Acme to move T1 line 

On Monday, March 4th at 4:30 pm EST, we will be moving our T1 line to a more secure location. We expect this to only disrupt service for a short time. Allow up to 1 hour for this change over to take place and please accept our apologies, in advance, for any inconvenience.

Librarians and Publishers 

Librarians and Publishers Find Common Ground in Joint Working Group by Deanna B. Marcum

...With a commitment to work together more effectively on behalf of the user community, the AAP Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division has joined with CLIR to create a Working Group of Librarians and Publishers. The first meeting of the group, held in New York City on January 31, 2002, was devoted to identifying common concerns and developing a problem-solving strategy. [read more]

USA Patriot Act and The Library 

The Patriot Act: Last Refuge of a Scoundrel by Karen G. Schneider

ìPatriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.î
--Samuel Johnson

First of all, Iím a hawk. I believe we should be in Afghanistan, Iíd like to see bin Laden oh, say, six feet under, and behind my bifocals, this middle-aged veteran cheers her colleagues in the armed forces defending our nation.

However, the USA Patriot Act (AL, Jan., p. 20) is treason pure and simple, and you need to know how and why, because it presents particularly pernicious issues for the users who rely on your Internet services.

The Patriot Act is not antiterrorism legislation; itís antispeech legislation, and is no more a direct response to the September 11 attacks than the Childrenís Internet Protection Act is a direct result of sincere concern by members of Congress about the safety of minors. The cold, cynical reality is that the Patriot Act is a bloated hodgepodge of speech-chilling law that lurked in congressional corridors not only before September 11 but in large part before the Bush administration. It was hustled into reality in the post-9/11 environment so quickly, secretively, and undemocratically that our Bill of Rights had been clocked with a one-two punch well before any of us realized it was under attack. [read more]

From ALA--Alert: USA PATRIOT Act

SSSCA 

From Library Juice--SSSCA? What Now?!

The SSSCA is the "Security Systems Standards and Certification Act," and it is scheduled to be introduced in congress soon by Senator Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. It's being pushed by the record industry as a copy-prevention guarantee. What the bill would do, most significantly, would be to make it an offense to make or sell any kind of computer equipment that doesn't have built in copy protection technology (which, logically, would be an abridgement of our fair use rights). [read more]

Still don't have a DVD player? 

Replacement for DVD unveiled by Barry Fox

The world's Big Nine electronics companies have swallowed corporate pride and agreed on a single standard and name - Blu-Ray - for the next generation video and computer optical disc. Although good for the consumer, they are putting the future of their fledgling recordable DVD systems in jeopardy.

Blu-Ray is backed by Hitachi, LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Thomson. Only Toshiba, the main inventor of DVD, and JVC, which has a vested interest in VHS, are missing.

The new format will use a blue laser for recording and playback. A single-sided 12 centimetre Blu-Ray disc stores 27GB of computer data, records 13 hours of broadcast TV or holds 2 hours of High Definition video.

Prototypes already exist, and have been demonstrated by Philips, Sony and Panasonic. Licensing for manufacture begins within a couple of months and the first Blu-Ray recorders could go on sale next year. [read more]

History of the Book 

Soviet Children's Picture Books from the Twenties and Thirties

{pictureRef(, align:"right")} The IISH houses a rich collection of manuscripts, books and pamphlets documenting the social and political history of Russia and the Soviet Union. It is also home to a fine collection of Russian children's picture books from the 1920s and 1930s, which is presented here.

The collection numbers around 375 books. Subjects vary from friendly animal stories and everyday events in a child's life to educational texts and political themes such as Lenin, the Soviets and May Day celebrations. Cars, trains and airplanes often appear in the stories. Among the authors and illustrators many famous names can be found. In this collection there are texts by Vladimir Maiakovskii, Kornei Khukovskii, Samuil Marshak and Daniil Kharms. [read more]

Don't miss the cover designs.

(link via librarian.net)

Future of the History of the Book 

Chaucer edition goes online

A rare first edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, believed to be the first book ever printed in England, is to be published on the internet. The British Library has agreed to digitise the volume, worth £4.6m, so scholars and the public can access it.

The book was first published 500 years ago by the man considered the father of the printing press in England, William Caxton.

A team from Keio University in Tokyo, the project's sponsor, are photographing the work into 1,300 high-definition images which will then be put on the web. [read more]

What the heck? 

UNC gets $530,000 to create 3-D, digital rare book library

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received a $530,000 grant from E.S.P. Das Educational Foundation, a private organization in New York City, to produce a three-dimensional, digital rare book library.

UNCís School of Information and Library Science and academic libraries and ibiblio.org., a free library on the World Wide Web that is based at UNC, will use the funding to introduce the experience of viewing a book in three dimensions to the digital form. [read more]

All I have to say is "weird".

(link via library_geek)

The Lone Star State 

yeeHa!

#1 Texas Website & Resource Directory

Because the editor of AcmeBook News cares.

Copyright News 

High Court Hears Coypright Case

In a case initiated by an Internet publisher, the Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to review whether Congress has exercised too much authority in copyright protection. The outcome could affect the availability of books, music and movies online.

The nonprofit publisher and other plaintiffs argue that Congress sided too heavily with writers and other creators when it passed a law in 1998 retroactively extending copyright terms by 20 years. [read more]