If you’ve tried to check something in Wikipedia in the last hour or two, you’ll probably have seen a blacked out page linking to an explanation of its protest against SOPA – hundreds of other sites are doing similar. It might seem unfair to blackout all these sites worldwide (24 hours without lolcats!) for the sake of a US protest, but if this legislation is passed the whole world could suffer a lot worse.

SOPA and a similar proposal PIPA aim to address piracy in part by allowing for sanctions against a foreign site that breaks US copyright law.  This might include getting US servers to block access to the domain name; or getting US search engines to remove it from their results; or stopping it from receiving money from US advertisers.

Don’t Break the Internet (Lemley, Levine and Post) outlines from a legal point of view why this would be a Bad Thing for the internet as a whole; Foreign Libraries Will Be Infringing Sites Under SOPA (Eric Hellman) gives a specific example of just how bad it would be.  Because Project Gutenberg Australia, and many many other sites, could be classified as a “US-directed” site (defined by SOPA hilariously loosely as a site that doesn’t actively prevent someone in the US from accessing it) and includes content that, while in the public domain in Australia, is still under copyright in the USA.

What can we do about it, outside the US? We don’t have a representative to contact, at least not about these laws – there have been, and will be more, bad IP laws in our own countries to protest against.  But we can talk to the publishers supporting SOPA (pdf, 92kB), or even the publishers supporting the proposed Research Works Act (unrelated to SOPA or PIPA, but it would outlaw open access mandates and thus bolster publishers’ monopoly over scholarly publications) and the publisher making campaign contributions to the politicians who introduced the RWA.

Theoretically we could stop buying from these publishers.  In practice – yeah, well, we’ve got customers so we probably can’t, but we can withdraw any free labour we give them by way of writing or peer reviewing papers or editing journals for them. In other words, strike.  (That link’s blacked out against SOPA, but come back to it in 24 hours, it’s well worth it.) There are plenty of Open Access library science journals we can be supporting instead.

It actually feels like it’s gone by quite quickly, but that may be because I’ve only contributed about weekly instead of daily!  Some people wrote 30 posts (or more!) and some wrote less, but I count anything done that wouldn’t have been done as a winner.

So, a great many people spent the 30th reflecting on the process of #blogjune:

• Bookgrrl on A blinking cursor
• Librarian Hoi on 30 days about something other than being a librarian
• NewGradLibrarian finishing what I started
• Gemma is rightly proud of herself
• Sally(Purple Specs) has felt encouraged to plunge into the wider biblioblogosphere
• restructuregirl says I did try
• Jennelle writes And they lived…
• Paul Hayton scores his performance 7/10
• the BunToting Librarian lays her soul bare
• blogjune kept Kat busier than expected
• Corin plans to keep blogging
• Joy hopes to keep blogging most days
• Justgirlwithshoes has 3 braincells left
• Ceridwyn celebrates success
• Sally(SetsForth) says Goodbye June

There’ve been a couple of other goodbyes:

• Kristy Fox leaves NLA for EBL
• outgoing University Librarian Alex Byrne leaves University of Technology Sydney

And others chose other topics:

Gatherings: Penny attended Nethui as well as a webinar about streaming audio/video, Kalgrl attended her first tweetup, and Flexnib et alia plan a LAN party.

Jobs: Morgan Wilson posts Tips for applying for library jobs in the public service on the ALIA Sydney blog, Tania reflects on career paths, and PuppyontheRadio writes on employment and Centrelink woes.

Professional development: Kelly writes about CPD23′s Things 1-2 while Karina finds 600 blogs participating in CPD23, and (some more personal than professional) Jobeaz reflects on progress towards her January goals.

And defying categorisation:

• Vassiliki reads romances from around the world and around the United States
• Polyxena posts a recipe for sweet chilli prawn pies
• Sean writes on coming out with a mental illness
• Michelle writes about when library projects should “finish” – and says “Never”!

On which note, I declare #blogjune complete – but never over.

The day-to-day

NewGradLibrarian revives “A Day in the Life”.  Penny posts her own hectic day.  And Tania plans to scrapbook a Week in the Life.

Professional professionals

ACrystelle is planning an upcoming conference paper about her out-of-the-ordinary job. Sophie Mac reports on a Teaching and Learning Forum and JayGee reports on a webinar experience. Joy begins 23 Things for Professional Development and invites all and sundry to join her!

Techy techiness

Lisa promotes a special issue on ebooks from ISQ. Jobeaz follows up on the popularity of her iPad at work with young ESOL students. Kathryn Greenhill posts a screencast on Tineye and other tools.  I’ve never understood why Tineye (and Midomi, its counterpart for music) aren’t better known.

Users using us

John has ideas about good customer service. Kelly introduces the library to recent immigrants. Sean has a great info lit session via virtual reference. Sally SetsForth (like all of us) enjoys being reminded that she’s good at her job. Michelle discovers things going wrong can turn out right.

Random randomness

Fiona is inspired by crowdsourcing to write about necropants, hiccoughs (hah!) and more, while Kathryn Greenhill links to Birds With Arms (I have rarely had a more surreal start to my morning).

I wasn’t actually inspired by the A is for Apple meme (honest, guv!) but it makes for a lovely synchronicity.

A is for Androids and apps for the iPad

B is for Balwyn Library and blogrolls and more blog goodness

C is for cheezels and caramello koalas

D is for desks, despondency, and playing with Dumpr

E is for egg yolks and not wasting whites

F is for filmfests and five more books

G is for gadgets and goodbye to edna

H is for happiness and library humour

I is for image search, insomnia and interactive reading

J is for the Almighty Johnsons

K is for the Book of Kells

L is for lollipops to market the library

M is for a Mothers’ Group as a Personal Learning Network

N is for Newcastle City Library and being sick and needy

O is for online LIS education

P is for post mortem considerations and pumpkin burritos

Q is for quotes about reading a book

R is for reflection and roving reference

S is for standing on your head to read a blogpost

T is for tomorrow when everything gets done

U is for Ulysses and a happy Bloomsday to you

V is for velvet boots sadly invisible

W is for bare winter trees

X is for anything I’ve aXidentally missed

Y is for YA books and yarn bombs on doors

Z is for zebra crossings which ought to be stopped at.

The “Five Books Meme” continues, with Mal Booth, NewGradLibrarian, Macaronic, and Peta climbing aboard. Then the “Add exponentially to Deborah’s to-read list” theme continues with:

• Following flexnib’s suggestion of creating a “100 articles every librarian must read” list, Kathryn Greenhill starts the ball rolling with 40 articles plus a Zotero group where we can add our own suggestions.
• Vikki Bell writes about her favourite library-and-other blogs.
• Kelly mentions some books on management/leadership in her post inspired by two different leadership styles on an episode of Masterchef.

And then there are the film reviews:

• Bookgrrl reviews “Let Me In”
• snail reviews “The Tree of Life” and “Win Win”

Acrystelle has been super productive this semester.  Multifarious has trouble keeping in touch (oh how I can relate).

Michelle listens to what users say – with their actions.  John notes that if users (in this case academics) have a chance to play with technology, they might use it.

Teresa has a dilemma with her beloved Kobo due to technical difficulties; Karina loves her iPhone. (Er, no endorsement implied by this juxtaposition. Personally I love my Pocketbook 360 despite it having no native DRM support.)

Two posts about loss: Girlwithshoes about her mother, and Ghylene about miscarriage.

Katejf and Bonito Club are knitting. Penny makes ninja bread men, Lissy makes porridge, and Corin makes cheese, sourdough bread, jam and preserves (though not, I gather, all in the same day).  Tania crafts gorgeous cards. Actor-au reflects on writing fiction.

And as a final bon mot, figgles advises “Train like an athlete, get plenty of sleep.”

Cunningly timed to give you plenty of weekend reading!

Seven Things

Katejf, FromMelbin, jobeaz, Teresa Bennett, a Public Librarian, Lutie, and Alethea all tackle the seven things meme.

Help wanted

• Katejf asks about apps for iPad for research
• Kathryn Greenhill asks what people are doing well professionally/in their libraries
• Miss Sophie Mac asks for library-related zombie materials (especially games)
• The WGP asks if other places shelve GNs by series title

Librarians being all professional and stuff

Jeff Cruz write an excellent post on balancing open access with cultural ethics.  And La Trobe Library Blog highlights an upcoming talk on “Aboriginal Melbourne – Culture, Society, and Identity“.

Hoi on driving one’s own professional development. The Uber Liberian has also been buzzing with PD ideas, and Kelly Hall is challenging herself.

John Nebauer nabs books and wonders how well we know our collections. Michelle McLean writes about collection policies in flux, with e-materials now taken for granted.  Snail discusses the pros and cons of his Kindle. Meanwhile Lisa reports that the Internet Archive is to start collecting print books.

Ruth Baxter on marketing the library.

Penny posts a Prezi on elearning and the library.

Storytimes

Gemma sings the praises of storytime.

Newgradlibrarian’s bookclub uses the travelling suitcase library approach.

Poetry

Two people post two of my favourite poems of all time:  Paul Hayton posts Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et decorum est; and flexnib posts Kaylin Haught’s God says yes to me.

What do you write when you’ve already written your introductory post?  Some took comfort in food:  Hoi takes on cabbage, KateJF wine and rice, Teresa Bennett blueberries and porridge, Lissy lemon and honey — and Kris Wehipeihana is ready for the good kai of Matariki.  (Mm, I might have to go and raid the dried strawberries in my pantry.)

Ruth Baxter continues #blogjune with some ways blogging can lead to research. Ellen Forsyth reports on a library seminar held in World of Warcraft and Kelly Hall finds inspiration at day 1 of the LGMA Women in Local Government Conference.

Michelle McLean reflects on the future of libraries as making connections; meanwhile Lutie the Librarian wonders how to keep her identity as a reference librarian when students only want staplers.

Miss Sophie Mac provides a rough guide to building digital literacies and With Great Power offers a (hopefully continuing?) library cartoon strip The Madcap Adventures of Pharnabus Filch.

Joy Weese Moll reads lots of book reviews.  Speaking of which:

• Dark Country by Bronwyn Parry, reviewed by Ballarat Library Chick
• MacRobertsonland by Jill Robertson, reviewed on Hecuba Reads
• Eagle of the Nineth by Rosemary Sutliffe, reviewed by Tiffany
• Debbie Storz muses a short retrospective on Harry Potter
• The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell, reviewed by Karina
• A selection of books, ebooks and dvds from La Trobe University Library
• JayGee lists all the books she’s read so far in 2011
• Vassiliki reminisces on “the book that launched a thousand trips” and on visiting Mycenae.

Nor is Vassiliki the only traveler! While SallySetsForth is at home in sunny Darwin, motorikpulse spent a weekend at a farm outside Moree, Leonie at the Gold Coast, the Family Librarian visits Temptation Creek, and stitchsarah is in New York.

At 4.36am on Saturday 4th September, a magnitude 7 earthquake struck near Christchurch, New Zealand. How it affected the libraries here is an overwhelmingly large topic, but Kathryn Greenhill kindly responded to my plea for some questions to prompt me in writing about it.

1. Do you remember where you were when the earthquake hit?

Hahahaha yeah. I was rolling out of bed and scrambling into the corner that previous idle daydreaming had determined would be the best place to be (later I learned that if one’s in bed one’s safest to stay there with a pillow over one’s head, but my corner was probably second best) and bracing myself there while the house roared and shadows moved in the dark. I think the fastest moving shadow was my cat hiding under the bed. I stayed in my wonderful corner – with a brief excursion to get laptop, radio, and warm clothes – for several hours, as we were getting little aftershocks every few minutes to start with.

2. When did you realize that the library might have a problem and what went through your mind?

It was late morning before I really thought about it, and I think I mostly thought, “Oh God how many books are we going to have to pick up?” That day was strange because in my suburb there was very little damage and people were doing ordinary Saturday lawn mowing, but on the radio we were hearing about the destruction in other suburbs and the CBD. So I didn’t know what things were like at the university, only (from a hasty note plastered on the homepage) that it was closed.

3. Do you remember when you were told what the damage was?

On Sunday my manager phoned us all and passed on what she knew. That was still incomplete of course. The situation was changing on an hourly basis for days, on a daily basis for weeks. The university also put news and photos up on its website.

4. Did you know whether your library had a disaster recovery plan?

Yes, and it had been used in small ways before the quake. With something the scope of the quake it was of course just part of the whole university’s disaster recovery plan.

5. How long before you could go back in and what was it like in the days after the main quake?

We had to wait until it was certified safe. That was almost done when on Wednesday a large aftershock caused more damage and they had to check the buildings again. By this time I was quite desperate to go back and do something. The constant aftershocks made us tired and anxious and I couldn’t concentrate on anything I’d normally do on a surprise involuntary holiday. At one point I saw a photo of workers putting books on shelves and I was devastated to think we wouldn’t have the solace of that physical labour. It didn’t occur to me until we were back on Friday that they were actually taking the books off the shelves, so the shelves could be dismantled to make room for repairs.

6. What was it like to reenter the building?

For me it was overwhelmed by how wonderful it was to catch up with my colleagues and be among people properly again. I spent most of Friday in two branches that hadn’t been much damaged, working on what access and information we could provide users just through the website. It was definitely weird though. That Friday we had to sign in and out, and wear lanyards. Computers had to be tested before we could use them. In one building things had fallen against the inside of a door, jamming it closed, so there was a mighty wielding of power tools.

Just before the end of the day I briefly visited my own branch (EPS Library). By then the rest of my team had tidied up most of the ground floor – we weren’t allowed upstairs yet. When I came back on Monday I had to wipe all the plaster dust off my desk. Windows would develop cracks overnight from little aftershocks. And of course there were no students around those first days, so nothing was as normal.

7. What did the cleanup involve?

Once everything was certified safe, it depended on the library. In EPS Library, some windows had to be replaced. A dozen stacks on level 2 were dismantled so scaffolding could reach the ceiling to replace fallen tiles. More stacks on level 3 were dismantled because they’d been damaged or weakened and needed rebuilding, and we had to shuffle books from stack to stack to make room for that. We had the library open downstairs while this was happening upstairs (we brought extra tables down to jam as much study space in as possible), and the noise of heavy things dropping and shaking the building was occasionally a bit much for aftershock-jangled nerves. I had to go for a sudden long walk one afternoon. But the students were awesome about it.

Once all that was done we got to put the rest of the books back. They’d been piled out of our way — in our beanbag area on level 2 the piles stood taller than I am, and on level 3 they were two piles deep under desks along three walls. Also lining a walkway, and on top of desks, and in various other random places. (Photos on Flickr.) The contractors told us they’d sorted them for us by size, but they were just joking. Any criterion they were sorted by was beyond mortal understanding, though occasionally we found three or even four books together in order of LC number. It was so overwhelming it was easier to just laugh at it all.

Fortunately we knew the ranges that should be on each stack, and someone had the idea to run reports to find out how many books were in each range. The reports weren’t perfect (some item types weren’t included, and of course they made no distinction between a 10-page report and a 1000-page tome) but we could label each bay with a guesstimate of what should be there, and that helped a lot. We all pitched in and hired extra people to help so it only took a few weeks.

We opened up bits of the library space and lending as we finished them. Of course we’d finally got everything back to normal, after six weeks, when Just Another Fecking Aftershock brought down some more ceiling tiles, so yet again we’ve got one room closed to the public and are retrieving books several times a day.

8. Was there much damage?

No structural damage. The floor has a new ridge between two sections, but it was designed to do that in such an event. Windows and ceilings and shelves — all repairable. Surface cracks in all sorts of places. The odd daunting hole in a desk where a ceiling tile punched almost all the way through. (The new tiles are lighter, the new windows are stronger, and the shelves have extra reinforcing.) Only a trolley-load of damaged books. Mostly it was just a giant mess.

9. What was the damage to libraries around the city?

Academic libraries:

• At University of Canterbury, Education, Law and Macmillan Brown were fully operational by the time students were back; EPS is now mostly open. Central Library had ceiling tiles down in the technical services workrooms, windows broken, and some stacks down. Staff are working in other spaces, and services are being provided from Law while Central’s shelves are remade over the summer (plans for Central; full current situation at UC).
• I’m not sure about the full scope of damage at Lincoln University but they have photos on Facebook and I believe they’re now basically back to normal.
• CPIT had minimal mess (blog post) and their staff helped Lincoln with clean-up there.
• Canterbury Medical Library has photos available.

Public libraries:

• Christchurch City Libraries provided extra services through the mobile library while branches were being checked for safety, but all branches are now open again. They’re now hosting the Kete Christchurch : Canterbury Earthquake 2010.
• Outside Christchurch, Selwyn Libraries needed repairs, tidying, and drying soggy carpet (photos) but were operational within several days. The Kaiapoi branch of Waimakariri Libraries is heavily damaged and closed until further notice; two other branches are open and the Christchurch City Mobile Library is making visits to Kaiapoi (more info about books, budgie and goldfish).

The special libraries I’ve heard about generally tended to “messy but tidyable”. Some volunteer libraries have been damaged.

10. What did you learn from the experience?

Drop, cover and hold. Putting together an emergency kit is an excellent way to keep yourself busy in the aftermath of an emergency. A jolt is nearer than a rumble. Blutack is your friend.

A stack can stand on a book for weeks and barely dent the cover. When working in plaster dust, wash hands with water, then with soap, then moisturise (not forgetting the fingernails). If people really want to borrow a book, no amount of yellow “Keep out” tape will stop them — although they can be persuaded not to sit and study directly underneath a precarious ceiling tile.

In library-related news:

• Bun-toting Librarian answers “Why am I a librarian?”
• Connecting Librarian writes about work experience students in the library, and commenters add their own… well, experiences.
• Creative Circ shares their library’s plans to create a “library based on trust”.

In the handy ‘miscellaneous’ category:

• Opinions from an OPL writes about organisational aps.
• Bonito Club writes about Flutterscape, “a Japanese take on social networking and online purchasing”.
• justgirlwithshoes writes about friendship.

The memes diversify into:

• Food: Walking Upside Down “cheats” with a recipe for ginger crunch that I’m going to have to try as soon as I get home, and LiberryDwarf posts a link to honey cookies.
• Poetry: Sharing poems are FromMelbin (with more in comments) and SallySetsForth.

And political reflections on #spill are starting with Skinnibitch, haikugirloz, sardonicsmile, snail and Librarians Matter reflecting on the media through which they heard the news, and Rien d’Important thinking back to past breaking news events.

I’ve been on leave, busy, or sick for most of June so far, so today was the first day I’ve had the chance to actually read all of the posts for any day, and I’m super impressed!

Beyond the memes, Day 16 brought us videos: sallysetsforth posts a Simon’s Cat video, Connecting Librarian posts “Who You Gonna Call?”, and Walking Upside Down includes some TEDtalks in her musings on creativity.

Among the biblioblogging gems of the day:

• Librarians Matter continues the discussion on ebooks and DRM;
• Creative Circ bounces some thoughts off an article about indignation in organisations;
• a Public Librarian asks about staff satisfaction surveys;
• Edgar on the New Technologies Interest Group’s Blog asks about philanthropically funded libraries in Australia;
• and, very practically, moonflowerdragon provides the html code for hanging indents for APA style reference lists.

Of course librarians must talk fashion: sardonicsmile describes her “trying to keep warm in the library outfit” while haikugirloz writes about runners/sneakers and looking after your feet.