Ever look at the book “Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events“? Think of the same concept being applied online, and you can see the potential of Timeline. Check out Christianity, Judaism, and even the Kennedy Assassination.
It is also great for keeping your horizontal scrolling muscles in shape (which this scale model of a hydrogen atom does, as well).
from InfoToGo
Address Map Coordinate (Lat/Long) Finder will convert an address to a latitude/longitude coordinate, as well as show you the location via Yahoo maps. Oddly enough, the geocode link within the map takes you to Google Maps.
They also work with tab or bar (|) delimited files for batch processing here.
from InfoToGo
The National Library of Medicine is providing the package insert information for over 500 medications via their DailyMed service.
It is a good resource, and unlike the PDR, you don’t have to pay or register. I have a strong preference for the USP DI as a drug reference, anyways….
from ResourceShelf
One interesting trend I am noting is that classic literature is increasingly easy to find in audiobook form. These are usually volunteer projects, so you don’t get Patrick Stewart reading your story to you (in my opinion the best reading voice for many stories), but you can find good stories read by people who do a decent reading.
There are several sites to find these, including Telltale Weekly, Project Gutenberg (they also have machine-read books, as well), Librivox, and LiteralSystems.org (where I found a version of The Tell-Tale Heart this morning for one of our instructors).
I’m a few days late in posting this one, but Google has set up a fairly extensive Help Center to provide information and assistance for the wide varieties of Google services.
In addition, Google’s blog notes that they received a “Hurricane Katrina Recognition Award” from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for their work in setting up before and after comparisons for response teams using Google Earth.
I seem to have this reputation for enjoying coffee. I don’t know how I got this reputation, besides that cup that starts me off every morning, then the next, and the next, etc.
For those who understand that books and coffee go together well (as does computers and coffee), there is the documentary This is Coffee. Made in 1961, it happens to feature a narrator who should be as instantly recognizable today, as he was anonymous then.
Brought to you by Free Movies Fallen Out of Copyright.
Again, this is a site that I have known about (and even participated in) before starting this blog. However, it is worth a mention if only to encourage people to visit and participate.
Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki is a site with an incredible amount of potential. If they didn’t exist, I would be planning to place a wiki on LibrarySupportStaff.org. Check them out… and contribute. The more participation they have, the better the site will become.
To get a sense of the breadth of their site, here are their main categories:
* 3.1 Community
* 3.2 Management and Leadership
* 3.3 Materials Selection and Collection Maintenance
* 3.4 Professional
* 3.5 Programming
* 3.6 Readers’ Advisory
* 3.7 Reference Services and Information Literacy
* 3.8 Selling Your Library
* 3.9 Services to Specific Groups
* 3.10 Staff Training
* 3.11 Technology
o 3.11.1 Access
o 3.11.2 Implementing Tech in the Library
o 3.11.3 Information Sharing and Education
* 3.12 Working Together
Worldcat.org is arriving, starting next month, and OCLC is letting bits and pieces of info out about it. If they make the interface open enough for people and/or organizations to make adaptations, this could be a big deal in the library world.
Imagine having a Google-like search box that will locate any item available in a library throughout the world, as long as at least one OCLC member library has cataloged it. Now imagine (and I hope this can/will be done) connecting the power of your local library (item check-outs, interlibrary loan, etc.) to this vast catalog.
This already exists, but not in an easily accessible way. To use Worldcat, you either have to log into OCLC FirstSearch (ask your public or community college library for their login/password), or use Google or Yahoo’s “Find in a Library” method known as Open WorldCat (which contains a limited set of WorldCat records). Neither are well-known, and neither are straightforward enough for the instant recognition needed for widespread adoption.
This will be different, if it is as open as it seems. Sites (including LibrarySupportStaff.org, assuming that OCLC’s info matches my interpretation of it) can install the search box and initiate searches. The results will go to the “Find in a Library” page that will let one determine which local area libraries have that item.
If it is as easy as that, then this will be a big deal. If it is set up in such a way as to let the sites modify the search in creative ways, then this will be bigger than anything in recent library memory. If it is locked down or limited too much, the risk is loss of usefulness, and it may go nowhere fast.
August will be an interesting month…
The Power of Personal Persuasion Toolkit is, on the surface, a guide to “advancing the academic library agenda”. However, it is also a guide for examining and understanding your organization’s strengths, and conveying them to others. The value of this booklet is not limited to academic libraries, or even libraries in general: there is much of value in this 32 page pdf for anyone who needs to state a case or promote their organization.
from ResourceShelf
This isn’t new for me, but I recommended this site to someone on the Web4lib list today, and thought it was worth posting.
For libraries with a desire to implement a strong web-based presence, but without the funds, knowledge, or people to build that presence in-house, EngagedPatrons has the tools and the resources to make it work. The best part is that it is free to libraries with less than $1 million per year in total income.
The University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Library and Information Studies is hosting a conference titled “Back in Circulation Again (Again)” on September 8-9, 2006.
from Jean
Alaskan bears now have a webcam, complements of National Geographic. It is very compelling to watch… sort of like the Discovery channel, but with the awareness that it is streaming live.
from ResourceShelf
Planet Quest is a 3-Dimensional interactive viewer for the Milky Way galaxy. It works on any modern browser without downloading additional software, a definite plus!
from SpaceRef
Xcavator is a search engine for images that uses a small section of a picture in the same way that regular search engines use keywords. Try the demo on for size.
from ResourceShelf
LivRe! is an open access journal portal. Need journal articles? LivRe! will help you locate the journals (they currently list 2,525 journals) for the topics you need.
from ResourceShelf
Want to create your own social networking site? PeopleAggregator could be the software for you!
This could be a way for any type of group to form their own networking. Imagine a town with all of their residents on a social networking site… it could replace the phone book for contact and communication, and people could offer services, sell items, and provide information through tagging. Interesting possibilities…
from Monkey Bites
Yet another reason to create web pages that are accessible (although we shouldn’t need anything further than making sure that as many people as possible can use them):
Google now has a search page for the visually impaired. They rank the results based on how well the html degrades.
from Monkey Bites
Movie Licensing USA is a licensing agent for many of the largest studios in the U.S., and describes themselves as being an easy step towards showing movies in your library without risking copyright issues.
from Librarian.net
Tracks is a nifty piece of software that is a multi-user To-Do list organizer. Multiple users, with different levels of access, can organize a project and set up timelines and track progress.
This may be a possibility for RFS…
From OSDir
Last week I posted a bit of info about some new functionality coming to OCLC’s Worldcat. More info has been made available. It will be an interesting 6 – 9 months!
http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb060717-1.shtml
I fully expect to place the search tool on LibrarySupportStaff.Org, and will see how far I can stretch its functionality.
Thanks to B.Eversberg, via NGC4Lib
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Libology Blog
Established July 2006
ISSN: 1946-1852
by Rick Mason
