I have been playing around with WebTV viewer. This free download allows you to view a site as it would appear to WebTV users. The viewer, however, will not emulate things like JavaScript errors, so it is not a perfect test.

I am surprised how good sites that are styled with CSS look on the WebTV viewer, though I did expect the worst. HmmmÖ time to review the Developing for WebTV guidelines and see whatís new in terms of standards support.

If you think that you donít have to design to WebTV, consider the fact that there are more than one million users logging in with this very affordable receiving device. WebTV and a new generation of Internet appliances may be one way to close the digital divide.

Nicholson Baker is after us again.

His new book, Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, attacks such institutions as British Library for failing to preserve their collections. “Failing to preserve” is probably to light a phrase; he accuses libraries and librarians of destroying the collections that they have been charged to protect.

I have not read all of Double Fold yet. Too far behind on my reading. I did, however, read his July 2000 New Yorker prelude, “Deadline: A Desperate Plea to Stop the Trashing of America’s Historic Newspapers,” and some of his earlier articles on the same topic. He tells a very compelling story.

In attempt to save newspaper collections abandoned by libraries, Baker has used money set aside for his own retirement to set up a nonprofit organization called the American Newspaper Repository, a collection of some 7,000 bound volumes of original American newspapers. The collection is open to researchers, just make an appointment.

Goodies:
The Great Book Massacre, a book review by Robert Darnton from The New York Review of Books.
The New York Times’s David Gates gives us his review, Paper Chase.

Good library stuff:
Librarian.net is a hot site. | Newbreedlibrarian.org makes librarians look good.

More Nicholson Baker fun:
Converted To Keeping Books Intact | I’ve had it with Nicholson Baker

NYPL Librarians stand to receive a 16% salary increase.

I am so glad that waferbaby is not on hiatus while he moves to Melbourne. I am hooked on a few sites, and this is one if them; it would have been a very sad silence.

Here is another good source for library news: http://www.librarystuff.net/. Thanks Steven!

I generally write this log before work. I make a very strong cup of coffee, sit down at my computer, and check my email. It seems that many of my readers are nocturnal; my morning mail is full of goodies like these:

NewPages is a site for independents who like libraries, independent bookstores, publishers, literature, music, and media. A portal that features a review of Baker’s new book and an elegy to Joey Ramone is perfect for a book-loving, NPR-listening girl like me.

The NewPages Weblog is especially delightful. This weekly list is a guide to new books, periodicals, music, reading, and writing. A good many of the entries are about or by librarians. Thank you, Casey.

Equally newsy and geeky is the Hypertext Kitchen. Hats off to the H.L.

Time to rush to the subway. Now I have some good reading for the commute.

Childrenís Internet Protection Act (CIPA) went into effect yesterday. The new US law was passed in December 2000. If the law stands, it will require libraries that receive certain forms of federal funding to install filters on their Internet access computers.

Implementation will be gradual and will depend on the particular form of funding a library receives. Some libraries will not have to begin filtering until July 1, 2001, others July 31, 2002.

The FCC recently published CIPA regulations that detail terms of compliance for schools and libraries.

I was reading Beowulf while I had a pedicure yesterday. Such an odd experience. How often can you get an exfoliating scrub and three scary monsters into one experience?

Did a little back-end tweaking on the application that runs this log. I hope that the site runs more efficiently now. I am sharing this stinkin’ server with 1,000 other sites, however, and that seems to be my real problem. Still looking for a better host.

Sunday’s work was to begin to build a more meaningful index to my logs. I would like to be able to pull all the filtering stuff out. Other topics could stand the same treatment. This should be finished by the end of the week.

The photo top left is my kick-ass momís high school senior photo. She is my #1 reader and was among the first to submit a library story.

The new index that I am creating is forcing me to think about how a log will be categorized before writing it. Many entries have more than one subject, but the index is a very simple one. The rule so far for complex entries is to select the category that applies to the first paragraph in the entry. What to do?

OK, stop right there. I just dedicated a paragraph to indexing woes. Are you still reading? If yes, email me: carrie@roguelibrarian.com.

I sure feel worried about Max and Isabel. It looks like Liz Parker has shut them out for good.

I ran last night, up and down the streets of brownstone Brooklyn, and got home just as the sunlight began to turn orange and red. The whole neighborhood stopped to watch the sunset; the dishwashers from the restaurant across the street came out for a smoke break, and the dry cleaner watched from his shop on the corner.

The light in this borough is extraordinary. It was not until I visited my childhood home last summer and remembered the beautiful quality of that light, that I realized how distinct the light in my new home is.

Michigan light is a drippy, lazy, and honey colored. Brooklyn light is demanding, intense and bold.

Michigan light is like listening to Van Morrison as you drive through the country. Brooklyn light is like listening to Monk while your blade through the park.

I was running up and down the streets of Brooklyn because a friend has convinced me that we should try to run the 2003 NYC marathon. The thought had been bouncing around in the back of my head, and she pushed it forward.

I need a big project.