WorldCat Registry more global with the help of national libraries

From LibraryStuff

National libraries in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa recently agreed to load their files into the WorldCat Registry, enhancing and extending the global reach of this Web-based directory.

OCLC just completed loading 1,200 records from the National Library of South Africa and is preparing to load more than 8,000 records from the National Library of Australia.

“The trend to globalisation has shone a spotlight on humble directory data, in the form of records which describe library organisations and their systems,” says Debbie Campbell, Director, Collaborative Services Branch, National Library of Australia. “The National Library of Australia (NLA) is pleased to be able to contribute the Australian Libraries Gateway metadata to the WorldCat Registry project, as more of this type of metadata is surfaced in open registries to support the global information network.

Publisher asks libraries to return Alms for Jihad

Earlier this month The Chronical of Higher Education published an article concerning the libel lawsuit in Britain between Cambridge University Press and Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz. Mahfouz claimed that the 2006 book Alms for Jihad:Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World published by Cambridge wrongly implicated him as a financer of terrorism in Sudan. As a result of the claim, Cambridge has offered to pulp all their copies Of Alms for Jihad and have requested that libraries return their copies so they can be destroyed. This has inevitably created a lot of concern amongst librarians here in the U.S. who are wondering whether they really do have to follow through with the request. The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom issued a statement on their blog today which included the following:

Unless there is an order from a U.S. court, the British settlement is unenforceable in the United States, and libraries are under no legal obligation to return or destroy the book. Libraries are considered to hold title to the individual copy or copies, and it is the library's property to do with as it pleases. Given the intense interest in the book, and the desire of readers to learn about the controversy first hand, we recommend that U.S. libraries keep the book available for their users.

This entire situation brings up the question whether publishers actually have the right to ask libraries to return books. There have been other examples in the past where authors have been caught plagerizing. James Frey's A Million Pieces and Kaavya Viswanathan's How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life come to mind, however, those are examples of fiction titles as opposed to the non-fiction Alms for Jihad. In this particular case, there still seems to be a lot of disagreement as to whether the author was wrong about Mahfouz. These things are always open to interpretation and that case, a book should still be available at a library for readers to discern their own opinion. Any thoughts?

Looting fear as Iraqi state library seized

This morning I see a friend of mine, who is a civilian working in Iraq, has found internet access and is logged on to messenger -- probably checking his email. While I briefly contemplate messaging him - and taking precious time away from his texts with his wife and kids - I read this story via the Guardian

Looting fear as Iraqi state library seized

Thousands of rare books and manuscripts in Iraq's national library and archive, one of the country's most important cultural institutions, are in peril after the occupation of the building by Iraqi security forces, the library's director said yesterday.

Saad Eskander, a respected Kurdish historian who has run the library since 2003, told the Guardian that up to 20 Iraqi troops had seized the building at gunpoint yesterday, threatening staff and guards.

"They have turned our national archive into a military target," he said. "Tomorrow or the day after, the extremists will attack the Iraqi forces there."

He said the soldiers, who said they had occupied the building to defend Shia worshippers heading to the shrine of Khadimiya, about 15 miles away, had positioned themselves on the roof of the library. They had already started to dismantle the main gate, and had smashed doors and windows inside the main building, he said.

The national library and archive stands on the east bank of the Tigris, close to the old defence ministry, now a military outpost for Iraqi and US troops. The area is a hotbed of insurgent activity.

"The reckless actions of the Iraqi forces and the US military, who appear to condone the operation, will put the staff and library and archival collections in real danger," said Mr Eskander.

He fears soldiers may start looting the building "or even set fire to it".

"We are like many ordinary citizens, caught between the extremists and terrorist on one side, and the Iraqi and US army on their other," he said, vowing he would hold both US army and the Iraqi military responsible for all losses and casualties.

No one from the defence ministry or US military could be reached for comment....

Related here are some photos, from 2003, of library damage in Iraq