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
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
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
What makes younger library users, past or present, so interesting to researchers? At the Library History Seminar XII, September 10–12, many scholarly papers focused on youth services. The ideas in circulation at the Madison conference suggested that two factors ignite academic interest—censorship and new technology. Forces of change make young people visible in the library, … Continue reading Hearts and Minds in Play
METRO (Metropolitan New York Library Council) has gathered 30 case studies for Digitization in the Real World: Lessons Learned from Small and Medium-Sized Digitization Projects. Examples range from the Chelsea (Mich.) Library District’s collection of 15,000 obituaries, created using volunteers and open source software, to Hudson River Valley Heritage, a collaborative project coordinated by the … Continue reading Digitization for the Rest of Us
OpenURL link resolvers have become a vital part of many libraries’ offerings, especially those of academic libraries. As resolvers have become more important, they have undergone the same iterative usability testing and interface improvements that are common for library websites and catalogs. Only recently has effort been devoted to improving the functionality of resolvers by … Continue reading Rethinking Library Linking: Making OpenURL Better with Data, Data, and More Data
Growing up, my athletic prowess was legendary. Strong, graceful, fleet of foot, gifted in multiple sporting endeavors, and a role model to friends and rivals alike. I was also, coincidentally, third in line for the throne of France. Seriously, I stank. I was a dork and physically untalented, didn’t care and hated it; gym class … Continue reading As the Web Fades Away
A new Delaware law that went into effect September 15 is enabling public libraries to get their internet use policies ready for the inevitable influx into their facilities of patrons wielding wireless devices. HB 340 extends libraries’ acceptable-use policies to any mobile devices that individuals bring onto library premises, and specifies that, while in the … Continue reading Acceptable-Use Policies Go Mobile in Delaware
I’ve spoken to library staff from libraries all over North America and have heard countless stories about innovative new services that failed. I always ask people why they think the initiative didn’t work at their library and the answer has always been about the culture—whether it was because of controlling IT staff, managers who wouldn’t … Continue reading Nurturing Innovation
Serials Solutions announced September 13 that its web-scale discovery product Summon has reached the 100-customer mark. (The company chosen not to name its 100th customer because “it’s a three-way dead-on tie,” according to media representative Beth Dempsey.) The single-search-box serials discovery service went on sale in July 2009. “The proof that our approach is working … Continue reading Summon Summons 100th Customer
On July 26, 2010, thousands of people applauded the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which mandated that disabled individuals be accorded the same rights as persons without disabilities. The celebration stimulated reflection and debate on the effectiveness of the law. No consensus about success has been reached, but … Continue reading Twenty Years of Assistive Technologies
Have you noticed that we seem to have entered an era of heightened competitiveness? Lots of wagon-circling and turf-protecting. Libraryland as one big happy family aside, shrinking funds are bringing out the tiger in us. For example, the decades-long competition between OCLC and rival library vendors came to a head July 28, when for-profit SkyRiver … Continue reading The Competition Intensifies
