Speaking Technically 2008

Seven leading publishers shared their insights on the future of reference databases at American Libraries' second annual "Speaking Technically" panel at ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. Moderated by American Libraries Direct Editor George Eberhart, the panelists talked about their new products and ideas for enhanced services. The panel was comprised of representatives from Gale/Cengage Learning, Alexander Street Press, Ebrary, EBSCO Publishing, Greenwood Publishing Group, Capital IQ, and ProQuest. More videos at alfocus.ala.org.

July 16, 2008

Seven leading publishers shared their insights on the future of reference databases at American Libraries’ second annual “Speaking Technically” panel at ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. Moderated by American Libraries Direct Editor George Eberhart, the panelists talked about their new products and ideas for enhanced services. The panel was comprised of representatives from Gale/Cengage Learning, Alexander Street Press, Ebrary, EBSCO Publishing, Greenwood Publishing Group, Capital IQ, and ProQuest. More videos at alfocus.ala.org.

Over 22,000 attendees soaked up the rays in Anaheim, California June 26-July 2 at the 2008 ALA Annual Conference. This brief compendium of conference highlights includes such luminaries as Jamie Lee Curtis, Dean Koontz, Lisa Loeb, Wes Studi, Vernon Jordan, Ron Reagan, Khaled Hosseini, Diahann Carroll, and events like the Parade of Bookmobiles, the Book Cart Drill Team Championship, and a musical number by the members of RUSA. More ALA videos available at alfocus.ala.org.

2008 ALA Annual Conference Opening General Session Video

This video, played during the Opening General Session of ALA's 2008 Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, highlights the value of public awareness to the library profession. ALA presidents past and future join others in explaining how investing in partnerships, working with celebrities like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julie Andrews, and using new media platforms like YouTube can result in major media exposure and increased awareness and usage of libraries. More videos at alfocus.ala.org.

Latest Library Links

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Genevieve Trainor writes: “The Guinness World Record holder for Most Prolific Book Thief is Ottumwa (Iowa’s) Stephen Blumberg. The 23,600 volumes he accumulated between the 1970s and his arrest in March of 1990 were all stashed in his 17-room home. Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, got involved with Blumberg as part of the FBI’s efforts to return the stolen manuscripts and rare books to their museums and libraries. Referred to as the Omaha Project, the information science proving ground involved four weeks, 44 catalogers and reference librarians and 600 volunteer hours to determine who might be the rightful owners.”

Little Village (Dubuque, Iowa), Dec. 4
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Casey Newton writes: “At the moment, no one knows for sure whether the large language models that are now under development will achieve superintelligence and transform the world. And in that uncertainty, two primary camps of criticism have emerged. The first camp, which I associate with the external critics, holds that artificial intelligence (AI) is fake and sucks. The second camp, which I associate more with the internal critics, believes that AI is real and dangerous. Today I want to lay out why I believe AI is real and dangerous.”

Platformer, Dec. 5
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Latia Ward writes: “One way to keep current with what students think of the library and its services is through Student Library Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are a way to gather feedback and reinforce the library as a welcoming place. How do librarians create a welcoming environment within Student Library Advisory Committee meetings? Librarians create a welcoming environment through community, purpose, and dedicated space.” Also see part 1 of this blog post.

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 13, Dec. 5
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Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
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Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

WVLT-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), Dec. 4
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Joe Foley writes: “Copyright rules vary from country to country and have changed over time. In the US, works created between 1929 and 1963 that gave notice and renewed copyright have 95 years from their first publication date. That means that on January 1, 2025, a host of works from 1929 will enter the public domain. This means that copyright will expire on Buck Rogers, Captain Easy, Horace Horsecollar, Tintin, Hal Foster’s first Tarzan comic strips and, yes, Popeye.” Other notable works entering public domain in the United States include the Marx Brothers’ first film, The Cocoanuts, contralto Marian Anderson’s first record, and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

Creative Bloq, Dec. 7; Everybody’s Libraries, Dec. 3, Dec. 7; Public Domain Review, Dec. 10
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Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9

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Speaking Technically 2008

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Annual 2008 Wrap-up

2008 ALA Annual Conference Opening General Session Video