Libraries reach out on-line

Grok Headline matches for Libraries reach out on-line

Could Libraries Help the Music
Industry's Bottom Line?

Could Libraries Help the Music
Industry's Bottom Line? 05/20/2004 05:22 PM

More CD Buyers Try Out Digital Song Stores

"Consumers who subscribed to a music service such as RealNetworks' Rhapsody purchased an average of 11 CDs last year. Those who used legal music downloading sites such as Apple Computer's iTunes bought approximately 10 CDs, according to the report. Those who used peer-to-peer file-sharing sites averaged eight CDs, whereas those who did none of these bought an average of six CDs.

"Our research shows that it's the people who are really into music that are beginning to adopt paid digital services as an additional way of acquiring and enjoying music, and so far, these services are living side by side with traditional CDs," Russ Crupnick, president of NPD MusicWatch, said in a statement. 'As the industry matures, and digital music becomes even more mainstream, it remains to be seen just how much paid digital music will affect the market for CDs.' " [CNET News.com]

It would be interesting to see if those numbers went up if library patrons could listen to digital music online at home for free using their library card for authentication. Would they then spend even more money on CDs or purchasing tracks because they were able to hear them legally in their entirety first?

Conversely, it would be interesting to do a study of library patrons who borrow CDs from libraries to see if they end up purchasing more music than those that don't. Perhaps the music industry should be working more closely with libraries as listening outlets.

Greece Struggles to Reach Olympics'
Finish Line

Greece Struggles to Reach Olympics'
Finish Line 02/12/2004 11:34 PM
The Greek government has pushed the deadline for improving the planned Olympic marathon route from late March all the way to late June.

The amount of office space that
corporations allocate to their libraries
has fallen by 8.36% over the past five
years, according to a new survey of
corporate libraries "Corporate Library
Benchmarks, 2004-05 Edition" ISBN:
1-57440-069-X.

The amount of office space that
corporations allocate to their libraries
has fallen by 8.36% over the past five
years, according to a new survey of
corporate libraries "Corporate Library
Benchmarks, 2004-05 Edition" ISBN:
1-57440-069-X. 09/03/2004 02:51 AM
Reports on results of a major survey of corporate and other business libraries. Gives extensive data on management policies and practices and details on spending trends for salaries, electronic and print materials, and library services. [PRWEB Sep 3, 2004]

In the first quarter of 2004 shipment
volume of the Taiwanese DSL industry
grew 29.8% sequentially to reach 7.9
million ports, while shipment value rose
60.9% to reach US$230 million

In the first quarter of 2004 shipment
volume of the Taiwanese DSL industry
grew 29.8% sequentially to reach 7.9
million ports, while shipment value rose
60.9% to reach US$230 million 06/23/2004 02:36 AM
Research and Markets are delighted to announce the addition of The Taiwanese DSL Industry, 1Q 2004 and Beyond to their offering [PRWEB Jun 23, 2004]

Merge old iPhoto libraries on CD with
iPhoto 5 libraries

Merge old iPhoto libraries on CD with
iPhoto 5 libraries 03/19/2005 02:40 AM
I had several iPhoto libraries burned to CD backups from iPhoto 3 or 4 that I wanted to merge with my nearly complete iPhoto 5 library. However, because I burned the libraries directly to CD from the Finder or Toast, and not ...

Keeping Party Line, Bottom Line Separate
(Los Angeles Times)

Keeping Party Line, Bottom Line Separate
(Los Angeles Times) 07/28/2004 05:45 AM
Los Angeles Times - BEIJING — Taiwanese video game salesman Simon Chang was drinking beer with a mainland customer at a nightclub here recently, laughing as a stand-up comedian delivered off-the-news material, Jay Leno-style.

End of the line? How mobiles are
preparing to replace your land line

End of the line? How mobiles are
preparing to replace your land line 05/24/2004 07:42 AM
BBC May 24 2004 12:15PM GMT

The checkout line -- or the
check-you-out line?

The checkout line -- or the
check-you-out line? 07/26/2004 07:21 AM
For librarians, new identification chips in books make life easier. But civil libertarians say the smart books are a scary invasion of privacy

Merlin Libraries

Merlin Libraries 06/06/2004 05:02 AM
Merlin Libraries v0.1.103 (unstable) Released

Echidna Libraries

Echidna Libraries 07/15/2004 07:16 AM
Added 8Bit Targa Support

slack-get 0.2 (Libraries)

slack-get 0.2 (Libraries) 05/04/2004 04:41 PM
A tool like 'apt-get' for Slackware.

PlanetaMessenger.org Libraries

PlanetaMessenger.org Libraries 11/01/2003 10:43 AM
JMML 0.4 released

Libraries 8, Amazon 0

Libraries 8, Amazon 0 12/09/2003 12:13 PM

Have You Ever Wondered....

"Have you ever wondered if the library were like Amazon.com?" [The J-Walk Blog]

slack-get 0.3 (Libraries)

slack-get 0.3 (Libraries) 05/26/2004 10:49 PM
A tool like 'apt-get' for Slackware.

New IM Record in Libraries

New IM Record in Libraries 03/14/2005 06:23 PM

I've been so short on time lately that I've been trying to avoid using what little blogging time I do have to simply repost what other library bloggers are already putting up. This one, however, was just too good to pass up.

when was the last time you had this kind of response to a new library service?

"Brian didn’t give me permission to publish a portion of his email, but I’m so excited about it I’m going to throw caution into the wind. He wrote [emphasis mine]:

'Rule number 1: Don’t send out IM reference fliers to every middle school and jr. high classroom on the same day!

Had to have been at least 100 IMs in the first 2 hours after the kiddies got home. For a while, I had about 20 IM windows up at once.' "

Someone recently observed that there are a lot of Eeyo res in the library community, but I think we can officially declare IM reference a Martha-Stewart-good-thing for (at least) public libraries and move it to Pooh status.

Cost of purchasing the AIM software: $0.
Cost of staff time to "man" the AIM service during those two hours: already paid for.
Satisfaction of having 100 kids respond positively and view the library in a new light: PRICELESS.

Salon in Libraries?

Salon in Libraries? 03/19/2003 10:45 PM

Last year I said I thought Salon should look into licensing content to libraries, and now they're finally doing something about it. Adrienne Crew, their Content Licensing Manager, sent me the following:

"Thought you'd like to know that Salon's Premium Institutional Subscription program for libraries is finally up and running.... Currently we are offering a one year subscription in the $300-400 range and feeds all access to the articles on the site via an IP authentication system or a single password."

More details as I get them.

YSL Coding Libraries

YSL Coding Libraries 12/11/2003 06:12 PM
Transfer of CVS repository in progress

It’s the Libraries, Stupid

It’s the Libraries, Stupid 06/09/2004 11:39 PM
Via Jeff Dillon, some insightful words on programming in Java and in the C#/.NET/Mono ecosystem. I hadn’t thought about it that way.

Essential in Libraries?

Essential in Libraries? 04/27/2004 10:48 PM
SMS an Essential Communication Tool

"The Mobile Data Association (MDA) reports that 2.1 billion text messages were sent in March 2004 in the U.K which is a 25% rise on the total from the same month last year.At present, on average, around 69 million text messages are sent each day in the UK.This article from the BBC states.'It is evident that in the last five years texting has grown from a popular craze among teenagers to an essential communication tool.'
Text messaging reaches new high" [Smart Mobs]

Libraries and the Internet

Libraries and the Internet 12/19/2004 03:00 PM
Kudos to Google and its new university allies -- including my alma mater, the University of Michigan, as well as Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford -- for their exciting project to open the stacks (Wall Street Journal, via Paul Kedrosky). It's a great day for the dissemination of knowledge! Bloggers from these institutions are relaying the emails received from their administrators: ...

England Libraries May All Get Wi-Fi

England Libraries May All Get Wi-Fi 12/04/2003 01:07 PM
The majority of libraries in England already have broadband access but now the government is working on adding Wi-Fi: Most of the libraries in King County, outside of Seattle, have Wi-Fi. It's a great, low-cost way for libraries to offer Internet access without having to provide computers for everyone. My library always has a line of people waiting to get on its computers so perhaps with Wi-Fi some people could come in with their own computers to use the Internet. But I wonder how many of the people I see waiting in line there actually have laptops that they could bring with them instead....

'UK libraries out of use by 2020'

'UK libraries out of use by 2020' 04/26/2004 09:46 PM
The public will stop using libraries if visitor numbers and book loans continue to fall, according to a new report.

NB Parser Libraries

NB Parser Libraries 06/11/2004 09:55 AM
Project started

"http://p2p.libraries.psu.edu/"

"http://p2p.libraries.psu.edu/" 11/18/2003 03:32 AM

2D Graphics Libraries

2D Graphics Libraries 05/05/2004 07:45 PM

While platforms these days have fairly good 2D graphics support like Quartz on OSX, GDI+ on XP, and , and Gnome Canvas, developers like me often have to use third-party libraries for whatever reasons.  On Win32, for example, GDI+ support is missing in legacy platforms which means either giving up on fancy graphics, redistributing GDI+ binaries, use a third party library, or writing one yourself.  Writing one yourself is fun (I have done it a couple of times over 20 years) but, unless it offers some unique features, you'll always end up migrating to a third party library.

BTW, Flash has an excellent 2D graphics engine but it's lacks an API so it's like a sports car without a driving wheel.  Yes, you can embed the Flash ActiveX and generate SWF on-the-fly but it's unwieldy for dynamic interaction and even handling gets tricky.  Embedding Adobe SVG ActiveX is just as unwieldy if not more.

While there are proprietary 2D engines out there, typically written by a few guys at a small company, they tend to disappear within a couple of years, either bought by companies (i.e. Apple, Adobe, Macromind, and Microsoft), or abandoned out of lack of interest or workable revenue model.  Besides, they charge fairly steep fees so I tend to avoid them.

Out of all the freely available 2D libraries out there, Libart stands out in features and quality. It offers fast anti-aliased rendering and it's use in Gnome Canvas over the years means most of the bugs have already been stepped on.  Libart is also used to drive librsvg, a SVG engine, and Java 2D, Java's graphics API, although Sun made extensive changes to tap hardware acceleration.  While Libart can and has been used cross-platform, it's not exactly cakewalk to use in non-Linix platofrms.  Cairo has some interesting features and rising interest could mean it will replace Libart someday, but it's still in development.

Third-party 2D graphics library I really like these days is Anti-Grain Geometry (AGG) which, although dormant for the last two years, has been rejuvenated with the released of version 2.1.  AGG is written in C++ and uses templates extensively like ATL does.  AGG is lightweight, very fast, flexible, and full of features.  It even comes with a partial implementation of SVG viewer as an example.  AGG supports Win32, X11, and SDL as is.  It doesn't yet support features variable stroke effects like Creature House's Expression 3 engine and Fractal Design's Painter support but then it's just me being unreasonable. :-)

I should note that subpixel graphics was first done 20 years ago in Word Handler to display 70 columns of hi-res text on Apple II.Silicon Valley Systems, the company that published Word Handler, was based just 5 minutes from where I live now and I enjoy fond memories of working there every time I pass by the old office on El Camino.  I guess everybody remembers their first job.  LCD screens were just starting to replace LED on calculators at the time, so Steve Gibson and Microsoft ClearType can claim to be the first to use subpixel graphics on LCD screen.  Lenny Elekman, where are you now?

portal: Libraries and the Academy

portal: Libraries and the Academy 02/10/2004 02:49 AM
portal: Libraries and the Academy
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/

A journal that presents research findings and provides regular coverage of issues in technology, publishing, and periodicals, portal is written by librarians for librarians. Peer-reviewed articles address subjects such as library administration, information technology, and information policy. The journal examines the role of libraries in meeting institutional missions, explores how technology affects librarianship and scholarship, and conveys this research to academic librarians in a timely manner. Through the highest-quality research and news about librarianship in higher education institutions, portal provides a much needed, fresh perspective. portal earned recognition as the runner-up for the best new journal of 2001, awarded by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.

Anarchists, Libraries and Freedom

Anarchists, Libraries and Freedom 05/17/2004 08:50 PM

Siva Vaidhyanathan is in town today to promote his new book, The Anarchist in the Library, which I've read and highly recommend. I'll explain why in an upcoming posting.

SSTTR Java Libraries 1.1

SSTTR Java Libraries 1.1 05/09/2004 04:42 AM
Miscellaneous Java libraries for XML, crypto, and other things.

Building Testing Libraries

Building Testing Libraries 05/07/2004 07:22 PM
Save time, test more, and use what the CPAN has made available to enhance your development. Casey West demonstrates examples of good techniques when testing Perl-based software.

What Will Gamers Expect from their
Libraries?

What Will Gamers Expect from their
Libraries? 02/01/2005 10:09 PM

A Brave New Gamer World

“ ‘We've got an entire group of people under age 30 who grew up playing video games,’ said Jim Gee, professor in the UW-Madison School of Education. ‘It's completely changing the way people think about education and the workplace.’

This ‘gamer generation’ includes some 90 million people in the U.S. alone, ages 15 to 35. In fact, sales of video games have now surpassed sales of TVs, DVDs and CDs….

A host of new data is suggesting that video games have created a new generation of employees and executives, bigger than the baby boomers, who will dramatically transform the workplace.

Researchers like John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade, authors of the book ‘Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever’ argue that managers who understand and harness this generation's distinct attributes will leap far ahead of the competition.

Beck and Wade say these 90 million rising professionals, through sheer numbers, will inevitably dominate business and are already changing the rules. Although many of the changes are positive, such as more open communication and creative problem solving, they have caused a generation gap that frustrates gamers and the boomers who manage them….” [The Capital Times, via Library Link of the Day]

Ham Radio Control Libraries

Ham Radio Control Libraries 02/16/2004 08:07 PM
Hamlib 1.2.0 released

Libraries and the Coming Age of Video

Libraries and the Coming Age of Video 01/22/2004 03:24 AM

Our Everyday, Everywhere Exposure to Video

"Digital video is starting to have profound implications for the way humans absorb information, interact and communicate.

Are we entering a post-literate society? How does the presence of screens with moving images just about everywhere affect our behavior? Is Big Brother watching us, or does it just feel that way?...

Consider, however, Deja View's Camwear, to my mind the 'killer app' of CES this year. A tiny camera clips onto your glasses, hat or shirt pocket. It's attached by a thin cord (which you can run inside your shirt or top) to a camcorder that, because it uses flash storage and has no display, is about the size and weight of a deck of cards.

Here's the concept: Camwear records everything you do, but doesn't store it anywhere until you tell it to, and then only in 30-second clips (16 on an included 64 megabyte memory card, but it accepts up to a 512 MB card).

But the key is this: You get to decide after the fact if something's worth keeping — and then capture it — rather than recording everything and having to go back and view and edit hours of video.

For longer clips you can 'daisy-chain' 30-second segments (although you'll miss about 1.5 seconds of action in between). Battery life is around four hours. It uses state-of-the-art MPEG-4 formatting and works with a PC, Mac, TV and related display devices.

Beyond the obvious 'America's Funniest Home Videos' application, Camwear has a host of intriguing uses. Consider the ATM that doesn't give you your cash. Or the salesperson who changes the deal on you. Or playing back the earthquake or car crash to the insurance agent. It's your life as Reality TV....

Then there's our quality of life and self-concept as human beings. If the camera is always on us and our surroundings, what does that do to our sense of privacy, security and individuality?...." [Seattle Times, via JD's New Media Musings]

On the one hand, that's a pretty scary world to think about living in. On the other hand, I really-really-really want one of these things! Parents know how many times you wish you had a video recorder handy when the kids say something particularly funny or just work their kid-like charm.

I've mentioned here before that libraries need to start consider cameraphones in their policies, and this opens a whole new can of worms to the mix. It's not that cameraphones in and of themselves are so bad, and you certainly can't ban them. They're not terribly unique -- anyone could walk into your library with a 35mm camera tomorrow and start snapping pictures -- but their approaching ubiquity brings with them new issues.

However libraries have a myriad of policies governing appropriate behavior in these very public places, many of which are designed to maintain patron privacy. One of these days, someone is going to walk into a library and be obvious about taking pictures of people with their phone, even uploading them to the internet on the spot. It's better to be proactive and discuss how to handle this type of situation when it comes up, rather than have your surprised staff be reactive and make a bad situation worse.

And hey, it's better to talk about this stuff now, before everyone has a Deja View Camwear.

None of which Could *Possibly* Apply to
Libraries, Too

None of which Could *Possibly* Apply to
Libraries, Too 06/09/2004 06:58 PM
The Internet Search on Mobile Race

"IDC analyst Mr Keith Wayras expects 30 million people, or 17 per cent of US mobile subscribers, to use the web on phones in 2006,while currently in Japan about 44.8 million people, or 58 per cent of internet users, access the web on their mobile phones.Internet access will be available on most of the approx 600 million mobile phones expected to be sold worldwide this year.While it is already possible to run a Google search on phones, it is not always easy with websites built for desktop computers and not small-screened devices.This article says that "Google itself said in April that if it doesn't launch products that improve Web searches on handheld devices, it will fail to win a significant share of an increasingly important part of the online market."The article goes on to analyse Microsoft,Yahoo and AOL's moves in the internet search on mobile race.
Google could change the wireless internet" [Smart Mobs]

How NOT to Market WiFi in Libraries

How NOT to Market WiFi in Libraries 12/12/2003 10:21 AM

Marketing Wireless in Libraries

"Someone on Web4Lib asked about posting symbols or signage to identify wireless access in libraries. This is a slightly revised version of my reply on the list, sent after several folks referred the original poster to the wireless warchalking symbols popular among the digerati.

Essentially, this is basic library marketing 101. If you're planning to market wireless services not only to the folks who will seek it, but to folks who would either find a way to use it if they knew what it was or may never even use it but will mentally file this service under 'what a great library this is,' then integrate the fancy symbols with very plainspoken, large, plain-lettered wording. Go to a site that offers wireless for its customers and see how they peddle it. (Remember, that's what you're doing: selling a service.)

Make the language achingly clear. 'Wireless hotspot' comes to mind... but maybe something else makes more sense locally. Assuming you have a bookmark or brochure advertising this service, repeat the logo and the phrase throughout the materials. I know that libraries offer things for free anyway, but why not push that as well? Wireless--FREE!...

Or you could practice another kind of library marketing, and either put up one tiny, very obscure sign, or make it very large and then title it 'Bibligraphic WEP-enabled 802.11* Access.' And in your assessment of the service, observe that very few people use it. ;) " [Free Range Librarian]

I just had to blog Karen's response because it's so true it's tragically funny.

Who's Hot Today? Nashville; All U.S.
Libraries

Who's Hot Today? Nashville; All U.S.
Libraries 06/24/2005 10:01 PM
Nashville, Tenn., has 600 computers in its Metro library system and waiting lines: Adding Wi-Fi is a natural for their patrons who can bring their own laptops. The system will cost just under $70,000 across the system through 50-50 federal and local money. The AP reports on an library study showing 99.6 percent of libraries connected to the Internet: Almost of those offer Internet access to their patrons. This number from the American Library Association is up from 20.9 percent in 1994, when the commercial Internet was brand-spanking new. (I founded a Web site development firm in 1994, and had a T-1 to the Net that August--when it was pretty rare.) Eighteen percent of libraries offer Wi-Fi, but a whopping 21 percent plan to offer it in the next year. Only 42 percent of libraries have high-speed connections, and often broadband is coupled with Wi-Fi: sharing a single dial-up modem over Wi-Fi isn't much of an incentive over home dial-up to library patrons. Public libraries' biggest problem is having enough computers to go around....

Google Scans the Libraries

Google Scans the Libraries 12/17/2004 06:43 PM

Google to scan books from big libraries: Google is going to start scanning the books in libraries.

The New York library is allowing Google to include a small portion of its books no longer covered by copyright while Harvard is confining its participation to 40,000 volumes so it can gauge how well the process works. Oxford wants Google to scan all its books originally published before 1901.

Libraries try to fit into a Google world

Libraries try to fit into a Google world 06/21/2004 09:16 AM
Source: News.com - Librarians have increasingly seen people use online search sites not to supplement research libraries but to replace them....

Libraries and culture, from a trench

Libraries and culture, from a trench 07/02/2004 01:28 PM
Today (July 1, 2004) marks a new chapter for many libraries across the US of A. Today is the first day of mandatory Internet filtering, if your library accepts federal telecommunications funds. Mine does.

SSTTR Java Libraries 1.0.1

SSTTR Java Libraries 1.0.1 12/14/2003 04:07 PM
Miscellaneous Java libraries for XML, crypto, and other things.
Grok Description matches for Libraries reach out on-line
GrokA matches for Libraries reach out on-line

Libraries reach out on-line

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