Kiichiro Sato, regional photo editor for the Associated Press (AP), presented “Through the Photographer’s Lens: How Images Impact Research,” at the ALA Annual Conference on Monday. Sato’s presentation included a sampling of photos that are available through the AP Images Collection, the AP’s partnership with EBSCO Publishing that makes millions of images available to library … Continue reading The Associated Press: Capturing History
He began by looking at the history of making in the United States. In 1900, 80% of Americans worked on farms; today, only 2% do, Frauenfelder said. So if you worked on a farm back then, you likely lived far away from an urban area and therefore had to learn how to make your own … Continue reading Mark Frauenfelder Makes Stuff Happen
The ALA Annual Auditorium Speaker series kicked off on Saturday with an eye-opening talk by Jaron Lanier, one of the visionary forefathers of tech culture who popularized the term “virtual reality,” and the author of the bestseller You Are Not a Gadget. Lanier’s latest book, Who Owns the Future, addresses the detrimental effects networking technologies … Continue reading Tech Visionary Jaron Lanier Opens the Auditorium Series
“Maker” seems to be one of librarians’ favorite buzz words right now and, frankly, as I’m not working in public libraries and I haven’t been working with students for the past year, I guess I just haven’t been getting it. That said, I’m curious, because making stuff is cool, I just haven't really understood where/why … Continue reading Make Me a Maker
At “Makerspaces: Creating, Exploring, Pitfalls,” sponsored by the Library and Information Technology Association, four successful makerspace enthusiasts discussed what makes a makerspace, and what gets made in those spaces. Jason Griffey, head of library IT at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, moderated a panel that included Bradley Jones, youth technology librarian at Skokie (Ill.) … Continue reading Why You Can’t Always See What You Make
More than 200 conference-goers packed the small room booked for the session, with many peering through the doorway and sitting on the floor. During their presentation, branch manager Richard Le and adult services librarian Mel Gooch, both from San Francisco Public Library, shared what they have found to be dozens of apps that provide innovative … Continue reading 40 Great Apps for Mobile Reference and Outreach
Electronic publisher ProQuest celebrated its 75th anniversary at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference by showcasing the founder of University Microfilms International (UMI), its predecessor company. Eugene B. Power (1905–1993) introduced microfilm to libraries in 1938 and led the format to its standard use for preservation, sharing, and document storage. During World War II, Power microfilmed … Continue reading Microfilm’s 75th Anniversary
Chinese-American computer scientist Ping Fu came to her Auditorium speech dressed in red shoes, red belt, and white scarf—appropriately enough, all manufactured by a 3D printer. As chief strategy officer of 3D Systems, a technical design company founded in 1986 by Chuck Hall, the inventor of 3D printing, Fu is an enthusiastic proponent of makerspaces … Continue reading Making, Not Breaking
Snow Fall. After several years of hypothetical discussion about the possibilities of transmedia, it took a sportswriter working for a newspaper to demonstrate the power of internet-based publishing. In a single blow, the New York Times reset the bar for interactive online narratives. Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek is a gripping story of … Continue reading The Unpackaged Book
Sadly, ebooks have not only failed to deliver on much of their promise, they have become a vast lost opportunity. They are becoming a weapon capable of considerable social damage; a Faustian technology that seduces with convenience, particularly for those who consume a great many books, but offers little else while extracting a corrosive toll … Continue reading Ebooks in 2013
Not all publishers are created equal. It seems publishers are becoming the bad guys because many of the biggest companies have placed various restrictions on our use of their content. However, lumping all trade, reference, and scholarly publishers together is not fair to those who have been willing to work with librarians. Nor is it … Continue reading Working Directly with Publishers: Lessons Learned
Just over a year ago, the ALA Executive Board directed the Digital Content and Libraries Working Group (DCWG) to pursue more aggressive strategies to get ebooks into the hands of library patrons at a reasonable cost and under reasonable terms to libraries. This was to take the form of developing stronger messaging with the media, … Continue reading ALA, Future of Libraries, Digital Content, and Ebooks
