Another Cairns on the Offensive

Apparently some other obnoxious basta'd named Michael Cairns is sticking it to the English cricket board. (Guardian)

Lancashire have launched a fresh and withering attack on Giles Clarke's leadership of the England and Wales Cricket Board, and have also criticised their fellow counties for allowing him to survive the Stanford affair.

Michael Cairns, a heavy-hitting businessman who succeeded Jack Simmons as the chairman at Old Trafford last year, claims in his annual report to members that "there is a serious lack of governance, transparency and accountability within the leadership and administration of the board".

"The Stanford debacle was a disgrace but regrettably only one example of mismanagement that the ECB have been guilty of over the past year," Cairns continues. "If such a performance was evident in any of the organisations that I have been associated with throughout my business career, the management would take it upon themselves to do the right thing and resign, or face the alternative.

Under Clark, the ECB struck an almost pornographic deal with "Sir" Alan Stanford who of course is apparently a crook. Basic due diligence (as with Madoff) would have made that clear at the outset.

CCC Holds Online Google Settlement Seminar

The Authors Guild, AAP, Google Settlement: What Authors & Publishers Need to Know as May 5th Approaches

Free online informational seminar:

Tuesday, April 14, 2009, at 12:00 p.m. ET / 16:00 GMT - Register Now

On June 11, 2009, a federal court will hold a fairness hearing to review the proposed settlement of lawsuits brought by U.S. authors and publishers against Google for its unauthorized scanning and use of in-copyright books as part of the Google Library Project.

Rightsholders affected by the class-action settlement have until May 5, 2009 to decide whether to participate or opt-out and their decision may have business implications.

Copyright Clearance Center is hosting a free, 1-hour informational online seminar to help publishers, authors and literary agents understand their options as May 5th approaches. The session features nationally renowned publishing copyright expert and attorney, Lois Wasoff. Wasoff is the past Chair of the Copyright Committee of the Association of American Publishers and the former Vice President and Corporate Counsel of Houghton Mifflin Company.

Who should attend? Any author or publisher of a book published on or before January 5, 2009. If that description pertains to you, you may be a member of the Settlement Class under the proposed Settlement Agreement between authors, publishers and Google. Members of the Settlement Class must decide to opt-out or participate by May 5, 2009.

If you would like to learn more about the settlement you can visit a website dedicated to the topic and if you have any questions about this informational seminar, please email education@copyright.com or call +1 978 646 2436.

Register Now - Space is limited

HMH CEO Tony Lucki to Retire

The WSJ is reporting that Tony Lucki will retire on April 15th. In an email to staff he noted he had been involved with Harcourt or Houghton Mifflin for 30yrs and continued,

"Recent steps we have taken put the company in an even stronger position to deliver value to our customers and to build on our market leadership. We are on sound operational and financial footing and have great potential to grow our trusted brands and businesses," he said

The company has appointed 39yr old Barry O'Callahan as CEO who is the current CEO of corporate owner Education Media & Publishing Group. EMPG has approximately $7billion in debt resulting from the acquisition of both Harcourt and Houghton Mifflin. Reports earlier this year indicated that the company was attempting to sell their trade business but there was debate whether the company could achieve fair value (in their view) given the current economic environment.

Meta Data Related Job at HBO

As a gift for all you people out there that like meta data stuff here is what looks like it could be a cool job (if you like meta data and standards and let's face it who doesn't):

The Director, Digital Library & Media Management is responsible for development, administration and evolution of standards and procedures for the management of rich media assets (video, audio, and digital photos) with associated metadata in collaboration with HBO business units. This person will provide direction to a permanent HBO committee comprised of operating groups from all areas of HBO in order to define, implement and evolve metadata standards and related workflow requirements specific to HBO’s business needs. He/she will create direction regarding archival, content management, encoding, cataloguing, transcoding and post production standards

LinkedIn. and Randy Neuringer is the recruiter. I've never met her.

Libraries Are Struggling to Cope

Not a day goes by that I see multiple reports about closings, reduced hours or staff layoffs in public libraries. No telling what is happening with budgets for buying new materials which are probably also being severely cut. In good times, the public library is often an anonymous cornerstone of the community and most people only have a casual relationship with their local public library. Most don't have library cards. But our current economic crisis is doubly challenging for public libraries: They are victims of it on the one hand and have to manage their own challenging budgeting issues but they are also become a primary source of help and aid for a burgeoning class of people facing economic hardship.

The librarians job is becoming part social worker, policeman, home care worker and counselor and all in a context of declining resources and a growing sense of desperation that perhaps effective help for many of these patrons is beyond their capabilities. It is a big ask of these library workers and it is also unfair. As today's article in the Times points out, a typical librarian is faced with patrons that can't read or write needing resume assistance and patrons staring blankly at computer screens with no idea what the internet is. The implications of what these librarians face on a daily basis tells us a lot about the abilities of a wide class of people to succeed in an economy that is increasingly beyond their skill level.

Personanondata in Book Deal

A three book deal.

Word on the street has it that the blog Personanondata has signed a three book deal with Harpercollins which is described as a “pretty awesome” deal by company CEO Brian Murray. With details sparse, the person at PND is expected to rehash much of what he has repeatedly written in at least one of the volumes with a study of the etymology of the brand personanondata slated for a later book. “The subject of the second volume is controversial and sometimes subject to embarrassment,” said the author. “Many people are embarrassed to ask about the genesis of the brand Personanondata and simply smile knowingly as though they are in on the joke. Of course this is impossible as no one really knows anything”.

The last volume – which could be completed first – may become the blue print for all introverted children who, when finding themselves intensely interested in reading end up as adults swimming with the big sharks of publishing if only to get their hands on free books. This deal will be remarked upon by all in the industry as a true rule and model breaker that could also revolutionize the supply chain. In contrast to expected industry practice Personanondata will pay Harpercollins an advance of several hundred thousand dollars, “This is a pretty awesome deal”, said Murray. “At this point we just need the cash.” One of the books is scheduled for release in November 2011.

Library of Congress goes Social Networking

From an Library of Congress press release:

The Library of Congress will begin sharing content from its vast video and audio collections on the YouTube and Apple iTunes web services as part of a continuing initiative to make its incomparable treasures more widely accessible to a broad audience. The new Library of Congress channels on each of the popular services will launch within the next few weeks.

New channels on the video and podcasting services will be devoted to Library content, including 100-year-old films from the Thomas Edison studio, book talks with contemporary authors, early industrial films from Westinghouse factories, first-person audio accounts of life in slavery, and inside looks into the Library's fascinating holdings, including the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence and the contents of Lincoln's pockets on the night of his assassination.

"The Library of Congress launched the first U.S. agency-wide blog two years ago and continued its pioneering social-media role with initiatives such as the immensely successful Flickr pilot project," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "We have long seen the value of such interaction with the public to help achieve our missions, and these agreements remove many of the impediments to making our unparalleled content more useful to many more people."

The General Services Administration today also announced agreements with Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo and blip.tv that will allow other federal agencies to participate in new media while meeting legal requirements and the unique needs of government. GSA plans to negotiate agreements with other providers, and the Library will explore these new media services when they are appropriate to its mission and as resources permit.