I'm sitting on the doorstep handing out treats to trick or treaters. I'm dressed up as a computer geek with my laptop playing Halloween songs from Rhapsody over my wireless network.

Well, okay, I'm not really dressed up... it's my everyday outfit, but I'm still running with it. It's a shifted holiday at my house!

Oh, and the Laughing Librarian just came by my house with his daughter. He's dressed in a safari outfit with a giant snake wrapped around his body. Awesome!

Yay - it's Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year! At Kailee's suggestion, this year I'm dressing up as Stanley Yelnats. :-)

And since it's Halloween, it's time for our annual check of the Willard Library's Ghost Cam!

Happy Halloween, Nosferatu (No Thanks to Copyright)

"Tonight, while the trick-or-treaters visit, I will be screening Nosferatu in my driveway on an 80" HDTV projection screen.

Released in silent black and white in 1922, Nosferatu is an unauthorized adaptation of the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker and is widely considered one of the classics of cinema. Certainly, many think it is the best adaptation of Dracula in film, one of the most influential horror movies of all time and a masterpiece of Expressionist filmmaking. Thanks to copyright law, however, this film was very nearly lost to us (The Saga of Nosferatu)." [The Importance Of]

Read the whole story on Ernie's site, where the kicker is "thank goodness for 'pirates."

InfoEyes: an Online Information Community and Virtual Reference Services for the Visually Impaired

"Under the leadership of the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service, the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center and the Southern Illinois Talking Book Center are pleased to announce the opening of InfoEyes(http://www.infoeyes.org) on November 3, an online information community and virtual reference service for the visually impaired.

Talking book readers, other visually impaired individuals, and librarians are invited to use the trial service. Through the service, library customers can get assistance using the Internet, finding information on the Internet and in periodical databases and reader advisory service. Librarians will be using OCLC Question Point Enhanced software to provide services which include voice over IP, co-browsing, and application sharing. The trial will run through July 30, 2004. It is hoped that more libraries in other states serving the visually impaired will join Illinois in providing these services. Customers will be asked to evaluate the service and resources to help librarians in developing the service. Hours of service are posted on the web page and it is hoped that as more libraries join the service that hours can be extended. If customers want service outside of those hours, they can schedule an appointment or a reference session.

As the project develops, more information will be posted on the website. Tom Peters of TAP Information Services is the project evaluator and will write an evaluation of the project which will be made available when the project ends. If you have questions on the service, please contact Lori Bell (lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com) of the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center or Diana Brawley Sussman (dbrawley@shawls.lib.il.us) of the Southern Illinois Talking Book Center." [The Handheld Librarian]

Studies: 90 Percent of Kids Use Computers

"About 90 percent of people ages 5 to 17 use computers and 59 percent of them use the Internet -- rates that are, in both cases, higher than those of adults. Even kindergartners are becoming more plugged in: One out of four 5-year-olds uses the Internet.

The figures come from a new Education Department analysis of computer and Internet use by children and adolescents in 2001. A second report from the agency, based on 2002 data, shows 99 percent of public schools have Internet access, up from 35 percent eight years ago.

'Children are often the first adopters of a lot of technology,' said John Bailey, who oversees educational technology for the department. 'They grow up with it. They don't have to adapt to it. ... Students, by and large, are dominating the Internet population.'

By the time they're age 10, 60 percent of children use the Internet. That number grows to almost 80 percent for kids who are 16....

Like adults, young people are going online for a range of reasons, the government research shows. Almost three in four use the Internet for help with school assignments, while more than half use it for writing e-mail, sending instant messages or playing games....

Almost two-thirds of young white people use the Internet, but less than half of black people ages 5 to 17 do, and slightly more than a third of Hispanic young people log on. Part of the reason is access -- 80 percent of black students use computers at school, for example, but only 41 percent do so at home, according to the 2001 report.

'We need to address the limited access to technology that many students have outside of school,' Education Secretary Rod Paige said. 'There is much more we can do.' " [Salon]

Like stop cutting library funding and closing libraries? That would be a good start. Then maybe we could go back to teaching information literacy to all children (and adults).