.

An article that revisits an older issue (Amazon wiping or removing a book from a Kindle), just this time it was an entire eBook collection and was deleted because of a problem with the user's account. It reinforces what copyright holders have always had but weren't able to enforce until the digital era, that users have only rights to access or use a work, not to actually own it, and those rights can be limited. Further, Amazon is a private company that can dictate policies; all the user knows is her account is "related" to a blocked account without knowing why or how.

An article on what is a local issue--the Mission District in San Francisco, but addresses the larger issue of the financial problems local independent booksellers are facing, especially with trying to keep a physical brick-and-mortar presence.

An interesting article covering some of the many problems in in developing consistency and open standards among discovery services. Notably the article mentions the Open Discovery Initiative and also talks about indexing concerns and resource coverage.

A victory for fair use, with scanned materials that are used in the HathiTrust. The HathiTrust repository use materials scanned from the Google Books but he access is more restrictive, allowing full text searches only with the copyright holder's permission--but does allow full text for readers with print disabilities. A Federal judge ruled this is covered by fair use, while related lawsuits against Google continue.

An interesting promotional approach considering the popularity of zombie movies and TV shows like "The Walking Dead." I also found it humorous they got in the mood by watching the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video.

An interesting blog for a conference that took place in Telluride, Colorado, last month which looked at risk and rewards and encouraged innovative thinking. Some of the presentation resources are available here: http://rsquaredconference.org/program/resources

SUNY Potsdam is intending to cancel subscriptions to the American Chemical Society's journals as they would consume 10 percent of the library's acquisitions budget. The article looks at one of the biggest problems facing academic libraries and serials, namely journals they are required to carry because of accreditation or approval, yet they either can't afford or carry to carry to the detriment of other departments they try to serve.