Libraries 8, Amazon 0
Grok Headline matches for Libraries 8, Amazon 0
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 AMReports 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]
Amazon accidentally revealed the real
names of many anonymous reviewers this
week, through a bug in the amazon.ca
back-end
Amazon accidentally revealed the real
names of many anonymous reviewers this
week, through a bug in the amazon.ca
back-end
02/14/2004 03:55 PMunmasked .. glitch
nytimes.com/2004/02/14/technology/14AMAZ.html
track
this site | 5 links
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 AMI 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 ...
'UK libraries out of use by 2020'
'UK libraries out of use by 2020'
04/26/2004 09:46 PMThe public will stop using libraries if visitor numbers and book loans
continue to fall, according to a new report.
New IM Record in Libraries
New IM Record in Libraries
03/14/2005 06:23 PMI'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.
slack-get 0.2 (Libraries)
slack-get 0.2 (Libraries)
05/04/2004 04:41 PMA tool like 'apt-get' for Slackware.
Merlin Libraries
Merlin Libraries
06/06/2004 05:02 AMMerlin Libraries v0.1.103 (unstable) Released
PlanetaMessenger.org Libraries
PlanetaMessenger.org Libraries
11/01/2003 10:43 AMJMML 0.4 released
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:
...slack-get 0.3 (Libraries)
slack-get 0.3 (Libraries)
05/26/2004 10:49 PMA tool like 'apt-get' for Slackware.
Salon in Libraries?
Salon in Libraries?
03/19/2003 10:45 PMLast 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.
It’s the Libraries, Stupid
It’s the Libraries, Stupid
06/09/2004 11:39 PMVia Jeff Dillon,
some insightful words on programming in Java and
in the C#/.NET/Mono ecosystem. I hadn’t thought about it that way.
NB Parser Libraries
NB Parser Libraries
06/11/2004 09:55 AMProject started
YSL Coding Libraries
YSL Coding Libraries
12/11/2003 06:12 PMTransfer of CVS repository in progress
"http://p2p.libraries.psu.edu/"
"http://p2p.libraries.psu.edu/"
11/18/2003 03:32 AMEngland Libraries May All Get Wi-Fi
England Libraries May All Get Wi-Fi
12/04/2003 01:07 PMThe 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....
Essential in Libraries?
Essential in Libraries?
04/27/2004 10:48 PMSMS 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]
Echidna Libraries
Echidna Libraries
07/15/2004 07:16 AMAdded 8Bit Targa Support
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?
CyberInfrastructure Needs Libraries and
Archives
CyberInfrastructure Needs Libraries and
Archives
07/12/2004 06:00 AMCyberInfrastructure Needs Libraries and Archiveshttp://www.clir.org/pubs/issues/issues40.html#comm A
new American Council of Learned Societies initiative provides a unique
opportunity for libraries and archives to collaborate with scholars in
defining the requirements of the new digital infrastructure -- what
the National Science Foundation calls the "cyberinfrastructure."
Libraries and archives are asked to redefine their roles,
responsibilities and funding strategies while focusing on the needs of
scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Humanists, social
scientists and engineers will define and build this infrastructure to
meet the needs of researchers and scholars in all disciplines. The
ACLS commission's areas of emphasis will be applications like
Geographic Information Systems, three-dimensional modeling of built
environments, and text mining -- ones that have already begun to
change the ways in which scholars interrogate primary sources.
Libraries and archives are encouraged to attend public
information-gathering sessions, participate in discussions, and
contribute to the commission's work. The commission is especially
interested in these groups' understanding of the impact of current
intellectual property and privacy rights on access to information; the
value of standards for information markup and searching; the need for
interoperable information technology systems; and the imperative of
preservation in a world of scholarly inquiry founded on an
uninterrupted record of research.
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....
None of which Could *Possibly* Apply to
Libraries, Too
None of which Could *Possibly* Apply to
Libraries, Too
06/09/2004 06:58 PMThe 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]
Google to index libraries
Google to index libraries
12/17/2004 06:37 PMIn yeste
rday's link dump, I inexplicitly buried a link to the big news about Google's plan to index the books at The Libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the
University of Michigan, the University of Oxford, and The New York
Public Library. Wow!
In the meantime, Microsoft released a toolbar suite. Uhmmm,
wow?
Note to Microsoft: I like your OS, but you're falling waaay
yy behind.
Libraries Wired, and Reborn
Libraries Wired, and Reborn
04/21/2004 09:03 PMPublic libraries have been transformed over the last decade as
Internet - connected computers have increased their traffic - and, in
some cases, even their book budgets.
Libraries and culture, from a trench
Libraries and culture, from a trench
07/02/2004 01:28 PMToday (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.
Google Scans the Libraries
Google Scans the Libraries
12/17/2004 06:43 PMGoogle 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.
What Will Gamers Expect from their
Libraries?
What Will Gamers Expect from their
Libraries?
02/01/2005 10:09 PMA
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 PMHamlib 1.2.0 released
How NOT to Market WiFi in Libraries
How NOT to Market WiFi in Libraries
12/12/2003 10:21 AMMarketing
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.
Shifted Libraries on WEB4LIB
Shifted Libraries on WEB4LIB
03/14/2005 06:23 PMOver on the WEB4LIB
mailing list, there's been a fascinating discussion evolving about
marketing, ubiquity, and library web services. It kind of starts here
in a comment about Gmail but you'll need to use the date
index to follow where it goes.
You already know where I fall in the debate (I'm closely aligned
with Kare
n Schneider's and Alan
e Wilson's responses), so I'll just encourage you to read through
the whole thing (watch the subject lines - they morph into new ones)
because it's one of the better discussions I've seen on the topic
lately with lots of good points. Finally, we're seeing a more
aggressive conversation!
One thread I do want to highlight (well, I hope it becomes
a thread), is Stephen De Gabrielle's attempt to suggest a course of
action. There were other suggestions, but this is a new one that could
help long-term if we can get the vendors to agree to it.
"Why don't we have a common API for all ILS? - and demand
these of our ILS vendors.(Libraries have always led the way in
standards.)
I assume this list is as good a place as any to start the
process.
What do list members think would be appropriate services for such
and API?"
Maybe then we could focus all of our various programming efforts on
the greater good instead of just our own local catalogs.
Libraries reach out on-line
Libraries reach out on-line
12/29/2004 12:06 PMglobetechnology.com Dec 29 2004 3:22PM GMT
Computers in Libraries: Keeping Up
Computers in Libraries: Keeping Up
03/19/2005 02:36 AMGary Price, Genie Tyburski, and Steven Cohen talked about keeping up
in "Tips for Keeping Up: Expert Panel" that was the last item on Track
A on Wednesday. (Track A...
Are We at Year One of Texting in
Libraries? No.
Are We at Year One of Texting in
Libraries? No.
12/27/2004 12:53 AMI'll Give You a Bell : 20 Years of the Mobile Phone
"In just two decades, the mobile phone has become the
fastest-selling, most loved - and hated - consumer product. Britain is
the world's most mature mobile market, with more mobiles per head of
population and higher bills than any other country. Almost all adults
now have at least one mobile phone, one in two teenagers has a 'moby'
and a new British firm, Communic8, has just launched MyMo, a simple
phone for four- to eight-year-olds. Some 23 billion texts have been
sent this year and more than 20 billion calls made. The total value of
this electronic white noise is £15 billion....
Perhaps the biggest change mobiles have wrought is in the language
of communication we all use. Textsperanto - the amalgam of abbreviated
words, acronyms and coded punctuation that teenagers developed so that
they can fit more words into their space-limited SMS messages - was
designed to be impenetrable to adults but most of us have a grasp of
it now. When a pupil at a Scottish secondary school handed in an essay
entirely written 'in txt', her teacher gave her a 'C+ 4 e4t'....
For the refuseniks, however, the battle against the tiny power
tools is about to get a lot tougher. Twenty years after Ernie Wise
first pressed the green 'call send' button on a brick-sized Motorola
handset, the latest tiny, third-generation - 3G - phones are about to
hit the market. Today, thousands of teenagers and adults are poring
over geeky phone manuals, configuring their new handsets so that they
can surf the internet, download real-time TV and video clips, take
photographs, make video calls and play MP3 music files." [The Guardian, via textually.org]
I had to call Sprint today to find out why I haven't been able to
access any data services at home on my Treo for the last 10 days or
so. The new recording that you hear - first thing - is a message
noting that activations may take up to 24 hours because so many people
are revving up their new phones.
I find the following overheard conversation to be pretty
typical:
"College Girl: Yeah, I called mom and dad
and left a message on their machine. I've been calling their cell
phones too but they never pick up. They just don't understand.
(pause....) Yeah, they don't get it -- cell phones are supposed to be
carried around with them." [CamWorld]
Computers in Libraries -- Wednesday
Computers in Libraries -- Wednesday
03/19/2005 02:36 AM
I went to four sessions yesterday in addition to the keynote and went
to the dead technologies night session, and I wonder why I'm tired
when I get to the...
Ham Radio Control Libraries 1.2.0
Ham Radio Control Libraries 1.2.0
02/18/2004 01:18 PM
Shared libraries for HAM radio equipment control.
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....
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.
Interactional Digital Libraries
Interactional Digital Libraries
06/12/2002 02:19 PM
Introduction to a special issue on Interactivity in Digital Libraries
New List of Wi-Fi Consultants for
Libraries
New List of Wi-Fi Consultants for
Libraries
06/03/2004 11:42 PM
Bill Drew has
started a list of consultants on The Wireless
Librarian site. Get help with your own Wi-Fi implementation or
help the list grow by sending in additions.
Grok Description matches for Libraries 8, Amazon 0
GrokA matches for Libraries 8, Amazon 0
TViewer
TViewer
12/09/2003 12:04 PM
Windows XP
OCLC Hacks
OCLC Hacks
02/01/2005 10:09 PM
OCLC is is loosening up and having some fun in a Google Labs kind of way!
OCLC
Research Software Contest
“In celebration of libraries and
their heritage of technological innovation, OCLC Research is
sponsoring a software contest to encourage innovation in the use of
web-based services for libraries.
Prize
- $2,500 in
cash
- Visit with OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc., in
Dublin, Ohio
- Potentially have your code incorporated in OCLC
services for libraries
The challenge
OCLC is
providing a set of bi
bliographic records extracted from WorldCat plus a
set of services:
You may also use Open
WorldCat, either by simply incorporating links to publicly
accessible records or by enrolling in Open WorldCat's Partner Access program. Contact us
if you wish to discuss enrolling in this program for the purposes of
this contest.
Your mission is to write a program that does
something interesting and innovative with the WorldCat data using at
least one of the OCLC-provided services. You must submit a working
prototype.
Part of your job is to convince us of why your
program is interesting and why it will help libraries and/or library
users; other than that, you're free to implement whatever strikes your
fancy.”
And they were smart enough to ask Jon Udell to be a judge
– good call! I hope we see some really cool stuff come out of
this, in more than just a proof-of-concept way. Makes me wish I could
actually program. Entries are due by midnight on May 15. If
you’re entering, good luck!
OCLC Research Announcements
OCLC Research Announcements
12/16/2003 01:43 PM
OCLC Research Announcements
http://oclc.org/researc
h/announcements/
Founded in 1967, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is
a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research
organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to
the world's information and reducing information costs. More than
45,000 libraries in 84 countries and territories around the world use
OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library
materials. Researchers, students, faculty, scholars, professional
librarians and other information seekers use OCLC services to obtain
bibliographic, abstract and full-text information when and where they
need it.
OCLC Research is one of the world's leading
centers devoted exclusively to the challenges facing libraries in a
rapidly changing information technology environment.
OCLC Environmental Scan Now Available
OCLC Environmental Scan Now Available
01/09/2004 10:11 PM
The 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan:
Pattern Recognition
"From the document, 'The 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan: Pattern
Recognition report was produced for OCLC’s worldwide membership
to examine the significant issues and trends impacting OCLC,
libraries, museums, archives and other allied organizations, both now
and in the future. The scan provides a high-level view of the
information landscape, intended both to inform and stimulate
discussion about future strategic directions.'
Intro
and Flash Graphic of Several Stats Contained in the Report ||| D
irect to Full Text" [Resourceshelf]
I saw a piece of this report last month and even had the chance to
provide some feedback and comments that made it into the final
version. I have not yet had time to read the whole thing, but what I
did see was pretty solid and does provide a good overview of current
and future issues for libraries. Naturally, I agree with a lot of
what's in the report, although I did have an interesting dialogue with
the author, which is where some of my quotes come from (mostly in the
Future Fr
amework section).
Some of the quotes that are not from me but could be because of
their "shifted-ness" include:
- "Wi-Fi, short for wireless fidelity, is a
technology that has captured the heart of the information consumer and
is filling tables at coffee shops across the world.... Jupiter
Research reports that 6 percent of U.S. consumers have used Wi-Fi
services in a public place. Why not make the library the first public
place for the next 50 percent?
- The high school students interviewed for the scan told us that the
technology tool they wanted most was a PDA device that 'contained all
the information they needed to do their work.' Vendors are
responding. Several vendors now offer PDAs under $100, making it
possible for the information consumer to get a PDA for about the price
of two video games. Personalization, alert technology
and other PDA-friendly information services have brought a world of
convenience to the business user. The information consumer is ready
for libraries to bring 'all the information they need to do their
work' to their PDAs." [Security, authentication, and Digital Rights
Management (DRM), p.
5]
- "What if libraries and OCLC and all the other players in the world
of structured access to information erased the organizational charts,
the artificial separations of content, the visible taxonomies, and the
other edifices real or otherwise built to bring order and rationality
to what we perceive as a chaotic universe? What if we built an
infosphere rich in content and context that was easy to use,
ubiquitous and integrated, designed to become woven into the fabric of
people’s lives; people looking for answers, meaning and
authoritative, trustable results? How do we take information,
information sources and our expertise to the user, rather than making
the user come to our spheres?" [Future Frameworks, p.
5]
It will be interesting to gauge the reaction to this document
and to see if OCLC
can successfully use it as a springboard to implementing the
frameworks discussed (or helping their members to implement those
frameworks). I hope they do a follow-up in a year to evaluate its
impact on the organization and/or libraries. Personally, an API into
WorldCat that could be used
as an
ISBN lookup service would be pretty high on my list in terms of
integration into the web in the user's infosphere (hint, hint).
OCLC is soliciting feedback about the report, so feel free to contribute your thoughts to
them.
A Very Shifted OCLC Blog
A Very Shifted OCLC Blog
07/09/2004 12:16 AM
It was only a matter of time. OCLC started to "get" RSS
and began providing a feed for
research announcements earlier this year, and now they're
blogging, too. Well, a few of them are, anyway, and it's the folks
behind the Environmental
Scan leading the way. Why? Because It's All Good. :-)
"A cool blog from OCLC Online Computer Library Center staff about
all things future that impact libraries and library users. A
conversation that starts with the Environmental Scan and goes from
there."
And there's an Atom
feed since it's on Blogger.
OCLC Research Publications Repository
OCLC Research Publications Repository
09/08/2004 06:39 AM
OCLC Research Publications Repository
http://www.
oclc.org/research/publications/about.htm
This
repository contains works produced, sponsored, or submitted by OCLC
Research. In general, the works are research-oriented and are in the
subject area of library and information science. Many items describe
OCLC Research projects, activities, and programs and were originally
published by OCLC, while others are from peer-reviewed scholarly
journals. The repository contains metadata (MARC, Dublin Core) about
publications and, whenever available and permitted, a link to the full
digital text of items described. The repository is under construction.
At present the repository contains:
* 507
metadata records (out of 913 items published by OCLC staff since
1979)
* links to the full text of 288 items.
It
contains current publications back to 2001, all "born digital"
publications, and at least 40% of OCLC Research's corpus of work. A
complete bibliography of OCLC Research publications is available here. This has been added to Research Resources
Subject Tracerâ„¢ Information Blog. This has also been added to Directory Resources
Subject Tracerâ„¢ Information Blog under Information and Information
Science Directory Classification. This will be added to Academic Resources
2004-05 Internet MiniGuide.
Extreeeeeeme ISBNs! OCLC and xISBN
Extreeeeeeme ISBNs! OCLC and xISBN
01/23/2004 02:20 PM
The OCLC has a cool little project called xISBN. It lets you provide
an ISBN and get a list of associated ISBNs (from reprints, other
editions, etc.) It's available at...
OCLC report on information and libraries
OCLC report on information and libraries
01/22/2004 03:12 AM
The Ohio College Library Center ( OCLC ) has released a
report on current trends in the information world . The analysis
examines social habits of searching, library economics, and impacts of
digitization, then offers challenging recommendations for information
specialists.
The document includes an
interactive Flash visualization of library resources worldwide ,
along with
multimedia pdf files of the analysis .
OCLC is best known for its development of metadata systems
, and for
WorldCat , a global catalogue tool.
(thanks to Hugh
Blackmer )
Stu Weibel Interviews Tim Berners-Lee
(OCLC)
Stu Weibel Interviews Tim Berners-Lee
(OCLC)
12/07/2003 07:35 PM
Stu Weibel Interviews Tim Berners-Lee (OCLC)
http://www.oclc.org/research/announcements/features/tbliview.htm
This interview with Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was
conducted by OCLC Researcher Stuart Weibel. Tim agreed to discuss his
perspectives on major trends in the information landscape and their
impact on use and access to public information. This interview was
conducted in support of the OCLC environmental scan of the Library and
Information communities, developed for strategic planning purposes for
OCLC and its member libraries.
OCLC refines its ISBN-clustering service
OCLC refines its ISBN-clustering service
02/13/2004 10:45 AM
Python hacker and OCLC chief scientist Thom Hickey has updated me on
the xISBN
project:
Just thought I'd let you know that we've put up a new version of the
ISBN database. We've done a lot of work to pull works with variant
titles together (which helps with The Innovator's
Dilemma) and made the retrievals consistent, so that any ISBN in a
group retrieves that same ISBN group (which also helps with I's D).
We've learned a lot about how ISBNs are used (and misused).
Thanks for the update, Thom. Sure enough, my original examples now
work as advertised. Here's what Thom was referring to:
There are a few caveats here. First, the one-to-many algorithm doesn't
seem to be fully bi-directional. In the example above, we'd like to
get from 0066620694, a paperback, to 0875845851, a hardcover. But
although we can get from 0875845851 to
0066620694, we can't get from 0066620694 to
0875845851. [Jon's Radio: Multi-ISBN
LibraryLookup]
Those two links didn't used to yield the same set of ISBNs. Now they
do. Cool!
...
OCLC Project Opens WorldCat Records to
Google
OCLC Project Opens WorldCat Records to
Google
10/30/2003 08:09 AM
Barbara Quint reports about how OCLC is allowing Google .. OCLC
Project Opens WorldCat Records to Google .. p Information Todays
webbplats .. Info Today ..
InfoTodayinfotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb031027-2.shtml
track this
site | 7 links
Libraries 8, Amazon 0
