Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

UM libraries to be digitized for Googling

Posted by Murph on 14. December 2004

The following is an Nth-hand tip I’ve just received:

Subject: Heads up regarding Tuesday news announcement

The following news will not be for public sharing until after 12 a.m. Tuesday, but I thought you would appreciate an early heads up.

The University today is announcing a groundbreaking partnership with Google that will digitize the entire seven million volumes in the U-M library and make them accessible via a simple Google search.

This project puts the University at the leading edge of a movement that will transform access to knowledge. Anyone who has Internet access, anywhere in the world, will be able to search our entire library, without limitations of geography, time or expense. It is an endeavor that carries remarkable implications for our institution; as a great public research university there is nothing we care about more deeply than the creation and sharing of knowledge.

The project will make it possible for a user to locate and read the full text of works that are out of copyright, and to find snippets of text for copyrighted material, along with information about where a work can be found.

Google will begin placing digitized volumes online in mid-2005, beginning with materials in Buhr. The technology is non-destructive, and rare books are excluded.

As a product of this partnership, the University Library will receive and own a high quality digital copy of the materials digitized by Google, and it will be able to provide enhanced access for University patrons. The digitization at this scale is a massive undertaking that we simply could not have achieved on our own. The University will receive no financial compensation.

Harvard University and the New York Public Library are announcing their own agreements with Google today, and more may participate in the future.

In undertaking this project, we understand and respect the copyright issues involved. As an institution we create, use, and distribute all sorts of copyrighted works, and we care deeply about copyright issues from all aspects. This project is consistent with the very purpose of copyright law as reflected in the U.S. Constitution, to promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge.

For more information about the project, go to www.umich.edu

Paul N. Courant
Provost and Executive Vice President
for Academic Affairs

William A. Gosling
University Librarian
University of Michigan

It sounds like we’re giving Google access to our collection so they can put Project Gutenberg out of business?

UPDATE: More info just out from the Washington Post:

At the New York Public Library, Google is picking up the cost of putting online thousands of the institution’s 20 million volumes as part of a pilot project. Books selected for the project will be those no longer covered by copyright and are deemed to be of public interest.
. . .
Google’s program with Harvard, which has 14.6 million volumes, will also begin as a pilot program. Google plans to scan in about 40,000 volumes before Harvard decides whether to go forward with its entire collection.

Harvard officials said they like the idea of making their books more widely available, but they are concerned about potential damage from the conversion process as well as the possibility that books could be lost. Harvard officials also said they want to learn more about the reaction of the publishing community before proceeding further with Google.

The University of Michigan is making its entire collection of 7.4 million volumes available to Google for scanning and searching by computer users.

A small sample of books from the University of Michigan would be available online beginning today, Wojcicki said.

ULI Task force issues Eastern Market recommendations

Posted by Murph on 13. December 2004

The Urban Land Institute has issued a set of recommendations for Detroit’s “unpolished gem”, Eastern Market. From the Freep:

Sponsored by the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that is one of the nation’s premier organizations devoted to urban planning and development issues, the nine-member team offered its recommendations Friday. They included the creation of a powerful new public entity to run Eastern Market.
. . .
Like ordinary Detroiters, the panel praised Eastern Market’s lively Saturday morning public market and the funky mix of restaurants, shops and old warehouses that make up the district. But the panelists also said Eastern Market needs a thorough cleaning, and it recommended that parking be improved, the architecture revitalized and the financing strengthened.

The consultants seem to be well-versed in the language of Cool Cities,

Eastern Market should encourage creation of loft housing to meet an off-beat market that wouldn’t mind coexisting with delivery trucks and the public market. “We want to let the technos overlap with the warehouses and see what comes out,” said panelist Sian Llewellyn, a San Francisco-based consultant.

(story c/o George Hotelling)

Comment [1]

Chabad House Menorah Vandalized

Posted by Ari Paul on 13. December 2004

The Michigan Daily reports:

A 15-foot menorah was found destroyed on the front steps of Chabad House at 715 Hill St. Saturday morning. The menorah, the traditional symbol of Hanukkah, was built of gold-colored PVC pipes and had been torn down and left twisted on the sidewalk…

“For someone to actually go and maliciously destroy a menorah, there has to be some kind of hate there,” Chabad House Director Altoer Goldstein said. “It’s something very dramatic.”

Goldstein said the house’s leadership has not yet ruled out alcohol as a motivator.

“Maybe someone was under the influence,” Goldstein said. “But that does not justify in any way their action. It wasn’t just a menorah but a Jewish symbol that was vandalized.”

U Towers Rains Trash

Posted by Scott Trudeau on 13. December 2004

I’m currently (10 am) watching somebody toss personal items, from books to a fan, to a dresser drawer, from the 12th floor of U Towers on South U. The police have yet to arrive.

Comment [5]

UMich affirmative action plaintiffs ask for mass damages

Posted by Murph on 13. December 2004

From the Detroit Free Press:

Lawyers for two white students who sued the University of Michigan claiming they were denied admission in favor of less-qualified minorities have asked a federal judge to award damages to 30,000 other white and Asian students, who also may have been illegally denied admission.

The motion, filed with U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan in Detroit late Wednesday, is seeking nominal damages of $1 for the nonminority students whose applications were rejected between 1995 and 2003 and asking U-M to refund their application fees.

The lawyers also are asking U-M to reimburse some of those students who may have attended a more expensive school after being rejected by U-M and compensate them for emotional distress, according to court records.

Comment [81]

Northfield Township election errors prevent recount

Posted by Murph on 12. December 2004

A Township trustee race separated by only one vote cannot be recounted due to procedural errors, reports the Ann Arbor News:

[Washtenaw County chief deputy clerk Melanie] Weidmayer said that in one of the precincts, the seal number on the ballot container had not been recorded in the poll book. In the two other precincts, the number of ballots in the containers exceeded the number of voters recorded as having voted, she said. The number of extra ballots was six in one precinct and nine in another, Weidmayer said.

Both kinds of problems prevent recounting the ballots, she said. Because the precincts could not be recounted, the vote will stand as originally certified, Weidmayer said.

With the existing ballot counts, showing a one vote victory by Democrat David Gordon over Republican Lenore Zelenock, the Northfield Township board has Republicans holding Supervisor, Clerk, and two Trustee positions, and Democrats holding Treasurer and the other two Trustee positions.

Thanks to commenter Just a Voice for the note that it’s not just Ohio that can’t run a proper election.

Bill O'Reilly, Anti-Semite?

Posted by Ari Paul on 11. December 2004

The Anti-Defamation League thinks so.

Comment [13]

County officials' swearing-in, January 5

Posted by Murph on 10. December 2004

Mark your calendars, bloggers, as our own Larry Kestenbaum will be sworn in as Wastenaw County Clerk/Registrar of Deeds on January 5, 2005. The ceremony will be held at 4 pm, at 200 N. Main Street, on the lower level. The County Sheriff, Prosecutor, Drain Commission, and County Treasurer will also be sworn in at this time, and there’s rumor of free food.

Larry’s blog, Polygon, the Dancing Bear, has been temporarily closed, as negative comments directed at him or at the outgoing Clerk-Registrar had been appearing in his comments section; he expects to reopen it by January at the absolute latest.

Comment [1]

Connerly's Anti-Affirmative Action Crusade is Back

Posted by Ari Paul on 10. December 2004

Inside sources have reported that Ward Connerly’s anti-affirmative action petition was being circulated yesterday on the 200 block of South Main Street.

Ward Connerly’s anti-affirmative action outfit, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, tried to gather signatures for the 2004 ballot to place a question that would outlaw race-based affirmative action. The MCRI discontinued their effort in 2004 after a lengthy legal battle and a lack of morale.

Fire Inspector pleads couch ban's case

Posted by Murph on 9. December 2004

Ann Arbor Fire Inspector Doug Warsinski presented to MSA and other interested students on Tuesday night, trying to convince them of the need for a ban on outdoor couches. Also in attendance were 3rd Ward Councilmember Leigh Greden, Old Fourth Ward President Chris Crockett, and three representatives of landlord companies.

Three major arguments were presented by the Fire Inspector,

  1. Outdoor areas lack fire detection and suppression measures common inside houses or apartment buildings, such as sprinkler systems, smoke detectors, or limited air flow, allowing fires in outdoor couches to go longer and become more severe before being detected, giving building occupants less time to escape.
  2. Insurance companies are considering rate hikes for rental property coverage, because the number of burnt couches in Ann Arbor makes the city a high-risk area. Greden noted, “If the insurance companies pull coverage, you can forget about any kind of affordable housing in the area!”
  3. A city ordinance banning couches would be cheaper and easier than education of students on risk or renovation of structures to reduce fire danger, and would reduce the risk to insurance companies.

Students were given only around 10 minutes to respond or ask questions after the Inspector’s presentation, and I at least was dissatisfied with the results. My own question about why an ordinance was necessary – why landlords couldn’t just include a ban on couches in their leases – was not satisfactorily answered. One landlord dismissively noted that, “It is banned in my leases, but students don’t pay attention to it,” and I was not given a chance to ask why contracts would be harder to enforce than an ordinance.

A question (by fellow AU writer Matt Hollerbach?) on whether insurance premiums were valid backing for making a public safety case against couches was fielded by Crockett, who stated that insurance rates are based on risk estimates, including liability for resident deaths.

The Ann Arbor News’ article on the forum attempts to teach me that I shouldn’t make any statement that can be poorly hacked in half to make less sense.

Comment [8]

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