“The wait is over! The Boston Book Festival has just announced its official schedule of events, and with 31 to choose from, and you’re guaranteed a fun-filled, jam-packed day on Saturday, October 24 between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Click here for the list of sessions with times and locations.”

“In addition to our illustrious workshops, panels, presentations and performances, there will be more than 30 exhibitor booths set up in the plaza, featuring local booksellers, publishers, educators, and arts organizations. Meet authors and get books signed!”

“Don’t forget to bring the kids! We have several great events planned for the young ones, including fun activities put on by some of our exhibitors– the Boston Children’s Museum, 826 and One Laptop Per Child for example. And don’t be surprised if you run into Curious George or Madeline!”

“Also, be sure to check out the Festival Stage in Copley Square plaza, featuring live tunes ranging from a cappella to bluegrass, funk to reggae, with some impressive talent from Berklee College of Music.”

“Feeling peckish? Score a free cup of joe from Green Mountain Coffee or a chowdah sample from the Legal Seafoods Chowder Truck.”

Most events are free, but some require purchased tickets to attend.

Ken Burns, Anita Diamant, Anita Shreve, Jane Kamensky and Walter Isaacson are some of the writers who will be attending. Nicholas Negroponte will be talking about the One Laptop Per Child project, New York Times personal technology columnist David Pogue will leading a discussion on ebooks and digitalization.

For more information:

http://www.bostonbookfest.org/index.php

Posted by Rich

There’s MassLNC Development Site for further information on the project:

http://masslnc.cwmars.org/

Here’s more information on the project:

http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/images/mvlcconnections0908.pdf

For directions on the two meetings:

http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2009/10/08/ma-open-source-info-session

h/t to the Swiss Army Librarian

Posted by Rich

http://www.hereandnow.org/2009/09/rundown-922/

Also the Classical Bookworm blog had a posting on the Cushing library decision:

“I give the headmaster points for acknowledging that they can do this because they are richer than God, as the saying goes. I do wonder whether encouraging students to read books for pleasure carries much water when you’re getting rid of your book collection. Teens are notoriously adept at spotting when grownups are not walking the walk.”

http://tinyurl.com/m6e5s4

The posting includes a link to a live interview:

http://tinyurl.com/y9rs2tw

Posted by Rich

Since there is limited space at the venue, you must be 21 years of age and RSVP to have an opportunity to get into the event. By RSVP’ing you will also have the chance to win $300 worth of O’Reilly books of your choosing. You must be present to win. There will likely be other items like tee-shirts and other promo items for those who alert us ahead that they plan to attend. If you plan to attend, and do not RSVP you will be put in the ‘wait-list’ queue.

For more info:

http://igniteboston.eventbrite.com/

Posted by Rich

“I have proposed two presentations for the SXSW conference in Austin Texas next March. There is a complicated series of steps to determining which of the proposals will actually get picked. Part of this determination (30%) is a very basic voting thing where you can thumbs-up or thumbs-down a particular presentation. Voting is now open. We are encouraged to use our powers of persuasion to get you to vote for our ideas. I would like you to vote for my ideas. Here is a link to all of the proposals. There are over 2000 of them and 300 or so will get chosen.”

How The Other 1/2 Lives-Touring The Digital Divide

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4128

The other proposal:

Curating Cultural Content-Libraries Save Your Ass & Etchings:

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3654

“Voting involved signing up on the website and then clicking the thumbs up. I’d appreciate it if you’d consider doing this. I’m pretty into both topics but the first one is nearer and dearer to my heart, while the second one seems to fit in more nicely with the SXSW gestalt. A few other library-themed things you shoudl check out”

She listed other library-related proposals you might want to consider voting on:

http://www.librarian.net/

Here’s a chance to get library-related themes into other web and social media conferences.

Here’s more info on the SXSW Conference:
“The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies.”

http://sxsw.com/

Posted by Rich

“URL-shortening site Cligs last month sent more than 2 million Web addresses to an entirely different destination. Phishers are also taking advantage of the trust users have in TinyURL Web addresses by using them to mask malicious destinations.”

“But easy solutions are available, PC Magazine points out. You can easily decode those cryptic URLs by pasting them into—what else—a URL lengthener. One such tool: Untiny. Just cut and paste the shortened URL into the box, and you’ll get the original address. Make sure it’s legit, click, and you’re good to go.”

For the whole article:

http://tinyurl.com/mtd2rk

h/t Consumerist.com

Posted by Rich

“Libraries have a dizzying array of options for acquiring, implementing, and modifying library resource management systems. The ballooning number of choices reflects the changing character of this marketplace. Commercial vendors now compete not only with each other, but also with widely-publicized open source offerings. When evaluating new and existing systems, libraries attempt to balance sometimes conflicting needs:”

* Maintain functionality for staff / Offer usable interfaces for patrons
* Preserve local individuality / Profit from shared practices
* Cope with shrinking resources / Crave more development input
* Value external service and support / Appraise the advantages of internal creative freedom

“Join NISO for a two-day forum in which we will consider these issues’ consequences for customers, users, vendors, and developers. During this event, we will:

* Explore the effects of changes to the library community on system suppliers’ business models
* Compare the benefits and disadvantages of commercial and open-source systems through real libraries’ experiences
* Examine the implications of placing library systems in the cloud
* Address the need for interoperability between library management systems and other systems at work in the library
* Consider how information standards can help all stakeholders cope with this shifting terrain”

Registration:

NISO Member
Early-Bird (Ends 9/23/09): $475.00
Regular: $550.00

Non-Member
Early-Bird (Ends 9/23/09): $545.00
Regular: $620.00

Student
$225.00

For more info:

http://www.niso.org/news/events/2009/lrms09

Posted by Rich

For more information:

http://www.podcampboston.org/

Posted by Rich

“Business is good at LISHost and we could use some help from an
experienced systems administrator. The position involves all the usual
things a sysadmin would do, including server maintenance, security,
and support. The job is part time, requires no travel and has no set
regular hours.

The ideal candidate will have an MLS, though it’s not required, and
several years experience running a Linux or Unix web server. If you
have experience with most of the things on the following list, please
drop me an email (NOT to this address but at  btcarver at lisnews.com) and
we can start talking about LISHost, the position and the pay.

Drupal, Wordpress, Mediawiki, Gallery, Movabletype, etc..
Open Source software in general
RHEL
Programming in PERL, BASH, PHP, and MySQL
MySQL administration
Apache configuration
Rsync
mod_security
spamassasin
Cron
Yum and Up2date
Postifx and Qmail, Dovecot and Vpopmail
Top, Free, Vmstat, etc…
Iptables
du, df, ls, rm, find, tail, more, etc (both /etc and etc…)
Various .conf files and what they do

For more info, contact Blake at
 btcarver at lisnews.com

Posted by Rich

1) Like many archival repositories, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the archives that handle many important United States government records, like those from the Office of the President, are dealing with how to accept, preserve, and store electronic records. Saving the Days details some of those challenges and NARA’s actions to try to keep up with the Digital Age.

2) The real story about whether newspapers are declining is not getting out, argues a site called Newspaper Project, which tries to show a more accurate picture of what’s happening in the media industry. Since many media outlets only cover bad news, they focus on the decline rather than the growth in news consumers and other good news.

I have a feeling were I to listen to the show regularly, I would find myself blogging many of the programs.