More Future Library Bloggers in Illinois

Grok Headline matches for More Future Library Bloggers in Illinois

Illinois Library Systems Make a
Difference!

Illinois Library Systems Make a
Difference! 01/16/2004 11:28 AM

In case you're not familiar with how Illinois is divided into regional library systems, here's a quick overview. There are 13 of them covering the entire State, although it will soon be down to nine this summer due to two mergers currently underway. I work at the Suburban Library System, which is the consortial headquarters for academic, public, school, and special libraries in Chicago's south suburbs. (We're currently investigating merging with Chicago Multi-type Library System.) The Systems do a lot of behind-the-scenes work that helps make Illinois libraries as great as they are, facilitating shared catalogs, delivery, interlibrary loan, reciprocal borrowing, technology initiatives, group purchases, grants, and more.

The Il linois Library Systems FY2003 Annual Report just came out and is available in PDF format. Here are some of the more interesting statistics from it:

• The shared catalogs of the Systems held a grand total of 43,665,833 holdings last year. In fact, Illinois libraries own an average of more than 9 items for every household in Illinois.
   
• Those shared catalogs circulated 42,121,007 items last year, with Illinois residents checking out more than 80 items per minute!
   
• There's a great chart on the back page that breaks down the costs and values of just a few of the System services, which comes out to a total value of $295,288,397. Of course, that's not even remotely, nearly, even-on-this-planet close to the amount of funding we receive.
   
• Here's what I consider to be the kicker, though. "For every dollar the State spent on cooperative library systems in FY2003, the citizens of Illinois received $14 in services, a 14 to 1 return on investment."

And yet, our Governor has cut funding for libraries and library systems, plans to make further cuts during the next fiscal year, and is divert ing money to buy children one book per month, rather than giving that money to libraries.

Yo, Rod - give library systems that money and get a 14 to 1 return on your investment! Do the math and fund our libraries, for the good of every Illinois resident!

Library Journal Highlights Illinois
Clicks Portal!

Library Journal Highlights Illinois
Clicks Portal! 05/25/2004 11:47 PM

Illinois Volunteer Librarians Create Statewide Information Portal

"In an attempt to save themselves time and their libraries money, 70 volunteer librarians have created Illinois CLICKS!, the online information portal customized for Illinois citizens.... Phase II of the project will be released later this spring. Funding comes from LSTA money distributed by the Illinois State Library. Illinois CLICKS! provides 24/7 online access to librarian-selected and reviewed webs sites on an array of subjects. The site makes available special collections and collections that previously have been difficult to access. It simplifies the search for government information through links to the Illinois State Library. Phase II will expand subject options, links, and search capabilities; introduce subject-related news feeds; enable the creation of personalized homepages; improve database capabilities; and raise awareness of the sites." [Library Journal - Features]

Let's hope the programmer comes through on this one, because it will help realize the "big picture" vision for IC! Full credit for this project goes to Fran Roehm from the Skokie Public Library and the great group of volunteers she has rounded up to work on this.

Interesting story about the one existing RSS feed that currently displays on the Illinois Clicks home page. We wanted it to show Illinois news, which pretty much means the Chicago Tribune. So we contacted them and asked if 1) they would create an RSS feed we could display or 2) if we could do it externally. They refused on both counts. So we contacted the Chicago Sun-Times, and the folks there were quite happy to work with us. So now they get all the clicks from our home page instead of the Tribune.

There's a lesson somewhere in there for publishers if they could just look past the noses they cut off to spite their faces.

Future of Illinois Farm May Lie in
Swampy Past

Future of Illinois Farm May Lie in
Swampy Past 09/27/2004 03:36 AM
Environmentalists say they can return a 7,000-acre farm to its natural state as a thriving wetland by allowing it to flood.

Convention Bloggers and the Future

Convention Bloggers and the Future 07/30/2004 03:55 PM
For all the occasional self-absorption and recursive coverage of coverage of blogging at the Democratic National Convention, it's clear that the experiment must be chalked up as a success. The bloggers' work ranged from abysmal to terrific, sort of like traditional journalism. What's important to keep in mind is that this was one of those moments when things pivot slightly. The accreditation of bloggers to the convention was an affirmation by a highly centralized hierarchy -- the Democratic Party -- of an evolving kind of information flow. That the even more centralized Republican Party has felt obliged to include bloggers is evidence of the shift.

British Library Prepares for the Future

British Library Prepares for the Future 04/13/2004 06:11 AM
British Library Prepares for the Future
http://www.researchinformation.info/rijanfeb04lynne_brindley.html

The British Library has done extensive research on the needs of tomorrow's networked knowledge society and has made recommendations for how librarians can adapt to provide users with the new kinds of service and support they will need. "At the British Library, we have introduced a market-facing approach to ensure that we align our services with the needs of our five key audience groups: researcher; business; library and information sector; learner; general public. We have also restructured internally to support our market-led strategy, and appointed a head of marketing for each audience group," writes British Library chief executive Lynne Brindley. The British Library has actively canvassed its patrons for suggestions, conducting focus groups and surveys with businesses and individual visitors. In response, it's developed a service geared toward the secure electronic delivery of documents to users' desktops, providing access to more than 100 million items under a copyright-compliant arrangement. In terms of managing digital resources, the British Library has focused on guaranteeing the integrity of the national published archive, says Brindley, "not least of which has been our work with publishers and other U.K. legal deposit libraries to secure the extension of legal deposit legislation to cover e-publications… (to) ensure the long-term preservation of our digital heritage." In addition, the British Library is planning to build a digital storage system that "will take any form of electronic material, and be highly scalable." In an effort to incorporate lessons learned from other institutions facing similar challenges, the British Library is active in a consortium that examines best practices in long-term preservation and is working with the Library of Congress and the Dutch National Library to share that knowledge.

Is This the Library User of the Future?
Heck Yes!

Is This the Library User of the Future?
Heck Yes! 06/03/2004 02:10 AM

I had a few extra minutes tonight, so I started reading the latest Newsweek that showed up in our mailbox. The cover story is Way Cool Phones: Is This the Computer of the Future? [June 7, 2004] I haven't gotten very far into the articles yet, but I'm already loving it. Favorite quotes so far:

"Between our mobile phones, our Blackberrys and Treos and our Wi-Fi'd computers, we're always on and always connected-and soon our cars and appliances will be too. While there's been considerable planning as to how people will use these tools and how they'll pay for them, the wonderful reality is that, as with the Internet, much of the action in the wireless world will ultimately emerge from the imaginative twists and turns that are possible when digital technology trumps the analog mind-set of telecom companies and government regulators." [p.48]

"...[16-year old Adam Rappoport] also spends countless additional hours using his phone's Internet connection to check sports scores, download new ringtones (at a buck apiece) and send short messages to his friends' phones, even in the middle of class. 'I know the touch-tone pad on the phone better than I know a keyboard,' he says. 'I'm a phone guy.'

In Toyko, halfway around the world, Satoshi Koiso also closely eyes his mobile phone. Koiso, a college junior, lives in the global capital of fancy new gadgets--20 percent of all phones in Tokyo link to the fastest mobile networks in the world. Tokyoites use their phones to watch TV, read books and magazines and play games. But Koiso also depends on his phone for something simpler and more profound: an antismoking message that pops up on his small screen each morning as part of a program to help students kick cigarettes. 'Teachers struggle to stop smoking, too. You hang in there,' the e-mail says one day....

Sales of mobile phones dwarf the sales of televisions, stereos, even the hallowed personal computer. There are 1.5 billion cell phones in the world today, more than three times the number of PCs....

...'One day, 2 or 3 billion people will have cell phones, and they are all not going to have PCs,' says Jeff Hawkins, inventors of the Palm Pilot and the chief technology officer of PalmOne. 'The mobile phone will become their digital life.' " [pp. 51-52]

There's also an interesting World Without Wires foldout that shows various technology scenarios in everyday life, somewhat like the Vodafone Future Site.

I'll post more excerpts as I finish reading this issue, but if you're trying to convince your administration why you need to install wireless and start discussing "shifting" your content, this is a good, mainstream starting point.

Digital Future of the Library of
Congress

Digital Future of the Library of
Congress 03/25/2005 11:53 AM

Anarchist in the Library: deliberation
should shape the future

Anarchist in the Library: deliberation
should shape the future 05/18/2004 04:11 PM
I've just finished reading Siva Vaidhyanathan's excellent new book The Anarchist in the Library, a discourse on the real culture war: the fight between open systems for exchanging knowledge and closed systems that see knowledge as a marketable commodity. The best part of this book is that it repudiates technology as a tool for making policy, calling for deliberation instead: in other words, copyright strictures should be created by courts and lawmakers, not DRM.

Both visions of the perfect library -- utopian [all knowledge available for free, organized by volunteers] and dystopian [child-porn, spoilers and amateurish information supplanting high-quality research] -- are overstated. We are not close to constructing the perfect library, but we can imagine how it might look and act. Many of our communal efforts since the early 1990s seem to be moving our information ecosystem toward that vision. Yet long before we ge there, many are sounding alarms about the ways people might abuse their freedoms to use and move information. Even though the perfect library is not imminent, many are acting as if it is. The strong reactions of those who would squelch these freedoms might render our information systems unable to perform the positive functions of the perfect library because of the unexamined -- often merely assumed -- threats to the status quo. The closer we get to the perfect library the more the oligarchs undermine it.

Link

"RipDigital is a bulk CD-ripping
operation: send them your CD library and
they'll ship your library back in MP3
format"

"RipDigital is a bulk CD-ripping
operation: send them your CD library and
they'll ship your library back in MP3
format" 01/12/2004 02:57 AM

Delicious Library 1.0: Easy, Fun Library
Software Catalogs Your Media

Delicious Library 1.0: Easy, Fun Library
Software Catalogs Your Media 03/17/2005 03:10 AM

In addition to being useful and easy to use, it's just plain fun. By Mathew Honan, Macworld

Denver Public Library Launches New
Digital Library

Denver Public Library Launches New
Digital Library 05/06/2004 05:47 AM
Denver Public Library Launches New Digital Library
http://snipurl.com/65h2

Denver Public Library?s new online service is giving city residents access to popular eBooks directly from their homes and offices. The Library serves over a half-million residents and 80% of the city?s population has a library card and access to the new service. ?This is an exciting opportunity to provide eBooks to the city,? said Michelle Jeske, Manager of Web Information Services. ?This year, we saw a 24% increase in the number of online library transactions. eBooks that can be downloaded from our website fit very well with this kind of public demand,? she added.

State Library of Tasmania: Image Library

State Library of Tasmania: Image Library 01/16/2004 11:02 AM
State Library of Tasmania, Heritage Collection Image Library.

Supermen of Illinois

Supermen of Illinois 06/23/2004 01:14 AM
The photos from the Superman Festival in Metropolis, IL make it look like my kind of event. Link (Thanks, Alfie!)

Some in Illinois Want Ditka for Senate
(AP)

Some in Illinois Want Ditka for Senate
(AP) 07/13/2004 08:39 PM
AP - In a measure of the Illinois Republican Party's desperation and Chicago's devotion to Da Bears, a movement is afoot to draft the team's brash, tough-talking former coach Mike Ditka to run for the U.S. Senate.

Illinois Meeting UNC for Championship
(AP)

Illinois Meeting UNC for Championship
(AP) 04/04/2005 12:43 PM
AP - This is the way it's supposed to be: the two best teams in the country playing for the national championship. Rarely does it work out, of course. There's usually those annoying little upsets along the way in the NCAA tournament, messing up the No. 1-vs.-No. 2 matchup.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger of Illinois?"

"Arnold Schwarzenegger of Illinois?" 07/09/2004 08:21 AM

Arnold Schwarzenegger of Illinois?

Arnold Schwarzenegger of Illinois? 07/09/2004 04:52 AM
embarrassed for my home state .. This would be fun to watch .. Ditka for Senate? .. on

illinoisleader.com/columnists/columnistsview.asp?c=17413
track this site | 5 links

At least 3 killed by tornado in Illinois

At least 3 killed by tornado in Illinois 04/21/2004 11:27 AM

CBS 2 Chicago: Illinois Wire

CBS 2 Chicago: Illinois Wire 06/22/2004 04:37 AM
Ryan papers contain allegations he pressured wife for public sex .. now

cbs2chicago.com/illinois/IL--SenateRace-in/resources_news_htmltrack this site | 4 links

" Will Illinois GOP Turn to Ted Nugent?"

" Will Illinois GOP Turn to Ted Nugent?" 07/16/2004 03:17 AM

Some in Illinois want Ditka for Senate

Some in Illinois want Ditka for Senate 07/14/2004 01:41 PM

Four Dead in Illinois Tornadoes

Four Dead in Illinois Tornadoes 04/21/2004 12:46 AM
Reuters via Wired News Apr 21 2004 4:55AM GMT

Illinois Riverboat Blues

Illinois Riverboat Blues 05/13/2004 03:27 PM
Isle of Capri's license pulled and Chicago mayor proposes city-owned casino.

Keyes Will Run for Senate in Illinois
(AP)

Keyes Will Run for Senate in Illinois
(AP) 08/08/2004 03:38 PM
AP - Alan Keyes, the Maryland political commentator who has been critical of candidates parachuting into states where they don't live to run for office, announced Sunday he will enter the U.S. Senate race in Illinois.

Some in Illinois Want Ditka for Da
Senate (AP)

Some in Illinois Want Ditka for Da
Senate (AP) 07/13/2004 03:48 PM
AP - In a measure of the Illinois Republican Party's desperation and Chicago's devotion to Da Bears, a movement is afoot to draft the team's brash, tough-talking former coach Mike Ditka to run for the U.S. Senate.

Tornadoes Kill at Least Four in Illinois

Tornadoes Kill at Least Four in Illinois 04/21/2004 08:55 AM
A severe storm spawning tornadoes cut a swath through north central Illinois on Tuesday, killing at least four people, authorities said.

Four Dead in Illinois Tornadoes
(Reuters)

Four Dead in Illinois Tornadoes
(Reuters) 04/21/2004 12:53 AM
Reuters - Tornadoes struck parts of at least three states on Tuesday evening, killing four people and causing widespread property damage, officials said.

More Detail on Illinois School Lawsuit

More Detail on Illinois School Lawsuit 11/11/2003 12:58 PM
Illinois lawsuit against school district for using wireless explained a little further: This is the first article I've seen which contained any reference to the studies that a group of parents in Oak Park have been citing as demonstrating that there is a correlative risk because specific exposure to Wi-Fi microwave radiation and human health. Unfortunately, the study that's the only one linked to in the article, one conducted by Leif Salford, doesn't lead to the conclusion the parents say it does. The Salford study shows that exposure to uniform radiation over a period of time in the GSM band can produce some ill effects in rats' brains. While this study should certainly disturb those in the cell industry, it's applicability to Wi-Fi is very very low. First, the band used in Wi-Fi is much higher than GSM and will have different characteristics. The researchers don't state the band in their study, for some reason, but mention that they have been working in the 900 MHz band for some time. Second, the study shows that exposure over periods of time to uniform radiation cause the outcome. For cell phones, this is an issue, but for Wi-Fi, it is not. Wi-Fi is not only a bursty technology, in which there is not a constant transmission of peak signal power, but it's also a technology in which the brain is usually from a few feet to dozens of feet away from the radiation point source. Because signal strength varies by the inverse square of the distance from the source, comparing an enclosed uniform radiation field in the study with brains located even 18 inches away from a similarly powered Wi-Fi transmitter is meaningless. The study that needs to be performed would have rats in a laboratory at a variety of distances from both bursty and continuously transmitting Wi-Fi transceivers using standard equipment that produces from 30 mW to 200 mW of power, and commercial omnidirectional and sectorized antennas. Frankly, this study makes me glad that I don't stick my GSM cell phone up against my head. I use a Bluetooth headset, which produces a fraction of the signal strength that a GSM does in normal usage and in a different band....

Eight found dead after Illinois
tornadoes

Eight found dead after Illinois
tornadoes 04/22/2004 07:52 AM

Illinois GOP Asks Keyes to Run for
Senate (AP)

Illinois GOP Asks Keyes to Run for
Senate (AP) 08/04/2004 10:09 PM
AP - Illinois Republican leaders asked Alan Keyes, an East Coast conservative who says out-of-state candidates aren't a good idea on principle, to be their U.S. Senate candidate Wednesday. But like a string of previous possiblities, Keyes said he needed a few days to think about it before deciding.

Illinois Educators Conference Blog

Illinois Educators Conference Blog 03/14/2005 06:22 PM

What in the World is IceCasting?

“IceCasting is an experiment in MobCasting, an idea that Andy Carvin has been exploring lately. The Illinois Technology Conference for Educators (IL-TCE) will be held in St. Charles from March 1 through March 4 and I thought this might be an interesting way to extend the learning.

Everyone loves attending conferences. There's something about being surrounded by your colleagues and being exposed to new ideas at every turn that really just gets people jazzed up about technology, teaching, and education in general. This blog is a way to capture that feeling and share it with other people. It's a place to capture those ideas that you just can't wait to take back to your school, or make you think differently about the way you're doing things now.

If you experienced something at ICE and want to share it with people, there's two ways that you can do so. Send an email to teach42.icecasting@blogge r.com, and the entire text of the email will be instantly posted here. You can also attach photos to the emails if you'd like to! If you'd like to leave an audio comment, simply call 1-661-716-BLOG (2564), use 555-555-5555 for the login and then enter 2005 as your pincode. Leave a message and your audio comment will be posted directly to the blog!

So in between sessions, if you feel inspired, pick up your cell phone and give the number a call. Share what you've seen or heard that inspired you with everyone else. Please feel free to pass this information on to anyone else attending the conference.

If you happen to use Flickr, then tag your ICE photos with ICE2005. I'll be adding a feed to the sidebar that will grab all of our communal photos that way.” [IceCasting]

Steve Dembo seems to be doing all of the heavy lifting at this point (text and audio), but it’s certainly a great idea. Keep up the great work, Steve!

To my great regret, I won’t be able to attend the Computers in Libraries conference this year, so I’m going to have to attend via the blogs. Thank heavens for non-complex, navel-gazing conference bloggers!

L'ville, Pitino Try to Get Past Illinois
(AP)

L'ville, Pitino Try to Get Past Illinois
(AP) 04/02/2005 09:10 AM
AP - They are circling in opposite spheres this week, at least so far. Roy Williams seeks the only win he needs to make his resume complete. Rick Pitino goes for another national title to solidify his standing among the greats. The two Final Four coaches are on opposite sides of the bracket in Saturday's semifinals.

Illinois Senate Race: Well, Someone Is
Sure Getting Whipped Now

Illinois Senate Race: Well, Someone Is
Sure Getting Whipped Now 06/24/2004 01:34 AM
Illinois Senate Race: Well, Someone Is Sure Getting Whipped Now .. Salacious Politics in Illinois .. do not understand

wonkette.com/archives/illinois-senate-race-well-someone-i s-sure-getting-whipped-now-016596.php
track this site | 4 links

Illinois village 'vanishes' out of
bl0gosphere

Illinois village 'vanishes' out of
bl0gosphere 08/23/2004 12:35 PM
The Register Aug 23 2004 5:08PM GMT

Gates leads billionaires; Illinois has
17

Gates leads billionaires; Illinois has
17 03/14/2005 06:27 PM
Chicagotribune.com - Fri Mar 11, 01:53 pm GMT

Illinois Man Has 'Good Bear Story' (AP)

Illinois Man Has 'Good Bear Story' (AP) 07/29/2004 11:36 AM
AP - An Illinois man has 28 staples in his head and "a good bear story" after spending the night at a campground here, authorities said Wednesday.

Illinois Tool's Good Work

Illinois Tool's Good Work 06/15/2004 03:10 PM
The company said second-quarter earnings will be better than expected, but investors are holding back.

ICJIA First to Provide RSS Feeds in
Illinois!

ICJIA First to Provide RSS Feeds in
Illinois! 05/24/2004 11:15 PM

RS S: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority

"The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority offers several XML-based feeds, including one for current news, grants, recent publications and news releases. The feeds display linked headlines and introductory sentences." [TVC Alert]

Suh-weet! Happy dance, happy dance, happy happy happy dance!

This is an honest-to-gosh State Agency!!!!! I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wanted the Illinois State Library to be the first State Agency to offer RSS feeds, but it looks like the ICJIA folks beat them to it. Maybe some healthy rivalry will kick in. Let's hope!

Illinois, N. Carolina to Meet for Title
(AP)

Illinois, N. Carolina to Meet for Title
(AP) 04/03/2005 01:29 PM
AP - The NCAA tournament final will pit Illinois, the No. 1 team in the country, against North Carolina, the team with perhaps the best talent in the field. While the Illini are going for the first championship in the program's 100-year history, the Tar Heels will try to give coach Roy Williams that elusive first title.
Grok Description matches for More Future Library Bloggers in Illinois
GrokA matches for More Future Library Bloggers in Illinois

More Future Library Bloggers in Illinois