Libology Blog

The 2008 Presidential Election Search Engine is a Google Custom Search Engine created by the University of Kansas Library.

It is a great resource in that one can find the needles of information in the haystack of campaign rhetoric.

found via “Organizing the 2008 Presidential Election”, from College and Resource Libraries, October 2008, p. 540.

The Great Pandemic : The United States in 1918-1919 is a single resource on a specific topic, but it presents it very well.  Created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it focuses on personal stories from influenza survivors, telling the story of the outbreak from its origins in Haskell County, Kansas through its worldwide spread.

If you are not familiar with this event, this is a great place to start.  If you are familiar, this is a great review and a way to introduce this important historical event to others.

found via ResourceShelf

UNdata is a search tool for the many informational databases that the United Nations maintains. It is straightforward, easy to use, and effective in attaining what you need.

If only the UN as a whole worked so well
via OSDir

Census Atlas of the United States is the first publication of a “comprehensive atlas of population and housing produced by the Census Bureau since the 1920s.” The maps are beautiful and easy to use, although I doubt that an atlas of 314 pages can be properly called “comprehensive” when it comes to mapping census data. Oh… you noticed the price tag of $165.

Well, why not try out the free online edition? You get all the maps, and you only need a decent download speed (the chapters range from 3 to 21 MB).

Actually, what I would love to see is a full-blown Web 2.0 version of this resource. Imagine picking out your criteria from drop menus, choosing the scale of maps (full country, state, county, or city), and generating a map on the fly within your browser. I could think of quite a few maps that I would love to generate with that type of web site.

For good examples of what style of mapping web sites I am talking about check out ChicagoCrime.org or Trulia.

found via ResourceShelf

Free-Reading is “an ‘open-source’ instructional program that helps teachers teach early reading.” Aimed at Kindergarten/First Grade learners, it is a collaborative means to establish an education program that combines the strengths of those who work on the project, and makes it available to teachers and organizations via a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license.

Oh, and the State of Florida just added this program to their list of approved textbooks. Not only can they save a significant amount of funds that would otherwise be spent on texts, the class materials will be current and likely to be updated by a wide variety of professional educators.

found via Open Access News

This announcement by the Indiana State Library and the Hussey Mayfield Memorial Public Library in Zionsville is significant : they aim to make Indiana the third statewide implementation of the Evergreen ILS, assuming that it meets their needs.

Third??? Well, they missed second by two days… the Michigan Evergreen Project was also announced.

from the open-ils blog

additional note:  Karen Schneider has a great overview of the variety of current Evergreen projects

I am a bit of a political junkie… and it generally won’t spill over onto this blog. However, one resource that I have found very interesting when examining Ohio and New Hampshire results has been Google Maps coverage of the primaries. They haven’t committed to doing all 50 states, but the service has been popular, and I suspect that they will continue at least as long as the nominations are in play. As for November… who knows??

• Google LatLong Blog entry
• Iowa page
• New Hampshire page

found via Search Engine Land

USA.gov Mobile is a great little search tool for government web pages and toll-free numbers (and it is well designed for your PC, even though it is made for mobile browsers).

found via ResourceShelf

Library of Congress’ Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control released their Draft Report (Pdf) today, and are requesting that people review and comment on their recommendations between now and December 15th.

This promises to be one of the most influential documents in librarianship, influencing the choices and direction of our technology and cataloging for years to come. I have only read their cover letter (Pdf) so far, but I encourage anyone with an interest in the future of libraries, information, and how we will interact with it to download it, read it, think about it, discuss it, and comment.

found out via Next Generation Catalogs for Libraries (NGC4Lib) listserv

Three items have caught my eye this past week, and they all point in the same direction, even though they each are about something fairly specific:

1. First was an article about a bill working its way through the Ohio General Assembly. If passed as is, it would mandate that all state schools must provide via. their libraries two copies of every textbook used in their classes. The cost, in todays textbook market, would start in the hundreds of thousands. (received via the OhioLink-gen listserv)
2. Next was an article in ars technica about the federal education bill that would require colleges and universities to police their networks in order to prevent file sharing. (I wonder if universities will be able to allow legal file sharing at the same time? Some don’t, apparently.) The bill would also mandate that colleges and universities provide an alternate means of acquiring copyrighted files… meaning that they would need to partner with music subscription services. (found on The Patry Copyright blog )
3. Last was an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education detailing a project that works to provide textbooks to people in developing countries. These include donated used texts, but the focus is increasingly moving towards free and open textbooks available online. (found on Open Access News )

Put these together and what do you get? An incredible amount of pressure, financially and legally, placed on educational institutions to move towards open access. If a significant number of texts in use on a campus are available as open access, the issue of providing them becomes more a matter of format (print vs. screen) than of anything else. Look at the costs involved for policing and providing copyrighted materials. Open texts, as well as other open access media, will look very attractive to those who have to implement these laws (assuming they pass).

Think of squeezing a watermelon seed between two fingers… at some point it will move in a particular direction, and very quickly. Be prepared….

WebWISER is an online access point for WISER, which stands for Wireless Information Sytem for Emergency Responders.  This database of information on hazardous materials is maintained by the National Library of Medicine, and can be used to both find information on known materials, as well as to assist in identifying unknown materials.

WISER is designed to provide Emergency Responders, such as Police, Fire, and Medical personnel, quick information about a wide range of chemicals and their dangers.  Mobile phones, pdas, computers, and the internet can all be used to access the database.

Not only is WISER in its various flavors a great site for reference questions, it should be a part of any organization’s disaster plan, and people should be prepared so they can access it whenever the need arises.  A tutorial is also available.

found via ResourceShelf

American FactFinder is a lookup service from the U.S. Census Bureau that will provide a decent snapshot of statistical information for a given geographical area.  Enter your zip code, city or county and there you go!

found in the third comment to this MetaFilter post

OpenStreetMap is a U.K.-based project that fulfills a great need:  an open, collaborative mapping project.  Ever find an error in MapQuest, Google Maps, or Yahoo Maps?  Can’t do much about it, can you?  OpenStreetMap will be able to be updated and corrected by their user base, and will be available for free, as in both beer and speech.  Think of it in terms of Wikipedia, which also illustrates the possibilities for errors and abuse, as well.

They have just jump-started their U.S. mapping effort with mapping information from the U.S. Census Bureau.  They have a long way to go, but with some local effort from people across the country, they could be a serious contender for our mapping needs.

Check out your local area to see what they have, and what they still need for their maps.

found on Linux.com

There is a bill being voted upon by the U.S. Senate on October 15th which will potentially open up a great deal of research being done with National Institute of Health (NIH) funding.  The bill will mandate that the public (as well as other researchers) have access to research funded through grants by the NIH.  Similar language has already passed a House vote in a budget bill, and so if this is approved in the Senate it is likely to become law.

The ALA has an easy to use site to allow people to send e-mails to their senators (just enter your zip code), and Digital Scholarship has some well-phrased suggestions for the text.  I did my own summary, after reading through the above pages.  Use if you like, but think about how you could state it in your own words, as well:

Dear Senator xxxxx:

As a library staff member, a blogger, and a U.S. citizen, I feel strongly that government sponsored research should be as open and available for everyone’s benefit as possible. This will lead to greater understanding of health issues, and will assist in focusing research more effectively in the future, which will save time, money, and lives. Open Access is the most effective way to do this with the NIH research.

For further information, the resources and talking points at http://www.digital-scholarship.org/other/nihtext.htm contain a great deal of merit. Also, Peter Suber’s website has excellent information: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm

Thank you for your consideration on this important topic.
 
Sincerely,
Rick Mason
xxx-xxx-xxxx
Library Support Staff blog
http://blog.librarysupportstaff.org/

AltLaw.org, according to the site, “is a joint project of Columbia Law School’s Program on Law and Technology, and the Silicon Flatirons Program at the University of Colorado Law School.”  The site’s purpose:  to allow the user to search case law for the U.S. Supreme Court and Circuit Appeals Courts.

It is easy to use, and lets you choose to display the court rulings either in plain text, or you can see the nicely formatted Pdf version.

discovered via Open Access News

Deceptive Copyright Notices is a post by Karen Coyle post about those notices that restrict the reader’s/viewer’s rights beyond what is allowable under copyright, and an interesting complaint filed with the FTC.

Also included is a neat reversal of the FBI notice that we all see on videotapes and dvds:

WARNING. Federal law allows citizens to reproduce, distribute, or exhibit portions of copyright motion pictures, video tapes, or video discs under certain circumstances without authorization of the copyright holder. This infringement of copyright is called “Fair use” and is allowed for purposes of criticism, news reporting, teaching, and parody.

In a way, it makes more sense to emphasize what people can do, as opposed to what they shouldn’t, don’t you think? 

The Diary of Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraqi National Library and Archive is available via the British Library website.  In the diary, Dr. Eskander details the day-to-day challenges faced by the library staff as they attempt to do their work, and live their lives, in what has to be one of the most challenging environments for librarianship.

found on MetaFilter

The British Government has rejected an extension of copyright beyond the current 50 year term.  This is interesting for a few reasons, including the impending rush of British Invasion music becoming royalty-free, but mostly because it may signal a sea change in the world’s approach to copyright terms.

It is far from over, however, as music publisher’s and musicians are working to pass EU legislation to extend protection beyond the current limits.

found on The Patry Copyright Blog

WorldWideScience.org is a federated search tool for science resources sponsored by The British Library, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information, and eight other participating countries.  It searches 15 science portals and combines the results for your researching pleasure.

found on ResourceShelf

Lawrence Lessig, chair of Creative Commons, writer for Wired Magazine, and much much more, has announced that he is changing the course of his life, and will be attempting to champion the cause of a democratic society.  Don’t read my wholly  inadequate summary, however:  he words it quite eloquently.

from lessig blog