Recent Publications 

From CLIR The Evidence in Hand: Report of the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections

In 1999, CLIR convened a task force of scholars, academic officers, librarians, and archivists to investigate the role of artifactsãoriginal, unreformatted materialsãin library and archival collections, and the value of those materials for scholarship and teaching. The inquiry was sparked by a recognition of the growing tension between how much information is produced and how much can be acquired, preserved, and made accessible in meaningful ways. The task force members were asked to articulate a framework for making or evaluating institutional policies for the retention of published materials and archival or unpublished materials in their original form. This report contains the task force's findings and recommendations. Further details are in a press release published November 21, 2001.

The report in pdf

Digital Technology Issues 

The Open Digital Rights Language Initiative

The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) provides the semantics for a Digital Rights Management expression language and data dictionary pertaining to all forms of digtial content. The ODRL is a vocabulary for the expression of terms and conditions over digital content including permissions, constraints, obligations, conditions, and agreements with rights holders. The ODRL is positioned to be extended by different industry sectors (eg ebooks, music, audio, mobile, software) and to be a core interoperability language and has no license requirements.

Spectra Special issue on digital imaging (pdf, requires Acrobat reader)

(previous two links via Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog)

Browser Security 

Microsoft Internet Explorer Security Bulletin

Impact of vulnerability: Exposure and altering of data in cookies.
Maximum Severity Rating: Critical

Acme Binds Best-Seller 

The book, September 11, 2001, is No. 11 on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction list. Acme Bookbinding was the binder. (see story)

Copyright Law 

Why copyright Laws Hurt Culture by Karlin Lillington

American copyright laws have gotten so out of hand that they are causing the death of culture and the loss of the world's intellectual history, according to Stanford technology law professor Lawrence Lessig.

Copyright has bloated from providing 14 years of protection a century ago to 70 years beyond the creator's death now, he said, and has become a tool of large corporations eager to indefinitely prolong their control of a market. Irving Berlin's songs, for example, will not go off copyright for 140 years, he said.

But a war is being waged against copyright "hoarders" in the corporate world by new technologies -- such as peer-to-peer communication programs -- that allow copyright to be circumvented, he said. [read more]

When Works Pass Into The Public Domain
(link via NewBreed Librarian)

Acme Welcomes Ken Cannon 

Acme Bookbinding announces the Appointment of Ken Cannon to the position of Director, New Business Development.

Paul Parisi, President of Acme Bookbinding of Charlestown, MA, a full service library and edition book bindery with short run digital printing capabilities, has announced that Ken Cannon, former founder of ColorWerks Systems in Hingham, MA will be joining their team as the Director of New Business Development for all of the company's operations.

Ken comes to Acme with over twenty-five years of experience in the Graphic Arts. He started his career at the Robert Burlen Bookbindery in Hingham, MA as a customer service, then sales representative. Ken later joined the Nicholstone Companies of Nashville, TN as their sales representative for the Northeast territory including the Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. areas. Ken was later promoted to VP of Eastern U.S. Sales for the Nicholstone Companies and it's parent, Sullivan Graphics, where he oversaw all of sales activity in the Eastern U.S. from Maine to Florida, including Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Ken founded ColorWerks Systems, a research and digital imaging company, in 1996 with a partner who succeeds him in that firm.

"Acme is an unusually capable bindery with services ranging from single books to runs well into the tens of thousands. It is modern, thoroughly automated, and well situated for growth in the printing and publishing sectors", said Cannon. Ken received his degree from Bridgewater State College, where he studied English, Library Science and Research.

NewsNews> 

When works Pass Into The Public Domain

Publishers' Page of Shame

This is a collaborative list of new books purchased by Libraries in the United States that have fallen apart almost immediately upon release into circulation. It is my intent to collect data from as many libraries as are willing to create something tangible to show the publishing industry. Paying between $20-$30 for a book that is poorly manufactured is unacceptable and borders on fraud.