Thursday, April 26, 2007

More Censorship

It is sad that this sort of thing has become almost unremarkable because it happens to frequently. I wouldn't want to be a young lesbian in Bentonville, Arkansas.

City Threatened with Suit over Library's "Obscene" Book on Lesbian Sex

Monday, April 23, 2007

Intellectual Freedom in an International World

A Chinese political prisoner is suing Yahoo (in a Northern California court) for disclosing his identity to the Chinese government, leading to his enprisonment.

Mostly we've been talking about IF issues in the US, but how does it travel?

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

More Virtual Reference Desk

I'm sure others have seen this, since it was the Library Link of the Day, but another article about evolving nature of reference:

Are Reference Desks Dying Out?
Librarians struggle to redefine — and in some cases eliminate — the venerable institution


This one focuses more on the ways in which reference desks can move from a traditional in person interaction to technology like text messages, web based tools, instant messaging, email and even Facebook!

I'm not sure how I feel about this - while I love technology when it really helps, I can't help thinking that it is a lot harder to conduct a decent interview over email, etc. And what about reader's advisory?

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Privacy in Virtual Libraries

Found via Librarian.net

Here is a working paper (based on a conference presentation) on privacy in virtual librarianship, called "Is Privacy Working? Planning For Stronger Privacy Measures Than Security Through Obscurity In Library Virtual Reference Services " by Mary Minow and Paul Neuhaus.

The paper discusses how virtual librarianship changes privacy concerns because of technology - a "conversation" with the librarian, once verbal and therefor ephemeral, is now recorded and written by virtue of the medium. This raises interesting questions: how does effect traditional user confidentiality?

The technology used by the library to allow access (IP restrictions, logins) to resources (electronic journals, databases) makes the user more traceable than the traditional methods. In the past, the patron could enter the library, look up information in a card catalog and access that information without ever providing proof of identity, until the patron desired to check out the book. Though virtual reference opens the library's resources for long range use, it does (contrary to most interaction on the internet!) take away their anonymity.