Libology Blog

I noticed when reviewing my server statistics that one of my entries was run through Google Translate.  Curiosity being what it is, I called up the page:

When I realized that the post was about (see it here in English), I wondered if the humor would translate properly and if the reader would understand the nature of the post.  Low key tongue-in-cheek humor doesn’t tend to translate well.

I don’t think I will change my approach, but it was interesting enough to share.

I have loaded another piece of library software on Libology : OpenBiblio.  It is an open source ILS (Integrated Library System) designed for schools, churches, and smaller libraries.

I am impressed with it so far.  It doesn’t have a lot, but what is there works fast, and the software seems very stable. It has circulation, cataloging, and administrative modules, as well as a basic reporting tool.  You can see the main screen here (although you need a login to actually go into the modules themselves… if you are curious, I can set you up with something temporary… let me know)

Most of all, it is written in php and runs on a mysql database, meaning that I can modify pretty much any part of it, given time and incentive.  I have a desire to update the Opac most of all:  it is table-based, and I know that it could be much more flexible and usable (not to mention standards compliant) with some adaptation.  Can you say microformats?

There are currently about 1800 items in the collection, which belongs to a church which is tired of paying a three-figure annual support fee for 10-year-old software.  The collection consists primarily of Christian materials, so keep that in mind when you check out the Opac.

One area of scholarly research that I enjoy following is Therapeutic Massage.  Having taken an introductory class taught by an excellent instructor, as well as enjoying regular sessions, I have found the benefits to be many.

So it is a pleasure to see an overlap between my massage interest and libraries with the forthcoming introduction of the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork : Research, Education, & Practice by the Massage Therapy Foundation.

I used to keep up with a couple of the journals in this field, but since changing jobs have not had access to them.  The added bonus of this journal’s Open Access format will let me keep up with new ideas and studies via the web.

found via Open Access News

Microsoft announced today that they are shutting down their book digitization project.

They also announced that the Live Search Books site will be shut down sometimes next week.

This is a disappointment in that I was hoping that the competition factor would push both Microsoft and Google to extend their respective projects further and further, thereby making that which we could access better and better.  Hopefully both Google and the Internet Archive keep up the good work, and that we reach the point where books are as easy to locate and access online as are many other forms of information (such as news, journals, etc.).

from TechCrunch

OCLC and Google are exchanging parts of their data in a way that will likely change the way we view full-text scanned books:

• Google is providing linking information to OCLC in order to make Google Book Search items discoverable through WorldCat.
• OCLC is providing their cataloging records via libraries who are members of the Google Book Project in order to enhance Google Book Search, primarily by linking directly to WorldCat records.

I doubt that it will be long before this will be able to be used to enhance library OPACS.

found via ResourceShelf

(and the post title refers to this commercial)

I will definitely be attending the One Big Library Unconference next month in Toronto! I am enthusiastic about this, as it has been nearly a year since I have attended a conference, and I have been very curious about the unconference format. Having worked with Reaching Forward South for a few years, experiencing a participant-organized conference will be a big change.

This (un)conference is, partly because of it’s broad theme, a close fit for much of what fascinates me these days. Unstated, but implied, is the idea that the larger and more distinguished libraries need to join the tiny, underfunded community and special libraries in a way that the world as a whole can benefit. This is a challenging concept, and one that will strongly shape the library world in years to come.

Oh, yes… they’re in Facebook, too.

Eric Leese Morgan has updated his workshop notes for XML in Libraries : A Workshop.  This is as good an overview of XML for library staff as I have seen anywhere.

found via Catalogablog

…can be found right here!

In a brief essay titled Orphan Works:  A Rant, posted on ©ollecanea, Kenny Crews presents an interestingly common example of how a common encounter results in an orphan work.

“…I kindly handed the camera to a total stranger, requesting a photo of the whole gang. The stranger complied, took a picture, and handed that camera back to me. I might own the camera and stored image, but the tourist who just drifted back to Iowa composed the picture and evidently under the law owns the copyright.”

It is extremely unlikely to become an issue for those of us who are on either side of the camera in this situation, but the potential is there.  An absolute stickler for copyright would need to have a release form handy, or limit their use of the photo to that allowed under the fair use section.

Now we understand that these situations reflect a favor without any expectation of payment, but it is interesting that in the current legal environment we would need to recognize these possibilities.  What if it were to turn out that one of the people was (or is about to become) famous, and the photograph is later featured on the cover of a national magazine?  Then the photographer might become interested in the fine points of copyright law.

Think of Infochimps.org as not only a wikipedia of data sets, but as potentially the greatest data mash-up tool yet.

Imagine having loads of census, weather, sports, and other statistical data available in one big database.  Then standardize the fields so that you can interconnect the data sets with each other.  From the Infochimps site:

“A central, community-driven repository solves these problems and presents amazing possibilities. Once we interconnect the datasets along concepts they share, instead of 100,000 datasets, there’s just one. Study the physics of baseball by comparing the hourly weather during every single baseball game to game outcomes. Uncover political campaign irregularities by comparing neighborhood per-capita income, historical voter trends, and public campaign finance records. Plan real-estate decisions based on what news-and-other-media keywords rank highly in each area.”

Still don’t see the possibilities?  Browse through the datasets that are already loaded.  Then check out what is coming in the near future.  This will likely be the first place we will want to go for statistical information, as long as it is fast and easy to extract what we need.  I am looking forward to seeing what they (or some other enterprising web designers) come up with to work with data on the web.

(does this sound vaguely familiar?  you might be thinking of Freebase.com, previously discussed here)

found via Open Access News

APML stands for Attention Profiling Markup Language.  Its purpose is to permit a standardized way to gather and transfer your interests from site to site across the web.  It is built using XML, and is definitely a new technology that may or may not catch on.  It could become an important element of using the web, because of the benefits it offers to users.

For example, Amazon.com tracks what you purchase, what is on your wish list, and even what you view (while logged in).  If you incorporated this into your APML file (which could be stored with an online service, on your computer or flash drive, etc.) your interests could be applied to other APML-compatable websites.

This has the potential, as with much web 2.0 technology, of creating privacy issues and complications.  It also could save users an incredible amount of time and effort, as resources relating to their interests would gain relevance and become much easier to find.  Think of the potential for searching news sites, link services such as Digg, and many other specialized discovery tools.

And yes, as John Fudrow suggests, it has a lot of potential for libraries.  Imagine how our users could benefit from this, especially when you add “suggested by others who liked this” and other social connectivity tools.

Most of us have been in a restaurant when someone is celebrating a birthday.  In many chain restaurants, the wait staff will gather around the table and sing a song to the celebrant.  It usually isn’t “Happy Birthday to You” however, as the lyrics are still protected under copyright.

The George Washington University Law School has a page with links to an exhaustive amount of information on the background of the song’s copyright history.

The history of the lyrics, the music that goes with them, and the copyright is a confusing mesh of publishing, litigation, and royalties.  You have been warned.

The history of all this is also fascinating, and a good example of how complex it can be to determine copyright issues for even the worlds most popular song (according to the Guinness Book of World Records, according to Wikipedia with a “citation needed” note).

from The Patry Copyright Blog

On April 22nd, Unshelved ran a comic strip that, among other things, gave a tip of the hat to Peanuts. I was inspired and spent a few minutes of my lunch hour rearranging the letters via cut and paste. I had to get a bit creative (please don’t look too closely at the “u”), but it came out well.

I just received word that Bill and Gene and the rest of the Unshelved gang are fine with the revised strip being posted, so here it is:

Modified and posted with permission, (c) 2008 Overdue Media LLC. www.unshelved.com .

Thanks Jana! 

Unicode has recently become the top website character encoding in the world, according to Google.  The point is driven home in this chart.

Even if you do not use foreign languages or encoding on your web sites, Unicode should be the default encoding for anything you create for the web.  It puts everyone on the same (web) page, so to speak.

Karen Coyle writes about what is needed for the libraries of the world that don’t have the resources needed to install and use a full-featured integrated library system (ILS).

There must be a minor psychic link involved (don’t worry Karen, your secrets are safe with me! ), because just a few minutes before she posted this I was explaining to someone the benefits of a fully online ILS that would allow libraries to get by using only an internet connection. There are a few (very few) systems that follow this philosophy, and I am looking through them to see if any are fully fleshed out. I will post what I find out.

RFID, which stands for Radio Frequency Identification, is currently the leading edge in managing inventories  and supply chains of items in a variety of industries, as well as acting as a personal identification device.  It is used in many situations, from retail warehouses, to highway toll collections, and even in libraries.

Post-it notes are a particular brand of notepads that have a coating of adhesive along the edge of each sheet of paper, allowing the user to stick them to nearly anything.  Yes, even in libraries.

And now, some bright group of researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have combined the two to create a new way to use each of these technologies.

MIT Reinvents the Post-It note… with Post-It notes

I don’t see it doing much for libraries, but it is an interesting technology mashup!

found via LISNews