Recent Articles
Scholar Rediscovers Interlibrary Loan Service
Mar 21, 2007 ILL-L, Libraries, UR Libraries Leave a comment
An article appeared on the website of the Chronicle of Higher Education last week written by a Fulbright scholar studying at University College Cork in Ireland. While conducting research, she discovered that European libraries and their American counterparts treat interlibrary loan (ILL) service very differently. ILL can sometimes be a costly service, especially to libraries with limited budgets. As the writer points out later in the article, many, if not the majority of academic libraries in the United States often subsidize the cost of ILL service while many international libraries pass the cost along to those requesting items.
ILL is often a scholar’s best friend as it provides access to materials worldwide, and expands a library’s local collection exponentially. ILL service is one of the aspects I appreciate most about my job as the Head of Access and Delivery Services as the users are often very appreciative of being able to access materials at other institutions that would not be available otherwise. The link below goes directly to the article! Enjoy!
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/03/2007031401c/careers.html
BookSwim, like NetFlix, only for books!
Mar 8, 2007 Internet Leave a comment
A colleague alerted a group of us at work to the launch of BookSwim. Similar to NetFlix, you create an account, add books to your delivery queue, and return them via free shipping when you’re done! The service isn’t quite ready for prime-time, but there’s a general description of the service, a brochure for those wishing to become an investor (don’t lose your chance to get in on the ground floor), and a sign-up area for future notifications as to the availability of service, etc. Interestingly they “love” libraries, and have “no intention” of trying to replace them and offer librarians a way to contact them to further discuss their services. I’ll be curious to see if such a service can survive in today’s saturated book marketplace. Keep in mind that this service will be going up against virtually free book sharing services including Web 2.0 startup BookMooch.com and PaperBackSwap.com.
LibriVox
Mar 6, 2007 Libraries Leave a comment
So you’ve seen all of the free e-book sites that are available and you’ve also visited audible.com to learn about their e-audio book subscription model. Maybe your disappointed with the NetLibrary’s e-audio book model. LibriVox is possibly the best of all of these, at least for works in the public domain. Even better, you can volunteer to “read” and become the voice behind one of the recordings! Talk about the ultimate in community particpation!
Updating…
Mar 6, 2007 Personal Leave a comment
The time has come and I’m trying to get all of the content from my old university hosted site to AndyMorton.org. Based on my Google Analytics data, I was getting quite a few hits on my previous site, so I’m going to redirect those links to this site via an .htaccess file. It’s interesting to review the content I was linking to, as it was all very web 1.0, including my own site!
ILL-L Update
Feb 27, 2007 ILL-L, Libraries Leave a comment
You may be visiting my site to learn more about the status of ILL-L. Right now the list is set to emergency moderation, and I am experimenting with a couple of different solutions. I am continuing to monitor the moderation queue for new messages. Earlier, a few message that I didn’t realize were repeats slipped out, but since making a change, things have quieted down. Our list host, Webjuction.org, is also working behind the scenes to resolve the issue but it’s still a mystery as to the true cause of the looped messages. Please comment on this post if you have any ideas or suggestions! Thanks for your patience!
Google Apps Premier Edition
Feb 22, 2007 Internet, Tech Tools Leave a comment
In their ever growing battle with Microsoft, Google has opened its suite of online office and communication applications in an effort to further penetrate the enterprise market, and coincidentally arrive just after the release of the latest incarnation of MS Office. From the press release, here are the features that will be available:
Features unique to Google Apps Premier Edition include:
* 10 GBs of storage per user – Offers about 100 times the storage of the average corporate mailbox, eliminating the need to frequently delete email.
* APIs for business integration – APIs for data migration, user provisioning, single sign-on, and mail gateways enable businesses to further customize the service for unique environments.
* 99.9 % uptime – Service Level Agreements for high availability of Gmail, with Google monitoring and crediting customers if service levels are not met.
* 24×7 support for critical issues – Includes extended business hours telephone support for administrators.
* Advertising optional – Advertising is turned off by default, but businesses can choose to include Google’s relevant target-based ads if desired.
* $50 per user account per year – Simple and affordable annual fee makes it practical to offer these applications to everyone in the organization.In addition to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Start Page, all editions of Google Apps now include:
* Google Docs & Spreadsheets – With this addition, teams can easily collaborate on documents and spreadsheets without the need to email documents back and forth. Multiple employees can securely work on a document at the same time. All revisions are recorded for editing, and administrative controls allow organizations to define limits on document sharing. According to custom analysis of Nielsen//NetRatings MegaPanel released this week, 92 percent of users of online productivity tools last October used Google Docs & Spreadsheets, making it the number one product in its class.
* Gmail for mobile devices on BlackBerry – Gmail for mobile devices provides the same Gmail experience – such as search, conversation view and synchronization with desktop version – on BlackBerry handheld devices for users of Google Apps. Gmail for mobile devices joins a list of other mobile options for Google Apps and BlackBerry users that already includes a Google Talk client and a variety of calendar sync tools.
* Application-level control – Allows administrators to adapt services to business policies, such as sharing of calendars or documents outside of the company.
Forget about shot across the bow, this is a full blown assault on Microsoft!
March of the Librarians
Feb 20, 2007 Internet, Libraries Leave a comment
Yes, it was bound to happen, and you’ve probably already seen this as it has been widely circulated via numerous blogs and listservs… Anyway please enjoy March of the Librarians, minus Morgan Freeman’s narration.
Documentary: North Korea - Children of the State
Dec 19, 2006 Personal Leave a comment
As you’re enjoying this holiday season with friends, family and food, please remember that there are many, many others less fortunate than you…
Netiquette - A Critique from David Pogue
Dec 16, 2006 Internet Leave a comment
In David Pogue’s (well known technology guru for the New York Times) Dec. 14 blog post, he serves up an excellent analysis of the trouble with etiquette on the web. Some of the examples he gives could easily have been cut-and-pasted directly from any popular web forum or blog. Here’s the crux of the essay:
“But what’s really stunning is how hostile *ordinary* people are to each other online these days.”
Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times BlogIronically
Ironically, this isn’t new and has been happening on listservs for quite some time. Here’s a repost of the mailing list parody that first appeared in April of 1997:
Q: How many internet mail list subscribers does it take to change a
light bulb?
A: 1,331:
- 1 to change the light bulb and to post to the mail list that the light
bulb has been changed
- 14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the
light bulb could have been changed differently.
- 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.
- 27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light
bulbs.
- 53 to flame the spell checkers
- 156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light
bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list.
- 41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames.
- 109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take
this email exchange to alt.lite.bulb
- 203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling and
alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be stopped.
- 111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we are all use
light bulbs and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this mail
list.
- 306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where
to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for
this technique, and what brands are faulty.
- 27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs
- 14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly, and to post
corrected URLs.
- 3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to
this list which makes light bulbs relevant to this list.
- 33 to concatenate all posts to date, then quote them including all
headers and footers, and then add “Me Too.”
- 12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot
handle the light bulb controversey.
- 19 to quote the “Me Too’s” to say, “Me Three.”
- 4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ.
- 1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup.
- 47 to say this is just what alt.physic.cold_fusion was meant for,
leave it here.
- 143 votes for alt.lite.bulb.
It appears that some things never change!
ALA Washington Office Now Podcasting
Dec 13, 2006 Internet, Libraries Leave a comment
According to the most recent American Libraries Direct, the ALA Washington Office is now producing podcasts helping to keep the library community up-to-date on their activities and priorities. I think this is a great step toward more transparency with the ALA membership. There’s also a link to visit the ALA office virtually via Flickr! Make sure you have Quicktime installed!
District Dispatch - Post details: District Dispatch Podcast #1
