Art Garfunkel's Favorite Books

[Thanks to Anonymous for this post]

Since the 1960's, Art Garfunkel has been a voracious reader. Since 1968, Mr. Garfunkel has been keeping a list of every book he has read.(Index of Books). We also present the following list of books which have been designated by Mr. Garfunkel as his favorites. The books are indexed here in the order in which they were read.

1.	Jun 1968	Jean-Jacques Rousseau	The Confessions	1781	606 pp.
2.	Jun 1968	Erich Fromm	The Art of Loving	1956	146 pp.
3.	Oct 1968	P.D. Ouspensky	In Search of the Miraculous	1949	389 pp.
4.	Feb 1969	L.N. Tolstoy	War and Peace	1869	1444 pp.
5.	May 1969	Philip Roth	Portnoy's Complaint	1969	274 pp.
6.	Sep 1969	Emily Brontë	Wuthering Heights	1847	320 pp.
7.	Jan 1970	Johann Wolfgang Goethe	The Sorrows of Young Werther	1774	199 pp.
8.	Mar 1970	Garrett Mattingly	The Armada	1959	402 pp.
9.	Mar 1971	Bill Moyers	Listening to America	1971	342 pp.
10.	Jul 1971	Charlotte Brontë	Jane Eyre	1947	477 pp.
11.	Jan 1972	L. N. Tolstoy	Anna Karenina	1873	852 pp.
12.	Mar 1972	Albert Schweitzer	J.S. Bach, Vol. 1	1911	428 pp.
13.	Oct 1973	Jane Austen	Pride and Prejudice	1797	430 pp.
14.	Oct 1974	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle	The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	1892	248 pp.
15.	Feb 1975	Robert A. Caro	The Power Broker	1974	1162 pp.
16.	Jun 1975	Henry James	Portrait of a Lady	1881	545 pp.
17.	Dec 1976	John S. Shelton	Geology Illustrated	1966	424 pp.
18.	Jan 1977	Saul Bellow	Humboldt's Gift	1973	472 pp.
19.	May 1977	C.G. Jung	Modern Man in Search of a Soul	1933	244 pp.
20.	May 1977	Charles Chaplin	My Autobiography	1964	497 pp.
21.	Sep 1977	Stephen King	The Shining	1977	447 pp.
22.	Jul 1977	Bulfinch	Mythology	1855	236 pp.
23.	Apr 1978	Charles Darwin	The Origin of Species	1859	460 pp.
24.	Apr 1978	Robert M. Persig	Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance	1974	406 pp.
25.	May 1978	Erik Erikson	Childhood and Society	1950	424 pp.
26.	May 1978	Marcel Proust	Swann's Way	1928	325 pp.
27.	Jul 1978	Plato	The Last Days of Socrates Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo	390 b.c.	199 pp.
28.	Aug 1978	Fydor Dostoevsky	The Idiot		642 pp.
29.	Sep 1978	Robertson Davies	Fifth Business	1970	268 pp.
30.	Dec 1978	Jack Kerouac	On the Road	1955	310 pp.
31.	Aug 1979	Jean Rhys	Good Morning, Midnight	1974	190 pp.
32.	Sep 1979	Richard Price	Ladies' Man	1978	264 pp.
33.	Sep 1979	Jean Rhys	Voyage in the Dark	1934	159 pp.
34.	Nov 1979	Thomas Hardy	Jude the Obscure	1896	164 pp.
35.	De 1979	Jonathan Swift	Gulliver's Travels	1726	360 pp.
36.	Jan. 1980	Isaac Bashevis Singer	The Slave	1962	287 pp.
37.	Sep 1980	Jean Dorst	The Life of Birds, vol. 1	1971	341 pp.
38.	Sep 1980	Marcel Proust	Within a Budding Grove	1920	386 pp.
39.	Feb 1981	Edward Gibbon	The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged)	1787	713 pp.
40.	Feb 1981	J. P. Donleavy	The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman	1977	402 pp.
41.	Mar 1981	James Joyce	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	1916	253 pp.
42.	Jun 1981	Gary Zukav	The Dancing Wu Li Masters	1979	332 pp.
43.	Jul 1981	David Halberstam	The Powers That Be	1979	1027 pp.
44.	Oct 1981	Saint Augustine	Confessions	398 a.d.	347 pp.
45.	Jan 1982	Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra	Don Quixote	1604	940 pp.
46.	Jan 1982	Virginia Woolf	A Room of One's Own	1929	118 pp.
47.	Feb 1982	Baldesar Castiglione	The Book of the Courtier	1518	345 pp.
48.	Mar 1982	D.M. Thomas	The White Hotel	1981	240 pp.
49.	Apr 1982	Leon Edel	Henry James - The Middle Years: 1882--1895	1962	389 pp.
50.	Jun 1982	Johan Huizinga	The Waning of the Middle Ages	1919	335 pp.
51.	Jun 1982	Honoré de Balzac	The Black Sheep	1842	339 pp.
52.	Oct 1982	Robert G. Weisbord	Ebony Kinship	1973	220 pp.
53.	Feb 1983	William James	The Varieties of Religious Experience	1902	500 pp.
54.	Mar 1983	Thornton Wilder	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	1927	124 pp.
55.	Jun 1983	Emil Ludwig	Napoleon	1926	682 pp.
56.	Aug 1983	Henry David Thoreau	Walden	1854	247 pp.
57.	Aug 1983	Peter Gay	The Enlightenment (The Rise of Modern Paganism)	1966	419 pp.
58.	Sep 1983	W. Somerset Maugham	The Razor's Edge	1944	314 pp.
59.	Sep 1983	Vladimir Nabokov	Lectures on Literature	1980	382 pp.
60.	Jan. 1984	James Joyce	Ulysses	1921	783 pp.
61.	Mar 1984	J.D. Salinger	Nine Stories	1953	198 pp.
62.	Ap. 1984	Thomas Mann	The Confessions of Felix Krull Confidence Man (The Early Years)	1955	378 pp.
63.	May 1984	L.N. Tolstoy	What is Art?	1896	191 pp.
64.	Oct 1984	Iris Murdoch	A Severed Head	1961	205 pp.
65.	Jan 1985	William M. Thackeray	Vanity Fair	1847	636 pp.
66.	Feb 1985	Thornton Wilder	The Ides of March	1948	204 pp.
67.	Mar 1985	Constantin Stanislavski	An Actor Prepares	1936	295 pp.
68.	May 1985	Harriet Beecher Stowe	Uncle Tom's Cabin	1852	590 pp.
69.	Jun 1985	Lucretius	On the Nature of the Universe	c. 54 bc.	256 pp.
70.	Jul 1985	Marcel Proust	The Guermantes Way	1925	425 pp.
71.	Aug 1985	Lao Tsu	Tao Te Ching	6 Cent. bc.	81 pp.
72.	Sep 1985	L.N. Tolstoy	Confession	1879	93 pp.
73.	Oct 1985	Richard Ellmann	James Joyce	1959	744 pp.
74.	Oct 1985	Herodotus	The Histories	446 bc.	624 pp.
75.	Nov 1985	Edith Wharton	The House of Mirth	1905	329 pp.
76.	Jan 1986	Virgil	The Aeneid	30-19bc.	336 pp.
77.	Ap. 1986	Julian Jaynes	The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind	1976	446 pp.
78.	Sep 1986	William Kennedy	Ironweed	1983	227 pp.
79.	Nov 1986	Vladimir Nabokov	The Enchanter	1939	95 pp.
80.	Dec 1986	Harold C. Schonberg	The Lives of the Great Composers	1970	627 pp.
81.	Dec 1986	David A. Stockman	The Triumph of Politics	1986	411 pp.
82.	Jan 1987	Thomas Hobbes	Leviathan	1651	729 pp.
83.	May 1987	Carrie Fisher	Postcards from the Edge	1987	218 pp.
84.	Jun 1987	Marcel Proust	Cities of the Plain	1913	378 pp.
85.	Oct 1987	Rudyard Kipling	Just So Stories	1902	158 pp.
86.	Oct 1987	Peter Ladefoged	Elements of Acoustic Phonetics	1962	108 pp.
87.	Nov 1987	Mark Twain	Life on the Mississippi	1882	352 pp.
88.	Feb 1988	Fyodor Dostoevsky	Notes from the Underground	1864	158 pp.
89.	Apr 1988	George Eliot	Middlemarch	1872	908 pp.
90.	Jun 1988	Francis Parkman	The Oregon Trail	1849	286 pp.
91.	Jan 1989	Charles Dickens	Bleak House	1853	975 pp.
92.	Mar 1989	E.L. Doctorrow	Billy Bathgate	1989	323 pp.
93.	Jul 1989	Brenda Maddox	Nora - The Real Life of Molly Bloom	1988	381 pp.
94.	Aug 1989	Sanche de Gramont	Epitaph for Kings	1969	428 pp.
95.	Oct 1989	Sigmund Freud	Civilization and Its Discontents	1930	104 pp.
96.	Jul 1990	Mark Twain	Innocents Abroad	1867	492 pp.
97.	Jul 1990	Sylvia Plath	The Bell Jar	1963	216 pp.
98.	Nov 1990	Thomas Mann	The Magic Mountain	1927	716 pp.
99.	Nov 1990	Fredric Dannen	Hit Men	1990	327 pp.
100.	Feb 1991	Will and Ariel Durant	The Story of Civilization VIII: The Age of Louis XIV	1963	74 pp.
101.	Mar 1991	Thomas L. Friedman	From Beirut to Jerusalem	1989	525 pp.
102.	Apr 1991	Marcus Aurelius	The Meditations	177 ad.	129 pp.
103.	May 1991	Marcel Proust	The Captive	1921	289 pp.
104.	Au. 1991	Oscar Hijuelos	The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love	1989	407 pp.
105.	Nov 1991	John Updike	Rabbit, Run	1960	249 pp.
106.	Nov 1991	William Styron	The Confessions of Nat Turner	1966	429 pp.
107.	Jan 1992	H.G. Wells	A Short History of the World	1922	357 pp.
108.	Feb 1992	Swami Prabhavananda	The Sermon on the Mount according to Vendanta	1963	126 pp.
109.	Apr 1992	Nathaniel Hawthorne	The House of Seven Gables	1851	245 pp.
110.	Dec 1992	Camille Paglia	Sex, Art and American Culture	1992	287 pp.
111.	Fe. 1993	Hermann Hesse	Demian	1919	179 pp.
112.	May 1994	Franz Kafka	The Trial	1920	256 pp.
113.	May 1994	Daneil Defoe	A Journal of the Plague Year	1725	256 pp.
114.	May 1994	Jean Rhys	After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie	1931	191 pp.
115.	Aug 1994	Henry Kissinger	Diplomacy	1994	835 pp.
116.	Dec 1994	Gustav Janouch	Conversations with Kafka	1923	201 pp.
117.	Jan 1995	Samuel Butler	The Way of All Flesh	1903	444 pp.
118.	Apr 1995	Stendahl	The Red and the Black	1830	574 pp.
119.	Mar 1996	Robert D. Kaplan	Balkan Ghosts	1993	300 pp.
120	Ma. 1996	Gustave Flaubert	Flaubert in Egypt	1850	222 pp.
121.	Jun 1997	Charles and Mary Lamb	Tales from Shakespeare	1807	313 pp.
122.	Oct 1997	Keith B. Richburg	Out of America	1997	254 pp.
123.	Dec 1997	David Denby	Great Books	1996	463 pp.
124.	May 1998	Patrick Süskind	Perfume	1985	263 pp.
125.	Au. 1998	Ralph Ellison	Invisible Man	1952	469 pp.
126.	Nov 1998	D.H. Lawrence	Sons and Lovers	1913	484 pp.
127.	Feb 1999	Arthur Golden	Memoirs of a Geisha	1997	428 pp.
128.	Apr 1999	Russell Banks	Cloudsplitter	1998	758 pp.
129.	Oct 1999	Dan Kindlon, Michael Thompson	Raising Cain	1999	267 pp.
130.	May 2000	Zora Neale Hurston	Their Eyes Were Watching God	1937
131.	Aug 2000	Jacques Barzun	From Dawn to Decadence	2000
132.	Nov 2000	Jakob Walter	The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier	1830
133.	Mar 2002	Elizabeth Gaskell	Wives and Daughters	1866
134.	Dec 2002	Harold Nicolson	Good Behavior	1955	285 pp.
135.	Feb 2003	Charles Bukowski	Post Office	1971	196 pp.

100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites You’ve Never Heard Of

By Laura Milligan

Beyond Google, Wikipedia and other generic reference sites, the Internet boasts a multitude of search engines, dictionaries, reference desks and databases that have organized and archived information for quick and easy searches. In this list, we’ve compiled just 100 of our favorites, for teachers, students, hypochondriacs, procrastinators, bookworms, sports nuts and more.

Dictionaries and More

When you need a quick definition or want more specialized results that display synonyms, rhyming words and slang, turn to this list.

1. OneLook: This no-frills online dictionary lets you look up basic definitions, related words, phrases and more. You can even customize your experience with different searches.
2. RhymeZone: Type in a word to find rhyming words, synonyms, definitions, Shakespeare references and more.
3. Strange and Unusual References: Head to this site to look up all-vowel words, magic words, magic archetypes, how to identify unicorns and other odd material.
4. freedict.com: This online translator can find words in Dutch, Afrikaans, Russian, Portugese, Swedish, Japanese, Hungarian and more.
5. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Search through topics like technology, American history, literature in English, proverbs and more to become a more "active citizen in our multicultural democracy."
6. Word Spy: Search for a specific word to bring up funny quotations and a definition, or you can browse categories and sub categories like aging and death, hacking and hackers, entrepreneurs, jargon and buzzwords, art and design, drugs, euphemisms, sleeping or cell phones.
7. Slang Site: Look up Web words, slang and even made up but often used words here.
8. Behind the Names: Find out the history of your name or search names by categories like English, Spanish, mythology, Biblical names, African and more.
9. Directory of Occupational Titles: If you’ve ever wanted to know the official name of your job, look it up here.
10. Glossary of Real Estate Abbreviations, Terms and Phrases: Get through your next home signing by doing some extra research on this site.

Teacher References

Teacher guides like these will help you double-check facts, look for relevant quotes and get ideas for lesson plans.

11. Twain Quotations A to Z: Inspire (or confuse) your students by throwing out a Mark Twain quote every once in a while. You can search by subject matter.
12. Math Glossary: Look up words and concepts like abacus, Thales’ theorem, obtuse triangle and a lot more in this special site.
13. Biology Website References for Students and Teachers: Learn about evolution, cell chemistry, anatomy and genetics from this list of reference sites.
14. Children’s Literature Web Guide: Look for award-winning children’s books, readers’ theatre sites, stories published online and more on this site.
15. Charles Dickens Gad’s Hill Place: Use this quote page to search by topic, title, or phrase, or pull from The Daily Dose of Dickens book.
16. Encyclopedia Mythica: Search for text, quotes and history of mythology, folklore and religon. Categories include Greek people, Celtic mythology and Roman mythology.
17. American Memory: The Library of Congress’ American culture and history reference site features topics like environment and conservation, immigration, women’s history, Presidents, religion, maps, literature, African American history and others.
18. ASL Browser: Look up American Sign Language signs here.
19. Ditto: Search the web for all kinds of beautiful images on this site.
20. Learning and Performance Glossary: From accelerated learning to guidance package to meta skills, this glossary is full of education terms for teachers.

Librarian References

Librarians will benefit from these great reference sites, some of which were designed just for or by librarians.

21. A Glossary of the Humanities: Click on a letter to look up words, phrases and concepts that use references from Foucault, Burke, Frye and others as definitions.
22. Library of Congress Online Catalogs: We’re pretty sure most librarians have heard of this site, but it’s seriously one of the best reference sites on the Web.
23. Historical Text Archives: This site boasts nearly 687 articles and 70 books about history, especially American history.
24. KidsClick!: This educational search engine was created by librarians and is organized by topics like society and government, machines and transportation, health and family, facts and reference, and a lot more.
25. Library Spot: This great reference site has links to encyclopedias, Top 10 lists, business references, public libraries and a LOT more.

Just for Fun

Search for unique profanity, sex terms and ridiculously long words here.

26. The Dialectizer: Paste a URL into the box and select a dialect like Redneck, Cockney or Elmer Fudd to have the whole site translated.
27. The Devil’s Dictionary: This adapted version of Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary contains words like brute, gallows, damn, wrath, and X.
28. Sexual Dictionary: Look up quotes for "doin’ the wild thing" here, as well as other slang terms for sex.
29. Grandiloquent Dictionary: Impress your friends by using huge words you found here.
30. Roger’s Profanisaurus: Have fun looking up profane words at "the ultimate swearing dictionary."

Health Care

Instead of Googling your symptoms, use these authoritative reference sites to get drug information, find a hospital and research a disease or condition.

31. Medline Plus: Look up anything to do with health care on this site from, prescription drugs to local resources to symptoms and diseases.
32. RxList: RxList is "the Internet drug index," and you search by prescriptions dispensed, names searched or just by letter.
33. Google Directory - Health and Medicine: Categories and individual web pages are listed on this Google reference site. Browse topics like health news, history of medicine, medical dictionaries or patient education.
34. Patient Care: Columbia University Medical Center lists a number of patient resources, including tools for finding a doctor, dentist and hospital.
35. MediLexicon: At MediLexicon, you can use the medical dictionary search, hospital search, medical abbreviations search or read all the latest medical news.
36. InteliHealth: This reference site has an Ask the Expert section, as well as a database full of information for diseases and conditions, from asthma to digestive issues to weight management to STDs.
37. Healthfinder: This government site features a Drug Interaction Checker, a Health Library and consumer guides.
38. The Merck Manual: Search this online medical library for diseases and conditions and drug products.
39. Bristol Biomedical Image Archive: Browse thousands of biomedical images on this site.
40. Online Medical Dictionary: This simple search tool lets you browse by letter or subject area.

References for Students

From homework help to art definitions to almanacs, students of all ages will find reference material here.

41. Online Music Theory Helper: Order flash cards or look up different theory lessons on this site.
42. ArtLex: Browse this art terms dictionary for historical context information, definitions and more.
43. The Works of the Bard: Use the Shakespeare search engine or browse plays by category to get references and text of Shakespeare’s works.
44. Factmonster Reference Desk: Here, you’ll find an almanac, homework center, atlas, dictionary and encyclopedia for younger students.
45. Little Explorers Picture Dictionary: Students learning to read will find pictures to go along with their definition results.
46. Distance Education Glossary: If you’ve recently enrolled in a distance ed course or program, use this glossary to help you navigate your new education portal.
47. HyperHistory Online: There are over 2,000 files on this site, on all kinds of world history topics like politics, religion, culture, science and special events.
48. Style Guides and Resources: This reference list will help you out when you need to write a paper using APA, MLA, and other special citation systems.
49. Statistical Resources on the Web: Find updated statistics on everything from agriculture to business to labor to housing to the military.
50. RefDesk: Check your facts quickly and easily at the RefDesk, which features a site of the day, thought of the day, and plenty of multi-search tools.

Niche Sites

When you need to look up highly specialized materials and facts, look to these niche sites for help with online conversions, transportation and military acronyms, legal help and more.

51. Dictionary of Metal Terminology: Search online or order the hard copy version to find metal-related words.
52. Online Conversion: Convert "just about anything" on this site, which understands over 5,000 different units for date, time, density, energy, acceleration, angles and a lot more.
53. Transportation and Logistics Acronyms: Find acronyms for the U.S. government and military, supply chain systems, transportation, trucking, freight and more.
54. Harry Potter Glossary: If you’re behind in your Harry Potter reading, use this extensive glossary to help you sort out all of the characters and unique vocabulary.
55. Videoconferencing Glossary: Even non-techies can understand the fundamentals of videoconferencing thanks to this website, which lists definitions for words like analog signals, camera presets, bps, continuos presence and others.
56. Everybody’s Legal Glossary: Nolo’s legal glossary is designed for everyday people who need help understanding traffic tickets, real estate forms, and "hundreds of legal terms, from the common to the bizarre."
57. All About Jewels: Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry: Find a picture of each gem or jewelry and learn about its minerals, fashion history, gravity and colors.
58. Dictionary of English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions: ESL students and curious native speakers can search this dictionary to find idioms like "part and parcel," or "gnaw your vitals."
59. WestNet IT Glossary: Search results for IT words bring up definitions, a list of related words, animations and graphics.
60. Travel Industry Dictionary: Look up words and acronyms like gay friendly, day rate, WAPTT, recall commission statement and more on this site.

Search Engines

Search engines are unique Internet reference guides. Read this list to find lots of search engines besides Google.

61. Giga Blast: Giga Blast is still in beta form, but you can search websites, images and video.
62. MsFreckles.com: Cute little Ms. Freckles gives you all the tools to conduct a meta search here.
63. Kart00: Here, you have the option of only searching English pages or the entire web.
64. Gimpsy: Gimspy specializes in "active sites for active people." You can search by verb or action, by filling in the sentence "I want to…"
65. CustomSearchEngine.com: This site is a link directory for Google’s custom search engine.
66. Rollyo: This highly customizable search engine lets you enter a keyword or phrase and then select specific categories to search, like travel and hotels, health, celebrity gossip and more.
67. Ms. Dewey: Your off-the-wall host Ms. Dewey flirts, sings and offers silly trivia or analysis while you search.
68. Ulyssek Search Engine: You can view your results organized into categories on this site.
69. Cha Cha: This creative search engine makes you feel like you’re sending a text from your cell phone when you search.
70. FactBites: FactBites is "where results make sense" and is touted as a search engine crossed with an encyclopedia.

Open Source Sites

For open source materials that also serve as reference guides, use this list.

71. DataParkSearch Engine: Use this open source search engine to find multilingual sites, pull up "fuzzy searching based on acronyms and abbreviations" and find text files, mp3s and .gif files.
72. Wiktionary: Wikipedia’s free dictionary is a collaborative, multilingual resource.
73. Open Library: This user-generated book catalog has over 13 million books in its library.
74. dmoz: dmoz is an open directory project, where you can search for or edit topics and results for kids and teens, reference materials, business, health, arts and more.

Internet and Computer Reference

Non-techies and experienced web workers may want to brush up on Internet and computer terms by searching these sites and glossaries.

75. CNET Glossary: Use this glossary to look up network terms.
76. Glossary of Internet Terms: From ADN to Meta Tag to SDSL to cgi-bin, find definitions of Internet terms here.
77. Chat Stuff: This short dictionary has translations for popular chat acronyms like AFK, BAK, and BCNU.
78. McAfee Virus Glossary: Learn about online threats and computer security by browsing this authoritative glossary.
79. Tech Encyclopedia: Look up a specific word or click to get a random definition each day.
80. What Is? IT Dictionary: Browse categories like personal computing, call centers, cheat sheets, authentication, network hardware, compliance, Linux, storage management, Telecom, robotics and a whole lot more for tech definitions.

Consumer Research and Public Information

Use this list to find customer reviews, a currency converter, small business directories and more.

81. USA.gov: Search all kinds of government information here, from public safety to jobs and education to taxes to voting.
82. Pricewatch: Look up low prices on computer hardware, electronics and other gadgets here.
83. Small Business Big World: This is the "almost free" site for finding local and international small businesses.
84. Kelly Blue Book: Here you’ll find all kinds of consumer information about new and used cars.
85. XE Currency Converter: Transfer euros, USD, Canadian Dollars, UK pounds, Algerian dinars, Chinese yuan and any other currency here.
86. Hoovers: Hoover’s is "your one-stop reference for business information," and you’ll find industry overviews, business reports, and a lot more.
87. ZoomInfo: Research an industry or company by using this business search engine.
88. Stock Market Yellow Pages: Search for stocks on this search engine, which pulls results from Forbes, Yahoo!, Wall Street City and other sites.
89. SeatGuru: View layouts of airplanes so that you can easily pick your seats on your next trip.
90. Zillow: Find homes, get mortgage information and search loans on Zillow.

News and Pop Culture

Discover pop culture references, a sports almanac, new literature guides and more in this list.

91. Who’s Alive and Who’s Dead: Keep track of which famous musicians, performers, actors, athletes and political figures are alive and which ones are dead.
92. AllMusic.com: Search by genre like rock, jazz, pop, world, rap or blues.
93. Dictionary of Pop Culture References: From A to Z, you can find words, phrases and characters from pop culture.
94. Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Browse topics like Japanese art, astronomy, horticulture, popular entertainment, domestic life, conservation and more on this authority site.
95. Science.gov Energy and Energy Conservation: Find new and archived articles about energy conservation here.
96. Internet Broadway Database: Look up directors, actors and more for all Broadway shows here.
97. Grove Music Online: This site is "the world’s premier authority on all aspects of music."
98. bibliomania: Over 2,000 classic texts can be found on this site, as well as reference books, study guides and links to buy books.
99. Sports Almanac: From the Olympics to hockey, you can find everything there is to know about sports history and players on this site.
100. Newsknife: This reference site ranks the top news sites by each particular story, by month, homepage resources and other categories.

The future of libraries - No MLS Needed?

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 09:32 — Blake

Christopher Kiess takes a look at the future of libraries in this original essay.

The future of libraries – it’s a topic at many conferences and one that always seems to generate conversation and debate. It’s not a new topic. But given the changing nature of information, it is worthy of exploration. Recently, I entertained a discussion amongst librarians on the Web4Lib listserv. And as usual, there were the familiar cries of dissent from both the proponents and opponents of change. However, most of the arguments did little to address the primary question I posed – can we save ourselves?

I can hear the rumbling in the crowd already and am sure to have my head on a pike by noon at the hands of a mob of librarians. But, I think we are obligated to closely examine our profession as it is defined and consider how we might meet the demands of the future through changing our skill set. Rather than simply defending what we do or what we claim to do, why not examine our educational programs as well as the major trends in our field?

Note: I m careful to delineate between the library as a physical place and the librarian. We often do not make that distinction in this argument. The library is becoming less and less of an entity requiring an MLS degreed person to manage it. As cataloging becomes outsourced, clerks become prevalent and we see a variety of other disciplines working in a library, the MLS becomes devalued. I had a respected colleague suggest to me not too long ago that a public library requires an MBA more than an MLS. I would agree.

What is at issue here is the skill set of the librarian and that is a central factor in whether we can save our profession. For example, a large percentage of circulation in a public library is popular fiction and Digital Video Disks. Bookstores and video stores provide a similar function and do not require their clerks to have an MLS. The only difference is in one scenario you pay outright for using the materials.
In order for any profession to remain a profession there must be at the very least a perception that
the profession possesses a skill set that cannot be duplicated (at a cheaper rate), replaced or outsourced. For librarians, this skill set is the organization, representation and retrieval of knowledge and information.
Knowledge and information are always changing, but probably have not changed as much as they have in recent years since the invention of the book or possibly the printing press. Our skills have moved from
information retrieval in a physical space to information retrieval in a virtual space. To adapt those skills further would require us to begin organizing and representing information in an electronic environment in the same manner as we do in a physical space – a virtual library, if you will. There are those who will cry out, “isn’t this being done?” Yes and those who participate in the effort do not largely refer to themselves as librarians. They call themselves information professionals, information architects, knowledge specialists, etc.

Will there still be librarians in the future? Probably, but they may not need an MLS. There will always
be a need for people to find information and for someone to aid them in doing that. But this will take place in electronic environments. We are aiding in that effort now. But, we only aid in a portion of the effort. In most instances we do not organize or manage that same information. Those jobs were list to those with greater technical skills or the willingness to adapt.
Information was always our tool – like a brush to a painter. The tool has changed and we must adapt to that change if we are to survive. And, adapting means making ourselves once again indispensable purveyors of information, not reshelving books or handing out DVDs.

Christopher Kiess can be reached at clkiess at the gmail.com domain

'Public' online spaces don't carry speech, rights

by ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer Sun Jul 6, 2:17 PM ET

NEW YORK - Rant all you want in a public park. A police officer generally won't eject you for your remarks alone, however unpopular or provocative.

Say it on the Internet, and you'll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed.

Companies in charge of seemingly public spaces online wipe out content that's controversial but otherwise legal. Service providers write their own rules for users worldwide and set foreign policy when they cooperate with regimes like China. They serve as prosecutor, judge and jury in handling disputes behind closed doors.

The governmental role that companies play online is taking on greater importance as their services — from online hangouts to virtual repositories of photos and video — become more central to public discourse around the world. It's a fallout of the Internet's market-driven growth, but possible remedies, including government regulation, can be worse than the symptoms.

Dutch photographer Maarten Dors met the limits of free speech at Yahoo Inc.'s photo-sharing service, Flickr, when he posted an image of an early-adolescent boy with disheveled hair and a ragged T-shirt, staring blankly with a lit cigarette in his mouth.

Without prior notice, Yahoo deleted the photo on grounds it violated an unwritten ban on depicting children smoking. Dors eventually convinced a Yahoo manager that — far from promoting smoking — the photo had value as a statement on poverty and street life in Romania. Yet another employee deleted it again a few months later.

"I never thought of it as a photo of a smoking kid," Dors said. "It was just of a kid in Romania and how his life is. You can never make a serious documentary if you always have to think about what Flickr will delete."

There may be legitimate reasons to take action, such as to stop spam, security threats, copyright infringement and child pornography, but many cases aren't clear-cut, and balancing competing needs can get thorny.

"We often get caught in the middle between a rock and a hard place," said Christine Jones, general counsel with service provider GoDaddy.com Inc. "We're obviously sensitive to the freedoms we have, particularly in this country, to speak our mind, (yet) we want to be good corporate citizens and make the Internet a better and safer place."

In Dors' case, the law is fully with Yahoo. Its terms of service, similar to those of other service providers, gives Yahoo "sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse or remove any content." Service providers aren't required to police content, but they aren't prohibited from doing so.

While mindful of free speech and other rights, Yahoo and other companies say they must craft and enforce guidelines that go beyond legal requirements to protect their brands and foster safe, enjoyable communities — ones where minors may be roaming.

Guidelines help "engender a positive community experience," one to which users will want to return, said Anne Toth, Yahoo's vice president for policy.

Dors ultimately got his photo restored a second time, and Yahoo has apologized, acknowledging its community managers went too far.

Heather Champ, community director for Flickr, said the company crafts policies based on feedback from users and trains employees to weigh disputes fairly and consistently, though mistakes can happen.

"We're humans," she said. "We're pretty transparent when we make mistakes. We have a record of being good about stepping up and fessing up."

But that underscores another consequence of having online commons controlled by private corporations. Rules aren't always clear, enforcement is inconsistent, and users can find content removed or accounts terminated without a hearing. Appeals are solely at the service provider's discretion.

Users get caught in the crossfire as hundreds of individual service representatives apply their own interpretations of corporate policies, sometimes imposing personal agendas or misreading guidelines.

To wit: Verizon Wireless barred an abortion-rights group from obtaining a "short code" for conducting text-messaging campaigns, while LiveJournal suspended legitimate blogs on fiction and crime victims in a crackdown on pedophilia. Two lines criticizing President Bush disappeared from AT&T Inc.'s webcast of a Pearl Jam concert. All three decisions were reversed only after senior executives intervened amid complaints.

Inconsistencies and mysteries behind decisions lead to perceptions that content is being stricken merely for being unpopular.

"As we move more of our communications into social networks, how are we limiting ourselves if we can't see alternative points of view, if we can't see the things that offend us?" asked Fred Stutzman, a University of North Carolina researcher who tracks online communities.

First Amendment protections generally do not extend to private property in the physical world, allowing a shopping mall to legally kick out a customer wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a smoking child.

With online services becoming greater conduits than shopping malls for public communications, however, some advocacy groups believe the federal government needs to guarantee open access to speech. That, of course, could also invite meddling by the government, the way broadcasters now face indecency and other restrictions that are criticized as vague.

Others believe companies shouldn't police content at all, and if they do, they should at least make clearer the rules and the mechanisms for appeal.

"Vagueness does not inspire the confidence of people and leaves room for gaming the system by outside groups," said Lauren Weinstein, a veteran computer scientist and Internet activist. "When the rules are clear and the grievance procedures are clear, then people know what they are working with and they at least have a starting point in urging changes in those rules."

But Marjorie Heins, director of the Free Expression Policy Project, questions whether the private sector is equipped to handle such matters at all. She said written rules mean little when service representatives applying them "tend to be tone-deaf. They don't see context."

At least when a court order or other governmental action is involved, "there's more of a guarantee of due process protections," said Robin Gross, executive director of the civil-liberties group IP Justice. With a private company, users' rights are limited to the service provider's contractual terms of services.

Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard professor who recently published a book on threats to the Internet's openness, said parties unhappy with sensitive materials online are increasingly aware they can simply pressure service providers and other intermediaries.

"Going after individuals can be difficult. They can be hard to find. They can be hard to sue," Zittrain said. "Intermediaries still have a calculus where if a particular Web site is causing a lot of trouble ... it may not be worth it to them."

Unable to stop purveyors of child pornography directly, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo recently persuaded three major access providers to disable online newsgroups that distribute such images. But rather than cut off those specific newsgroups, all three decided to reduce administrative hassles by also disabling thousands of legitimate groups devoted to TV shows, the New York Mets and other topics.

Gordon Lyon, who runs a site that archives e-mail postings on security, found his domain name suddenly deactivated because one entry contained MySpace passwords obtained by hackers.

He said MySpace went directly to domain provider GoDaddy, which effectively shut down his entire site, rather than contact him to remove the one posting or replace passwords with asterisks. GoDaddy justified such drastic measures, saying that waiting to reach Lyon would have unnecessarily exposed MySpace passwords, including those to profiles of children.

Meanwhile, in response to complaints it would not specify, Network Solutions LLC decided to suspend a Web hosting account that Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders was using to promote a movie that criticizes the Quran — before the movie was even posted and without the company finding any actual violation of its rules.

Service providers say unhappy customers can always go elsewhere, but choice is often limited.

Many leading services, particularly online hangouts like Facebook and News Corp.'s MySpace or media-sharing sites such as Flickr and Google Inc.'s YouTube, have acquired a cachet that cannot be replicated. To evict a user from an online community would be like banishing that person to the outskirts of town.

Other sites "don't have the critical mass. No one would see it," said Scott Kerr, a member of the gay punk band Kids on TV, which found its profile mysteriously deleted from MySpace last year. "People know that MySpace is the biggest site that contains music."

MySpace denies engaging in any censorship and says profiles removed are generally in response to complaints of spam and other abuses. GoDaddy also defends its commitment to speech, saying account suspensions are a last resort.

Few service providers actively review content before it gets posted and usually take action only in response to complaints.

In that sense, Flickr, YouTube and other sites consider their reviews "checks and balances" against any community mob directed at unpopular speech — YouTube has pointedly refused to delete many video clips tied to Muslim extremists, for instance, because they didn't specifically contain violence or hate speech.

Still, should these sites even make such rules? And how can they ensure the guidelines are consistently enforced?

YouTube has policies against showing people "getting hurt, attacked or humiliated," banning even clips OK for TV news shows, but how is YouTube to know whether a video clip shows real violence or actors portraying it? Either way, showing the video is legal and may provoke useful discussions on brutality.

"Balancing these interests raises very tough issues," YouTube acknowledged in a statement.

Unwilling to play the role of arbiter, the group-messaging service Twitter has resisted pressure to tighten its rules.

"What counts as name-calling? What counts as making fun of someone in a way that's good-natured?" said Jason Goldman, Twitter's director of program management. "There are sites that do employ teams of people that

do that investigation ... but we feel that's a job we wouldn't do well."

Other sites are trying to be more transparent in their decisions.

Online auctioneer eBay Inc., for instance, has elaborated on its policies over the years, to the extent that sellers can drill down to where they can ship hatching eggs (U.S. addresses only) and what items related to natural disasters are permissible (they must have "substantial social, artistic or political value"). Hypothetical examples accompany each policy.

LiveJournal has recently eased restrictions on blogging. The new harassment clause, for instance, expressly lets members state negative feelings or opinions about another, and parodies of public figures are now permitted despite a ban on impersonation. Restrictions on nudity specifically exempt non-sexualized art and breast feeding.

The site took the unusual step of soliciting community feedback and setting up an advisory board with prominent Internet scholars such as Danah Boyd and Lawrence Lessig and two user representatives elected in May.

The effort comes just a year after a crackdown on pedophilia backfired. LiveJournal suspended hundreds of blogs that dealt with child abuse and sexual violence, only to find many were actually fictional works or discussions meant to protect children. The company's chief executive issued a public apology.

Community backlash can restrain service providers, but as Internet companies continue to consolidate and Internet users spend more time using vendor-controlled platforms such as mobile devices or social-networking sites, the community's power to demand free speech and other rights diminishes.

Weinstein, the veteran computer scientist, said that as people congregate at fewer places, "if you're knocked off one of those, in a lot of ways you don't exist."

Video: Librarian Kicked Out of McCain Town Hall Meeting

A little old lady (all of 61) was kicked out of a McCain town hall event today. According to ProgressNowAction.org McCain's security detail (i.e. the Secret Service) asked the woman to leave because she was holding a sign. What did the sign say? McCain = Bush. She was given a ticket for trespassing and told that if she returned she would be arrested.