5 Things I like General

by docwolf on 1/7/2005 with 4 comments

Meredith asked me to write about 5 things i think work pretty well. And i do as i’m told. So here they are. 1) Konica/Minolta DiMAGE Scan Dual IV This is a so-called ‘film scanner’ or ‘slide scanner’. It lets you scan 35mm film negatives or slide positives into the computer. The resulting output is …

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The amazing race? our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 1/7/2005 with Comments Off on The amazing race?

Steven Cohen commented on my post yesterday about Skype and my husband: I’m just wondering why it matters if librarians hear about new techie devices before or after others do. The point is that we do hear about them and share them with our colleagues. That is what collaboration is all about and is one …

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Skype has entered the library blogosphere our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 1/6/2005 with Comments Off on Skype has entered the library blogosphere

Has anyone else just noticed that Skype has been mentioned a whole bunch over the past few days? I’ve now heard about it from Steven Cohen, Library Web Chic, Dave’s Blog, and Tame the Web. However, I’ve been hearing about it for many, many months now as my husband uses it to talk with his …

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Economics 101 for the ALA? libraries

by Meredith Farkas on 1/6/2005 with 4 comments

I have two job interviews coming up that I’m very excited about. It’s made me optimistic that perhaps my job search will be over soon (fingers crossed). I haven’t been looking for so long — it hasn’t even been a month since I’ve graduated. There are plenty of people I hear about who have spent …

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My new love affair hi, random

by Meredith Farkas on 1/4/2005 with Comments Off on My new love affair

I decided to stop agonizing over what sort of computer to buy and finally settled on the Sony A-250 I’d developed a major crush on. I couldn’t deny the fact that it had everything I was looking for, and, when I saw that there were some major rebates offered on it now at a local …

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Why RSS rocks libraries, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 1/4/2005 with Comments Off on Why RSS rocks

From Extension 337 [via Tame the Web], comes 10 Reasons why Nonprofits Should Use RSS. The post lists some very good reasons why RSS is a much better way to get news and information out and connect with interested users/patrons/clients/etc. than most traditional methods (newsletters, unsolicited or solicited emails, etc.). I’m just reproducing the basic …

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GuruNet now offers Answers.com for free! reference, search

by Meredith Farkas on 1/4/2005 with Comments Off on GuruNet now offers Answers.com for free!

According to Gary Price at Resource Shelf, GuruNet has become Answsers.com and is now offering a ready reference search engine for free. Answers.com culls its information from a variety of free and pay sources, including Columbia Encyclopedia, Columbia University Press, Merriam Webster, Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, SparKNotes, Who2, and Wikipedia. The user submits a query and …

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Librarian shortage in New Jersey job search

by Meredith Farkas on 1/3/2005 with Comments Off on Librarian shortage in New Jersey

I lived in New Jersey (near Princeton) until I was 12. I have very fond memories of the area, so I’ve been looking for jobs in public and academic libraries there. While I’ve applied for several, I really haven’t found that New Jersey has a glut of open librarian jobs. Apparently, I must be blind, …

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Free reference websites reference

by Meredith Farkas on 1/3/2005 with Comments Off on Free reference websites

RUSA has come out with its 2004 list of Best Free Reference Websites. They cover a variety of subjects and come from academia, government, industry, non-profits, the media, libraries and librarians. One of my personal faves is The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams, definitely one of the coolest reference librarians in the universe. If you’re …

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Site redesign hi, random

by Meredith Farkas on 1/3/2005 with 1 comment

I just spent much of the day redesigning my site. The first time I designed my site, I was in school and my time was at a premium. I know it still needs work, but I’m pretty happy with how it came out — definitely better than before. Let me know what you think. 🙂

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Laptop hunt hi, random

by Meredith Farkas on 1/3/2005 with Comments Off on Laptop hunt

Since I may be moving to a very tiny apartment in Chicago soon, I thought it best to trade in my old desktop for a swanky new laptop (the CPU is just a bit to heavy to put on my lap). I haven’t been in the market for a laptop since 1998, so I’ve been …

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Questions about the Google Library Project libraries, our digital future, search

by Meredith Farkas on 1/2/2005 with Comments Off on Questions about the Google Library Project

Barbara Quint has put together a list of questions and answers about the Google Library Project that have been pondered by various people in the library and search worlds. Some questions remain unanswered. Others, like what the Google Library Project means for brick and mortar libraries, involves answers ranging from unconcern to grudging acceptance to …

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MLS: Buyer beware? job search

by Meredith Farkas on 1/1/2005 with 9 comments

Last night, when I got home from my New Year’s Eve revelry (which consisted of baking cookies with a five-year-old, playing Chutes and Ladders, and drinking sparkling cider), I found a comment on my blog from someone considering entering a library science program: Hello, I do not know if Iam grateful or scared to have …

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Didn’t know I was being antisocial our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 1/1/2005 with Comments Off on Didn’t know I was being antisocial

The New York Times featured another study furthering the notion that Internet use is socially isolating and takes people away from other activities. I’m perfectly willing to grant them the fact that if you’re doing more of one activity, you’ll obviously be doing less of another (kind of an obvious observation guys), but these gloom …

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