This from Chronicle WIRED — "Professors who are stuck teaching summer courses or catching up on research may grimace when they hear how Junichi Semitsu is spending his vacation. The professor of law at the University of San Diego is accompanying the Dixie Chicks on their world tour. And he’s being paid to do it. Mr. Semitsu is the official blogger for the country-music group’s tour, contributing surprisingly frank behind-the-scenes reports on the band’s comings and goings for a Web site hosted by MSN, Microsoft’s online network. How does a law professor score such a coveted gig? …."   See also, J. Freedom du Lac, "CHICKS MAGNET Junichi Semitsu, Never Away From His Posts as Blogger of the Band," Washington Post at C01 (Monday June 19, 2006).

The Chronicle WIRED posts on the latest digitization project from Google — "Google has added a new feature to its ever-expanding universe of search options: Google U.S. Government Search… In early July, the Library of Congress Law Library will begin sending thousands of volumes of U.S. Congressional hearings to Google for digitization. The first shipment will consist of 5,000 volumes, but library officials anticipate that they will send 10,000 volumes a month to the search-engine company…."

I find the food/drink policies linked to in the previous post uniformly tortured and awful.  If you’re going to let food in, let food in.  Don’t make the policy more complex than the average international convention.

Maybe the best (most clear and concise) food policy I have encountered is from the University of Houston Libraries:  "Food and drink may be consumed in most parts of the library – please dispose of your trash properly and in a timely manner. Please alert library staff if food or drink is spilled so that it can be cleaned up immediately…"

• UC Berkeley Law Library – Food Policy
• UCSD Libraries – Food and Drink Policy Tip Sheet
• UNLV Libraries – Food and Drink Guidelines
• Drexel U Libraries – New Food Rules Announcement

And an example of so-called "disruptive foods" – Mr. Peanut.

Smiling makes a difference (and folks can tell a fake one from a real one) —

"As librarians, we need and want to give good customer service. We can do that by paying attention to our customers and learning what they need and want. We can give good customer service by keeping up to date with all of the great new technologies and using the ones that work best for our situation. We can give good customer service by remembering simple things like saying "Hello", “Please” and “Thank you”. And we can give good customer service by giving our customers a genuine smile."  (Our Future Blog)

"A Fresh Look at Public Attitudes About Libraries in the 21st Century" — From Public Agenda:

"In this survey of the public, we find Americans prize public library service and see libraries as potential solutions to many communities’ most pressing problems, from universal access to computers to the need for better options for keeping teens safe and productive. But few Americans are aware of the increasingly tenuous financial picture faced by many libraries. Forty-five percent give an "A" to their local community for maintaining well-run libraries, far ahead of any other community institutions, including schools, parks and police. Those who think public libraries are primarily used by folks who can’t afford bookstores are clearly mistaken — higher-income families are even more likely to use public libraries than low-income families. Prepared with support from the Americans for Libraries Council and funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."

The United States District Court (Middle District of Florida, Orlando Div) orders counsel to "engage in one (1) game of "rock, paper, scissors." The winner shall be entitled to select the location for the 30(b)(6) deposition …" 

Detecting a note of judicial frustration with litigants who can’t agree to anything?  (Hat tip Concurring Opinions)

"It’s time again for all Dewey aficionados to get up at the crack of dawn in New Orleans and join us for the Dewey Breakfast/Update on Saturday, June 24, 7:00–8:30 a.m., in Morial Convention Center, Room 343…"  025.431: The Dewey Blog 

Jim Milles is videocasting at Check this out!

This is justice — "Ryan Pitylak was one of the world’s worst spammers. Twenty-five million messages a day … But he fell foul of the CAN-SPAM act in the States and had to sell his house, car and more to pay his $1 million fine and substantial legal bills…"  [Guardian Unlimited Tech Blog]