"Mr. Lane was the volunteer librarian at the Writers' Room, a haven for novelists, historians, cookbook writers and anyone else able to prove seriousness about writing. About 400 members pay $225 a month for 24-hour access to the loft space at 10 Astor Place.

Mr. Lane showed up at the Writers' Room in 1988, a decade after its founding, and volunteered to be the librarian, a position that had never existed. At the time, the room owned one book: a dogeared dictionary.

By the time he retired in February 2001, leaving a $25,000 contribution for the room's endowment fund, Mr. Lane had assembled a collection of 3,000 books geared to writers' interests, including encyclopedias, foreign language dictionaries, a text on medieval Icelandic drama and a history of hell....

He specialized in answering writers' obscure questions, from how to correspond with federal prisoners to who paid for Alice Liddell, the Alice of 'Alice in Wonderland,' to come from London to Columbia University to accept an honorary degree. ('Columbia, apparently.')

'I bamboozled some people into thinking that I knew everything under the sun,' he once said." [New York Times, thanks to Lee]

Public Libraries to Test Digital Service

"An experiment in digital publishing will take a step forward this week, with six regional library systems scheduled to begin testing online research services from start-up Ebrary....

Harris added that online research companies that act as middlemen could be left out of the digital-publishing chain. She said publishers and libraries might prefer to place books and materials in digital formats themselves.

Ebrary said its service allows libraries to add to their existing digital resources and catalog services. For instance, the Ebrarian includes research tools that let people link to biographical information, definitions, maps and other digital resources. The service also eliminates the hassle of retrieving books that are not on a library's shelf." [CNET News.com]

I love the idea of libraries as publishers of digital content, but there are very few that have the resources for it, especially public libraries. For example, I wanted to write a grant to let libraries with large local history collections digitize them and then circulate them on an ebook reader (back in the day when Everybook was still around) or a dedicated laptop. Add MP3 capability to have the history read to the user, and you have a powerful combination for education with students, preserving history with seniors, disseminating history within the community, etc. But I couldn't get anyone on board at SLS.

It's good to see eBrary working with public libraries, too, though. I'll have to start tracking this one. I'm not too sure about that "hassle of retrieving books that are not on a library's shelf" quote, though.

Lori shared with us one of her "secret treasure" sites that she uses to keep current with what other libraries are doing on the cutting edge. This time, it's NOLA in Ohio. I'm torn about highlighting them because they beat me to the punch on audio ebooks (drat!), but they're doing a lot of interesting things that I either have proposed at SLS or have been contemplating proposing. Links of particular interest to me:

• Listen Ohio - their group purchase of Audible MP3 titles;
• AskUsQuestions.com - virtual reference service;
• RLS Ellison Die System - I'd love to create this kind of database for SLS libraries (if not the whole Chicagoland region);
• MyBraries.org - a special site devoted to events at Lake County libraries;
• MORE: Moving Ohio Resource Everywhere - statewide resource sharing;
• Also, they appear to be using ColdFusion, and I have some questions for them about it.

Now I'm even more upset I didn't talk to them when they were here last week to find out about SWAN and Innovative. Double drat! I'll definitely be sending them some questions.

Tag line: "It's not easy being a Dick, especially at the local library."

"As lawyers in federal court this week debated whether Internet filters for public library computers should be mandatory, librarians argued the law unfairly blocks out legitimate Web sites like those of House Majority Leader Dick Armey and pro golfer Fred Couples.

'We got a call this week from someone supporting the lawsuit whose last name was something like Hancock. He said he publishes work on the Internet and can't access it sometimes on certain computers,' said Penny Hummel, a spokeswoman for Multnomah County, Ore....

Not many kids are likely to be researching his site these days, Swett conceded. But they may well be interested in getting information about Declaration of Independence-signer John Hancock or Tale of Two Cities author Charles Dickens. And if they do, computer filters might block access to such information.

The same goes for anyone looking up the Earl of Essex or Sussex, or drama students interested in Dick Van Dyke, Dick Clark and the cult 70s movie Shaft. Science students might want to research prickly heat or, on a more serious note, breast cancer." [Fox News]

If the filters are set to block slang, would they block anything that includes our current President's name? The funny part is that U.S. Rep. Dick Swett, quoted above, is directly affected by this problem, but that "doesn't mean he thinks the act should be overturned." What exactly would it take for him to recognize how poorly written this law is and how restrictive implementing it would be for the millions of people that use libraries? This cluelessness is why I hold out such little hope on the copyright front.