May 19, 2017  For 152 years, the San Francisco Chronicle has reported on—and photographed—every aspect of the city, including, of course, the evolution of Silicon Valley into the center of the world’s tech industry.  This area, south of San Francisco, earned its moniker in the early 1970s, after silicon chip manufacturers proliferated there.  It’s since become synonymous with breakneck economic growth and youthful billionaires, and has some of the most expensive housing in the country.  The technology it created or helped create often generated eye-catching photo-ops and headlines:  a giant Macintosh at the 1985 MacWorld Expo, or the front page of the January 1, 2000, issue: “Y2-OK: New Year Rolls In Smoothly.”  From semiconductors to microprocessors, personal computers to phones, garages to sleek campuses‚ the industry has always been driven by ideas and long hours. Today, it is easy to forget just how quickly these changes have become part of daily life—but old photos from the Chronicle seem to put it all in perspective.  The newspaper also captured the standout personalities and products of these times of innovation and invention:  Steve Wozniak, beaming at the “Apple II Forever” conference in 1984, San Francisco’s first coin-operated library computer, and April Fool’s gags at Sun Microsystems.  The images, captured on film, often in black and white, are also being brought into the digital age, alongside the millions of others that comprise the Chronicle’s photo archive.  Negatives and prints are gradually being scanned, and some of the best are being featured in the Instagram account SF Chronicle Vault.  The physical photo archive resides in the basement of the historic Chronicle Building at Fifth and Mission streets in the heart of San Francisco.  There are about 3 million negatives, 1 million hard-copy photos, and 1.5 million digital photos.  The old photos and negatives have been organized over the decades by subject and year, and in other ways by archivists, including current head librarian, Bill Van Niekerken.  The archive is as old as the Chronicle:  152 years.  The use of photos, however, wasn’t common until after the turn of the 20th century.  Anika Burgess  http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/old-silicon-valley-photos-chronicle

May 10, 2017  Books Recommended by This Year's TED Speakers:  the much-buzzed-about conference generated a gargantuan list of intriguing book recommendations by Jessica Stillman   TED is one of the world's premier cultural events, providing not just a chance for the thousand or so attendees to hear from some of the smartest people around, but also opening up this knowledge to millions of learners around the world through the event's wildly popular online videos.  The event's world-class speakers also regularly recommend books for further reading from the stage, and this year's event, held recently in Vancouver, British Columbia, was no exception.  Load up those shelves or e-readers with everything from history to poetry to sports memoirs and you're all set for summer.  Find a fraction of the list at https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/50-books-recommended-by-this-years-ted-speakers.html

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) was arguably Britain's greatest statesman and the most significant Anglican layman of the last two centuries.  Four times Prime Minister, four times Chancellor of the Exchequer and a Parliamentarian for 63 years, few politicians have achieved as many lasting reforms as Gladstone.  He was a pragmatic political leader with an incessant concern with history, literature, the classical world and theological dispute and was a voracious reader.  Gladstone lived in the village of Hawarden in North Wales, a few miles from Chester.  He was eager to make his personal library accessible to others and with this in mind founded Gladstone’s Library in 1889, donating 32,000 of his own collection.  After his death the library became the national memorial to ‘the grand old man’.  Today it serves as residential library and meeting place dedicated to dialogue, debate and learning.  A hub of social interaction with 26 bedrooms, a varied programme of courses and events, conference rooms and free daily tours.  Gladstone’s annotated books are freely available on the library shelves, along with 200,000 books, journals and periodicals on a wide range of topics including Theology and Victorian Studies.  Some of the books here are 400 years old; some are original first editions; some are as recent as this month; all are here to be used.  Anyone can join the library (free of charge) as a Reader and can use the Library from 9am-5pm Monday to Saturday.  Tours of the Library are held at 12 noon, 2pm and 4pm Monday to Friday and at 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays.  The peaceful setting and relaxed atmosphere provide the ideal getaway.  Get away from the daily routine and put aside time to read, reflect or write.  Gladstone’s Library has 26 comfortable rooms, most en-suite and all are equipped with a work station and Roberts radio.  See pictures at https://www.flintshire.org/deiniol.html

The easily accessible yet sufficiently remote location of residential Gladstone’s Library, which was bequeathed by former Prime Minister William Gladstone and offers guests the opportunity to 'sleep with books', is such that the switching off process for a Londoner begins upon stepping off the train at Chester station.  Once aboard the number four bus, mobile phone signal dwindles on the 40-minute journey across the Welsh border as a bustling town centre gives way to fields and eventually the pretty, quiet village of Hawarden.  The grand room with mezzanine level that houses them contains desks for working at, and squishy armchairs too, but the cosiest room for curling up in has to be the Gladstone Room, filled with big comfy sofas, Persian rugs, candlesticks, original windows, board games, puzzles, newspapers, an honesty bar, a roaring open fire in winter, and shelves of contemporary fiction if reading up on the Reformation of the church isn’t your bag.  It’s quirky and eccentric, with just a touch of the charmingly shabby—like hanging out in your favourite bookshop.  The small team of very friendly staff recognise repeat visitors, and guests are welcomed by name on arrival.  A ‘Glimpse’ tour—also open to members of the public—gives an overview of the library’s history, and well directed (silent) tour of its main room.  Amazingly, the library has been residential since it first opened in 1904, this having always been Gladstone’s intention, but gained far greater prominence as a retreat for writers in the last five years or so.  Since 2000, 590 books have been written or researched here, including by well-known authors such as Naomi Alderman.  Several annual festivals are held these days, and there’s a writer in residence.  Its popularity is international, with guests coming from across the globe to visit this unique escape from the fast pace and distractions of modern life.  If you want to venture out, the Gladstone family, still very much involved in their ancestor’s bequest to his community, also own a well-regarded pub in the village.  The library’s original ethos is remarkably progressive; Gladstone wished for his books to remain in North Wales and not be outsourced to Oxford or London, and, a great believer in the transformative power of education, for them to be publicly available.  Rachel Cranshaw  See stunning pictures at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/wales/articles/gladstones-library-the-hotel-where-you-can-sleep-with-books/

A bill empowering the president to appoint the next Register of Copyrights, which would effectively remove jurisdiction over the position from the Librarian of Congress, sailed through the House of Representatives 378–48 on April 26, 2017 and will now continue to the Senate.  The Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act, also known as HR 1695, was introduced on March 23, 2017 and would make the Register—who has traditionally been appointed by the Librarian of Congress—a presidential appointment, with the advice and consent of the senate.  The Register would serve a ten-year term limit renewable by another presidential nomination and Senate confirmation, as the Librarian of Congress since the passage of the bipartisan “Librarian of Congress Succession Modernization Act of 2015.”  Recommendations for the position would be made by a panel consisting of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate, and the Librarian of Congress.  The bill would also authorize the president to remove the Register of Copyrights with notification to both houses of Congress.  HR 1695 amends 17 U.S. Code § 701, which previously provided the Librarian of Congress the power to appoint and direct the Register of Copyrights, and did not set term limits for the position.  An earlier bill, the Copyright Office for the Digital Economy Act, or HR 890, was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 6, 2017.  HR 890, introduced by representatives Tom Marino (R-PA), Judy Chu (D-CA), and Barbara Comstock (R-VA), would establish the Copyright Office as a separate independent agency of the legislative branch, as well as incorporating the changes specified in HR 1695.  The Copyright Office has been located within LC since its creation in 1897.  On May 2, 2017 a bill containing language nearly identical to that of HR 1695, the Copyright Accountability Act (S 1010), was introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The bill was sponsored by Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and has been championed by music industry professionals.  Lisa Peet  Read more at http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/05/legislation/new-bills-would-let-president-not-librarian-of-congress-name-copyright-register/#_

Back in 2012, Twitter decided to honor Do Not Track, which is basically an honor system for web tracking.  When browser users had a Do Not Track setting enabled, any service that honored DNT wasn't supposed to track that person.  Twitter will no longer honor Do Not Track settings.  Twitter is dumping its support for Do Not Track (DNT), changing how it shares user data with third parties, and holding any web browsing data it collects for a longer duration—all to better aid in ad targeting, of course.  But at the same time, Twitter is giving users more control over what kind of user data can be used for targeted advertising, as well as more transparency about the information it collects about you.  The privacy features are active now, but the new privacy policies that dump DNT, change data sharing policies, and hold your data longer don't come into effect until June 18, 2017.  Ian Paul  http://www.pcworld.com/article/3197343/internet/twitter-rolls-out-new-privacy-tools-as-it-ditches-do-not-track-and-expands-data-sharing.html  See also http://www.techspot.com/news/69371-twitter-repeals-support-do-not-track-announces-new.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1713  May 24, 2017  On this date in 1595, Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appeared, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.  On this date in 1626,  Peter Minuit bought Manhattan.  Word of the Day  Mancunian noun  A person raised or living in the city of Manchester, England