Everyone’s lives may have just gotten significantly better since Google settled its Google Books lawsuit Good news for researchers, but it has sent a potentially harmful precedent vis a vis copyright for digitized materials.
T.

From South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy
Dear friends:
We are pleased to announce that Arundhati Roy will be on air at Vancouver’s Coop Radio (102.07) on Saturday, September 13, at 10 a.m. Mordecai Briemberg of the Red Eye Show of the Coop Radio will be interviewing her from her base in India.
The focus of the interview will be Arundhati Roy’s most recent article, “Azadi” (Freedom), published in the Outlook magazine of New Delhi, in which she provides a detailed account of the current situation in Kashmir, and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Here is the link to the article:
“Azadi” by Arundhati Roy
Tara

MEMORY and NARRATIVE: A part of the Vancouver Memory Festival
A talk and reading by David Albahari
Monday, May 12,
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
SFU Vancouver at Harbour Centre
515 W Hastings St., Vancouver
Admission free: however reservations are required
To reserve a seat, please contact: cstudies@sfu.ca or 778.782.5100
Tara

Big news in book nerd world–from the NYT
Sued by Harry Potter’s Creator, Lexicographer Breaks Down on the Stand
Tara
PS It has to do with copyright infringement and a librarian so, technically, it’s work.

Unbelievable! U.S. Funded Health Search Engine Blocks ‘Abortion’
T.

Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) at UBC Library’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (IKBLC) will be closed from the 3rd of August until the 4th of September 2007. The closure is required to allow the joining of the Phase I and Phase II buildings of the IKBLC to take place. A long temporary wall must be removed and the lighting, suspended ceiling, piping, data, and electrical systems of the two phases joined. RBSC staff will occupy temporary quarters in room 2:27 of the IKBLC in August.
There will be reduced telephone and computing capacity in the temporary space. Staff will be working to clear processing backlogs but will not be able to provide public service since the reading room of RBSC will be at the centre of the construction. The RBSC reading room will reopen on September 5.
The Library regrets any inconvenience this closure may cause. According to the present construction schedule Rare Books and Special Collections will take possession of its final and much expanded reading room at the end of November 2007.

This is old news, but those of who are beginning to play with Second Life, or are interested in finding out how libraries are using it, may find it interesting to visit the Library of Congress site in Second Life
Tara.

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) receives award for the Advancement of Intellectual Freedom in Canada

The provincial government has decided to close the BC legislature library .
From Friday’s Vancouver Sun article:
“About half the 30 librarians will be sent to other jobs in government. As for the millions of precious, and in some cases priceless, materials in its dusty stacks, a treasure trove of Canadian history filled with the esoteric businesses of governments dating back before Confederation, will be sent to a warehouse. It’s also not clear the institution will ever come back to the legislature since the politicians, who are are short on space, have been eying the cavernous space for a warren of offices.”

Hi all
In case you hadn’t noticed this recent change…
The blue navigation bar “EJOURNALS” has changed to “JOURNALS”. There is also a search box on the page for a journal catalogue search for those print titles that don’t show up from the ejournal search box, but which we do have in print.
Try “Stadion” or “Reference Services Review” in both search options to see what I mean if this is not clear.