LTLS - Quick Connections

ALA publication highlights five approaches to upgrading broadband connectivity

The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) today released Making Connections: Lessons from Five Shared Library Networks – profiles of five library networks that have, through varying approaches, successfully upgraded their broadband connectivity.

Providing users with no-fee public access to the Internet is increasingly vital to connecting people with ideas and information – a core mission of libraries. The case studies of these five networks reveal lessons learned that may be instructive for other libraries seeking to establish successful networks. This publication was developed as part of the Opportunity Online Broadband Grant Program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help libraries increase and sustain free, quality public access to computers for their patrons.

Lending Kindles?

Can a library purchase access to a digital e-book and lend it to their patrons?  What if they download it to a reader and then lend the reader (with the e-book pre-loaded) to the patron? ALA TechSource  has twittered that the Brigham Young University Library has temporarily suspended their newly launched Kindle pilot program while the university verifies that Amazon will not oppose the service.   Last month the library began offerng the innovative program to faculty using the Kindle Reader to expand interlibrary loan options. While the library was assured verbally by Amazon that this was within the license terms, the University would like to have this in writing before proceeding with the service.  Here's how it works:  when a BYU faculty member requests an item not owned by the library, but available in the Kindle format, the library purchases the item, downloads it to one of nine Kindle readers owned by the library, and lends the device to the patron.  The outcome will be worth watching to see if innovative projects like this can continue without legal concerns.

Fake "Dirty Bomb Blast" Emails Lead to Virus Infection

Please be on the alert for a new spam attack. Hackers are sending out spam emails posing as breaking news stories about a bomb blast in your city, in the hope that you will follow the link, play a fake video, and infect yourself with a virus.

The emails have subject lines like "Powerful Explosion Burst in [City] This Morning", "Why did it happen in your city?", "Take Care!", "Are you and your friends in good health?", claim that 18 people have been killed in an explosion and link to what appears to be a Reuters-related news website.  If you go to that site, and play what appears to be a Reuters video, you become infected by the virus.  The site looks authentic and has Reuters logos, including a Reuters title logo on the fake video, making this a fairly sophisticated attack.

Particularly dangerous is that the emails are customized by geo-referencing the email address to a location in order to refer to a large city near the recipient.  So people in England may get emails saying the bomb blast was in London, while those in the US may get one mentioning Chicago.