Are we just wasting time?

27Sep08

From what I’ve gleaned during recent conversations, CT libraries both academic and public are deeply interested in finding open source solutions for ILS.  Working groups exist to determine the feasablity of migrating towards open source software, such as LibLime, and away from proprietary software, such as Voyager.  In a state with various consortia, diverse institutional types, and over 400 libraries, making [...]

Filed under: By: Librarian About Town, change or die   |  1 Comment
Tags: darwin, full text, ILS, marc, print is dead

Justifications for itemized deduction at tax time

25Sep08

The Ubiquitous Librarian reviews the new website that WorldCat developed for iPhone users. It’s not an app.

The New Yorker talks about PMc, the first magazine designed specifically for the iPhone.  The concept is about size reduction, including the length of sentences, which means fewer pesky adjectives and clauses.  As suggested by PMc’s editor-in-chief, “think Joan Didion.”

HarperCollins offers 12 titles for iPhones.  [...]

Filed under: By: Librarian About Town, News, change or die   |  1 Comment
Tags: iphone, libraries, mobile devices, reading

Scientists find yet another way to prove that humans are necessary

24Sep08

You are probably all too familiar with CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart).  CAPTCHAs are the warped-text security measures that stand between you and your ability to pay parking tickets online.  Basically, the computer is forcing you to prove that you are not a bot. 

The scientist that first coined the term, Luis von Ahn at Carnegie Mellon, must have [...]

Filed under: By: Librarian About Town, News, change or die   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: digitization, FREE full text now!, print is dead, reCAPTCHA

Databases: dine-in or take-out

19Sep08

Here’s some news from the top down that should make RI librarians happy (too bad it’s making some of them mad): Statewide database access has arrived. Already, you can access a number of databases from anywhere in the state without entering your library card number, and by January, an Ebsco suite is supposed to be [...]

Filed under: By: Librrrarian, digital divide   |  Leave a Comment

I only hear what I want to

18Sep08

Lisa Loeb wants libraries to stay.  Otherwise, how would she research new design concepts for her kitchen?  ALA is so hip.
 

Filed under: By: Librarian About Town   |  1 Comment
Tags: 1990s, ALA, grunge, stay (I miss you)

Don’t Bother

17Sep08

This article: 10 books not to read before you die got me thinking about some of the truly terrible things I have read.  While I find the title of the article annoying, as I do most titles like that i.e. 14,000 things to be happy about (a sunny day! a rainy day! the smell of [...]

Filed under: Book Review, By: The Librarienne, pop culture   |  4 Comments
Tags: Danielle Steel, KAren Kingsbury, Left Behind, Madame Bovary, Second Draft of my Life, Sons and Lovers, The Mayor of Casterbridge, To the Lighthouse

“Verse is alive” -E.D.

16Sep08

When I read Charlotte Bronte’s gloomy, Belgian novel Villette years ago, I remember that I was less stuck by the moodiness of the professor, but rather moved by the thought that I was entering Bronte’s final fictional world.  Even if Villette hadn’t been Bronte’s last novel, the knowledge that the person responsible, for those lasting melancholy words and meditations, came and went so quickly casts a shadow [...]

Filed under: By: Librarian About Town, News   |  2 Comments
Tags: bronte, david foster wallace, novilists, rip, suicide

Favorite social networking site

16Sep08

You may remember a past blog post introducing a new social network for librarians.  The Savvy Librarians social network now has nearly 200 members, with many interesting groups, pictures, and blog posts.  I encourage old members to go back and contribute to this site, or join in on the fun if you’ve never been there [...]

Filed under: By: Hip Shhusher, News   |  1 Comment
Tags: savvy librarians, social networking

How you found us: part 2

15Sep08

I haven’t done this for a while, but I love looking at the search terms people use to come across our site.  They make me laugh, sometimes out loud.  Below are a few searches in the last week, I hope they make you laugh too.
18 sexy –  (26 searches in the last 7 days.  At [...]

Filed under: By: Hip Shhusher   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: google, James Patterson, Palin, searches, sexy

“Every book ever published, every movie ever released, all the strata of web history…”

12Sep08

I have mentioned before how much I love TED…the greatest minds in the world all meeting for the common good.  Today, I stumbled upon yet another TED speaker that moved me.  Imagine every book you’ve ever read, every movie you’ve ever seen, every piece of media you’ve ever laid eyes upon– on the web.  For [...]

Filed under: By: Hip Shhusher, Intellectual Freedom   |  1 Comment
Tags: Archives, brewster kahle, Copyright, Intellectual Freedom, TED