Information Wants To Be Free – Page 37 – A librarian, writer and educator reflecting on the profession and the tools we use to serve our patrons

Cites and Insights June 2005 is here!

The June issue of Walt Crawford's Cite & Insights is out with some interesting articles, particularly those about the open access movement and the broadcast flag. What surprised me was…

screencasting

Your screencasting experience?

The Indian Blogger recently posted an excellent survey of screencasting and the software that can be used to create screencasts. People tend to talk about Qarbon Viewlet Builder, Macromedia Captivate,…

ALA Wikis

No room at the inn?

So, I've heard from several sources that there are no rooms left for the ALA Conference at the hotels suggested on the ALA's website. Yikes! I live in Chicago, but…

libraries our digital future search

Lorcan Dempsey on library middlware

I've read a lot of posts and articles lamenting the fact that many students and patrons prefer using Google to the library's print and electronic resources, but few look at…

library school

A librarian is born!

I just want to wish a hearty congratulations to Dorothea Salo who just received her MLS today. So glad you made it through! Ever since I started reading her blog,…

libraries our digital future tech trends

Dumb down the catalog? Yes, let’s!

I recently had an interesting discussion with a librarian regarding the usability of OPACs. I, as usual, was arguing that there are lessons to be learned from Google, RedLightGreen, and…

libraries our digital future tech trends

Oh Canada!

I've never really been "up" on Canada. For one, I've never been there (not that I wouldn't like to, but the opportunity has not presented itself yet). Two, I, like…

job search

For those who think there is a librarian shortage (and those who don’t)

FINALLY there is a thoughtful article on the entry-level library job shortage! Finally, there is an article that actually uses current research to describe the job market rather than statistics…

Wikis

Wiki spam

So we got our first wiki spam today. Yuck! Fortunately, the offending content was only up for a very short period of time. Kudos to the valiant member of the…

libraries reference tech trends

Chat interoperability

My new friend, and fellow Wesleyan alum, Stephen Francoeur, wrote: Wouldn't it be cool if your patrons could use an IM client to chat with your web contact center software…

blogging

Fanning a flamer’s fire

Why do people like Michael Gorman and Blaise Cronin (and note that I will not link to any of their articles, but you can find critiques at Free Range Librarian…

reference tech trends

Jybe: Take Two

I still have not been able to install the Jybe extension in Firefox without my computer melting down, but I have been successful in getting it to work in IE…

ALA Wikis

Wiki Etiquette

It has been interesting to observe how people have approached the wiki I created. I've been thrilled to see that people are contributing to it and have added some great…

our digital future

Jybe and the difference between free software and open source

I've gotten very excited by the reviews I've read about Jybe, but I had never actually given it a try myself. Until today. For those who don't know, Jybe is…

ALA

ALA Conference Wiki

Last year, I went to my first ALA Conference, which was also my first library conference ever. Before going, I really had no idea what to expect. So I had…

General

Camtasia vs. Captivate

Note: This review is from 2005 and is not relevant to current versions of Camtasia and Captivate. A few years ago, my husband bought Camtasia 1.1 so that we could…

libraries our digital future

Is innovation all about technology?

I'm sure there are people who think that technology is the be-all-end-all and that every bleeding-edge technology should be implemented in libraries. But I don't happen to know any of…

libraries

The innovation gap

George at It's all good just got back from giving a presentation at the New Jersey Library Association where he was asked a difficult question: This was an excellent audience,…

libraries our digital future search

The Failure of Middleware, Part 7: OAI and Google Scholar

The Open Archives Initiative develops interoperability standards with the goal of developing easy ways to access digital content and improve scholarly communication. They have developed a protocol for harvesting XML-formatted…