Canadian Collections Interest Listserv

My colleague Andrew Waller reminds folks with an interest to sign up for this list.

Collection Development and Management Interest Group
http://mailman.ucalgary.ca/mailman/listinfo/cdmig-l

Book Culture Scoundrels-->Bookstore Scam Artists

Gawker wonders if someone is teaching a class. Taking advantage of a bookstore is particularly low. I suspect Dante would have consigned these scoundrels to the eighth circle?

200,000 books--one author

I've posted about this gentleman before. Philip Parker has "written" over 200,000 books and he's planning to move into romance novels and video games.

My immediate reaction to this is mostly shock and suspicion. As a collections librarian I feel that this must be some type of scam, calculated to part me from my hard earned collections bucks.

However, Metacool, provided a link to a video by Mr. Parker. Viewing this I start to think that something much more interesting is going on. The books are written using a combination of text mining and algorithms, in the case of his market analyses, the algorithm is an econometric model.

Hmmm, collections implications...
- are we buying full text collections with rights that will support the use of customized text mining tools? What kind of rights are needed?
- critical review of Mr. Parker's books requires an ability to understand and review his text mining heuristics and algorithms
- are the books a "red herring"...if text mining can pull and analyze data, then why can't this be used to create a database that can be queried on the fly? Computers should be able to read the data as well as mine...a book isn't really needed.
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Book Mutilation of the Week-->Books as Art

Only one, the future of the book, is a true mutilation, but some nice book art in this fellow's portfolio.

Original link from if:book.

Amazon bullying with BookSurge?

Lots of postings on indications that Booksurge (a print on demand service recently purchased by Amazon) that print on demand titles who don't use the Booksurge service will lose their "buy" buttons on Amazon's site. Check out Google if you want to find the postings.

However, Amazon has written to Publisher's weekly to explain they are only taking this stand for the benefit of their customers. Using the inhouse POD will allow speedy delivery. Publishers who want to use a different POD service must provide Amazon with 5 copies ahead of time.

Who doesn't love a juggernaut?

Yes expensive data access rates do matter to Canadian Libraries

I spent quite a few years in a comfy bubble, knowing that people in other countries seemed to have strange customs that involved using their cell phones for all sorts of neat data access tricks that require wireless broadband, but that in Canada these were unexplored mysteries.

My colleague Paul Pival eventually burst my bubble by explaining that the relative expense of data access in Canada was the reason we seemed to lag behind.

Now of course I'm peeved. Why can't my users access the cool information services mobile users in other countries have. Read this post from Alec Saunders to get the background, and start thinking about how we can change this situation. Where is the government when you need one?

No Wireless, but you can have the Patriot Act

You probably all read Boing Boing so this is a bit of a repeat. But those folks at Lakehead seem to be under a bit of cloud. First no wireless. Now by accepting Gmail and other services they possibly open the door to the Patriot Act.

They may laugh last when they don't get brain damage.

Curious to know more about the potential impact of the Patriot Act in Canadian Libraries, take a peek at this article by my colleague Andrew Waller.

Oops, Andrew points out this article refers to the Office of Foreign Asset Control Legislation, not the Patriot Act. He has kindly provided this summary of Patriot Act issues.

The USA PATRIOT Act

The USA PATRIOT Act (more formally known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act) of 2001 (Public Law 107-56, 115 STAT.272, H.R. 3162)) has been in place in the United States for over 5 years, since October 24, 2001, and has recently been renewed by Congress and signed by the President, with minor changes. A wide-ranging piece of legislation that amends other laws, its most reported features is Section 215, which allows authorities such as the FBI and prosecutors to more easily get a court order or use national security letters to access personal records of any sort without disclosure. Those from whom records have been seized are not permitted to inform anyone but their legal counsel that this has occurred.

The PATRIOT Act has immediate implications in any situation where information of Canadian origin is stored in the United States, as result of service contracts, outsourcing, data storage, and data processing, makes it susceptible to seizure by U.S. authorities. Information that is stored in Canada by Canadian subsidiaries of American companies is also susceptible. This can affect almost any organization: companies, governments, associations, and universities.

This fact has led to some action by provincial governments. In October 2004, the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia investigated the effects of the PATRIOT Act on the outsourcing activities of the B.C. provincial government, particularly those dealing with medical services. He determined that the personal information of British Columbians could be threatened if it was being held on servers in the United States. Recommendations were issued to amend the B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to deal with personal information under the control of a public body that is being stored outside Canada. Included among these recommendations was a fine of up to $1,000,000 for any disclosure of personal information or if personal information is sent outside Canada.

In Alberta, Alberta Government Services and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner surveyed public bodies in the province as to what sort of health or personal information they are sending outside of Canada for processing or storage. The University of Calgary was included in this survey. This work resulted in the tabling of a bill (Bill 20), the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act, 2006 in the Alberta legislature on March 7, 2006. This bill was passed and came into force on May 24, 2006. The act responds to Patriot Act concerns in that it includes new penalties (including fines up to $500,000) for disclosing personal information in response to an order from a court with no jurisdiction in Alberta, among other steps, though it does not prevent the storage of Canadian data in the United States.

At the federal level, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner recently passed a ruling involving the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and, indirectly, the PATRIOT Act. In fall 2004, CIBC informed their VISA customers that the bank was using a service provider in the United States and that American authorities may be able to access cardholders’ personal information under U.S. law. Some customers filed complaints against CIBC to the Privacy Commissioner but the Assistant Privacy Commissioner ruled that CIBC had acted correctly in informing their customers under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). In addition, the Assistant Commissioner also ruled “that the Act cannot prevent U.S. authorities from lawfully accessing the personal information of Canadians held by organizations in Canada or in the United States, nor can it force Canadian companies to stop outsourcing to foreign-based service providers”.

A major problem of the PATRIOT Act for Canadian libraries is that the majority of the electronic information that libraries now provides for their patrons is hosted on servers located in the United States. For example, an academic user could conduct a search on the Elsevier e-journal platform ScienceDirect or could set up a Table of Contents profile on the same database; the search strategy, the results of the search, and the preferences given for Table of Contents profile would all be retained on Elsevier’s servers located in Dayton, Ohio. Accordingly, this personal information about a Canadian library user could be accessed by American authorities under the PATRIOT Act, regardless of its origin in another country.

Andrew Waller
Serials Librarian
Collections Services
University of Calgary Library

Why don't libraries buy self published books?

Take a look at this posting from Library Thing. The author points out that Libraries are ignoring self published books, with even very popular works of this kind failing to find their way into academic collections, at least if WorldCat is anything to go by.

Taking up the challenge, I took a look at Lulu a publisher mentioned in the post. Looking under Arts & Photography I see the Ultimate Tattoo Bible, The Concordia University Undergraduate Journal of Art History, LAUNCH (another student publication), Sketching Iran, and Grain Elevators of Canada. Seems to me Library Thing may have a point.

Blog of the Week-->Bookshelf

Lot's of fun at the Bookshelf blog. Love the parralax system that eliminates the need for bookends. Check out its sister site Shedworking "a lifestyle guide for shedworkers".

Canadian Book Exchange--who knew?

Two stories about the close of the Canadian Book Exchange Centre.
* Federal budget claims National Book Exchange
* Feds axe book centre


This surprised me....because I confess I never even knew there was a Canadian Book Exchange. Now I'm famously ill informed on national issues, still I think part of the problem might have been publicity.

If like me your problem is finding a home for unwanted books, rather than seeking out other folk's surplus, then I'll point you to Better World Books our gifts coordinator has just started working with them, I'll send out a review later to tell you how its going.

Library Scoundrels--Book thieves

Okay, this story is more about people who steal from bookstores, but the sentiment is the same. The author's interpretation that some of folks are motivated by a sense of entitlement is interesting, especially if you know how hard the book trade is. Still the guy with the list was probably motivated by more fundamental concerns.

Link from Reading Copy

Blog of the Week-->Reanimation Library

Reanimation Library

What fun. The Reanimation Library collects discarded and used books, creating a storehouse of material for by artists and writers.

A primary goal is preserving the graphic elements of the work. The site points out that graphics rarely play a role in library collection decisions.

"The Reanimation Library is committed to building a collection of materials that are rich in visual information, regardless of the currency of their textual information. The Library serves as a repository and, more pertinently, an access point for such materials."