"It is not a bad thing in a tale that you understand only half of it."
Audio books make a long road trip with young people go by much faster. Audio eBooks in the car would be great...
It must be frustrating for iPod users not to be able to access this material, and I wonder why the library doesn't make the audio eBooks available for the most common player. The OverDrive Media Console is Windows only. Does this have something to do with copyright protections?
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thing #20: Podcasts
Searching "libraries" on Podcast.net brought up "The Library Channel" by Arizona State University Libraries. I found the podcasts dull... the special collections curator talking about an exhibit (which the listener can't see, of course)... announcements about library closures (useful)... lectures about improving library services... I guess some people would prefer to listen to this material, but I would prefer having it as a paper to read and annotate. (How many people subscribe to our UCSC Library's podcast feed?)
The toast needs butter and jam.
The best podcasts imho are the ones that work like radio, whether news (such as NPR's Science Friday) or entertainment (such as Old Time Radio). Also, like YackPack and video conferencing, podcasting would be useful for distance education.
I subscribed to an NPR podcast feed; it shows up in my iTunes and on Bloglines.
The toast needs butter and jam.
The best podcasts imho are the ones that work like radio, whether news (such as NPR's Science Friday) or entertainment (such as Old Time Radio). Also, like YackPack and video conferencing, podcasting would be useful for distance education.
I subscribed to an NPR podcast feed; it shows up in my iTunes and on Bloglines.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Thing #19: YouTube
Although my son considers me old and geezerish (bless his 15-year-old heart), I have watched many videos on YouTube. Perhaps the Library could create instructional videos on how to use the journal databases, or resources such as ARTstor? Some patrons would need the personalized help that only a reference librarian could give, but short videos might serve as introductions or refreshers.
Through Blinkx I found the following ad for Cambridge Public Library:
http://blip.tv/file/334707
It makes me shudder slightly to see how the kids toss things around...
And here's a discussion of the Archimedes Palimpsest:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8211813884612792878
Through Blinkx I found the following ad for Cambridge Public Library:
http://blip.tv/file/334707
It makes me shudder slightly to see how the kids toss things around...
And here's a discussion of the Archimedes Palimpsest:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8211813884612792878
Thing #18 (almost done!): Firefox
I've been using Firefox for a few years now both at home on our PC and here at work on my Mac. It's a good browser, handling most websites quickly and easily.
The ability to add CruzCat to the list of search engines is nice, but the LibX toolbar is even better. The control-click (Mac) option to highlight text and search for it using Google-- really handy. Thumbs up on this tool. :)
The ability to add CruzCat to the list of search engines is nice, but the LibX toolbar is even better. The control-click (Mac) option to highlight text and search for it using Google-- really handy. Thumbs up on this tool. :)
Count Seraphina
"Count Seraphina," said Miss Malin, "meditated much upon celestial matters. And, as you must be aware, who have read his poems, he was convinced that no woman was ever allowed to enter heaven. He disliked and mistrusted everything female; it gave him goose flesh... He liked to imagine himself the abbot of a highly exclusive monastery, whereto only fair young monks of brilliant talent and soft manners were admitted. He and his circle of young friends sat down to dinner in old sculptured oak pews, and wore cowls of purple silk. His house was an abbey upon the northern soil, a Mount Athos to which no hen or cow is allowed to come, not even the wild bees, on account of their queen bee. Aye, the Count was more zealous than the monks of Athos, for when he and his seraglio of lovely youths sometimes drank wine out of a skull, to keep present the thought of death and eternity, he took care that it should not be the skull of a lady."
Thing #17: Online applications and tools
For this exercise I chose to try Zoho Writer. This service is extremely useful, and quicker than e-mailing a copy of a document around for comments. There doesn't appear to be a downside, except that the documents reside on the Zoho servers, and access depends on those servers being up and functioning.
Publishing my imported document ("Count Seraphina"), however, was not quite so easy. Zoho added some html code that Blogger balked at, but a quick deletion of the title field seems to have resolved the issue.
Publishing my imported document ("Count Seraphina"), however, was not quite so easy. Zoho added some html code that Blogger balked at, but a quick deletion of the title field seems to have resolved the issue.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Thing #16: Library 2.0
"'God!" Monti cried, 'God! Do you not know that what God really wants to create is my Don Giovanni, and the Odysseus of Homer, and Cervantes's knight? Very likely those are the only people for whom heaven and hell have ever been made, for you cannot imagine that an Almighty God would go on forever and ever, world without end, with my mother-in-law and the Emperor of Austria? Humanity, the men and women of this earth, are only the plaster of God, and we, the artists, are his tools, and when the statue is finished in marble or bronze, he breaks us all up. When you die you will probably go out like a candle, with nothing left, but in the mansions of eternity will walk Orlando, the Misanthrope and my Donna Elvira..."
Well, this exercise steps slightly into the realm of the philosophical.
Rick Anderson, although seeming a bit panicked, makes some valid points about how libraries must change. It is more practical now for libraries to share print collections (like CDL), rather than have every library buy every monograph and serial. Libraries must also focus on teaching patrons how to use the various resources available online. I know that Reference is already heavily involved in teaching and classroom support, and the need for this will only grow.
Michael Stephens sets a very high bar for the 2.0 librarian, who is always "ahead of the curve" in implementing technological solutions for the library. However, since setting up new services always involves re-allocating money and/or staff time, I think libraries have to be careful to investigate which services might actually be used, and used frequently.
Chip Nilges' discussion of the improvements that OCLC is making to WorldCat is exciting, especially the focus on standards that help to make databases easier to search. John Riemer offers even more explicit suggestions to improve bibliographic services, including copying some of Amazon's website features (user reviews, tagging, etc.). I think these are good ideas.
Web 2.0 technology is changing the role of the library, but it only adds to, rather than replaces, the role the library currently plays. Many people will always prefer to come into a building to do research or to pick up something interesting to read, just as many people will prefer to shop in a real store rather than online.
Well, this exercise steps slightly into the realm of the philosophical.
Rick Anderson, although seeming a bit panicked, makes some valid points about how libraries must change. It is more practical now for libraries to share print collections (like CDL), rather than have every library buy every monograph and serial. Libraries must also focus on teaching patrons how to use the various resources available online. I know that Reference is already heavily involved in teaching and classroom support, and the need for this will only grow.
Michael Stephens sets a very high bar for the 2.0 librarian, who is always "ahead of the curve" in implementing technological solutions for the library. However, since setting up new services always involves re-allocating money and/or staff time, I think libraries have to be careful to investigate which services might actually be used, and used frequently.
Chip Nilges' discussion of the improvements that OCLC is making to WorldCat is exciting, especially the focus on standards that help to make databases easier to search. John Riemer offers even more explicit suggestions to improve bibliographic services, including copying some of Amazon's website features (user reviews, tagging, etc.). I think these are good ideas.
Web 2.0 technology is changing the role of the library, but it only adds to, rather than replaces, the role the library currently plays. Many people will always prefer to come into a building to do research or to pick up something interesting to read, just as many people will prefer to shop in a real store rather than online.
Thing #15: Custom Search Engines
Although Rollyo looks easy enough to use, since I already have a Google account, I'm going to go with Google. Besides, since we all will be assimilated to Google eventually (sooner rather than later, I'm guessing), resistance is futile.
My custom "Museum Collections Search Engine" comes up with mixed results. A search on "Bosch" brings up many listings, but not the one I want, from the Louvre database, here. Perhaps the search engines do not crawl around in that database?
The Met, the Cleveland Museum of Art, LACMA, the Tate, and the British Museum, among others, do show up in results.
CSEs would be most useful for searching news sites and blogs, I think, and also reference sites: the Library's subject guides could include CSEs.
Action: talk to Kathleen about adding a CSE to the VRC's Digital Image Resources webpage.
My custom "Museum Collections Search Engine" comes up with mixed results. A search on "Bosch" brings up many listings, but not the one I want, from the Louvre database, here. Perhaps the search engines do not crawl around in that database?
The Met, the Cleveland Museum of Art, LACMA, the Tate, and the British Museum, among others, do show up in results.
CSEs would be most useful for searching news sites and blogs, I think, and also reference sites: the Library's subject guides could include CSEs.
Action: talk to Kathleen about adding a CSE to the VRC's Digital Image Resources webpage.
Thing #14: IM
"How difficult it is to know the truth. I wonder if it is really possible to be absolutely truthful when you are alone. Truth, like time, is an idea arising from, and dependent upon, human intercourse."
As a communication tool that is less immediate than a phone conversation, but more immediate than e-mail, IM would serve reference services particularly well. Librarians could IM patrons and, if needed, each other, to help the patrons.
I wonder whether YackPack would be a nice application for distance education, with students logging in to chat with each other or with the professor.
VoIP is exciting, except that it means both the caller and the callee must be set up for it. If Reference and Circ want to set up computers for VoIP, then patrons would have another option for communicating-- but how many options do they need? The cost to the Library might outweigh the benefit to the patron (oh noes, is that heretical?).
I put the Meebo box on my blog, which is now looking extremely cluttered...
As a communication tool that is less immediate than a phone conversation, but more immediate than e-mail, IM would serve reference services particularly well. Librarians could IM patrons and, if needed, each other, to help the patrons.
I wonder whether YackPack would be a nice application for distance education, with students logging in to chat with each other or with the professor.
VoIP is exciting, except that it means both the caller and the callee must be set up for it. If Reference and Circ want to set up computers for VoIP, then patrons would have another option for communicating-- but how many options do they need? The cost to the Library might outweigh the benefit to the patron (oh noes, is that heretical?).
I put the Meebo box on my blog, which is now looking extremely cluttered...
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