DrWeb's Domain

Texadata: New Collections and Services

Texadata: New Collections and Services.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006
New Collections and Services
(The 5th and last part of my whitepaper.)

To adapt to the information age, the library must expand its functions to encompass the entire life cycle of information. The library must go beyond acquiring information from our traditional sources, such as publishers, vendors, and the government. Our imperative is to develop and cultivate digital collections owned and hosted by the library, tailored to the information age.

Academic libraries now have the capability of developing (publishing if you prefer) digital content. Digital collections in the library can be roughly divided into two types: digitized special collections and born-digital collections. While digitizing special collections is an important endeavor, there is greater potential in cultivating born-digital collections. Born-digital collections include learning object repositories, institutional repositories, online journals (both open access and fee-based), university press imprints, and online collaborative environments. Modern scholarly resources tend to be born digital in the first place, so it makes sense to develop collections of high-quality born-digital resources and manage the digital version as the format of record. The digital format allows for more variety in information delivery, including print-on-demand services. Library based publishing can also provides scholars an alternative to commercial publishers and places competitive pressure on publishers to reduce costs and improve their products.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: MLB: San Diego Padres 2006 Preview

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: MLB: San Diego Padres 2006 Preview.

Monday, March 27, 2006
San Diego Padres 2006 Preview
By Jeff Frank, MLB Analyst (Sports Network)

2005 Finish (82-80) - First Place (NL West)

KEY OFFSEASON ADDITIONS: C - Mike Piazza; SP - Chris Young; SP - Shawn Estes; CF - Mike Cameron; RP - Doug Brocail; 3B - Vinny Castilla; C - Doug Mirabelli; OF - Terrmel Sledge; 2B - Mark Bellhorn; RP - Dewon Brazelton

Good Padres' review and preview.. it's almost time for "play ball!" to echo throughout the land.. investigations notwithstanding, I look forward to the new season.. and very glad Mike Piazza is our catcher, and has found a new home in San Diego...

TechCrunch: The State of Online Feed Readers

TechCrunch: The State of Online Feed Readers.

The State of Online Feed Readers
Posted by Frank Gruber, March 30, 2006

Syndication is undoubtedly the heartbeat of the web 2.0 movement. A feed reader, the most common solution to consuming synidcated content, saves the user time by monitoring countless sites and sources and providing near real-time updates to one location.

There are a number of different types of readers: web-based, desktop, Outlook based, etc… This post is focused solely on web-based feed readers. I’ve included the big guys plus some up and coming readers with outstanding features and/or performance like News Alloy, Gritwire, Attensa and FeedLounge.

All the web-based feed readers reviewed are free except for FeedLounge, which charges $5 per month.

Good overview article and summary chart for online readers.. it does not cover the browser-based solutions, such as Sage with Firefox, etc. .. good to see the various products and services examined...

Video games add interactive dimension to local libraries: Some librarians worry games take time away from reading; others see it as a way to engage teens

kingcountyjournal.com - Video games add interactive dimension to local libraries: Some librarians worry games take time away from reading; others see it as a way to engage teens.

Video games add interactive dimension to local libraries: Some librarians worry games take time away from reading; others see it as a way to engage teens
2006-03-30
by Dean A. Radford, Journal Reporter

Some say they're a pox on civilization. Others say they're a nod to teen culture.

Either way, video games are finding a place in the King County Library System, alongside books and other traditional programs, as librarians try to engage teens and meet their recreational needs.

The program -- already in libraries from Issaquah to North Bend and Covington to Tukwila -- is geared toward young people ages 12 to 18, with the games rated ``E'' for everyone or ``T'' for teen.

But don't bet on video games ending up in all the system's suburban libraries. Some librarians worry that setting up the games and monitoring teens will take time away from other activities.

Rosalie Olds, the teen librarian at the Fairwood Library east of Renton, runs a teen writing group that is working on historical fiction.

``I should spend my time doing that, not watching them play video games,'' Olds said. She became a librarian to promote reading and writing, she said.

But she's on the fence and can see the positives of the program, which is called ``Game On.''

Credibility Commons: About the Credibility Commons

Credibility Commons: About the Credibility Commons.

About the Credibility Commons
Blogged in Uncategorized by rdlankes
Monday February 27, 2006 at about 10:25 am

The credibility of Internet information is a problem. While the credibility of Information in general is an issue, the Internet presents a new set of challenges. Today the public is expected to book their own airline tickets, decide on their own retirement plan, even decide on life and death medical treatments with the tools and information on the web. With a disappearing paper trail in voting, with no one official copy of government documents, with a lack of common criteria in presenting and consuming credible information there is a great need to research and develop real tools to help the citizen. Addressing these issues now, as tools are being developed and more critical information is becoming exclusively Internet information, will prevent larger and more dire consequences in the near and long-term future.

Over the past year, the MacArthur Foundation funded the American Library Association’s Office of Information & Technology Policy and the University of Washington to investigate the issues of credibility of Internet information. The purpose of this exploration was to determine the scope of the problem, determine the existing state of knowledge in the area, and develop practical next steps in addressing issues of the credibility of Internet information. These activities included: writing a series of white papers on tools, skills and institutions; a symposium of experts in the area; tool development; and a series of follow-up meetings.

A very much-needed project.. we need links and resources to the "credible" Web sources of information, and knowledge.. be sure and visit the home page of the Credibility Commons...

Lost Brando Screen Test for Rebel Surfaces - But It's Not for the Rebel We Know and Love - Cinematical

Lost Brando Screen Test for Rebel Surfaces - But It's Not for the Rebel We Know and Love - Cinematical.

Lost Brando Screen Test for Rebel Surfaces - But It's Not for the Rebel We Know and Love
Posted Mar 28th 2006 6:34PM by Kim Voynar
Filed under: Classics

Over at the Guardian yesterday, they reported that "lost" footage of iconic actor Marlon Brando screen testing for Rebel Without a Cause way back in 1947 has been found, and it's got lots of folks excited to imagine what Brando would have brough to the lead role of the classic film. The five-minute screen test, included as an extra on the DVD release of Brando's A Streetcar Named Desire, shows a young Brando "railing against his parents" and "finding a gun and lighting out for a new life with his girl. Today The Guardian's Xan Brooks speculated on what Rebel Without a Cause might have been like with Brando in the role that made James Dean famous eight years later. Davis opines that a Rebel with Brando in the role of Jim Stark would have been inferior to the film made by Nicholas Ray with Dean in the lead role - an assertion I happen to agree with.

JavaScriptSearch News: Weblogging Service TypePad Now with Widgets

JavaScriptSearch News: Weblogging Service TypePad Now with Widgets.

Weblogging Service TypePad Now with Widgets
Widgets Add More Than 30 New Features
JavaScriptSearch
Thursday, March 30, 2006; 01:44 AM

Users of TypePad can now add more functionality to their blog with TypePad Widgets .  The Widgets  allow the use of external Web 2.0 services from within the TypePad pages.  So far, the Widgets add more than 30 new features.

SixApart, the company that created TypePad, called the new additions "bling for your blog."  A TypePad page can now include a list of recent photos, or a topic-oriented search box, or a stats counter, or a badge to help blog reader subscribe to RSS feeds, or even a Flash game or a chat window.

Specifically, TypePad has enlisted the support of popular sites like blog search engine Technorati, custom searchbox service Rollyo, feed provider FeedBurner, and job search site Simply Hired.

SixApart has created an interface that makes adding Widgets a simple task.  The company provides TypePad users with FAQs and information on how to use and configure the new features.

As JavaScript Search reported, SixApart recently closed a $12 million funding round.  The company provides a variety of online services.

Excellent news, and why Typepad is a market leader: innovation.. this was picked up in my Google alerts for typepad.. I'll try and add some of these new widgets soon...

NISO Launches RFID Committee - National Information Standards Organization (NISO)

NISO Launches RFID Committee - National Information Standards Organization (NISO).

NISO Launches RFID Committee
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Maryann Karinch (maryann@karinch.com )
T: 970-577-8500
Focus on Tags Used in Libraries

Bethesda, MD (USA) - March 21, 2006 - The National Information Standards Organization has formed a Technical Committee to create guidelines that lay out best practices for the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) in library applications.

Chaired by Dr. Vinod Chachra, CEO of VTLS Inc., the diverse group is composed of RFID hardware manufacturers, solution providers (software and integration), library RFID users, book jobbers and processors, and related organizations. The NISO Committee's work is limited to RFID tags used in libraries, that is, tags operating at 13.56 MHz.

Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians (Book Review)

Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians.

Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians
(Book Review)
                                       
        Journal: Library Management
Vol : 27 Issue: 3
Author(s): P. Michael McCulley
View HTML

Above is a link to a book review I had published in the recent issue of "Library Management" .. I'll try and post the free text version here later, for those who don't want to pay for access, or don't have access to the journal.. I highly recommend the copyright book for libraries.. here's a link to it on the ALA Web site.. or from Amazon.com ...

Library Journal - Ruminations After Retirement

Library Journal - Ruminations After Retirement.

Ruminations After Retirement
By Herbert S. White — March 15, 2006

For those of you who’ve ever read anything I wrote or heard me speak—and I’ve done a lot of both—you know that I have always been a great follower of the recently deceased management guru Peter Drucker. Drucker predicted fearlessly that the profession with the most promising future was that of “knowledge worker.” Isn’t that supposed to be us? What happened?

What’s happened is that we, as a profession, haven’t protected the boundaries of our field as we should, even as less formally educated practitioners like plumbers and mechanics do. I only had the opportunity to work as a reference librarian for about ten years before I moved into full-time administration and teaching. But I still recall what I’d say when patrons would ask me how I had successfully answered their reference question. “Why would I want to tell you?” I would say. “I want you dependent on me whenever you have a question. That is my job security, isn’t it?” Everyone understood, nobody ever argued.

Professional suicide?

Today, however, we seem determined to teach our clients everything we know, and I find that suicidal. Shouldn’t we instead be teaching them what they shouldn’t try to do on their own? Shouldn’t we let them know where their brimming self-confidence, especially among students, is misplaced?

When I was dean at Indiana I was once urged to discipline one of my library students who was apparently earning a little extra money on the side by doing computer research for other students. “Was her research good or inferior?” I asked. I was told it was excellent, indeed so excellent that it led the professor to be suspicious of his student. Whether the work was original or not was his problem, I told that professor. As for me, I was proud of my student and intended to tell her so, because what she did is exactly what librarians do.

Excellent food for thought, by still one of our best and brightest lights.. if you're just discovering Herb White, welcome to the enlightenment.. I always enjoy his perspectives.. though on this one, I'm not 100% sure we can put the genie back in the bottle.. can we teach our users to "fish" their own (less complex) needs, while we do the heavy lifting for them? That would be a more comfortable middle ground, for me personally.. thanks to a posting to the Special Libraries Association (SLA) mailing list, Leadership & Management Division, for the alert on this one...

USATODAY.com - A picture of 'Miss Breed,' a snapshot of war hysteria

USATODAY.com - A picture of 'Miss Breed,' a snapshot of war hysteria.

A picture of 'Miss Breed,' a snapshot of war hysteria
By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY
Posted 3/27/2006 8:23 PM

Clara Breed, a children's librarian in San Diego, never married and never had any children. At least none of her own.

Breed was a librarian who befriended Japanese-American children who later were incarcerated during World War II.

But until her death in 1994, at 88, she talked about "her children," dozens of them, Japanese-Americans who were sent to incarceration camps during World War II.

Joanne Oppenheim, 71, who has written more than 50 books for children and parents, says she never heard of "the remarkable Miss Breed until I met her on the Internet."

That was in 2001, when Oppenheim was searching for an old classmate to invite to their 50th high school reunion. She found the classmate, as well as Breed, and another book to write: Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference (Scholastic, $22.99).

Searching for Dummies - New York Times

Searching for Dummies - New York Times.

Op-Ed Contributor
Searching for Dummies
By EDWARD TENNER, Published: March 26, 2006
 

Plainsboro, N.J.

TALK of decline was old news in academia even in 1898, when traditionalists blasted Harvard for ending its Greek entrance requirement. But today there's a new twist in the story: Are search engines making today's students dumber?

In December, the National Center for Education Statistics published a report on adult literacy revealing that the number of college graduates able to interpret complex texts proficiently had dropped since 1992 from 40 percent to 31 percent. As Mark S. Schneider, the center's commissioner of education statistics, put it, "What's disturbing is that the assessment is not designed to test your understanding of Proust, but to test your ability to read labels."

The Higher Education Supplement of The Times of London reports that a British survey also finds that the ability of undergraduates to read critically and write cogently has fallen significantly since 1992. Students are not just more poorly prepared, a majority of queried faculty members believe, but less teachable.
...
Edward Tenner, the author most recently of "Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity," is working on a book about positive unintended consequences.

Thanks to Library Link of the Day for the pointer to this one.. scary, if true...

The Sun News | 03/11/2006 | Libraries shed old image

The Sun News | 03/11/2006 | Libraries shed old image.

Posted on Sat, Mar. 11, 2006
Libraries shed old image
By Kim Hughes, For The Sun News

Even on a rainy Monday morning, the Socastee library is a beehive of activity.

Many of the library's computers are in use as people search for jobs, check the status of eBay listings or communicate by e-mail.

Tucked back in a corner, Cindy Goodrich of Myrtle Beach tutors a first-grader in math. Goodrich visits the library three times a week to provide instruction.

"If I went into the home, I wouldn't have all these resources to put my fingertips on," she said.

In the not-too-distant past, a trip to the library meant strict adherence to silence, a somber atmosphere, musty old books and an antiquated Dewey decimal system.

Today's libraries have evolved into vibrant community centers where patrons can access the Internet, meet for poetry readings, check out DVDs and CDs, participate in book clubs, take classes, bring their children for story time or just sit and read a book.

Behind on posting this one.. ps. I'm not sure the Dewey system is truly antiquated, though it is "behind" the times, like the Library of Congress classification system in reflecting immediate changes in books, culture, and knowledge.. thanks to David Dillard of Temple University for posting the pointer to this one to Net-Gold...

Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology: Make a New Plan, Stan: More Ways to lose Your Techie Folks

Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology: Make a New Plan, Stan: More Ways to lose Your Techie Folks.

Make a New Plan, Stan: More Ways to lose Your Techie Folks

A few folks have added their lists to the "Ten Ways to Lose Your Techie Librarians":

Karen: http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/03/how_to_lose_your_tech_people.php

Jessamyn: http://www.librarian.net/stax/1681

Librarian in Black: http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2006/03/ten_ways_to_los.html

Caveat Lector: http://cavlec.yarinareth.net/archives/2006/03/12/fifty-ways-to-lose-your-techies/ (I love the bit about job descriptions being crammed full of every tech thing imaginable!

And this wonderfully positive spin by Scott at http://www.rcpl.info/services/liblog.html, who commented on the original post. I'm putting them up top because they are really good!

TOP 10 WAYS TO KEEP YOUR TECHIE LIBRARIANS:

1) Treat technology as being as important to your library as circulating books or having storytimes.
2) Try to have a "techie" on as many library teams as possible - they may see ways to leverage projects further with a little bit of "techno-juice" :-)
3) Enable your techie librarians to attend tech conferences, not just library ones.
4) Give your techies time to "play" with new techologies - most libraries probably can't afford the 20% of time that Google allows their engineers, but with a small investment you'll likely see big results.
5) Encourage your organization to understand that big improvements are worth rolling out even if they aren't (yet) perfect.
6) Realize that training expenses for technology staff are likely going to be higher than for others, and occur more often. Realize too that they will likely pay for themselves.
7) To echo Sarah Houghton, if the local job market decrees that IT workers are paid more than librarians, be prepared to match those salaries.
8) If you need to bring in outside help for large initiatives, please be sure that your techies are involved every step of the way.
9) Give them the tools they need to get their jobs done.
10) And, maybe even above all else, create an atmosphere where they can have fun.

Great blog discussion on technical type library staff, and what's going in libraries that makes them feel a part of the Library, and welcomed, or just to "please stop" doing that...

2020 Science

2020 Science.

2020 Science

In the summer of 2005,  an international
expert group was brought  together for a workshop to define and  produce a new vision and roadmap of the evolution, challenges and potential of 
computer science and computing in scientific research in the
next fifteen years.

The resulting document, Towards  2020 Science, sets out the challenges and opportunities arising from the increasing synthesis of computing and the sciences. It seeks to identify the requirements necessary to accelerate scientific advances –particularly those driven by computational sciences and the 'new kinds' of science the synthesis of computing and the sciences is creating. Already this synthesis has led to new fields and advances spanning genomics and proteomics, earth sciences and climatology, nanomaterials, chemistry and physics.

We hope Towards 2020 Science will act as a 'pathfinder' to new research directions in science and computing.  We also hope that it will contribute to, and inform, national and international scientific debate and science policy.  It is also just a start, a catalyst for more discussion, so lastly, we hope that you will find it useful, inspiring and provocative.

The Towards 2020 Science workshop and the consequent report were run and produced under the  aegis of Microsoft Research Cambridge.

Nature '2020 Computing' Special Issue
The Towards 2020 Science report inspired a special issue of Nature on '2020 Computing'.

Call for proposals
The Towards 2020 Science report has motivated Microsoft Research Cambridge to issue a 'Call for proposals' on the topic 'Towards 2020 science: modelling and predicting in biology and earth sciences'.

Thanks to Clifford Lynch, Director, CNI, for posting this pointer...