It may be the portal to great educational activities and it is embraced by all segments of society as a teaching tool, but the web was once the province of the adult entertainment industry.  These users developed e-commerce and cobbled together technology for video images.  Progress comes in all forms and, it seems, nothing is all good or all bad as is the state of the net itself.  Read about the "net at forty".

Congratulations to one of our own–Lisa Forrest, Buffalo State College, for sharing her literary talents in poetry readings and in published form.  Read two of her latest in the Buffalo News and do not keep secret the talents of the rest of our esteemed colleagues.  We are here to unashamedly praise those who pursue avocations whether privately or in the public eye.  Send me the scoop at rtashjian@wnylrc.org

The engineers at Google are apparently so naive or so taken with what technology can do, that they never think ahead to consequences or cultural sensitivities.  Countries that have been subjected to intrusive regimes may have people who are overly sensitive to having their whereabouts documented at the click of a mouse.  Now Google must back-pedal and pull away from their previously-thought-universally-popular Street View in Europe.  http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10464351-93.html

We always troll for articles that put librarians in the best possible light and now Karen Lamson has come across a book entirely written to define who librarians are–This Book Is Overdue by Marilyn Johnson  Starting with Henriette Avram, creator of MARC.  From librarians to archivists to even elevating cataloging to an "art", Johnson wends the trail to Street Librarians–those who have "left the building".  Read the this fascinating review and consider actually putting the book in your collection!

As written by Bryan Sinclair in the Educause Quarterly "The idea of the information commons as a space for students to gather and work with technology has been with us for over a decade now. Carving out these areas has allowed many university libraries to remain relevant in the academic lives of students. Just as libraries have historically provided reading rooms for users to access and work with print collections, they now provide common spaces for them to access and work with digital collections. The information commons is a natural extension of the library's traditional mission in a wired world."

This is now as universally accepted in the library world as are electronic resources but the concept of the "commons" as a tool of grassroots action on a social justice level is philosophical as well as practical. Harriet Barlow, an activist who has worked for years for the perpetuation of the public library system, offers a fascinating look at what could be a vision of cooperation and survival now and in the future in this excerpt of A World Of Possibilities, Counting Up and Caring For Our Common Assets.