Archive for January, 2007
Good Reads
January 31st, 2007Yet another books/reading social network site.
Bringo
January 31st, 2007I’m going to have to try Bringo the next time I call West or Lexis and get lost in a phone tree and want to talk to a human. Just give them your number and they will navigate the tree for you and give you a call back when they have a human on [...]
Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes
January 31st, 2007You may notice some changes on LS over the next few days. After years of being a hardcore Blogger user , we will be switiching over to Wordpress. Everything is implemented, and the DNS stuff is making the rounds on the Internets, so if you don’t see it yet, be patient.
Also, no need [...]
Caption This Photo
January 30th, 2007 The Squeeze Originally uploaded by The Ambulance.
It’s a “story”, of a man named Brady…
Page2RSS
January 29th, 2007I’m back in Keeping Current mode these days, wanting to come up with some case studies on a "How-To-Do-It-Good" approach. One tool that I have been playing with is Page2RSS, which basically takes any static URL and creates a feed with any new changes in that page. A great idea, theoretically. The one problem it [...]
The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery
January 29th, 2007Blah, blah, blah, stereotype, blah, blah, blah.
"In The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery (the first in a series), Northern Irish writer Ian Sansom introduces us to a wonderful lead character in Israel Armstrong. He’s pudgy, frumpy, a little boorish, and bookish. Well, of course, he’s bookish, he’s a librarian … [...]
Westlaw on Google Blog Search
January 28th, 2007I’ve never noticed this before. Apparently, Google Blog search is indexing articles from Westlaw which clearly are not blogs. Most of this stuff comes from the NYT.
How odd and not very useful. They also seem to be indexing alerts set up on Westclips. Even more useless.
Get Off My Train!!
January 22nd, 2007Yesterday, I returned 3 overdue books to my local library. As I handed the 10 dollar bill over to the clerk, I thought:
I wonder if she will DDR-off me for it.
Then the thought quickly subsided as there was a long line behind me whose attendees wanted to check their books out and go home. [...]
Get a First Life!
January 21st, 2007Rochelle should get a kick out of this one.
Brian Smith links to Get a First Life. Hilarious.
Go Eric Go!
January 21st, 2007My cousin, Eric Komar is a genius. Not only does he speak a slew of languages, but he’s an amazing musician. His songs, half of which are in Hebrew, focus on contemporary Jewish issues with a tinge of the traditional.
His second CD, Two Life, is being released next week at a [...]
Google Doesn’t “Get” Librarians…Again.
January 19th, 2007According to CNET, Google is now talking openly with book publishers. Which means one thing. They will probably start a blog for the book publishing industry. Well, they did it for librarians, just in time for ALA Midwinter.
I’m not a fan of the Google Librarian Center for one important reason: The history [...]
Quiz Time
January 17th, 2007Not library-related.
On what TV show did the song, How to Save a Life (by the Fray) first appear? The first commenter to guess correctly gets a prize. It’s not what you’re thinking.
Update - Thanks for taking part. In looking at the comments, I decided to do some research. According to [...]
What Art Garfunkel Reads
January 15th, 2007Bookslut links to a page of every book Art Garfunkel has read since 1968. I’m impressed and jealous, now having wished I started a list back when I first started my “serious” reading. Not too late, I guess.
Library Decides Not to Close to Thwart Rowdiness
January 15th, 2007So, it turns out that that the Maplewood Library Board’s decision to close the library was successfull.
Not that they will close (they won’t), but the initial decision got the attention of the community members and efforts were taken in an attempt to solve the problem.
Win, Win!
I applaud the library for making their unpopular decision. [...]
Caption This Photo
January 14th, 2007
Punishment
Originally uploaded by runminrun.
Talk about Reading trash at the library
Jim was so embarrased about his fines…
Westlaw Stress Toy
January 13th, 2007My boss, Ray Jassin, sent me this hilarious video. I’m not sure if it’s an "official" Westlaw ad, but it’s really funny.
Footnote.com
January 12th, 2007News from Smart Mobs today on the launch of Footnote, a neat site that apparently lets users annotate public document.
I’d play with it more if I didn’t have to pay to play.
Still, a cool research tool. And they’ve RSSified it.
American Libraries and Public Libraries Get Some Well Deserved Press
January 12th, 2007The Contra Costa Times has a piece on the two publications. Hopefully, the article will make Meredith Farkas smile, as she’s probably not doing much of that lately. Hang in there girl and congrats on the quote. Well deserved.
More from Gather.com
January 11th, 2007Gather.com loves the book industry.
From AP:
“A major US book publisher is hoping its new Web-based writing contest can tap into the popularity of interactive competitions like hit television show “American Idol.”
As part of the “First Chapters” contest, aspiring first-time authors and members of www.gather.com can post manuscripts on that social-networking Web site, organizers from publisher [...]
Borders And Gather.com Team Up
January 9th, 2007From AP:
“Borders Group, Inc. and Gather.com have announced a joint project in which shoppers at the superstore chain can click on to the social media Web site and share their thoughts on books, music and other entertainment.
“The power of social networking and social media is changing the way companies interact with their customers,” Gather.com CEO [...]
Cite Bite
January 9th, 2007Wowza!! Cite Bite is the coolest tool I’ve seen since Tags Everywhere.
Check this out. Grab a quote from any page, provide the URL, and, like magic, a direct link to the highlighted quote is provided. I’ve grabbed the firefox extension and will be using this alot.
Uh! Muh! Guhd!
ConnectViaBooks
January 8th, 2007Yet another social network site built around books
It’s been around for a while, but, according to the blog, stagnant in development.
Rotel Calls Us Out
January 7th, 2007An abosulte gem from Rochelle Hartman this evening. Read the whole thing.
“I really do value being part of such a caring, communicative community, but some days, it feels like more of a beige suburb where everything looks good, even though you know there’s more going on than meets the eye.”
After just watching Desparate Housewives, [...]
Who Needs Books?
January 7th, 2007Jon Swift sent in his write-up on the Fairfax library situation. It’s a very long post and an interesting read. Jon is a self-proclaimed “reasonable conservative”, which is enough to make most librarians cringe. That said, I’ve always thought that in order to have a firm grasp on your own views, it’s [...]
RSS feeds from MIT Catalog
January 7th, 2007MIT Libraries now have RSS feeds for new additions to their catalog.
La-La-Librarian has more:
“Some cool things about this are, you can use a feed reader if you prefer but you don’t have to. For those users who don’t care to subscribe, they can view a list of hyper linked titles that bring them to the [...]
Social Networking and Teens
January 7th, 2007New from Pew:
“A social networking site is an online place where a user can create a profile and build a personal network that connects him or her to other users. In the past five years, such sites have rocketed from a niche activity into a phenomenon that engages tens of millions of internet users. More [...]
More on Fairfax Libraries
January 5th, 2007Davin sent me this statement from the Fairfax Library director:
“Recent media reports have misled readers to believe that we’ve eliminated all copies of classic titles from our branches. This could not be further from the truth. Although we occasionally have to trim the number of copies we offer in a particular branch, we definitely [...]
EPA Libraries Summary
January 5th, 2007For those who want backgorund information on the closing of the EPA libraries, take a look at the Congressional Research Service Report entitled, “Restructuring EPA’s Libraries: Background and Issues for Congress.” (via Secrecy News)
Buy Yor Town!
January 5th, 2007I read this morning about a new site called OnTheMap US, which will allow you to “claim” a town for $100. Only one person can claim a town and a page for that town will be assisgned with the claimer having full authority to put anything on that page. For example, here is [...]
Library Discarding Opportunity?
January 4th, 2007Malcolm Pollack, a fellow ex-Pubsuber, sent me this piece from the WSJ. It argues that libraries should try to avoid being like Amazon and other big retail stores.
“If public libraries attempt to compete in this environment, they will increasingly be seen for what Fairfax County apparently envisions them to be: welfare programs for middle-class [...]