Libraries Don’t Love Google Rules

Thanks for Ann Higgins for sending me the recent article on Google and Libraries (Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web).

It seems that Google is trying to create a database of everything, which is nice from a user’s perspective. But apparently the rules for the libraries to participate are kind of crazy. Libraries that agree to work with Google must agree to a set of terms, which include making the material unavailable to other commercial search services.

So many libraries are going a different route. They are working with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort aimed at making their materials broadly available.

Google will scan for free. The Open Content Alliance charges through their alliance. But Google has the restrictions. But it doesn’t make sense to invent 2 wheels. But libraries don’t have much money. But equal access to info is so important and providing it through Google is so easy. But equal access to info is so important and singing away your rights to Google may tie your hands later.

So you see some of the issues.

Effort to Improve Broadband Measurements Thwarted

Last week the folks at Speed Matters published an interesting article about the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denying Center for Public Integrity access to zip-code-by-zip-code data from the FCC on high speed connections.

Service providers submit this info to the FCC. In the Senate Session I watched last week (and in other instances – such as a bill submitted by Senator Daniel Inouye) the FCC has pretty much said that the numbers they have aren’t great. But apparently the court denied access to this data because it would be “likely to cause substantial competitive harm” to the telecom companies.

Ironically this happened exactly one week before the International Right to Know Day (Sept 28). I’m kind of an advocate for making information public – especially information like this that can be useful in the aggregate – that is to say info that doesn’t necessarily help anyone profile us as individuals but that does help paint a clearer picture for legislators so that they can make better informed decisions.

Community Broadband Conference - Ways to Participate

Blandin’s fall broadband conference (Community Broadband: Making the Right Choices) is about 6 weeks away. It’s designed to help community leaders learn more about getting your community the broadband it needs for the future. There are a couple of ways to particpate:

Pre-Conference Seminar

If you’re planning to come to the conference, we hope you’ll also join us for the Pre-Conference Sesquicentennial Session: Oil lamps to Lasers…Creating Minnesota’s Broadband Future. It’s happening November 7 at 1-4:00 PM, directly before the conference. You can sign up for the pre-conference session when you register for the conference.

Free Webinars

Every is also welcome to join us for our free webinars leading up to the conference. The dates are October 3, 17, and 31. You can join via your computer. You can get the details online. If you’re interested please RSVP to Denise Pfeifer dpfeifer@minnesotaruralpartners.org or 507.828.5559.

Free Exhibitor Space for Nonprofits

And our final bit of conference news … we are looking for exhibitors and we have a great offer for nonprofit exhibitors. They can exhibit for free and each nonprofit registration includes a free attendee registration. The exhibition tables will be in the general conference room so you can watch your table and enjoy the conference. (For-profit exhibition space is $250 and includes 2 attendee registrations. So, that’s a great deal too.)

Public Information You Thought Was Private at CSC on March 26

The Graduate Library Science Department at the College of St Catherine has free, interesting programs on Monday nights. I thought the program on March 26 would be of interest to some blog readers:

Public Information You Thought Was Private. Panelists include: Robbie LaFleur (Legislative Reference Library); Karla Gedell and Anita Anderson (Minnesota Attorney General’s Library); Robert Horton (Minnesota Historical Society) and Randi Madisen (Minnesota State Law Library)

Time: 7:00 - 8:30
Date: March 26
Place: College of St Catherine 2004 Randolph Ave St Paul MN 55105
Coeur de Catherine Building 355 (directions & campus maps)

These are some super sharp people – after all they’re librarians! I am a graduate of the program and occassional adjunct faculty but even if I weren’t I’d love this topic. I am hoping to go – if you are a regular Blandin on Broadband reader and would be interested in notes from the meeting – please let me know and that might help me get motivated on Monday to get over to the campus to take notes for you. (It’s easy to say on a sunny Friday that I’ll want to go – tougher to actually get going when the time comes on Monday.)

Sunshine Week: March 11-17, 2007

I am a librarian who has been involved with Internet access for more than 10 years. So, the connection between access to technology and access to information has always been intertwined for me. Towards that end I wanted to mention the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MN COGI), a group that is committed to open access to public information in print, electronic and digital forms.

MN COGI is hosting a series of events for Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week (March 11-17) is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Events include:

• Monday, March 12 - Closed Doors; Open Democracies – local access to a national videoconference followed by a Minnesota-specific discussion led by Donald A. Gemberling and Katherine Engler
• Wednesday, March 14 - Digital Access – the other side of the coin…
  Featuring Catherine Settanni, who has headed the Digital Access + Equity campaign in Minneapolis that led to a strong community benefits agreement embedded in the Wireless Minneapolis contract.
• Friday, March 16 - Freedom of Information Day – the 2007 John R. Finnegan Award recipient, Gary Hill will be recognized

CPI suing FCC to get at real state of broadband

Ars Technica just published an article (CPI suing FCC to get at real state of broadband competition in the US) about the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) and their struggles to gain access to raw data collected by the FCC.

The FCC collects information from every telecom company in the US; they give the agency data on each company’s line deployments, broken down by ZIP code. The FCC reports on this data but the results have been questioned by several, including last year by the General Accounting Office.

It is an interesting case that brings to the fore two issues that go hand in hand: Freedom of Information and equal access to broadband technology.

Blandin on Broadband
www.blandinonbroadband.org