Let’s Not Borrow Trouble

March 22, 2011

At my library, I’m in charge of collection development for our largest academic division. Sometimes I find the task daunting as I struggle to find a balance between buying things that will likely get used today and anticipating what might be needed in the future. The choices I make will influence the long-term health of … Continue reading Let’s Not Borrow Trouble



E-Book Blues

March 4, 2011

Over the past eight days, the biblioblogosphere erupted as word spread that terms of service were about to shift for libraries’ e-book lending rights. It began with a February 24 email (PDF file) from OverDrive CEO Steve Potash alerting customers that “Publishers are expressing concern and debating their digital future where a single eBook license … Continue reading E-Book Blues


CES: The Librarian’s Takeaway

February 28, 2011

While ALA Midwinter 2011 was starting in beautiful San Diego, I was on a plane to a different, but equally sunny destination—Las Vegas, Nevada—to attend the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show . . . me, and 160,000 others. CES is the largest consumer electronics show in the world, with journalists, retail buyers, and manufacturers all … Continue reading CES: The Librarian’s Takeaway


Egyptians Find Their Power in Access to Information

February 16, 2011

The internet, along with Facebook and Twitter, was the Open University that facilitated learning about democracy for Egypt’s young people. The revolution had been brewing for the past 10 years or so, increasing by the day as more people acquired mobile devices. The ground in Egypt was ripe for revolution: Corruption was at its peak, … Continue reading Egyptians Find Their Power in Access to Information


Keeping Up, 2.0 Style

January 13, 2011

When I first received my library degree, I religiously kept up with blogs and journals in my areas of professional interest. I’d read blogs through an RSS reader—in my case, Google Reader—and I’d try to remember to read the journals I was most interested in when they came out. Now, as the mother of a … Continue reading Keeping Up, 2.0 Style


Developments for Mobile Users

January 9, 2011

The LITA Mobile Computing Interest Group meeting at Midwinter today highlighted an upcoming mobile service and an anecdotal study of mobile computing usage. Evviva Weinraub and Hannah Gascho Rempel of Oregon State University presented their Book Genie mobile service, set to launch January 14. Similar to Orange County (Fla.) Library System’s Shake It! app, Book … Continue reading Developments for Mobile Users


Data Gets Personal: Top Tech Trends at Midwinter 2011

January 9, 2011

The 2011 Midwinter edition of Top Tech Trends brought together five technologists from libraries and the library technology marketplace to discuss their views on the current and future trends in libraries. The one common thread weaving through the entire discussion, almost as if they’d planned it that way, was the high potential for making library … Continue reading Data Gets Personal: Top Tech Trends at Midwinter 2011


The Clash of Old and New Technology

January 8, 2011

Journalist and historian Richard Rhodes delivered the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture January 8 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986), Rhodes chose to talk to the ALA audience about the introduction and slow acceptance of new technologies, going all the way back to ancient times. … Continue reading The Clash of Old and New Technology


Capacity Crowd Talks E-books

January 8, 2011

The Washington Office Update opened with “Turning the Page on E-Books,” a wide-ranging discussion driven by questions from the overflow crowd. Panelists Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, Sue Polanka, head of reference and instruction at Wright State University, and Tom Peters, CEO of TAP Information Services, spoke on a range of topics related … Continue reading Capacity Crowd Talks E-books


Joseph Janes

No Relax

December 9, 2010

I had a splendid time at the Internet Librarian conference last fall (and not just because I made it into a birthday-celebration weekend in Monterey, though that and the yummy meals didn’t hurt matters any). It’s a crisply conducted conference and draws a varied and eager crowd. This year, I was particularly attracted to an … Continue reading No Relax


Read the Fine Print

October 21, 2010

There probably isn’t a person alive who’s read the Terms of Service (TOS) of every technology or service they use. Those TOS statements are usually quite long and full of boilerplate legalese that any company must include. When you’re quickly trying to load and use new software, reading a TOS statement is not a priority, … Continue reading Read the Fine Print