Way back in 1996, when Palin took over as the mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, she broached the subject of banning books with the town librarian.

According to a recent article in the Anchorage Daily News,

In December 1996, Emmons [the town librarian] told her hometown newspaper, the Frontiersman, that Palin three times asked her — starting before she was sworn in — about possibly removing objectionable books from the library if the need arose.

Emmons told the Frontiersman she flatly refused to consider any kind of censorship.

Within a couple months of these exchanges, Emmons

got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully support her and had to go.

Emmons had been city librarian for seven years and was well liked. After a wave of public support for her, Palin relented and let Emmons keep her job.

In fairness to Palin, there is no record of any books actually being banned in Wasilla during her term as mayor, and she referred to her questions on the topic as being merely “rhetorical.”

That being said, the frequency with which Palin brought up the subject of banning books suggests she had more in mind than participating in an innocuous intellectual discussion.

Just in case you needed another reason to be nervous about the prospect of a McCain/Palin administration…

This job search process, however, has been protracted, grueling at times, and certainly a catalyst for introspection and self-doubt. I do not envy any person, in any line of work, in the midst of looking for jobs. It really is a thankless process, but at least there is (hopefully) a worthwhile reward on the other end.

The whole librarianization thing takes on new meaning now that a professional job is on the horizon. There definitely will be a learning curve, coworkers to meet and get to know, a new patron base, you name it. I am looking forward to the challenges that this position will offer, and I am also cognizant of the fact that I will not love this job every day.

The director who hired me today told me something that has lingered with him since a conversation with one of his former employees, and it rings true: “Change is hard, even good change.” As I move forward, this will be important to remember.

Few people stop to think about the fact that “The Google Way” is not the only way to search for information. Indeed, lots of folks are working hard on alternatives to Google. One notable example is Cuil (pronounced “cool”), the brainchild of former Google employees. It arrived on the scene a couple weeks ago, but only to mixed reviews.

Another exciting area of search engine development is in the display of results (the buzz words are “visual search” or “visualization”). Here are a couple sites that do very cool things with your search queries:

• Viewzi

• Searchme

• Kartoo

• Ujiko

Give these sites a try sometime when you have the urge to Google, or if you’re feeling especially librarianish, compare your results in Google with those from a visual search engine. Go ahead, be bold! Think outside the Google.

Not your average slug...at least I hope not.

It was a slug. Not just any slug, mind you. We’re talking about sluggus giganticus. The creature had to be four inches long and almost inch in diameter. More impressive than its size, however, was the length of its slime trail. Looking like the consequence of a most unfortunate sneeze, the trail started at the right margin of the sidewalk, then proceeded in a gentle arc toward the other edge.

What struck me about the slug’s predicament was that the slime trail started on the sidewalk, not on the grass; it had almost certainly fallen out of the tree above us, a drop of fifteen feet or more. Maybe it had been enjoying a nice dinner of maple leaves, or was settling down for a quiet evening with its partner slug. Then all hell breaks loose. There’s an unfortunate tumble, barren new surroundings, and home/safety an awfully long way away, especially at a slug’s pace.

Having survived the fall, what to do now? Wait until morning and bake on the sidewalk? No, the only choice is to get moving. If you forget about the slime part, a slug in motion is weirdly beautiful. The undulations of its body are precise and hypnotic, and progress is definite, even if not at a rate that we would prefer.

Who knows how long that slug had been there when we happened upon it, but by the time we finished gaping at it and went on our way, it had reached the middle of the sidewalk. Not half-way home, necessarily, but progress for sure. Oh, to have the patience of a slug.

Four and a half years ago, I was a Library Assistant I at the Boca Raton Public Library, working in circulation. Ten days ago, I stood at a podium in Ft. Lauderdale as the keynote speaker of the Southeast Florida Library Information Network’s (SELFIN) annual conference. I started my talk by commenting on this and stating that I think my story is indicative of the growing openness of our profession — how anyone with good ideas and a little chutzpah can achieve a lot in this profession regardless of their age or years of experience.

Given my current position — fresh out of school, looking for jobs, a little uncertain (aren’t we all?) about what the future holds — I find some solace in Meredith’s path. To go from circulation desktender to having a column in American Libraries, all in the space of five years, gives me reason to believe that great successes lay on the horizon for those with the initiative to seize opportunities when they present themselves.

Meredith goes on to talk about how much of what has transpired in her life would not have been possible without the existence of the Web. She earned her Master’s degree online, gained exposure in the profession through her blog, and even met her husband through the internet.

It’s true. The way I’m going about things right now — communicating with people, looking for jobs, staying up-to-date with what’s going on in the world — is a far cry from what it would be without the Web. As frustrating as it can be to send off a resume to the black hole of an institution’s job Web site, finding that job in the first place has been made worlds easier by innovations like RSS. I will bear a little frustration to gain a lot of convenience and time saved searching.

I am excited to find out what the next five years have in store for me. Now is a tumultuous time, with moments of doubt and uncertainty, but also of hope and joy and celebration. Getting through this period will take patience and support from those who love me. But on the other end, who knows? There is almost limitless possibility.

Be that as it may, the following video, created by Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University and hosted on Stanford Law’s Center for Internet and Society Web site, elucidates the basics of copyright in very clever way.

Bear in mind that Disney, not wanting to lose copyright on that famous mouse of theirs, has been a driving force behind changes/updates in copyright law (like the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act). You can read more about that here and here.

Enjoy.

Exhibit A: Maddie could be doing anything — playing with her toys, running circles around the kitchen table, or (hypothetically) eating a giant bowl of ice cream — but when that theme music starts to play, she snaps to attention and does this cute little knee-bending jig with a huge smile on her face.

Exhibit B: This capacity to mesmerize is not limited to children. Witness my brother-in-law (my sister calls this the “Backyardigans Trance”):

The Backyardigans Trance, as exhibited by my brother-in-law

What’s going on here?!

Since I am trying to get noticed by prospective employers these days, I have been wondering … can I recreate “The Backyardigans Effect” for hiring librarians when they read my cover letter and resume?

What am I missing? Do I need theme music, or perhaps the willingness to break spontaneously into song and dance? Maybe I just need to take a cue from the Backyardigans crew and use a little more imagination.

When we talk about the importance of the experience of reading a book, a similar argument can be made for the experience of reading a newspaper. While there are many (myself included) who use the interwebs almost exclusively to stay abreast of the daily news, few can deny the pleasure to be derived from spreading a newspaper on the kitchen table and leisurely flipping through the pages with one’s morning coffee.

Unfortunately, the demise of the newspaper as a print-on-paper entity is almost assured, and profitable alternatives have been elusive. So… will “wireless reading devices” (the dork factor on that term is off the charts) like the Kindle provide a new home for newspaper content?

The Boston Globe, among other major dailies, is now offering a special edition of its paper that can be delivered wirelessly and automatically to Kindle owners every morning. It costs $9.99 a month, which certainly won’t break the bank, but there’s a catch:

The Kindle Edition of The Boston Globe contains articles found in the print edition, but will not include some images and tables. Also, some features such as the crossword puzzle, box scores and classifieds are not currently available.

Hmmmm. Sounds like there is still work to be done. In addition to the price of the “wireless reading device” needing to come down, all of the content that appears in the print edition and online, like images and tables, should be available in the Kindle edition.

While it looks like Amazon’s relationship with the newspaper industry will not be a life-saver, it’s an idea that hopefully provides fodder for further innovation in the future.

Consider this excerpt that I came across recently (you can read the full text here):

It has been a long held belief by librarians that when the economy goes down, public library use goes up but that theory had always been hard to substantiate. However, the University of Illinois Library Research Center has results from a five-year study that concluded in 2002. The study found that beginning in March 2001, when the National Bureau of Economic Research pegged the start of the latest recession, library circulation increased significantly. It was found that circulation was 8.3 percent higher than what was predicted. After the events of Sept. 11, circulation exceeded the prediction by 11.3 percent.

We should not give the researchers a free pass on their statistical analysis without first reading the document, but in general, the assertion being made by the study makes sense. In healthier economic times, trips in the car to the strip mall — where the warehouse-sized bookstore lives — can be passed off without a second thought. In times like these, however, jaunts to the mall feel wasteful and it begins to make more sense to take public transportation or walk to the local library.

This is not to say that librarians should be praying for the economy to tank. We have seen dozens of examples across the country of library services and staff being cut during budget crunches. However, when decisions like these are being made, it would be helpful to have studies like the one cited above to refute arguments that public libraries are not essential to a community’s functioning.

Issues like these tend to catch the attention of the American Library Association. As stated in a press release following House passage of the bill, “Protecting patron privacy and the confidentiality of library records are deep and longstanding principles of librarianship and guide ALA’s legislative activities on privacy, surveillance and other related issues.” Meanwhile, Loreine Roy, the president of the American Library Association, expressed her disappointment:

“There were far better versions of this bill that would more effectively protect our civil liberties from needless and illegal surveillance,” Dr. Roy said. “We have taken a woeful step backwards.”

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the FISA bill after the 4th of July holiday. Liberal groups have not been so happy with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s take on FISA, and Republicans have insinuated that he is “spineless” on the issue.

It’s all enough to make your head spin. If you would like to learn more about FISA, and maybe get a better sense of what all the commotion is about, here are a couple resources that could be helpful:

• Here is the text of the proposed House bill
• Here is a wealth of documents pertaining to FISA collected by the Federation of American Scientists
• Here is what Russ Feingold — an opponent of the bill — has to say about FISA
• This is the American Civil Liberties Union’s take on FISA
• Just to give you the view from the other side of the aisle, here is The Heritage Foundation’s presentation of research on FISA

Happy reading.