Lots o' Links

Links!

Today’s Woman of Library History is Dr. Alma Dawson, one of my favorite professors from LSU's School of Library and Information Science! She is amazing, and deserves all the recognition she could possible get. Related: Project Recovery: LSU Prof. Alma Dawson Tells the Story
Why do people who love libraries love libraries?
Ebooks or Paper Books: Your Best Arguments
How an East Harlem Bookstore is Getting 1,500 Books to Migrant Kids
The New Teachers' Aides: Superman and Iron Man
Book Challenges Suppress Diversity "Diversity is slim throughout all genres of books and across all age groups — except when it comes to book challenges. The message this sends is loud and clear: diversity is actually under attack. Minority perspectives are being silenced every year....Though some might protest a book’s explicit language, the real result is closing off dialogue and preventing readers from experiencing stories and lives outside the mainstream."
Lawrence library reveals new batch of banned books trading cards

Artificial Sweeteners and Diabetes "A new study published in Nature is getting a lot of press, and it seems making a lot of people worried. The Nature News article discussing the study has the headline: Sugar substitutes linked to obesity....It is unclear if these results apply to sucralose or aspartame (and therefore diet soft drinks), and it is further unclear if they apply to humans. Meanwhile, other studies, some of which are massive epidemiological studies, show a clear connection between consuming sugar-sweetened drinks and type II diabetes, and no connection to drinking NAS sweetened drinks. This study should not motivate anyone to abandon their diet drinks for sugar-sweetened drinks, but the way the study is being reported may do just that."
A new front in the Ebola crisis "With the killing of a delegation of health officials, journalists and a pastor by a mob of rural villagers in Guinea, an even more tragic page has turned in the Ebola crisis. The mission of the group was to dispel rumors about the outbreak, but the villagers thought they had come to spread the virus." It's dangerous, though vital, to counter misinformation in a climate of fear.
Ebola patients buying survivors' blood from black market, WHO warns
White House Announces Executive Actions and Commitments from Across the Country to Advance Solar Deployment and Energy Efficiency
Archbishop Desmond Tutu calls for an end to the fossil fuel era

Police Claim Cop Block, Peaceful Streets Project and Activists of America are an Imminent Threat "For opposing corruption and invoking a peaceful ideological revolution, these groups were labeled as ‘encouraging revolution in the US’; Texans for Accountable Government, Cop Block, Cop Watch, Occupy Austin, Oath Keepers, Institute for Justice, and more....The thing these people are coming together for is clearly not some sort of violent revolution ; this is the peaceful, gradual, natural shift of the paradigm towards one of mutual cooperation in society between people for simple prosperity and peace."
Campus Cops vs. University Professors "If the highest-ranking member of the campus police at my university, along with his subordinates, go directly into jackbooted-bully mode to respond to a peaceful (if loud) faculty demonstration, where the participants are mostly white, mostly middle aged, and all professors who are well known on campus and in this community, it troubles me deeply to imagine how our students are treated in incidents that involve interactions with these same police." Related (disturbingly): On Campus, Grenade Launchers, M-16s, and Armored Vehicles

Steampunk Gypsy