Archive for December, 2006
Top 20 Internet Acronyms Every Parent Needs to Know
December 31st, 2006I’m way behind. I only know 2 on this list. Must. Learn. (via)
Library Stories
December 29th, 2006Two stories (one sick, one hilarious) from the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
“‘There are the occasional doozies — such as the woman who called to say her son had gotten a notice his books were overdue, and she wanted us to know that he was deceased and that the books were locked in his apartment because [...]
Sirsi-Dynix Acquired
December 28th, 2006WOW!
“SirsiDynix, the global leader in strategic technology solutions for libraries, announced today it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Vista Equity Partners, a $1 billion private equity firm focused solely on investing in software and technology-enabled businesses.”
Stephen, fill us in.
Tagβulb
December 28th, 2006Tagβulb is a neat application for searching for one tag in numerous engines. Del.icio.us is missing, which is odd, but I like this as a quick way to look up what people are tagging with keywords of interest. Lovely.
I’m not much of a “tagger”, but I use them alot to keep up. (via)
Librarians Interviewed
December 28th, 2006Maryam Scoble interviews: Dr. Hazel Hall, Marydee Ojala, and Karen Blakeman. Yay!
She also interviewed Liz Lawley a few weeks ago. Man, what a name-dropper post this turned out to be.
BTW, I’m totally addicted with Robert Scoble’s link blog. I look forward to his new links more than his blog posts. Heh.
Hefty library fines dog even 5-year-olds
December 28th, 2006This article bothers me in so many ways, I don’t even know what to quote. I’ll go with this:
“The 10-year-old is being held responsible by the Allen County Public Library for $778 in fines and replacement costs of items checked out in his name. The 5-year-old is also facing fines and replacement fees, although [...]
Prospective College Students Receptive to Electronic Social Networking Recruitment Methods
December 28th, 2006I just subscribed to a bunch of customized news feeds and I’m seeing really interesting results coming into my aggregator.
For example, this piece discusses a survey on social networking software and college recruitment.
“The study also found that 63 percent of respondents said they would read a blog authored by a faculty member as a way [...]
Blogging and RSS: A Librarian’s Guide…and other book stuff
December 27th, 2006Michael Sauers’s book came in the mail today (well, yesterday, but I didn’t see that Barbie had put it on the kitchen table - I arrived home really late). I saw a copy at Internet Librarian, but now I have my own. And Michael signed it, which was nice of him. Thanks [...]
Giving Dr. Google The Test
December 25th, 2006A study on “Google Diagnosing”:
“They examined one year’s worth of case records published in the New England Journal of Medicine, without looking at the correct diagnoses. After they selected three to five search terms from the studies, Google came up with information that enabled the doctors to make the correct diagnoses, ones that matched what [...]
In Addition to the Photocopying Machine
December 25th, 2006How about an The Espresso Book Machine:
“On Demand Books LLC. is planning to become the first company to globally deploy a low cost, totally automatic book machine (The Espresso Book Machine), which can produce 15 - 20 library quality paperback books per hour, in any language, in quantities of one, without any human intervention. [...]
College libraries: the condensed version
December 25th, 2006Some great quotes from this piece about print v. digital books and what librarians are faced with.
“Even as the Internet revolution raises the promise of widespread digital publishing, librarians are grappling with deciding which books to keep and figuring out how to efficiently store them — even if no one touches them in a generation. [...]
Now Now
December 24th, 2006Amazon released Askville this week, but it seems that they are working on another Q&A service called NowNow
Easy stuff. Ask a question and get an answer via e-mail. It’s presently in private beta, but I’ve asked for access to test it out. Check out their recent questions here.
(comment on this [...]
BookJetty
December 23rd, 2006I love stuff like this. BookJetty mashes up Amazon and the National Library of Singapore. Run a search and a link to the catalog entry will appear next to each matched book and it will tell you if it is available.
A similar product to check out is Book Burro
(Via Dexly, which is another [...]
Generation M’s Surprising Struggle With Tech Literacy
December 23rd, 2006An interesting piece from the Ecommerce Times:
“‘They’re geeky, but they don’t know what to do with their geekdom,’ said Barbara O’Connor, a Sacramento State communications studies professor involved in a nationwide effort to hone students’ computer-research skills.”
“On a recent nationwide test to measure their technological ‘literacy’ — their ability to use the Internet to [...]
Library Videos
December 23rd, 2006From Nancy Dowd, the librarian who brings us The M Word, comes Library Videos
“This blog will feature all the great library themed videos I come across. I’m always looking for new content so feel free to share your favorites as well!”
Suweeeeeeeet!
(comment on this post)
Stony Brook Health Science Library Wesbite “Joomlaed”
December 21st, 2006News from medlibrarian.net that the Stony Brook Health Science library will undergo a redesign and will implement Joomla. Here’s what Darren Chase is excited about:
‘Joomla is very dynamic: database driven, like the strongest, smartest, friendliest, most megaplusultra blog evah; every page has its own RSS feed; and there are scores of great addons and [...]
Private Blogs in Blogger
December 21st, 2006The “new” Blogger just came out of beta, and one feature struck me as important to libraries who want to keep their blogs private. I’ve been asked this type of question for years and I’m glad that Google implemented it.
(comment on this post)
Tags Everywhere Firefox Extension
December 20th, 2006Ooooh, I love Tags Everywhere. Install the extension and whenever you go to a page, a cloud will display of all del.icio.us tags for that site:
Even better, run a search on any engine and the tags will display underneath each search result!
(The lightning bolts the screenshot above are from Browster)
I have always [...]
Book Error Messages
December 20th, 2006For those who think e-books are the future, try this on for size. (via Wiredfu)
(comment on this post)
Caption This Picture
December 20th, 2006Well, THE Michelle made a cute comment on this picture of Ari playing with my brother’s Motorola Q (I have a Blackberry), so why don’t we bring back “Caption This Picture”. Enjoy!
(Comment on this post)
Resource Center Abstract
December 19th, 2006For my new “Research is Hard” thought process, I’m going to take a good look at this:
“Many students may have only limited knowledge about how to effectively evaluate online resources and use them appropriately. This student perspective on information literacy uses anecdotes, personal examples, and statistics on Net Generation Web usage to highlight gaps [...]
LibraryThing Hanukkah Contest
December 19th, 2006LibraryThng is is having a Hanukkah Contest with pictures from Flickr.
“Post it to Flickr** with the tag “LibraryThingHanukkah,” and we’ll feature our favorite on the blog (and on the home page if we can get our act together). We’ll give you a free gift subscription, for you or someone else.”
I’ve decided to post a video [...]
Academic Library Futures
December 19th, 2006Great piece on the future of acadmic libraries by Roy Tennant:
“Academic libraries might just have a window of opportunity to leap into a future where we add value to our institutions in ways we’ve never imagined before or are only beginning to envision. But that window may already be in the process of slamming shut.
If [...]
Pandora Love
December 19th, 2006More love from Pandora this morning. I’m listening to my second favorite station (Michelle Branch; Hilary Duff being #1) and Pandora throws a double play into my headphones:
1) Getting Even - Guster
2) Don’t Dream It’s Over - Cover of the classic Crowded House tune recorded by Sixpense None The Richer (who BTW, also recorded [...]
The Tyro Librarian
December 19th, 2006Tiffany sent in a link to her blog, The Tyro Librarian:
“This blog is meant to provide the opportunity for a novice librarian to ask questions, receive answers, and display the information for other beginning librarians.”
RSS Feeds from the Library of Congress
December 18th, 2006Word today from the LOC that they have started RSS Feeds. Nice! Enjoy!
The Washington State Library is Rockin’
December 18th, 2006Word from the Belligham Herald today that the Washington State Library has a blog. It;s been live since August, but somehow I’ve missed it in my travels.
Some other cool stuff linked to and from the blog.
The library has a “Documents in the News” section (!!!), which has a feed and is displayed on the [...]
Millions Of Nazi Documents Are Being Made Available To The Public
December 17th, 2006Barbie just e-mailed this to me. 60 Minutes is doing a profile tonight on documents related to the Holocaust being released to the public:
“Seized when Germany fell to the Allies in 1945, the documents were deposited in an archive in the German city of Bad Arolsen and have been tightly controlled for privacy reasons [...]
Inmagic Jumps on the RSS Bandwagon
December 17th, 2006Great news from Connie Crosby. Inmagic will soon have RSS capabilities.
New Page For Wikinomics
December 15th, 2006If you are as excited about Wikinomics as I am, you’ll be thrilled about the new site for the book, launched today.
There is now a blog (which has posts back to Dec 11th), a page dedicated to a wiki (which hasn’t launched yet), and other interesting features.