Library Automation Information

Posted on 22 March 2009 by Rick Mason

It is nearly time for Marshall Breeding’s annual Automation Systems Marketplace report, published in the April 1st edition of Library Journal.  This is as comprehensive and informative a report on the software we use to organize and present our collections as exists, and it portrays trends within the library community.

Paired with his announcement, however, was a request for library staff to review their listing on lib-web-cats, an online database of libraries, their basic directory information, and the software packages they use.  Find your library, review the information, and add / update / remove any information needed to make your listing current.

encountered on GuidePosts

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Art Resources

Posted on 22 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Here are two art resources which can be the starting point for many art-related questions:

These are very complementary sites which, together, provide an amazing breadth and depth of information for those interested in art history.

found on MetaFilter

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MathTV

Posted on 22 March 2009 by Rick Mason

MathTV is a collection of video tutorials, ranging from basic mathematical concepts to complex calculus applications, meant to assist students by providing a demonstration of how to work a type of problem.

This is a great resource for anyone needing a refresher on a particular mathematical concept.

A video from the main page of the site:

found via MetaFilter

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TicTOCs in the OPAC

Posted on 19 March 2009 by Rick Mason

File this as a future wish-list item for your online catalog:

There is a new and interesting way to connect an OPAC search result for a journal to the full-text journal articles, and it is called ticTOC.  The application of this shows just how effective a well thought out mashup can be.

Last December, I ran across a blog post on RSS4Lib about the TicToc project, which has been in existence for a couple of years, but had just officially launched. I never got around to posting it, but I made a point to watch for further information.

TicTOC provides, via an RSS feed, the table of contents for the current issue of whatever journal you search for.  There are currently over 12,000 journals included in their service.  Read the RSS4Lib post (above) for a more detailed description.

There is now at least one library, Wageningen UR Digital Library in the Netherlands,  that has created a mashup in their OPAC that shows just how powerfully this can enhance an OPAC search.

Locate a journal using their e-journal search, or go straight to the result screen for the Journal of zoology : proceedings of the zoological society of London.

  1. Click on “Show recent articles” on the right side of the screen.
  2. To display an article’s abstract in the OPAC, click on “Show abstract”.
  3. To get to the full text of an article, click on the title of the article, then click the full text link on the publisher’s site.

Two clicks from the journal result in the opac to the full text of an article in the current issue.  I am not sure what would need to be done to deal with proxys and journal databases, but for articles retrieved through the publisher’s web site, this is very straightforward and useful.

This appears to be a great service, and the Wageningen UR Library has done a fantastic job in creating the mashup.  I look forward to seeing how this is integrated into other collections.

found via RSS4Lib

Posted in Libraries, Library 2.0, Online Services, OPAC, Periodicals, Search, Web Design, WebSearch | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

16mm Films on AV Geeks

Posted on 17 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Remember those 16mm films from your school days?  Well, at least some of them have been saved from dumpsters and archived on the A/V Geeks website for online viewing.  As a former high school A/V Geek myself, this warms my heart.

They even have the perfect film to show people what things were like before personal computers and OPACs and such: Library Science Triggers.

There is no description, so I can only assume that this was created to let library staff know what not to do when working a public desk (“You know where the card catalog is!!” and “I’m sorry sir, but I don’t make the rules!”).

found via MetaFilter

Update: A brief description has been added, letting the viewer know that these videos are meant to “trigger” discussions amongst the viewers.

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Pathways to Innovation and Inclusion

Posted on 16 March 2009 by Rick Mason

NASA’s Inclusion and Innovations Council has released a follow-up to Barriers to Innovation and Inclusion (link goes to my post containing the embedded video) which shows ways to encourage innovation and inclusion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5nA8LX7TMw

Again, I think that the lessons from this group are applicable to any organization in need of innovation.  As you watch the video, think about how you respond to others, and what you can change to encourage ideas from people.

One of the examples is of what they call “servant leadership”, the idea that supervisors should put their efforts into making it easier for those within their areas to innovate.  I see what I have called a “flat” hierarchy, which is the idea that we all should do what we can to make an idea fly, regardless of what our job description says.

found via Wayne Hale’s blog – read his entry for a prime example of the cost of discouraging someone on the brink of innovation.

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Map of Knowledge

Posted on 16 March 2009 by Rick Mason

The Map of Knowledge is a visualization of the interconnectedness of various scientfic disciplines.  From the PloS ONE article:

Over the course of 2007 and 2008, we collected nearly 1 billion user interactions recorded by the scholarly web portals of some of the most significant publishers, aggregators and institutional consortia.

High-quality images of the map.

found via posts by William (Bill) Drew and Robert L. Balliot on the Web4Lib list

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Print vs. Electronic

Posted on 16 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Notes from last month’s OLE (Open Library Environment) Regional Workshop are on LibShare, and they are interesting to scan through, especially the comments.

I found this through the Disruptive Library Technology Jester blog, and looked into it because of two quotes he included with his post:

  • With print items, we’re trying to give people access; with electronic trying to keep them out.
  • Isn’t it interesting that users from other libraries have borrowed print books delivered to them, but must travel to another library to get access to their electronic items.

In addition, I will add this interesting tidbit from the same set of responses:

  • It used to be about selecting high quality materials, but now have to teach evaluation of available materials.

I think that sums up much of the transition we face in the library world – how to filter useful and usable information in a way that makes it useful and usable for our patrons (aren’t you glad I didn’t say “users”).  We are drinking from the fire hydrant, and the pressure is increasing!

Posted in Acquisitions, Conferences, Education, Libraries, Library 2.0, Training | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Library Related Conferences

Posted on 16 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Marian Dworaczek has moved her Library Related Conferences website, so make a note of it.

If you haven’t seen her listing, check it out.  If you know of any conferences that aren’t on her list, let her know!

found via her posting to SERIALST (Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum)

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FreeLargePhotos

Posted on 15 March 2009 by Rick Mason

FreeLargePhotos.com is a website that matches its name.  It is a collection of photos greater than 4MP that are free for use with attribution, except for selling products or promoting businesses or organizations.

If you are a photographer, note that they are looking for photographic contributions.

Of additional note:  it seems the person behind the site is none other than Roy Tenant.  Good work and a great collection of photographs, Roy!

found via ResourceShelf

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Movers and Shakers 2009

Posted on 15 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Library Journal has announced the winners of the 2009 Movers & Shakers awards, and as usual, the recipients are fantastic and enthusiastic innovators who look for new ways for libraries to be better:

I hope each of them has read What We Need, and that this year marks a reversal of the trend of institutional discouragement that has plagued recipients in the past.  If you have a Mover & Shaker in your organization, celebrate the award; if you have people who are potential movers and shakers (and I am not limiting this to the award), be sure to find ways to encourage them.

seen first on Stephen’s Lighthouse

Added 16 March 2009:  LISNews posted a link to a Photo Gallery page on Library Journal… lots of smiling professionals!

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It was twenty years ago today…

Posted on 13 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Sir Tim Berner-Lee started what is now known as the World Wide Web exactly twenty years ago.

In this posted video from Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) 2009, he discusses how it started, where we are, and where we might be going.

So think about libraries and the web… what we have done in the past 20 years, were we are now, and where we can go.

found via TechCrunch

(and since it happens to be on the same topic, a happy birthday shout-out to Kristine as well!)

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Hard Times

Posted on 12 March 2009 by Rick Mason

The Washington State Library has compiled a group of resources called Hard Times in Washington Libraries for the purpose of giving libraries, library staff, and library users ideas and tools to adapt to the current and upcoming fiscal crunch.

Included in the staff section of Hard Times are resources for Grants, learning opportunities, and advocacy, as well as a blog for ongoing additions and updates.

They have also created a page on WebJunction Washington containing resources that library staff can use to help patrons.  It was through this resource that I found a great four-page document called Shifting Gears : Rethinking Resources in Tough Times (pdf) created by Rose Chenowith, Library Development Consultant for the Alliance Library System in Illinois, who has worked with Reaching Forward South (my former place of conference).

This is a model for one way that libraries can get the word out and make a difference.  Ask yourself what you can do.  Check out what resources your area can provide.  WebJunction, your state library, your regional library systems, and various community organizations offer many resources that can make a difference for you, your library, and your library’s patrons.

found via LISNews

Posted in Blogs, Groups, Libraries, Online Databases, Online Services | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Perfecting Imperfection

Posted on 11 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Web 2.0 : Perfecting Imperfection is, on one level, responding to a post by someone who attended an unconference about Drupal, calling it “by far the most human conference I’d ever been to.”

On a deeper level, however, it is about the benefits of mutual cooperation and openness, and how they are both part of and improve many of the ideas that are bundled into that which we call Web 2.0.

Beyond the scope of the post, I feel that this can also be applied to libraries and library technology.  To paraphrase Linus’s Law:  given enough people with a shared sense of committment, all problems are surmountable.

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UCLA Acquires Huxley Library

Posted on 10 March 2009 by Rick Mason

The UCLA Library has acquired the library including many papers of Aldous Huxley, who died in 1963 (the same day as John F. Kennedy).

As Island is one of my favorite reads, this gives me one reason to actually want to visit Southern California.

found via LISNews

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A Heavenly Library in Austria

Posted on 10 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Jessamyn posted this link, in an effort to help identify the library.  I wasn’t the first to come up with the correct answer, but it was a treat to scan several pages of Google Images containing library frescos before finding this result.

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Web Tech Guy and Angry Staff Person

Posted on 9 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Web Tech Guy and Angry Staff Person (an exaggerated tale) is a video designed to be a provocative look at the arguments for opening library/museum data to web 2.0 social uses

The video isn’t so much exaggerated as much as it packs many of the arguments one hears against social uses of data into a short time span.  It was created by Michael Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy for the Smithsonian Institution.

found via Stephen’s Lighthouse

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New Plugins

Posted on 5 March 2009 by Rick Mason

I’ve added a couple of plugins to the Libology Blog to increase usability:

  • Viper’s Video Quicktags – this is a great improvement over the way video is embedded in blog posts.  First, it is much easier than the other methods I have used; second, it doesn’t break the xhtml validation of the site.  Yesterday’s post on the Touch Book has video embedded using the new method.
  • MobilePress – this automatically formats the blog for mobile browsers (i.e. cell phones, I-Touch, etc.).  It seems to work fine on this online emulator, as well as a co-worker’s iPod Touch; if results vary for you, please contact me.
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Touch Book

Posted on 4 March 2009 by Rick Mason

I don’t normally gush over new tech toys on this blog, but I suspect that we are about to witness a sea change in portable computing:

The Touch Book is a netbook-but-more from a company called Always Innovating.  It reverses the fundamental design of notebook computing in that the processor/memory/storage is in the same part of the computer as the screen.  So what do you get when you make that screen a touch screen as well?  A tablet computer with a keyboard dock.

The idea behind Touch Book is making it as versitile as possible, allowing people to use it in different modes for different tasks.

Typing a document?  Dock it in the keyboard.  Watching a movie?  Reverse the screen and fold it into a stand, or use the magnetic backing to attach the screen to a steel surface (like a refrigerator).  Playing a game, reading a book, or surfing the web?  Use the touch screen by itself for convenience.

This will be the first netbook to use the ARM Processor, which means that it runs without generating much heat (no fans to run and long battery life – 10-15 hours according to the company).  It also means that it is an “instant on” device… no waiting for the computer to boot up.  It sports high resolution, 3-D graphics, and is supposed to do a great job for watching movies.  And it is very open… open source operating system, open architecture.  There is a lot of room for innovation with this device.

This computer isn’t perfect (and it isn’t on the market yet… so any of these claims could be exaggerated), but it is a definite jump ahead for mobile computing.  Microsoft has yet to announce whether Windows 7 will have an ARM version, so this may be limited to varieties of Linux and Android — but you will still be able to use it for anything the current crops of netbooks can do, with more versatility and for longer periods of time.

Here’s a demo video I found via Wired Blogs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHzrg3I1HU

found via CrunchGear

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Readability

Posted on 4 March 2009 by Rick Mason

Readability is quite simply one of the easiest-to-use and effective usability aids I have seen in quite a while.

Follow the link, set the controls for your most comfortable reading style, drag the “Readability” button to your bookmark toolbar, and click the the link in your toolbar whenever you want to read an article on an otherwise cluttered or problematic website.

Voila!  It even works great for generating print versions of pages.

found on MetaFilter

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