Feds Order Public Libraries to destroy law books!

The attorney general for the US Federal Government has issued this order… “The Department of Justice has called for these five public documents, two of which are texts of federal statutes, to be removed from depository libraries and destroyed, making their content available only to those with access to a law office or law library. The topics addressed in the named documents include information on how citizens can retrieve items that may have been confiscated by the government during an investigation. The documents to be removed and destroyed include: Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure; Select Criminal Forfeiture Forms; Select Federal Asset Forfeiture Statutes; Asset forfeiture and money laundering resource directory; and Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA).” See this Link for more details. They have rescinded the order but the fact that the issued such an order in the first place is truly chilling.

Friday’s Cute Link

One of my favorite places to get my cute fix is Katamari’s page. Katamari is the world’s cutest and most blobular Scottish Fold kitty. Total cute with the occasional lolkatamari post.

New Zealand Libraries

In honor of Debbie Pennino, I thought I’d share a recent “library news” story that I came across: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10497791. Around Auckland, library users have expressed a greater desire to access resources from other branches in their area. (There’s also a fun bonus map of New Zealand’s regions!)

The World of the Tudors

Since I read The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, I was compelled to see how Hollywood translated her novel onto the big screen. It certainly didn’t disappoint me in terms of the visual feast of elaborate costumes, dangerous family rivalries, and sinister court intrigue!! Though all the fascinating elements were there that defined the Tudor reign, I still felt the movie fell short of the book. As a fan of historical fiction, I love Philippa Gregory, author of The Other Boleyn Girl, who also wrote extensively on the Tudors in her other novels as well. Her prose infuses the reader with the deep, rich textures of court life along with insightful character development. So come to the library, and explore her wonderful works of fiction and dive into a fertile world of imagination.

Privacy? No more …

One thing libraries take seriously is the privacy of their users. We go to great lengths to ensure that what you’re reading is for your eyes only. That’s why this article is so disturbing: http://www.eff.org/issues/printers. In an effort to stop counterfeiters, the Secret Service has persuaded some laser printer manufactures to encode printed pages with identifying information that could be used to track the printer and the person who used it. Sure, we can all agree that counterfeiting is a crime, and it certainly needs to be prosecuted, but isn’t this going too far? What do you think? Should be libraries be doing something about this?