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STAFF Coeditors Cy Dillon Ferrum College Virginia P.O. Box 1000 Ferrum, Virginia 24088 (540) 365-4428 [email protected] Libraries C. A. Gardner Hampton Public Library January/February/March, 2006, Vol. 52, No. 1 4207 Victoria Blvd. Hampton, Virginia 23669 (757) 727-1218 (757) 727-1151 (fax) COLUMNS [email protected] Cy Dillon 2 Openers Ruth Arnold 4 President’s Column Editorial Board Lydia C. Williams Sara B. Bearss, Ed. 38 Virginia Reviews Longwood University Library Farmville, Virginia 23909 (434) 395-2432 [email protected] FEATURES Ed Lener 5 2005 VLA Conference College Librarian for the Sciences Virginia Tech University Libraries Mary Fran Bell-Johnson 27 Quilting the Story: An Interview with P.O. Box 90001 Donald Davis, Master Storyteller Blacksburg, Virginia 24062-9001 (540) 231-9249 Megan Rhyne 30 PRA Workgroups Do the Heavy Lifting: [email protected] Joint Subcommittee Brings the PRA into the Twenty-First Century Karen Dillon Manager, Library Services D. J. Mathews 32 Archive Preserves County’s Unique Carilion Health System Rural Roots P.O. Box 13367 Christine Stinson and 35 Collaborating to Improve CMS-Based Roanoke, Virginia 24033 George Loveland Courses (540) 981-7258 (540) 981-8666 (fax) [email protected] Douglas Perry Director Virginia Libraries is a quarterly journal published by the Virginia Library Association whose pur- Hampton Public Library pose is to develop, promote, and improve library and information services and the profession 4207 Victoria Blvd. of librarianship in order to advance literacy and learning and to ensure access to information in Hampton, Virginia 23669 the Commonwealth of Virginia. (757) 727-1153 (extension 104) The journal, distributed to the membership, is used as a vehicle for members to exchange (757) 727-1151 (fax) information, ideas, and solutions to mutual problems in professional articles on current topics [email protected] in the library and information field. Views expressed in Virginia Libraries are not necessarily endorsed by the editor or editorial board. The Virginia Library Association (VLA) holds the copyright on all articles published in Virginia Editor, Virginia Books Libraries whether the articles appear in print or electronic format. Material may be reproduced Sara B. Bearss for informational, educational, or recreational purposes provided the source of the material Senior Editor, Dictionary of is cited. The print version of Virginia Libraries is designed by Lamp-Post Publicity in Meherrin, Virginia Biography Virginia. The electronic version of Virginia Libraries is created by Virginia Tech’s Digital Library The Library of Virginia and Archives and is available at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib or as a link from the 800 E. Broad Street Virginia Library Association web site at http://www.vla.org. Virginia Libraries is indexed in Library Richmond, VA 23219-8000 Literature, a database produced by the H.W. Wilson Company. [email protected] Items for publication and editorial inquiries should be addressed to the editor. Inquiries regarding membership, subscriptions, advertising, or claims should be directed to VLA, P.O. Box 8277, Norfolk, VA 23503-0277. All personnel happenings and announcements should be sent On the cover: Donald Davis, to the VLA Newsletter, Kevin Tapp, Box 7024 Radford University, Radford, VA 24142, ktapp@ master storyteller. radford.edu. The guidelines for submissions to Virginia Libraries are found on page 3. PAGE 2 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES JANUARY–MARCH, 2005 OPENERS COPA, Cookies, and the Latest Threat to Privacy by Cy Dillon y the time you read this, to minors and the effectiveness necessary bureaucracy introduced both the Virginia legis- of filtering software. Opponents by politicians’ desire for good pub- lature’s latest waltz with of the pornography law contend licity, Virginia libraries will comply Bmandatory Internet filtering and that filtering software could pro- with the law, serve their communi- the Google subpoena case will be tect minors effectively enough to ties, and still do everything pos- over. Nevertheless, they combine make the law unnecessary.” So, are sible to protect First Amendment to prod me into belaboring Virginia librarians wrong to oppose man- rights. Libraries readers with my own opin- dated filtering because it doesn’t In the long run, the more dis- ions on our government, computer work? Is it logical to support both turbing effect of the federal efforts data, and individual privacy. COPA and required filtering? to revive a questionable law may The first thing I want to say is be the further erosion of our pri- that the government has confused vacy as Internet users. As we have me about Internet filters. One of seen from the warrantless eaves- our state legislators, prodded by a As we have seen dropping the federal authorities lobbying organization called Focus from the warrantless have initiated as part of the War on the Family, has drafted legisla- on Terror, Washington is not very tion requiring Internet filtering in eavesdropping …, sensitive about spying on U.S. citi- all public libraries receiving state zens. While the investigators in the funding. They do this, we are told, Washington is not very COPA case assured New York Times to protect children from Internet sensitive about spying reporters that no personal informa- pornography because filters work. tion is being sought, Hafner quotes We librarians have tried to explain on U.S. citizens. a Google spokesperson as saying, the faults of filtering and the fool- “‘Google’s acceding to the request ishness of relying on it rather than would suggest that it is willing to supervision and education for those Regardless of the complexity of reveal information about those young people we want to protect. the issue from a librarian’s point who use its services,’ it said in an That stance has been viewed as of view, the filtering debate offers October letter to the Justice De- obstructionist rhetoric by filtering lawmakers the chance to appear to partment. ‘This is not a perception advocates. Now, because the De- be the defenders of family values; Google can accept. And one can partment of Justice has appealed a thus, library policies may well be envision scenarios where queries federal court ruling that the Child made at the state or federal level in alone could reveal identifying in- Online Protection Act of 1998 is the future. There is a certain irony formation about a specific Google unconstitutional, the federal au- in the fact that some of the legisla- user, which is another outcome thorities have subpoenaed search tors most likely to denounce “big that Google cannot accept.’” Is it data from several of the largest In- government” are the first on the too unrealistic to suggest that high ternet search engines to prove that bandwagon of government regula- school English teachers might one filtering does not, after all, work tion of material available to library day be afraid to look up Of Human to block pornography. According patrons. Politics really does make Bondage in a search engine? After to an article by Katie Hafner in strange bedfellows, though refer- all, the FBI might decide that the the January 20th New York Times, ences to that old saw will probably war on porn needs to track down search engine data “would help be filtered out for Virginia’s library BSDM enthusiasts. estimate the prevalence of mate- patrons. Nevertheless, we can be If this possibility concerns you, rial that could be deemed harmful confident that, in spite of the un- Wired.com suggests “cookie man- JANUARY–MARCH, 2005 VIRGINIA LIBRARIES PAGE 3 VLA Paraprofessional Forum 14th Annual Conference Bridging the Information Gap: Preserving Yesterday’s Lessons, Anticipating Tomorrow’s Demands agement.” According to their Janu- ary 20 issue of Wired News, “Those who want to avoid a permanent Sunday, May 21, 2006 – Tuesday, May 23, 2006 record should delete their cookies Holiday Inn Select/Koger South Conference Center at least once a week. Other op- Richmond, Virginia tions might be to obliterate certain cookies when a browser is closed and avoid logging in to other ser- vices, such as web mail, offered by a search engine.” Cookies are, of course, bits of computer code that a Guidelines for Submissions to Virginia Libraries site puts on your machine to track 1 seeks to publish articles and reviews of interest your use of that site. Virginia Libraries to the library community in Virginia. Articles reporting research, Privacy advocates are also con- library programs and events, and opinion pieces are all considered cerned by Google’s involvement for publication. Queries are encouraged. Brief announcements and because it is a major provider of press releases should be directed to the VLA Newsletter. free email accounts for Internet users. The email correspondence 2. While email submissions are preferred (in the body of the message, would obviously be a vast trove of or as rich text attachments), manuscripts may be submitted as rich personal information with great text files on 3.5-inch computer disks. VLA holds the copyright on all appeal to witch hunters of various articles published in Virginia Libraries. Unpublished articles will be returned within one year. persuasions. If your privacy and that of your library patrons con- 3. Illustrations, particularly monochrome images and drawings, are cerns you, follow this story. This is encouraged and should be submitted whenever appropriate to by no means the last we will hear accompany a manuscript. Illustrations will be returned if requested of government attempts to inter- in advance. cept and screen private, domestic communication. 4. The names, titles, affiliations, addresses, and email addresses of all authors should be included with each submission. Including this All this reminds me: Is your information constitutes agreement by the author(s) to have this library’s integrated system set to information appear with the article and to be contacted by readers retain as little personal informa- of Virginia Libraries.