Libraries are dying – but it’s not about the books; Guardian, 12/22/16

Simon Jenkins, Guardian; 

Libraries are dying – but it’s not about the books:

"Ailing libraries and churches should merge. They should be removed from their present owners and managers, and be vested in neighbourhood parish and town councils, as is common on the continent. These councils should have power to levy a local tax (with voluntary opt-out) for their support. There will be thrills and spills, but local responsibility is the only secure way forward – and it would raise money.

Ever since the days of Alexandria, the library has been the palace of the mind, the University of All. The internet has removed its monopoly on knowledge, but cannot replicate its sense of place, its joy of human congregation. The Victorian tycoon Andrew Carnegie, first great patron of public libraries in Britain and America, dreamed of one in every town and village. His vision awaits renaissance."

These common mistakes can lead to lawyer ethics complaints; ABA Journal, 2/10/16

Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal; 

These common mistakes can lead to lawyer ethics complaints:

"Oddball ethics complaints may get more attention, but it’s the run-of-the-mill problems that are most likely to trip up lawyers, according to lawyers who handle such cases.

BNA’s U.S. Law Week spoke with several experts about common errors. Here are five of them..."

What You Can Do to Improve Ethics at Your Company; Harvard Business Review (HBR), 12/29/16

Christopher McLaverty

Annie McKee, Harvard Business Review (HBR); 

What You Can Do to Improve Ethics at Your Company:

"Enron. Wells Fargo. Volkswagen. It’s hard for good, ethical people to imagine how these meltdowns could possibly happen. We assume it’s only the Ken Lays and Bernie Madoffs of the world who will cheat people. But what about the ordinary engineers, managers, and employees who designed cars to cheat automotive pollution controls or set up bank accounts without customers’ permission? We tell ourselves that we would never do those things. And, in truth, most of us won’t cook the books, steal from customers, or take that bribe.

But, according to a study by one of us (Christopher) of C-suite executives from India, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and the U.K., many of us face an endless stream of ethical dilemmas at work. In-depth interviews with these leaders provide some insight and solutions that can help us when we do face these quandaries."

"I Want THAT Kid For Christmas"; Pearls Before Swine, GoComics, 12/25/16

Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine, GoComics; "I Want THAT Kid For Christmas"

Fostering Civility in a Time of Disrespect; New York Times, 12/23/16

Jonathan A. Knee, New York Times; Fostering Civility in a Time of Disrespect:

"Just in time for the season of giving, Christine Porath, a Georgetown University management professor, brings us “Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace” (Grand Central), a slender, but compelling, guide to treating others respectfully and protecting oneself from those who don’t.

As the subtitle suggests, most of the book’s examples relate to behaviors observed and strategies pursued in the corporate jungle. The focus is on the serious business risk posed by failing to foster a culture of civility. While the nation waits breathlessly for the dawn of the Trump era, however, it is impossible to read this practical volume without wondering about its implications for the functioning of our federal institutions and the comity among nations."

Have Yourself a Merry Little 2017; New York Times, 12/24/16

Bruce Handy, New York Times; Have Yourself a Merry Little 2017:

"The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has used the original lyrics before, including on the 2015 album “Big Band Holidays,” so it’s not as if someone fished them out of the trunk 72 years later to make a tart postelection point. I’m also well aware that our current challenges pale in comparison to fighting a world war with civilization in the balance. Let’s say we are somewhere on a continuum between that and facing a move from St. Louis to New York. Still, I have to confess the “it may be your last” line captured my near-apocalyptic mood — and maybe yours as well.

But the lyric that moved me to tears is the line that follows “If the fates allow” (and remained in Martin’s final lyrics):

Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.

How prosaic, even homely as pre-rock era songwriting goes, and yet how perfect. Muddling through, somehow, may not sound particularly inspirational, but perseverance is often the best option at hand, when just moving forward, one inch or foot or yard at a time, can be a kind of heroism. At least that’s how it struck me listening to Ms. Russell, her deeply felt performance offering a subdued and cleareyed but still genuine optimism...

In “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is the catalyst for a happy ending: Tootie’s backyard rampage prompts her father to change his mind about the move, and we cut to a dazzling climax at the 1904 World’s Fair, electric lights and handsome beaus suggesting a fine future for all. Happy endings seem a little more remote in 2016 — miles away, as they say, or at least as distant as the next election. In the meantime, we muddle through. It’s a start."

One for the books: Community rallies to save Carnegie library; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/24/16

Editorial Board, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; One for the books: Community rallies to save Carnegie library:

"Now that the library is assured of a steady funding stream, it can begin to expand programming, knowing that it can meet the community’s needs now that the Carlynton School District has closed its school library. The Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall is a community treasure that those living and working in the area can’t afford to lose. Fortunately, the community recognizes its value and is willing to pay for it."

Close family ties, and a secret recipe, keep business going; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/24/16

Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Close family ties, and a secret recipe, keep business going:

"While the special seasoning recipe is kept locked away, the reason for the durability of the business may be no secret, suggested Kelly Hunt, Pittsburgh district director for the Small Business Administration, which named Ricci’s “Family Owned Business of the Year” in 2010.

“The No. 1 thing I have found is that there has to be someone in the family in each generation that shares that passion, and not just the passion, but who has the skill set,” she said...

Nonfamily businesses typically have organizational charts with a clear leadership structure where purchasing and hiring decisions get made in a disciplined and deliberative manner. “When you’re working with people who are not family, it’s more regimented. You can’t go and make a large purchase without talking to the CEO,” she said.

With a family business, “It kind of gets a little bit cloudier.”"

Talking About Ethics Across Cultures; Harvard Business Review, 12/23/16

Mary C. Gentile, Harvard Business Review; Talking About Ethics Across Cultures:

"The program in Delhi started as many of these programs do: A group of cordial but skeptical participants sat with arms crossed and gentle smirks, leaning back in their chairs. When I finally was able to coax one of them to express what they were thinking, he said: “Madam, we are very happy to have you here and we are happy to listen to what you have to say about ethics and values in the workplace. But this is India, and we are entrepreneurs — we can’t even get a driver’s license without paying a bribe.”

He was raising an issue I had struggled with when developing the program, which is called Giving Voice to Values. My aim was to take a new approach to values-driven leadership development, one that was a stark departure from the way companies and educators had been teaching business ethics. For years, training in this area was based on the assumption that the way to build an ethical workplace was to educate employees on laws, ethical norms, and company values so that they could decide what the “right” thing to do was in any particular situation. I became increasingly convinced, however, that many folks already knew what was right — and many of them even wanted to do it — but they felt pressured to do otherwise by the competitive environment, by their colleagues and managers, by their customers, and often, as the participant in my Delhi program pointed out, by the cultural context in which they were operating.

I’ve learned by sharing the Giving Voice to Values approach with audiences around the world — in India, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, China, the Philippines, the U.A.E., Cairo, Moscow, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, and all over Europe — that there are key ways to building ethical workplaces across cultures."

Why time management is ruining our lives; Guardian, 12/22/16

Oliver Burkeman, Guardian; Why time management is ruining our lives:

"Personal productivity presents itself as an antidote to busyness when it might better be understood as yet another form of busyness. And as such, it serves the same psychological role that busyness has always served: to keep us sufficiently distracted that we don’t have to ask ourselves potentially terrifying questions about how we are spending our days. “How we labour at our daily work more ardently and thoughtlessly than is necessary to sustain our life because it is even more necessary not to have leisure to stop and think,” wrote Friedrich Nietzsche, in what reads like a foreshadowing of our present circumstances. “Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself.”

You can seek to impose order on your inbox all you like – but eventually you’ll need to confront the fact that the deluge of messages, and the urge you feel to get them all dealt with, aren’t really about technology. They’re manifestations of larger, more personal dilemmas. Which paths will you pursue, and which will you abandon? Which relationships will you prioritise, during your shockingly limited lifespan, and who will you resign yourself to disappointing? What matters?"

Oracle executive publicly resigns after CEO joins Trump's transition team; Guardian, 12/21/16

Olivia Solon, Guardian; Oracle executive publicly resigns after CEO joins Trump's transition team:

"George Polisner, 57, who had worked at Oracle on and off since 1993, posted his resignation letter to LinkedIn, outlining concerns over Trump’s choice of cabinet, tax and environmental policies as well as the stoking of fear and hatred towards minorities...

Once he made his mind up to resign, he told his manager before sending the letter to Catz and simultaneously publishing to LinkedIn. “I decided it was too important to die as a private letter.”

Polisner said that it’s important for technology companies to have dialogue with the Trump administration, as happened at last week’s roundtable attended by execs from companies including Apple, Google, Facebook, IBM and Oracle...

However, Polisner remains concerned about how the president-elect could use technology as a tool to concentrate wealth and power and oppress vulnerable parts of society.

“In my mind the table has already been set and they are not going to listen to a tech person who says ‘this may not work out so well’ because they’ve already calculated the impact to the balance sheet.”"

IBM's Astonishing Patent Strategy Shows Where It's Going Next; Nasdaq, 12/23/16

Prableen Bajpai, Nasdaq; IBM's Astonishing Patent Strategy Shows Where It's Going Next:

"IBM (IBM) is set to top the list of patent holders for the 24th year in a row in the U.S. This is no ordinary feat. IBM is the only company to have ever exceeded over 7,000 U.S. patent grants during a single year. During 2016 year-to-date, IBM has already crossed the 7,000-patent mark for the third consecutive year.

Against this backdrop, IBM is fundamentally reorganizing its business, leaving behind the image of ‘hardware, software, services’ company to emerge as a leader in ‘cognitive solutions and cloud computing.’ Here’s a look at how IBM is transforming its business, changing its patent portfolio and re-inventing to be IBM 2.0...

Patents are like the seeds of technological innovations that were planted years ago with a futuristic vision in mind. IBM has been active in doing so and what we see today in practice are the saplings. The real rewards will come with time but IBM is making sure that it keeps planting those seeds for the future."

Carnegie saves library by doubling its funding; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/23/16

Bob Podurgiel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Carnegie saves library by doubling its funding:

[Kip Currier: One of the biggest misconceptions about public libraries founded by Andrew Carnegie seed money in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is that those libraries have permanent endowments to this day from those charitable beginnings. Most do not. And if they do, the amounts are modest or meager. The hard fiscal reality is that libraries like the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Pittsburgh) struggle to provide ever-vital services with less money to do so. Through the leadership of Executive Director Maggie Forbes (a very inspiring guest speaker for my LIS 2700: Managing and Leading Libraries class a few years ago!), in collaboration with the Library Board and mobilized citizens/patrons, it's encouraging to see that this gem of a library and music hall has achieved unanimous buy-in for a strategic funding plan that will increase its chances of survival and the ability to continue with its mission:

"The Mission of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall is to serve as an outstanding library, theater and historic site that informs, entertains and engages its community and the region in lifelong learning."]

"As executive director of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, Maggie Forbes faced some difficult decisions for 2017: drastically cut the library’s hours of operation to 20 hours a week, close entirely or become a branch of another library outside of Carnegie.

She appealed to Carnegie council for help, and council came through last week with a 7-0 vote to double funding from $35,000 a year to $70,000.

“We weren’t crying wolf. We would have closed,” Ms. Forbes said. “For the first time in 115 years, we have a stable source of income.”

“The new funding allows us to live within our means. The library had been borrowing $30,000 a year to remain open, a course that was unsustainable,” she said, adding that she is also excited about the possibility of extending hours and creating more children’s programming.

The need for programs geared to children is greater now since the Carlynton School District, which serves Carnegie, recently closed its school library, she said.

“It was a team effort,” she said of the push to obtain funding for the library. “The library board of trustees, and the residents turned out to support the library."

The Future of Open Government; Huffington Post, 12/19/16

Manish Bapna, Huffington Post; The Future of Open Government:

"This blog post is co-authored with Jean-Vincent Placé, French Minister of State for State Reform and Simplification, attached to the Prime Minister.

More than 4,000 people gathered in Paris from 7-9th December for the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit 2016 hosted by the Government of France. OGP is a unique partnership dedicated to making government decision making more open, inclusive and responsive. Summit attendees included representatives from 80 governments, many of them heads of state and senior ministers; leaders from cities, municipalities and regions; and leading civil society organizations from around the world.

The goal for the summit was to highlight the crucial role of open government as a countervailing force to the rise of various forms of nationalism and populism around the world."

"Re-evaluating Goals"; Non Sequitur, Go Comics, 12/21/16

Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, Go Comics; "Re-evaluating Goals"

Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices; Harvard Business Review, 12/16/16

Ron Carucci, Harvard Business Review; Why Ethical People Make Unethical Choices:

"Despite good intentions, organizations set themselves up for ethical catastrophes by creating environments in which people feel forced to make choices they could never have imagined. Former Federal Prosecutor Serina Vash says, “When I first began prosecuting corruption, I expected to walk into rooms and find the vilest people. I was shocked to find ordinarily good people I could well have had coffee with that morning. And they were still good people who’d made terrible choices.”

Here are five ways organizations needlessly provoke good people to make unethical choices."

Trademarks Coast to Coast, Guest blog by Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison; Director's Forum: A Blog from USPTO's Leadership, 12/8/16

Director's Forum: A Blog from USPTO's Leadership; Trademarks Coast to Coast, Guest blog by Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison:

"USPTO regional offices support the agency’s mission of fostering innovation by serving their regions’ intellectual property (IP) communities, assisting local businesses, and educating the public about the importance of IP. Regional office staff, in addition to USPTO trademark staff from headquarters, provide the public with full access to trademark information and resources in their local communities. This year, I visited all four regional offices: Denver and Silicon Valley in the fall, and Dallas and Detroit earlier in the year. During these visits, I had the chance to meet with USPTO employees, hear from local businesses, inventors, and IP practitioners about their concerns, and hold events on the importance of trademarks."

A year after food safety scares, Chipotle has a new set of problems; Washington Post, 12/14/16

Sarah Halzack, Washington Post; A year after food safety scares, Chipotle has a new set of problems:

"“The data, everything that we have, suggest that there are not large numbers of customers staying away from Chipotle because they feel like either we didn’t address the problem properly or that they are afraid of Chipotle,” said Mark Crumpacker, the restaurant’s chief marketing and development officer.

Instead, the company is having trouble getting the basics right: Throughput is down, meaning customers are facing frustratingly long lines. The dining room tables and drink stations are often a mess. And patrons are constantly finding that the burrito assembly line is out of an ingredient or two.

In other words, it seems the core source of Chipotle’s difficulty right now is convincing people it is enjoyable to eat at Chipotle — a remarkable turn of events for a company that was not long ago the darling of the industry for its seemingly unstoppable sales growth."

Michelle Obama urges students to keep up diversity legacy: 'It's your turn now'; Guardian, 12/15/16

David Smith, Guardian; Michelle Obama urges students to keep up diversity legacy: 'It's your turn now' :

"She did not mention the election or Donald Trump once. But Michelle Obama’s message about diversity and inclusiveness was clear...

The first African American first lady addressed a gathering of students – many of them young black women – at the White House on Thursday after a screening of Hidden Figures, a new biopic of three black female mathematicians who helped launch Americans into space...

Obama, wearing black, added somewhat somberly: “But it’s up to all of you, our young people, to continue that legacy. It’s your turn now. All right?”"

Ethics in the swamp: the rot of corruption; Huffington Post, 12/9/16

Katherine Marshall, Huffington Post; Ethics in the swamp: the rot of corruption:

"Corruption is a live topic today. Since 2005, international anti-corruption day has been “celebrated” on December 9, in hopes that a visible day marking the topic can raise awareness about corruption and bolster a sense that something can be done to combat and prevent it. The large biannual International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC17) in Panama City ended on December 4, where some 1300 very diverse participants addressed a multitude of issues, from green eyeshade detail, lawyerly discourse, to lofty principles such as trust. The meeting concluded with a commitment that: “Together we will strengthen our web of anti-corruption activists. Together, the public sector, business and civil society will hold the corrupt to account. It is Time for Justice, Equity, Security, and Trust.” The activists, many part of Transparency International, come from all over the world, widely different in ideology and approach, but they share a gutsy determination to hold leaders to account.

More tellingly, corruption is a leading topic in political discourse, from Washington to Manila to Kabul to Nairobi to Abuja. The belief that corruption is pervasive drives much of the anger that we see reflected in extremist movements, secular and religious. It fuels the populist surge and the sense of rot that discredits governments and politicians in widely different countries and cultures. America’s political campaign featured narratives about a Washington swamp with bloated, rotten bureaucracies wasting or diverting public resources. The narratives can be misleading, undermining courageous political leaders and public servants, but many see little beyond stories about corrupt practices...

The next International Anti-Corruption Conference will be in Denmark in 2018. It’s time to mix the oil and water. Fighting corruption is about more than exhortation: declaiming against those who steal and fail to honor their public responsibilities. Anti-corruption strategies and practices can work. But only when the passion of activists and moral leaders comes together with different parts of society, religious institutions included, to translate anger and a desire for good governance into reality. The fight against corruption, for decent governance and strong public service depends on public morality and a common commitment to ethical standards and priorities. Draining the swamp depends on linking the best of religious and civic teachings to the realities of political leadership and governance. That’s what it will take to achieve “Justice, Equity, Security, and Trust”."

Congressional panel calls for independent Copyright Office; Washington Post, 12/9/16

Peggy McGlone, Washington Post; Congressional panel calls for independent Copyright Office:

"Federal lawmakers are calling for an independent Copyright Office that would be led by a Register nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday released the first in what is expected to be a series of reforms. They suggest keeping a newly independent office in the Legislative branch, and funding technology upgrades including a searchable, digital database of historical and current copyright ownership.

Coming on the heels of the resignation of Copyright Register Maria Pallante, and previous suggestions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, the proposals set up a show-down between Congress and new librarian Carla D. Hayden over the future of the agency."

Social scientists set to decipher various shades of ethics; The Peninsula: Qatar's Daily Newspaper, 12/1/16

Irfan Bhukhari, The Peninsula: Qatar's Daily Newspaper; Social scientists set to decipher various shades of ethics:

"On the academic landscape of Qatar, an international ethics summit is set to appear which will cover dozens of topics having contemporary importance from corporate citizenship in global context to ethics revolving around gender, religion, business and conflict.

A three-day International Ethics Summit themed “Morality in the Global Era: Theory, Policy and Praxis” will start from December 4 at HBKU Students Centre at Education City.

The summit will be an international opportunity for scholars, academia and audiences representing various segments of society to explore and understand a number of issues such as: Ethical Leadership and Social Responsibility; Ethics in the Professions; Integrity in Business; Corporate Citizenship in a Global Context; Ethics and the Environment; Immigration and Moral Tragedy; Ethics and Technology in the Global Age; Ethics and Sports; Ethics and Gender among others according to university’s call-for-papers and leaflet pertaining to programme-details. The summit is being sposored by RasGas."

Donald Trump’s ‘Monster’s Ball’; New York Times, 12/1/16

Charles M. Blow, New York Times; Donald Trump’s ‘Monster’s Ball’ :

"Donald Trump was elected on a wave of fake news, fake minority outreach and an 11th-hour email head fake by James Comey...

Donald Trump is a fraud, and a dangerous one. This country is depending on morally principled patriots to never let that fact be shifted from center stage.

Trump rode to victory on a cloud of vapors and vapid promises, and now he is assembling a counsel of acolytes and opportunists. Now each of us must demonstrate our fortitude in vocal, steadfast resistance.

Trump must be made to know, in no uncertain terms, that he was elected president and not anointed emperor.

Not every battle can be won, but every battle must be waged. This is the proving ground. Are you prepared to stand your ground?"

Michael James Delligatti, Creator of the Big Mac, Dies at 98; New York Times, 11/30/16

Kevin Rawlinson, New York Times; Michael James Delligatti, Creator of the Big Mac, Dies at 98:

"Most memorable was the ad campaign, begun in 1974, in which actual customers tried to recite the ingredients in a Big Mac, with comic results, before a chorus jumped in and smoothly sang the now-famous jingle.

“It wasn’t like discovering the light bulb,” Mr. Delligatti told John F. Love, the author of “McDonald’s: Behind the Arches” (1986). “The bulb was already there. All I did was screw it in the socket.”...

...[T]he sales remain huge, leading many to believe that Mr. Delligatti, as its inventor, must have reaped a windfall worth billions.

Not so. “All I got was a plaque,” he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2007."