The Synthetic Librarian

Go sign up now for this Information Security course:
http://www.slis.ualberta.ca/springsummer2010workshops.cfm.

It’s just one weekend, dirt cheap, and going to be loads of fun. It’s in Edmonton at the School of Library and Information Studies (University of Alberta).

Taught by Lisa Yeo, formerly of The Alberta Library, now a Ph.D. student, and author of “Personal Firewalls for Administrators and Remote Users” (and very cool person). The bonus is that yours-truely, Cloned Milkmen, will be giving demonstrations. RFID hacking, barcode hacking, wifi man-in-the-middle, and more.

Here’s an excerpt:

To introduce students to the theory and practice of information security – the protection of information and information systems. The course will focus on foundational concepts, assessment and evaluation of information security practices in the library and information studies context.

On October 23, 2008 I gave a talk at Netspeed 2008 titled Hackers in the Library. The talk was designed to build awareness regarding information security threats in libraries and to dispel the myth that “nobody would want to hack a library.”

In this presentation I tell many stories of actual security incidents that I have encountered in various libraries and punctuate these stories with reports from the media of similar events in libraries around the world.

The slides for the presentation are now available for download in MS Powerpoint (PPT) format. The slides include embedded notes covering the content of my speech and additional commentary and links. I have also included some questions and answers that have come up after the talk.

Zotero is celebrating its birthday. Zotero is an open-source firefox add-on that acts as a citation manager. When you browse bibliographic databases, wikipedia, and online journals, Zotero can automatically determine if the page contains a citation, and extract and save it for you. If your library has a citation linker (aka link resolver, reference linker, sfx server, etc.) then Zotero can help you find the full-text version of the articles you have saved.

If you are a research or student and you already use Firefox, you probably want Zotero. Zotero’s integration with my University’s citation linker revolutionized how I search for articles and keep track of articles. In my opinion is offers dramatic improvements over refworks, though it does not replace all the features of refworks.

This is not going to be the most agnostic thing I have ever posted.

So-called “Digital Rights Management” (DRM) technology is creeping its way into the library thanks to companies like OCLC (netLibrary and eAudiobooks). DRM-enabled ebooks and audiobooks provide content that cannot be accessed without users learning new skills, agreeing to complex legal contracts, and getting explicit permission every time they want to access some media.

1. it is frustrating for users and frequently does not work
2. it is designed to be a barrier to access
3. it implies that readers need permission to learn, read, listen, and communicate

If DRM were available for printed books, readers would have to learn a new language every year, show federal ID to crack open a book, and frequently the book would refuse to open. Completely unacceptable.

None of these are things that libraries should be associated with or promoting. Of course, library managers should also be thinking about the substantial costs associated with these problems. You pay to license DRM-enabled content, and then you pay again to train staff because it is hard to use, and again and again because it is hard to understand and explain, and again so that your staff can discuss the problems in professional venues.

It is banned book week. I hate to be yet-another-copy-cat but, I have to simply say, “ditto” to Jessamyn West’s recent post on banned book’s week:

Banning books is bad. Challenging books is an exercise in free speech and a totally appropriate way of giving community feedback on library selection policies. Lumping challenged and banned books together confuses two different issues, to my mind. — Jessamyn West