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Daily Archives: May 4, 2016

ALA report provides practical advice about adopting 3D printers in libraries

“The American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) today released Progress in the Making: Librarians’ Practical 3D Printing Questions Answered. Co-authored by 3DPrint360 CEO Zach Lichaa and ALA Senior Policy Analyst Charlie Wapner, the document poses and answers sixteen practical questions related to establishing 3D printing as a library service. All of the questions were fielded from library professionals interested in 3D printing technology. “Libraries represent the public on-ramp to the world of 3D printing and design,” said Dan Lee, chair of OITP’s Advisory Committee. “Library professionals who have adopted, or are looking to adopt, a 3D printer must answer questions related to printer operation and maintenance, workflow management, cost recovery, patron safety, and much more. As a by-product of OITP’s policy advocacy on 3D printers and libraries, once again OITP is doing great work for libraries in providing this practical information to assist library professionals.” Libraries are democratizing access to, and facilitating learning through, 3D printing technology,” said Lichaa. “We need to make sure they have the necessary technical know-how to keep that trend going.” 3DPrint360 is a New York based company dedicated to serving newcomers to 3D printing and enthusiasts with advice and reliable products…”

Yad Vashem Transport Project: Rationale and Terminology

“Since 2007 the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem has been studying the transports as an extensive phenomenon that transcended individual states, rather than in the context of a study of the Holocaust in a specific country or a single community. The transports are being studied as an historic event, one that is… Continue Reading

Medical error the third leading cause of death in the US

“Medical error is not included on death certificates or in rankings of cause of death. Martin Makary and Michael Daniel assess its contribution to mortality and call for better reporting.” BMJ 2016;353:i2139 doi: 10.1136/bmj.i2139 (Published 3 May 2016). “The annual list of the most common causes of death in the United States, compiled by the… Continue Reading

DATA Act Information Model Schema v1.0

“A core requirement of the DATA Act is the development of government-wide data standards to ensure the reporting of reliable, consistent federal spending data for public use. Last year, OMB and Treasury finalized the 57 data definition standards and Treasury used the data definition standards to develop the initial draft of the DATA Act data… Continue Reading

Empirical Analyses of Judicial Opinions: Methodology, Metrics and the Federal Circuit

Rantanen, Jason, Empirical Analyses of Judicial Opinions: Methodology, Metrics and the Federal Circuit (May 3, 2016). Connecticut Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2774307 “Despite the popularity of empirical studies of the Federal Circuit’s patent law decisions, a comprehensive picture of those decisions has only recently begun to emerge. Historically, the literature has largely consisted… Continue Reading

GAO Reports – Statutory Copyright Licenses, Military Readiness, Rural Housing Service, Municipal Freshwater Scarcity, Technology Assessment, U.S. Postal Service

Statutory Copyright Licenses: Stakeholders’ Views on a Phaseout of Licenses for Broadcast Programming, GAO-16-496: Published: May 4, 2016. Publicly Released: May 4, 2016. Military Readiness: Progress and Challenges in Implementing the Navy’s Optimized Fleet Response Plan, GAO-16-466R: Published: May 2, 2016. Publicly Released: May 2, 2016 Rural Housing Service: Actions Needed to Strengthen Management of… Continue Reading

Amber, a Free Tool for Bloggers, Website Owners, Now Distributed on Drupal.org

“The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is pleased to announce that Amber, an open-source software tool that preserves content and prevents broken links, has been promoted to full project status on Drupal.org. When installed on a blog or website, Amber can take a snapshot of the content of every linked page,… Continue Reading

Hepatitis C Kills More Americans than Any Other Infectious Disease

CDC: “Deaths associated with hepatitis C reached an all-time high of 19,659 in 2014, according to new surveillance data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A second CDC study, published online today in Clinical Infectious Diseases, shows that annual hepatitis C-related mortality in 2013 surpassed the total combined number of… Continue Reading

DOJ Puts NC on notice – HB2 violates Title IX

Via Charlotte Observer: “U.S. Justice Department officials rebuked North Carolina’s House Bill 2 on Wednesday, telling Gov. Pat McCrory that the law violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act and Title IX – a finding that could jeopardize billions in federal education funding. The department gave state officials until Monday to address the situation “by confirming… Continue Reading