Libology Blog

A group at Middlebury College is working on open-source search tools that, rather than rely on keywords, attempt to deal with the query semantically.  The Semantic Indexing Project goes beyond the “Ask Jeeves” (don’t you kind of miss him?) experience, attempting to automatically recognize synonyms and groupings related to the words in the query.

They are releasing a desktop search appliance in the near future, which may shed light on how far they have been able to progress.  Combine this with good speech recognition, and we may see the Enterprise’s computer (the Next Generation version) not to far down the road.

from NewsForge

Librarians’ Internet Index has installed the Siderian faceted search appliance, and it is a fantastic experience. Think “results clustering”, but more librarian-friendly. Don’t take my word for it, go there and try out a search or two.

An excellent way to narrow your search, as well as understand what other avenues are available.

from ResourceShelf

Daniel Chudnov, aka One Big Library has a review of the private beta version of Zotero, and man, does he like it!

I am very eager to see what this piece of software can do!  Watch for the public beta of Zotero, it may change the way you do research!

The next generation Firefox browser is one step closer to general release.  Release candidates mean that they still expect to find a few bugs, but that they will be fewer and less obtrusive.  In other words, if you want to see what the future of Firefox is going to be, now is the time to try it out!

from Mozilla Dot Org

The Free Dictionary is much, much more than just a word lookup.  Do you know how a word ends, but not the beginning?  Look it up here!  Computer terms?  Medicine?  Acronyms?  All in one place!  Need to cite your results for a paper?  The Free Dictionary will do that as well.
from BiblioTech Web

p.s. this is my 100th post!  Not too shabby for a start!

OpenOffice.org, the open source office suite that gives Microsoft Office a run for it’s money (no pun intended), will soon be able to have its features expanded by the use of Extensions.

Extensions are small, add-on programs created by developers to add functionality to a particular program. The best known use of this is in the Firefox browser, of which I am a regular user.

The extensions I use with that program are the Groowe toolbar (think Google toolbar, then add a dozen or more additional sites to search) and the HTML Validator toolbar, which has been extremely valuable in my web design projects. There are hundreds more.

No word as to what types of extensions might become available, but I am sure that it will change the way people approach the program.

from OSDir

From the Pew Internet & American Life Project comes a report titled The Future of the Internet II, a look at what people think might happen between now and 2020 (a little over 13 years — think about trying to predict today’s technology and communications from the vantage point of 1993).

Look through the report, note how it reflects a lot of the hopes and fears of today. There are sections on terrorism (by Luddites), debates over privacy issues, and the issue of language dominance. Think also between the lines… what big things are we likely to not predict easily. What trends might exist that we as a society don’t see clearly? Here lies the next generation of successful tech startups.

After that, check out Imagining the Internet, an interactive site that contains the database of responses that form the report, as well as areas to add your own predictions and comments.

from ResourceShelf

The Encyclopedia of Earth is a web-based, well there you went and guessed it, encyclopedia of articles relating to Earth science.

Their primary purpose is to have a collaborative resource (think Wikipedia) that is also authoritative.  To ensure the latter, they screen their contributors, allowing only those judged qualified by their panel.

For additional information on the same range of topics, check out another project by the same group:  Earth Portal.

from Open Access News

I think it is a sign of just how much of an impact open source software and free web applications are having on the tech world:  Microsoft is thinking of turning it’s Works Suite into a free web application.

A few years ago, this wouldn’t have been considered.  A subscription service, yes.  Free, no.

Now there exists a variety of free web apps, including Google Spreadsheets, ThinkFree Office, Writely (acquired by Google last spring), NumSum, and many others, allowing people to bypass installing office suites on their computers, at least for basic word processing and spreadsheet activities.  Microsoft has to worry about becoming irrelevant in the one area it still clearly dominates.

from Monkey Bites.

ComputerWorld is reporting that Google is looking into OpenSolaris to replace Linux as the server operating system that forms the backbone of the search engine.

This could get interesting; I have been wondering how broad the use of OpenSolaris would become since Sun spun off an open-source version of their operating system.

from OSDir

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Contra Costa County library is within its rights to bar worship services in its public meeting rooms, and that the library is, in the ruling’s terms, a “limited forum” (news article).

Their take is that the type of activity taking place in the library’s space can be restricted, as long as the restriction is not based on the point of view of the group holding the activity. If the library were to ban one group’s worship service while allowing a different group’s service, that would be a violation of the First Amendment. According to the ruling, this case falls under the rights of the library to set policies for the use of their facilities.

I personally tend to lean towards greater expression under the First Amendment, whether that expression consists of Speech, Religion, Assembly, or the Press in its varied forms (including blogs). As long as an activity is done in a legal and open manner, yet is not forced upon any other patrons, the library is a stronger place for allowing it. This goes for many activities, from Role-Playing Games, to craft workshops, to club meetings.

What are the limits, though? Does a library need to open itself to any and all activities? Should they attempt to exclude certain areas of social interaction from their facilities? Can these limits make their role stronger, or just more limited?

Lots of questions, and I don’t know the answers. Perhaps I’ll write more about this in a day or two….

Here is the Pdf file of the appeal (59 pages).

Here is the Audio File of the appeal (1 hour, 6 minutes).

This list is from Rachel, aka The Liminal Librarian. The comments add a great deal of information beneficial to those of us who present, as well as those of us who organize conferences.

At this moment, it is too much information for me (RFS is one week away, and nothing seems ready), but it will be reviewed as part of my approach for next year’s conference.

from Librarian.net

Described as “Your Source for Business Knowledge”, GlobalEdge has profiles of 197 countries which include currency converters, articles and essays on a variety of topics, and an Academy section designed to let instructors to use this site as part of their classes.

This is a good addition to the CIA’s World Factbook site as a souce for international information.

from ResouceDesk

An interesting add-on for both Internet Explorer and Firefox: The Zoho Writer Quickread Plugin.

Zoho Writer is one of the web-based word processors that have been cropping up lately. The Quickread plugin alllows one to read Microsoft Word documents within your browser — without opening them on your computer. Quickread works via a right-click on the file’s link.

This could be a good add-on for public access computers when you don’t want a full word processing program available on the machine.

from TechCrunch

Cornell University has a collection of historical literature on witchcraft, including confessions of accused witches, debates about scripture and witchcraft, and instructions for those investigating possible witchcraft.

from ResourceShelf (end of post)

Gale has posted some free resources relating to Hispanic Heritage, including biographies, timelines, and holidays.

See their other free resources, as well.

from ResourceShelf

A new report is out from the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme that is best described by its full title:

Risks Associated with the Use of Recordable CDs and DVDs as Reliable Storage Media in Archival Collections - Strategies and Alternatives (pdf)

The report contains good information for any library that is storing, or considering storing, digital information on CDs or DVDs for any length of time.

from ResourceShelf

Here is a distance calculator that takes the concept a step further than Google Maps or Mapquest… it recognizes location names other than address information.

Think in terms of buildings, statues, monuments, etc. Want to see how long of a walk it is between the Library of Congress and the Lincoln Memorial? This is where you can easily find the answer!

from ResourceShelf

Two more sites found in the realm of Open Access Textbooks, and one has bought the other:

Freeload Press has bought Textbook Revolution in order to further their cause to bring a wider range of open access textbooks to students regardless of their financial resources.

Check these sites out, and note that this is a trend that will be making waves over the next few years.

from Open Access News

Has it been a year already???  Tuesday, September 19th is the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Here is my favorite pirate computer accessory.

from Catalogablog