I am a big Twitter fan and I noticed a Tweet the other day by Michael Beschloss that said due to the government shutdown he would lose access to some the Library of Congress photos that he uses a lot in his Tweets.
I kind of dismissed this all to the Twitter-world, no big deal, right?
Then today I read this from a friend of mine, Casey Shain, whose livelihood involves the publishing industry, where he posted this on his Facebook page:
"The government shutdown is affecting so many areas of life people don't normally think about. I'm working on several books that won't be able to be published on time because we can't access the Library of Congress for images and image permissions, and several other books are delayed because we can't get the CIP data for the copyright page (Cataloguing-in-Publication data). This is conceivably hundreds of thousands of dollars in delays for a publisher that is struggling as it is." ~ Casey Shain, Facebook
I wonder why this type of story doesn't make the nightly news. This is the real impact of the shutdown, something that goes far beyond what is being discussed each night on the evening news.
On the surface it doesn't seem like such a big deal. Then you get a first hand story and all of a sudden your ears perk up and you take notice.
Hello Congress, if you want to play games how 'bout starting a Bunko Party on Friday night and get some work done and stop this game playing.
You are such a treasure, Annie. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Casey.
ReplyDeleteThe permissions are available online. There is absolutely no reason that any online structure should have been taken down. It's not like they need 100 workers to "hold it up". It's just there. Same with NASA's Photo of the Day site. It's been down since the shutdown began. Why? It's a computer-driven thing. They couldn't post a photo? This kind of stuff is being done for effect, and that's doubly irritating. Sorry, Casey, that you got shut out. Life in the age of nitwits can be trying.
ReplyDeleteYes and my daughter emails me this: " Actually today I was trying to get some information from two federal government sites and they were shutdown. It was weird to just not have access - so I totally sympathize with your friend."
ReplyDeleteThis all should be reported on...