Acme is featured in PrintMedia article 

The Joy of Printing

Prior to implementing their digital printing services, Acme BookBinding used photocopy machines to manually reproduce books. According to Acme owner Paul Parisi, "When dealing with photocopy machines, the production of our jobs was a manual process that was difficult to control, as well as time consuming. It was impossible to clean up the copies and we had no control over the quality like we do with our digital process."

To meet its short-run production needs, Acme first, like many binderies, investigated a monolithic document production solution. However, its volume was not large enough to justify the expense of a major rehaul. And since the family-owned company has grown from being a one-person operation as early as 1821 into a 175-employee facility, Acme understood the nature of evolution--especially a digital shift. That's why Parisi decided to search for other options to meet the short-run document production needs, not to mention showcase the company's newest Imaging and Digital Printing division. Parisi selected the MicroPress from T/R Systems, a document production solution that utilizes software tools and Universal Server technology to manage documents and document workflow. [read more--Registration is required, but you can skip the profile section by submitting it blank.]

Is this cool, or what? 

Book Drop Release

University of Iowa Center for the Book studies students are offering a unique holiday gift idea along with an unusual shopping experience. Handmade books and kits for binding your own books are available at a new vending machine installed in the North Lobby of the University of Iowa's Main Library. The book arts vending project grew out of the "Structure of the Handmade Book" class offered at the UI Library. The class is a collaborative effort by the UI Center for the Book (UICB) and the UI Libraries.

The machine is stocked with a selection of items bound to delight any book lover, including Ethiopian bookbinding kits, Japanese stab bindings, and long-stitch bindings ideal for personal notes. Items range in price from $5 to $15. [read more]

Digital Age 

Librarians in the digital age: planning digitisation projects

Abstract
The digitisation of valued information resources opens up new avenues of access, use, and research and is an important aspect in the development of digital libraries. Increasingly, librarians are having to manage technical projects to achieve their goals of delivering valuable information to their ever-increasing user base. This is a significant challenge and librarians need the practical skills and the vision to implement such projects in a controlled and manageable fashion. This article describes the key issues in project planning for managing a digitisation project covering the key areas of identifying the vision and the risk management in such technology-based projects. This article also considers the implementation issues and costs associated with digitisation projects. Finally, there is a consideration of the range of skills needed and how these may be developed for managing and running digitisation projects. [download the pdf]

ALA Statement 

Confidentiality and privacy of library records

The ALA is a professional organization with more than 60,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services. To do this, our members establish policies and guidelines designed to help working librarians best fulfill their responsibilities to their local communities.

We all have been deeply touched by the events of September 11. Librarians, along with professionals in many fields, are struggling with long-held principles in light of the terrorist attacks and the ongoing war. We know from history that our principles are most challenged during times of crisis, and library patrons' privacy is one such principle.

America's libraries support President Bush and congressional leaders in our nation's efforts to preserve and protect the many hard-fought freedoms we enjoy as Americans. Librarians are encouraged to study and understand state confidentiality laws and to cooperate with authorities within the guidelines provided by these laws. Librarians have a responsibility to protect the privacy of our patrons while responding to legitimate national security concerns.

If librarians do not follow state confidentiality laws and legal procedures, they run the risk of actually hindering ongoing law enforcement investigations. States created confidentiality laws to protect the privacy and freedoms Americans hold dear. These laws provide a clear framework for responding to national security concerns while safeguarding against random searches or invasions of privacy.

The ALA is not involved in the case in Delray Beach, Florida, and has neither condemned nor reprimanded the librarian, Kathleen Hensman.

The ALA respects librarians' hard work - sometimes under difficult circumstances - and works to support and assist them.

Two from First Monday 

The Day the World Changed: Implications for Archival, Library, and Information Science Education by Richard J. Cox, et al

Abstract
The terrorist attacks of September 11th on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have had profound implications for many aspects of American and global society. This essay explores the many implications for library and information science schools educating the next generation of information professionals. The essay considers an array of opinions by the faculty located in one such school regarding how to reflect on the aftermath of the attacks for basic aspects of teaching, research, and curriculum design in library and information science schools. Topics examined include disaster preparedness and recovery, knowledge management, workplace design and location, technology and the human dimension, ethics and information policy, information security, information economics, memorializing and documenting the terrorist attacks, the role of the Internet, and preservation. [read more]

Libraries, the Internet and September 11 by Judy Matthews and Richard Wiggins

As the terrible events of 11 September began to unfold, people in the affected areas of New York City, Washington D.C., rural Pennsylvania - as well as people across the United States and around the world - rushed to find information about the attacks. Some watched television in homes or offices. Others pointed Web browsers at trusted and familiar Web sites, from CNN to the New York Times to Google.

That the attacks and the subsequent war broke out in the era of widespread Web access and 24-hour news channels meant that concerned citizens had instant access to global information resources. One could read Tony Blair's list of particulars against Osama Bin Laden on the Web before it was described in a banner headline on page one of the New York Times. Or if one found CNN's truncated coverage of a speech by Blair or some other international figure, one could visit the C-Span Web site and review the unredacted speech online. Or one could read coverage in any major newspaper from around the world.

In the days and weeks after the attacks, people yearned for authoritative, reliable information about a wide variety of topics: terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, biological attacks, coping with grief, donating to victims' families, etc. Libraries played an important role in meeting this sudden demand for information on so many diverse subjects. [read more]

Where's the news? 

Sorry for the lack of activity over the last week. Your webmaster has been on the road and offline. But, I'm back and regular postings begin again today.

E-Books, Shmee-Books 

AOL Retreats From Big Push for E-Books

In the latest setback to the once- promising future of electronic books, the books division of AOL Time Warner (news/quote) said yesterday that it was cutting back its expensive line of digital books and laying off almost all 29 employees, citing a slump in sales of all books and especially digital ones.

"Perhaps Mr. Gutenberg has the last laugh here," said Laurence Kirshbaum, chairman of the books division. He said the remaining electronic book publishing would be consolidated with the company's Warner Books and Little, Brown units. [read more]

It's a Hoax 

Hey, did you hear that the US Postal Service is going to start charging for email?

Hoax Warnings

A hoax message is in circulation that appeals to people to oppose Bill 602P that is reportedly aimed to charge 5 cents from each e-mail a person sends. [read more]

A New Book 

From Yale Universtiy Press, Paper Before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the islamic World by Jonathan M. Bloom

Jonathan Bloom traces the earliest history of paperãhow it was invented in China over 2,000 years ago, how it entered the Islamic lands of West Asia and North Africa, and how it spread to northern Europe. He explores the impact of paper on the development of writing, books, mathematics, music, art, architecture, and even cooking. And he discusses why Europe was so quick to adopt paper from the Islamic lands and why the Islamic lands were so slow to accept printing in return. Together the beautifully written text and delightful illustrations (of papermaking techniques and the many uses to which paper was put) give new luster and importance to a now-humble material. [read more]

More NetLibrary News 

NetLibrary sale plans move forward by Erika Stutzman

Struggling Boulder firm netLibrary's sale through bankruptcy court took two major strides forward Monday when a judge approved a loan to keep the firm going and granted its sales procedure.

The approved motions are important to netLibrary. Its chief executive testified Monday to the urgency of a quick sale.

Robert Kaufman, netLibrary's president and CEO, stressed that the proposed $10 million sale to OCLC Online Computer Library Center is urgent. He said the sale, which netLibrary hopes will close on Jan. 15, will boost netLibrary's sales, which have dropped significantly since it went up for sale and filed for Chapter 11 protection. [read more]

Living in the Virtual World? 

The Virtual Library Past, Present and Future by Holly M. Riccio

When I first began researching the topic of the virtual library, I went to Google and did a search on just that, "virtual library."ÝAfter sifting through the numerous hits for actual virtual libraries, most of which were created and maintained by academic institutions, governments and nonprofit organizations, I stumbled upon a discussion from the Archive of the Law-Lib Electronic Discussion List that was exactly what I had been hoping to find. The opinions and ideas that were expressed in these posts were very true and relevant to what I was researching. There were comments about the issue of price versus immediate access, the problems caused by contract and licensing variations amongst vendors, and the issue of whether or not to charge clients for virtual library resources. A quote from one person's post seemed to sum it all up - "We, as librarians, are going to have to live in both [the print and the digital world] for some time." [read more]