Archives
Thursday, May 29, 2003
The Information Design approach to Web development
The Information Design approach to Web development from Digital Web Magazine is an interesting look at information management from a non-librarian.
It’s important to remember that the business world has realized that it needs our expertise, we just haven’t been very good at letting them know it is our expertise.
Website Design — laura
eBooks
I mentioned the Baen Free Library before discussing its support of fair-use. Further investigations of reading books on using PDAs has proven to be highly addictive. There is a fee-based system, Webscription.net where electronic copies of many of Baen’s holding can be bought and downloaded for $4 or $5 (US) each.
Other options include:
- OmniRead which hosts a large collection of books from a variety of publishers with a corresponding variety in prices. Most seem to be the same price or only slightly lower than the print version, even differing between the hard and paperback versions.
- eBookLocator is a search engine specifically for eBooks. The fields available include the title, author, publisher, subject kewords, and the electronic format.
- KnowBetter Lending Library is an actual ebook lending library. You register (for $20 US/year) and “borrow” up to 2 books at a time for 3 to 14 days. After the time is up, the electronic copy self-destructs. They seem to have gotten around the copyright problem by only “checking out” their books to one person at a time, complete with waiting list. The library is apparently an advertisement for the Libwise software, which is said to make it easy for traditional libraries to set up their own electronic lending versions. The whole thing is a subsiduary of Fictionwise.com, another eBook vendor.
Library Links — laura
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Educause
Educause Review is a bimonthly magazine published both in print and on the web. The educational focus may not seem relevant for many libraries but the technical views are.
There are a number of articles of interest in the online archives. A few particular ones are:
- “Commonsense Ideas from an Online Survivor”, March/April 2002
- ”
Higher Education Alert: The Information Railroad Is Coming”, January/February 2003 - “Signs of the Times: Change Is Coming for E-Learning”, November/December 2002
- “Building Good Digital Library Collections: A Dynamic Framework”, November/December 2002
- “Lens on the Future: Open-Source Learning”, September/October 2002
Education — laura
Frank Field
FurdLog is a weblog maintained by a professor at MIT that looks at current events but focuses mostly on copyright matters.
Intellectual “Property” in the Digital Age is a category of annotated links.
Copyright — laura
Friday, May 23, 2003
edublogging
An html version of a presentation on edubloggiing was posted by Geof and Randy. They’ve also posted pdfs of articles: “Throw Another Blog on the Wire” and ?Weblogging on Campus and Beyond?.
Edublogging, if you are wondering involves using blogs, or Internet-based journals, in association with classes.
Blogging — laura
The Library Web Manager’s Reference Center
The Library Web Manager’s Reference Center is a great collection of resources contributed by the members of the Web4Lib list. It makes an impressive reference source.
Library Links — laura
Coffee Service in Libraries
“As a group, we selected coffee services in libraries as the issue of our final presentation for the Hypatia Conference. We investigated the general history of coffee and coffeehouses, the history of the coffee service trend, implementation of the coffee concept, surveyed listservs regarding coffee shops in libraries, the pros and cons of coffee shops in libraries, and the cultural implications.”
Good to the Last Drop: Dimensions and Cultural Implications of Coffee Service in Libraries
The “cozying” of libraries into well-stocked lounges instead of places of learning and business can wind up having a lot of effects on the future. While patron-use may increase, it might not be the kind of use intended (i.e. the library as free day-care). It could also make it more difficult to get funding. “Why should tax dollars go to supporting a coffe bar (ignoring what the bar is attached to)?” on the other hand, if you don’t offer what people want, they won’t use your services.
Something to watch out for.
Library Links — laura
Electronic Librarianship Primer
A request for useful online resources for electronic librarians returned a good list. The requestor was kind enough to post a summary and to allow me post it here. All html, including links, was done by me. If there is a mistake, please let me know. All of the content is as he wrote it, his contact information is at the bottom.
Hi all, I received a number of helpful responses to my inquiry about
journals, conferences, associations, and listservs useful to Electronic Resources Librarians. I also received a couple requests to share what I learned, so here it is.
Career Info — laura
Thursday, May 22, 2003
RSS Use
An article calledHow can I use RSS started a discussion on the Web4Lib list about how libraries can use RSS feeds.
- The Utah State Library offers Utah and National Public Library News.
- Hartford Public Library in Connecticut and Hekman Library website of Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary in Michigan display the top news stories.
- Blackboard Support at Bristol describes how to include RSS feeds in Blackboard.
- Newman Library shows the headlines from the News section on the home page through an RSS file.
- TheYorba Linda Public Library pulls in the headlines from the Librarian’s Index to the Internet
- LISFeeds.com collects news feeds from a number of library-oriented sites and displays them in one place.
RSS offers an efficient and convenient way of having the latest information in your area of interest routed to you either minute-by-minute or whenever you want to see it.
Web Tools — laura
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
XML Overview
This article is a very brief and general discussion of XML and how you can use it.
XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language. But it’s not. A markup language, it’s a scheme for creating markup languages.
Yes, I know, this still makes no sense, but bear with me.
Tutorials — laura
Monday, May 19, 2003
Flow in Online Learning
Instructional Design for Flow in Online Learning
“This tutorial describes how the instructional design of an online course can facilitate an optimal learning experience for the student.”
Library Links — laura
Deep Thinking about Weblogs
Deep Thinking about Weblogs is a nice, non-techy-oriented explanation of blogs with some RSS thrown in.
Blogging — laura
Friday, May 16, 2003
Conducting a Dialogue
Conducting a Dialogue talks about software used to monitor a website visitors actions and automatically sends them emails afterwards based on those actions to encourage them to come back. I can see this being good for libraries to learn about usability problems and to direct patrons to less obvious services.
Library Links — laura
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Directory of Open Access Journals
The Directory of Open Access Journals is pretty much what it sounds like, a subject categorized directory of journals available for online access for free. They require that the journals to be peer-reviewed or have editorial quality control and publish research papers.
Open Access — laura
Monday, May 12, 2003
Career Resources
North Carolina Libraries online: ISSN 0029-2540 from the North Carolina Library Association puts its newsletter online in PDF format. The Spring 2003 edition includes an article by H. Jamane Yeager called “Career Resources for Librarians/Information Professionals” with a lengthy bibliography and Webliography.
Career Info — laura
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Website Tweaks
How a Travel Site Raised Sales Conversions 30% With 26 Little Site Design Tweaks
This might not look relevant to libraries but with the increasing importance of the Internet in disseminating information, the library’s website is becoming as important as the physical building for serving patrons. Optimizing the experience can bring users back again and raise the library’s status in the community.
Website Design — laura
Friday, May 9, 2003
Roving Librarian
Reference on the Road: A Roving Librarian in Loker Commons Brings Library Services to Students describes a rather interesting outreach program. The undergraduate libraries at Harvard are sending reference librarians with wireless inabled laptops to the public areas where students actually gather to offer research help.
Gives new meaning to “telecommuting,” doesn’t it? It’s a really novel and interesting direction.
Library Links — laura
CSTB Project: Information Technology and Creativity
“Beyond Productivity: Information Technology, Innovation, and Creativity examines the dynamic intersection of information technology with the world of the arts and design. This intersection has already yielded results of significant cultural and economic value, including innovative architectural and product designs, computer animated films, computer music, computer games, interactive art installations, cross-cultural experimentation, and Web-based texts. However, many opportunities for new collaborative ventures remain to be explored. (2003)”
The report is available for free to download or read in your browser or you can order a printed copy for a fee.
Computing News — laura
Quickiwiki, Swiki, Twiki, Zwiki and the Plone Wars Wiki as a PIM and Collaborative Content Tool
Wikis, like blogs, are an Internet communication tool. They are meant to be created and maintained by more than one person, often as a repository for collected knowledge. In Quickiwiki, Swiki, Twiki, Zwiki and the Plone Wars Wiki as a PIM and Collaborative Content Tool, David Mattison talks about his research on and experience with wikis as well as giving links and discussing how they will continue to evolve.
Web Tools — laura
Thursday, May 8, 2003
HIGHTOWER: Shredding Ashcroft
HIGHTOWER: Shredding Ashcroft is a opinion column talking about librarians and the USA Patriot Act. It’s very encouraging that someone is listening.
Patriot Act — laura
Wednesday, May 7, 2003
BusinessWeek Online Open Source Issue
BusinessWeek Online: BW Magazine has devoted an entire issue to Linux and Open Source software this week.
Two paricular favorites of mine are “Next from Open Source: Killer Apps?” and “Programmers Are Like Artists”.
The first discusses the open source applications that are now being built, including corporate software using open source bases that don’t require users to buy liscenses from Microsoft or Sun. The second looks at the people who participate in open source and why it works so well.
These are definately interesting reading for anyone involved with the technology aspect of an organization.
Open-Source Software — laura
An Introduction to Open Source Communities
An Introduction to Open Source Communities is a research report on Open Source Communities. It looks at “…existing, relevant research, and presents original case studies of two open source projects: TouchGraph and SquirrelMail. It identifies some patterns of collaboration that both of these projects share, and describes how these patterns might apply to other types of communities.”
Open-Source Software — laura
Tuesday, May 6, 2003
Copyfight: the Politics of IP
Copyfight: the Politics of IP, written by Donna Wentworth and sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, this news blog focuses on the legal and technological innovations of intellectual property.
Copyright — laura
OPEN MIND: open source
OPEN MIND: open source is a news blog sponsored by Corante and written by Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier focusing on Open Source software.
Open-Source Software — laura
Monday, May 5, 2003
Content and Knowledge Management Systems. Huh?
Content and Knowledge Management are two very different subjects. Content Management generally refers to the handling of content on a website while Knowledge Management is used for managing the internal information of a group or organization so that it remains useful and available.
Why combine the two topics then? Because of what they have in common. Both refer to the management of information and both can be handled with the same software, the “Systems.” Most of the time, these systems are created as Content Management Systems (CMS) and are modified for Knowledge Management because many of the tools needed for both processes are the same. From now on the software will simply be referred to as CMSs.
Tutorials — laura
Saturday, May 3, 2003
Good News
According to a BILLBOARD article, the new iTunes music service has done amazingly well. It serves as a example that if a half-way decent legal alternative is offered, people will prefer that to file-sharing services.
Copyright — laura
