Vancouver Public Library plans to add rooftop garden

Snagged via a LinkedIn group, Vancouver Public Library Rooftop Garden Planned in New Strategic Vision. What an interesting idea.

Michael Geist on why the digital divide in Canada is going to get worse

Mr. Geist, a professor of law at Ottawa University, talks about the digital divide:

The state of Internet access in Canada has been the subject of considerable debate in recent years as consumers and businesses alike assess whether Canadians have universal access to fast, affordable broadband that compares favourably with other countries. A new House of Commons study currently being conducted by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology offers the chance to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Canadian high-speed networks and what role the government might play in addressing any shortcomings.

Many of these communities are described as "uneconomic", since the costs associated with building broadband networks are viewed as too expensive given the expected return on investment. The government has funded some programs to foster improved access, however more may be needed to finish the job. This could include direct subsidies funded from revenues obtained through the forthcoming spectrum auction or tax relief for community-based broadband initiatives. Many of these communities are described as "uneconomic", since the costs associated with building broadband networks are viewed as too expensive given the expected return on investment. The government has funded some programs to foster improved access, however more may be needed to finish the job. This could include direct subsidies funded from revenues obtained through the forthcoming spectrum auction or tax relief for community-based broadband initiatives. The access issue is no surprise as there are still hundreds of thousands of Canadians without access to broadband services from local providers. While this is often painted as an urban vs. rural issue (with universal access in urban areas vs. sparse access or reliance on pricey satellite services in rural communities), the reality is that there are still pockets within major cities in Canada without access to either cable or DSL broadband service.

This is why libraries need computers. Lots of computers that give people access.

High School Reference and Canadian Street Lit

My current field placement has me in a high school library. I do quite a bit of circulation; mostly iPads, because the school has eighteen iPads for use in the library. And they go like hotcakes. I have assumed a sort of stewardship of them: I make sure they're all turned off, I check their battery levels and put them on chargers when they're below 50% (or just really low, since there were a lot of low batteries the first time I checked them all), I run their software updates when they're charging; I also check for photos taken and delete them, because wow, that could go so wrong. Sometimes I even check out books!

I find I'm doing a lot more reference work, which is good practice. And difficult! Trying to get to the bottom of what a student actually wants/needs is a bit tricky; I have to ask a lot of questions to try to get different answers. Usually I get the same answers, but every once in a while I manage to find more details about whatever project they're doing, which helps. Some topics I've encountered:

• Fish: ...any particular kind of fish? Is this for a project? Taking care of fish? Well, let's check the catalogue. Okay, books about fish are here. Tropical fish will do? Sure. I hope that's what you were looking for!
• Saint Nick: Which Saint Nick? We have these encyclopedias of Saints, but nothing specifically for a Saint Nick. Bonus: I remember doing this project, I think, and taking an obscure Saint just to do something different. And then regretting it when I couldn't find anything.
  • Trivia: My favourite Saint is Saint Sebastian, because his thing is having arrows sticking out of him. Or arrows in general, and apparently sometimes swords, but when I found that out I just pictured him in group shots hangin' out in the back with Saint Francis and his bird and Saint Christopher with the kid on his shoulder - you know, much nicer iconography, still okay at parties and social engagements. And there's this dude next to them with arrows sticking out of him, chilling out. I don't even know if there's a painting like this at all, but that's how it lodged itself in my mind. Where was I?
• Biography of Julius Caesar: Specifically Julius Caesar. We had to settle for entries in books about Roman leaders and such. I suggested the public library and told her how to get a card.
• Burj Khalifa: World's tallest building. Only completed in 2009 (and opened in 2010), it wasn't something we could really find in the high school library. The girls didn't need info so much as another resource to list - they had online sources and wanted an actual book. I looked at the Guinness Book of World Records, but we didn't have the most current version or it didn't have an entry on the tallest building or something. I suggested they look for articles and they seemed to like that idea.
• And then, by far the most difficult: Canadian Urban fiction. I'd heard about street lit before - I think probably via working on this blog and I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in my teen readership advisory class - but I didn't know much. I still don't. But! I was pleased that I at least eventually grokked what she was looking for. I even found a book in our library - Push, by Sapphire. Except that wasn't Canadian.

  I left the school's catalogue and did some searches; there was Concrete Voices, a collection of short stories that might have fit the bill, but the school library didn't have it. A challenge.

  What is urban fiction? A genre featuring black writers and black characters, often criticized for being 'low brow' - too much sex and violence - but also credited with making teens readers and being more accessible, more true to life. This article in the New York Times ("From the Streets to the Libraries", Anne Barnard, October 22, 2008) seems to explain the concept pretty well:

  As a teenager in Far Rockaway, Queens, where she still lives, Ms. Miller read gritty novels set in urban black neighborhoods of the 1960s and ’70s, by Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim. Then there was a dry spell. She made do with Jackie Collins until a new generation of urban fiction sprang up in the late 1990s.

  “I read what I can relate to,” she said. “They’re writing about what I’ve experienced. It’s easier than reading about Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive.”

  Which is not to say Ms. Miller, a mother of four, has ever murdered anyone, worked as a prostitute or been draped in diamonds by a drug-dealing boyfriend. (Her husband of 19 years, an ex-Army man, is a garbage collector.) What she recognizes are the characters’ fashions and pleasures (door-knocker earrings, clubbing), their problems (few jobs, drug dealers offering your children fast cash, people you know getting shot or stabbed) and their aspirations (striving for a better life).

  So she has made it her mission to bring more urban fiction into the Queens libraries, which she visits as many as five times a week, checking out books she reads on her subway rides to Manhattan to visit her son Tad, 17, who has been hospitalized for four years with brain damage from a near-drowning.

  Her oldest, Raishon, 19, reads his favorite urban titles aloud to Tad. Some nurses blush at the profanity and sex; others ask to borrow the books.

  “A lot of people ask me, ‘How can you let him read that?’ ” she said. “He lives it every day. This is cotton candy compared to what they hear out there. And it shows him there are consequences to living such a fast life.”

  So, uh. New York, sure. Canada? Maybe Toronto? What's out there? Some possibilities that might qualify (I don't know, I haven't read them):

  • Out of My Skin, Tessa McWatt

  Maaaybe not. Urf.

  Next thing I tried: checking the public library catalogue. Also not super helpful; I wish I could cross-check categories. Or maybe I can and I've forgotten how. Will look again later. Might ask reference librarian or teen librarian from first field placement.

"Vote for the Internet"

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for widespread, cheap internet usage. But I can't say I'm for the "Vote for the Internet" movement, because really, I think there are maybe some more important issues. I guess if that's the only concern you have, go to it?

Michael Geist: How to Vote for the Internet

Of interest to Canadians: Michael Geist explains How to Vote for the Internet by asking a few questions of the candidates on subjects including affordable broadband, usage billing, and copyright legislation.

10 Myths From Usage-Based Billing Supporters Debunked

Peter Nowak posts 10 myths from usage-based billing supporters. (There is an ongoing debate in Canada about usage-based billing, by the way.)

1. Data is not a utility.
2. Delivery cost is paying for expansion.
3. Congestion has not been proven.
4. Investment is not making big ISPs poor.
5. Heavy users are not all pirates.
6. Pirates are not necessarily bad.
7. Not all opponents of UBB are hogs.
8. Market forces won’t take care of problems.
9. Facilities-based competition is not the holy grail.
10. Everyone else makes it work.

My favourites are probably the first and last:

Data is not a utility. There have been many attempts, including by the CRTC, to equate internet usage to a utility such as electricity or gas. Very simply put: it is not. The electrons that make up the data that passes to and fro over the internet are limitless and are not consumed and destroyed every time a YouTube video is watched. The “pipes” and other equipment over which these electrons flow are, of course, finite and therefore need to be continually expanded as the amount of traffic grows. These are two very different things, however. In electric-bill parlance, we’re talking about delivery and usage – the nice people at the hydro company bill us for both and the big ISPs would like to do the same. The difference is, the actual kilowatts that go over the hydro company’s pipes ARE finite and ARE destroyed once they are used. If you want to talk about fairness, then yes, it is okay to charge internet users for delivery, but how is it fair to charge for consuming a non-consumable?

Everyone else makes it work. I love pointing out how unlimited or practically unlimited internet usage is common in just about every other country because this disproves every argument there is in support of UBB. If ISPs in every OECD country except Canada, Australia and New Zealand can make it economical to give customers big or non-existent usage limits, why can’t we? ...The price of bandwidth continues to fall globally, so those countries aren’t having conversations about whether the internet is like electricity or whether it’s fair to charge heavy users extra, they’re talking about how to make all of their citizens heavy users. The reason we’re not having that conversation is because all those other countries have something we don’t: competition and consumer choice between providers, which keeps prices reasonable and usage limits high.

Think Finland.

Your Favourite Book in Four Panels

Sadly, the contest is closed now, but CBC Canada's All in a Day radio show asked for people to send in summaries of their favourite books in four panels in honour of Jeff Lemire, one of five finalists in the Canada Reads contest. His novel, Essex County, is the first graphic novel to make the finals. The article shows a few entries; I wish they'd had more. My favourite was The Great Gatsby as rendered by Ian Martin, 17.

The facial expressions are awesome. I love the panel where Gatsby demands Daisy look at the money he earned so as to win her love: "LOOK AT IT". The hand drawing and (lack of) punctuation remind me of Kate Beaton, whom I apparently pimp out at every opportunity.

LOOK AT IT

Kate Beaton News and Transgender Literature for Young Adults

Drawn and Quarterly will be publishing Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant! While I love most of Kate Beaton's work I have a special love of her Nancy Drew comics.

In case that is not libraryish enough for you, check out this awesome list of transgender literature for youth from the University of Illinois, because libraries are for answering questions.

Canadians Read A Lot

The Globe and Mail, When it comes to books, Canadians read a lot but also worry a lot. Who came up with that title?

When the first nationwide count of book buying and borrowing weighs in with its numbers Wednesday, Canadians may be surprised by how many books they brought home in just one week: It’s safe to predict the number will be in the millions. Sales figures already show that Canadians buy more than one million a week; urban library systems report weekly print circulation numbers in the tens or even hundreds of thousands.

So why are we so worried about the death of reading?

Canadian History Search Engine

Helpfully snagged from the Blackboard of my college program, this article talks about a Canadian history search engine: Canadiana.org. As a Canadian, I always feel obliged to pimp out Canadian content like it's going out of style... mostly because it never seems to be in style.

The program has also provided two other great links. It's like having a little blogging weekend in the middle of the week!

Remembrance Day

November 11th is Remembrance Day in Canada, when the sacrifices of fallen soldiers are remembered. As I rode the bus on my way to college I passed by streams of people wearing red poppy pins on their coats; a bright colour for a solemn sight, but good to see nonetheless. Even if we don't agree with wars being fought, we need to take some time to honour the brave men and women who volunteer to protect us. 

The Memory Project is dedicated to hearing the stories of veterans.

To the left is a poem written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Army in May 1915. I have always found this poem particularly touching.

Thank you to all the veterans out there.

Fight for Copyright

Of interest to fellow Canadians at least:

All three opposition parties shot down the Conservative government's proposal to make copying CDs, games, DVDs, music, or whatever else for personal use illegal.

The federal government's proposal to make consumers liable for legal damages of up to $5,000 if they break digital locks to copy movies, video games and electronic books for their own personal use appears dead on arrival — with all three opposition parties on Tuesday speaking out against this key provision of the Conservative's copyright bill.

The controversial legislation to modernize Canada's copyright law is expected to clear a key parliamentary hurdle as early as this week when MPs vote to send it to a House of Commons committee for closer scrutiny. Critics for the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democrats all stood up in the House of Commons Tuesday to support updating the law, but said they will be proposing amendments to the digital encryption provisions before a final vote.

Unless the Conservatives win over at least one opposition party, the bill cannot pass the House of Commons.

Citing "concerns" over the bill's technological protection measures, Liberal industry critic Marc Garneau said any copyright law "must allow Canadians who have legitimately purchased a CD or a DVD or other product, the ability to transfer their purchase onto personal devices such as an iPod, or make a personal backup copy on their computer, so long as they are not doing so for the purposes of sale or transfer to others. We do not believe (the bill) achieves this principle," Garneau told the House of Commons.

Gordon Pinsent Reads Bieber

"Ahh, the girls... the grilled cheese... I wish I was you."

Canada Post's Library Book Rate

Good news! Bill C-509, an Act to amend the Canada Post Corporation Act, is steadily becoming a reality.

“As the Minister responsible for Canada Post, I am keenly aware of the benefits of the Library Book Rate and its history,” said Minister Merrifield. “I am here today to proudly state that our Government is proud to support literacy and our libraries across the country, both urban and rural, and that our government will strongly support Mr. Tweed’s Bill.”

“Over 2,000 libraries actively use the Library Book Rate and an estimated one million Canadians benefit from it annually,” added Tweed. “It is clear that many Canadians will benefit from an expanded Library Book Rate and I am happy to acknowledge our government’s support of this Bill.”

(Snitched from my Interlibrary Loan course instructor.)

What is Stephen Harper Reading?

Yann Martel, the guy who wrote Life of Pi, has undertaken a project. He is suggesting books for the Prime Minister to read and recording all his correspondence on a website.

Life of Pi is a very good book. I'd completely forgotten that Yann Martel is Canadian. If nothing else, the site provides a good reading list.

Library and Archives Canada Displays Olympic Exhibits

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has put together two displays of Olympic portraits in Vancouver and Ottawa respectively. These include drawings, paintings, and photographs of Canadian Olympic medalists.

CNIB Requests Federal Funding

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind can no longer fund their operating cost through donations alone. They are asking for help from the federal government.

The CNIB has funded the cost of an accessible library service for people who are visually impaired through donations for 90 years, but the organization can't sustain its $10-million annual operating cost anymore without federal government support, CNIB executive director for Alberta and Northwest Territories Cathy McFee said Tuesday.

The problem is not only that the organization can't fund the library-- it shouldn't have to, McFee said. All other Canadians can go to their local, publicly funded library for books, while Canadians with vision loss access library services through a charity, she said.

"It is unacceptable that a country like Canada has a two-tiered system when it comes to accessing books and information. It is an issue of human rights," McFee said.

"Disability should not dictate whether the government supports a person's right to read."

I'm amazed to find out the CNIB isn't funded by the federal government. I agree completely that it should be.

Racy Sex Guides in the Ottawa Library

Courtesy of my course instructor: Ottawa Library Defends Addition of Racy Sex Guides. Go, Barbara Clubb, go! Apparently a couple emailed the library about the books, saying that they were 'pornography veiled as instruction' and 'harmful to children'.

Should kids be reading these books? Well, no. Again, adult supervision is still a good thing in my opinion. A seven year old does not need to see 'colour photos, illustrations and diagrams' of oral sex. Neither does a thirteen year old, honestly, but it's not like they can't look that up on the internet and really I'd rather they get it from legitimate sources that encouraged safe sexual practices. I really wish that sort of thing wasn't of interest to kids beyond the what's-that-curiosity we all had. Seems like kids are getting into sex younger and younger these days, but honestly it's been happening for a long while. I have to wonder if a guide to oral sex would deter a few teenage pregnancies.

Sony Makes an E-Book Reader Available in Canada

Kindle vs. Nook has never really been an issue for me; I couldn't buy either of them anyway. At least Sony has some love for Canadians. Seriously. Large neighbour to your north, and you can't give us some books? There's an Amazon.ca and everything.