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December 20, 2006

YouTube, VideoBlogs, Blogs and how AHML is working them

Kudos to Arlington Heights Memorial Library (AHML) for their innovation and marketing savvy. Not only is the AHMLfeatured in this great Daily Herald article they are also on You Tube and prominently featured on the HarvardAvenue.net blog

Library gets its message out on Web’s YouTube
Eileen O. Daday
Posted Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Arlington Heights Memorial Library officials like to stay on the cutting edge of technology to keep residents informed, and that’s just what they’re doing with their latest communications tool, using videos stored in YouTube.

Knowing that more and more patrons are turning to the library’s Web site, www.ahml.org, they now hope to use that medium to inform them with video blogs, or vlogs, as they call them.

These short video segments — filmed by the library’s creative staff — began running earlier this month, and will change three times a week to alert library patrons about new services and programs. ... MORE

Posted by anna at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

The New York Times Announces 25 Winners of the 2006 Librarian Awards

This is not late breaking news as the announcement was made on Dec. 8, 2006 but, I still wanted to bring this to your attention. The best thing about these awards is that it brings attention to librarians and the library world in a broader context than the confines of our own profession. It could be hottly debated in library circles but, to the general population, an award from the New York Times is probably more impressive than one from the American Library Association (or even NSLS) Consider starting to draft your nomination for next years awards.

The New York Times Announces 25 Winners of the 2006 Librarian Awards
New Category for Academic Librarians Honors Three at Colleges

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2006--The New York Times announced today the names of the 25 winners of the 2006 New York Times Librarian Awards. Now in its sixth year, the program honors librarians from around the country who have provided outstanding public service and have had a strong and positive impact on their nominators. This year's winners represent 17 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

Included among the 25 winners for the first time are three academic librarians. In an expansion of the program, librarians working in college and university libraries were eligible to be nominated by college students, faculty and administrators. Nominations for the public librarian awards came from the general public. The Times received more than 1,300 nominations from 45 states this year.... MORE

Posted by anna at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

Those Who Read Fiction Better at Reading People

"Read any good books lately?" may serve as more than icebreaker. It may give you insight into whether your companion is empathetic or at least so claims the the author of the article below. However, thisseems to me to be one of those "chicken or the egg" propositions. Are individuals who read fiction already more interested in people or do they become more interested after reading fiction? Perhaps a combination of both? What does it say if you like to read fiction and non-fiction equally as well. And what if you like to read biographies? I will read ANYTHING including instructions for installing light bulbs. Does that mean I have a deep empathy for lelectric illumination? I would like to think that my brought reading tastes provides me with a deep interest in people with all of their infinite variety and range of tastes. What do you think?

Those Who Read Fiction Better at Reading People
by www.SixWise.com

"Books say: she did this because. Life says: she did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't."
-- Author Julian Barnes

If you've ever longed for the solace of the novel on your nightstand or found yourself thinking about its characters long after the book was closed, you will likely relate to a new study that lends credence to the, previously unstated, feelings that reading fiction evokes.

People who read fiction are more empathetic and able to judge people and social situations than people who read non-fiction.

A study published in the Journal of Research in Personality and led by Raymond Mar, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Toronto, found that people who read narrative fiction often have improved social abilities, while for those who read non-fiction, the opposite holds true.... MORE

Posted by anna at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2006

"Librarians' Image Keeps Minorities Away From Job"

Even being a middle-aged, white woman, I found this article which appeared in the December 17, 2006 issue of the Tuscaloossa News very interesting. If the image doesn't deter them, the salary will send them fleeing. And just for the record, I have not worn my hair in a bun since my early twenties and I have probably only "shushed" three to five times in my career. Although, I must admit on those rare occasions I felt empowered and like I was connecting with the "librarian within."

Librarians’ image keeps minorities away from job

By Amanda Thomas
The Associated Press
December 17. 2006 3:30AM

MONTGOMERY | Librarians have long been portrayed as the little old white lady with her hair in a bun and glasses on a chain around her neck, “shushing" noisy people, but Deborah Lilton represents a more modern image.

In a profession that in fact has been largely white, Lilton is a black student at the University of Alabama who is pursuing a degree to become an academic librarian. She is one of a disproportionately small number of minorities entering a field that is trying to get past stereotypical images of the “bun lady." ... MORE

Posted by anna at 2:47 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2006

"Google Launches Patent Search Site"

Google does it all or they soon will be...

Google launches patent search site
Company claims its site--though still limited--offers a better search format than the U.S. government's site.
By Caroline McCarthy

Published: December 14, 2006, 6:48 AM PST
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Google has added another piece of search software to its arsenal, with the launch of Google Patent Search.

The patent search site, launched as a beta on Wednesday night, is designed to sift through the approximately 7 million U.S. patents by a variety of parameters including filing date, issue date, patent number and inventor.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company may have made a name for itself with the simplest of standard Web search engines. But its niche search software--for geographic data, literature and road maps, to name a few--has been a major part of what has propelled Google to the top of the Internet's pecking order.

As for its newest site, software engineers are still working on functions that allow patent searchers to easily save and print the patent information that they look up, according to a Google blog. In addition, Google's site does not currently include patent applications, international patents, or U.S. patents issued since mid-2006, but Google said that enhancements are in the works. ...MORE

Posted by anna at 1:03 PM | Comments (0)

Beware Malware

As a follow-up to my last post, we were having an in-house discussion about the article and one of my co-workers expressed alarm about this statement, "By the end of 2007, 75% of enterprises will be infected with undetected, financially motivated, targeted malware that evaded their traditional perimeter and host defences"

If you are like me and you think you know what is meant by malware but want to be sure here is the definition from Wikipedia

Malware
Malware or malicious software is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. It is a portmanteau of the words "malicious" and "software". The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.

For those of you who hate and distrust Wikipedia here are definitions from two other sources, Webopedia and WhatIs?com . You can also read further discussion and more on Technorati where they claim to have "Everything in the known universe tagged malware."

Posted by anna at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)

"Blogging 'set to peak next year' "

Just wanted to share this great article with you from the international version of the Thursday, December 14, 2006 BBC News. It makes some predictions about the Web, pcs, and especially blogging. My favorite quote from the article is, "Everyone thinks they have something to say, until they're put on stage and asked to say it." I certainly question my own motives and the value of my blog posts.

Blogging 'set to peak next year'

Blogging is having a growing impact on mainstream media
The blogging phenomenon is set to peak in 2007, according to technology predictions by analysts Gartner.
The analysts said that during the middle of next year the number of blogs will level out at about 100 million.

The firm has said that 200 million people have already stopped writing their blogs. ... MORE

Posted by anna at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)

ALA President's Letter to UCLA

After an attack on a UCLA student by campus security and police was captured on a video phone and then broadcast on YouTube.com much attention was brought to the rules and over-reactions of the library and the university. Yes the student may have used poor judgement and was clearly breaking the rules when while using a computer in the library he failed to produce his UCLA student I.D. but, he certainly did not deserve to be repeated tasered and handcuffed. Here is ALA President, Leslie Brger's letter to the acting chancellor.

December 13, 2006

Dr. Norman Abrams
Acting Chancellor
University of California at Los Angeles
University Chancellor’s Office
Box 951405
2147 Murphy
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1405

Dear Acting Chancellor Abrams:

I was shocked, as were many of the 66,000 members of the American Library Association, to read about and watch the November 14, 2006 incident that unfolded at the Powell Library. On behalf of ALA I urge you to take immediate action to ensure that library patrons will never be subjected to this type of shocking and unwarranted treatment again. The violent manner in which Mostafa Tabatabainejad was treated is unconscionable.

We applaud your decision to conduct an independent investigation of this matter but also urge you to reexamine your security practices as a result of this incident.

While I can appreciate the need to provide for the safety and security of library users this incident reveals how easy it is for these situations to escalate. On college campuses throughout the country, libraries are places for sanctuary and peaceful study. Please restore that sense of sanctuary to the students and faculty at UCLA by ensuring that the privacy and security of all who use your campus libraries are protected from violence from the University’s security force.

We live in difficult times in which many people in our country are persecuted and criminalized due to the color of their skin and their ethnicity. Our Association’s Bill of Rights states that a person’s right to use a library should not be abridged because of origin, age, background or views. We hope that UCLA and all its campus libraries honor this basic tenet of library service.

We condemn the violent actions against Mr. Tabatabainejad and urge you to reexamine current security practices to ensure that they are fair and responsive to the needs of the campus community and free of excessive force.

Sincerely,


Leslie Burger
President

Posted by anna at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2006

Mozart's entire musical works now free on Net

Exciting and useful news! Need I say more

Mozart's entire musical works now free on Net
Site hosting complete oeuvre of the classical composer, backed by Packard Humanities Institute, is being flooded with traffic.

By Reuters

Published: December 12, 2006, 5:27 AM PST
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's year-long 250th birthday party is ending on a high note with the musical scores of his complete works available from Monday for the first time free on the Internet.

The International Mozart Foundation in Salzburg, Austria, has put a scholarly edition of the bound volumes of Mozart's more than 600 works on a Web site.

The site allows visitors to find specific symphonies, arias or even single lines of text from some 24,000 pages of music. ...MORE

Posted by anna at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2006

Lee y Seras (Read and You Will Be)

This is an interesting article that appeared in the Dec. 12, 2006 edition of the Chicago Sun Times which discusses a program that fosters reading readiness in children by training the mothers to share their heritage and floklore with them.

Nursery rhymes not just fun, games

December 12, 2006
BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Staff Reporter

For generations the simple, sing-song patterns of "Humpty Dumpty," "Little Jack Horner," and "Jack and Jill" have helped children learn to read while passing on a piece of American culture.

Today Lee y Seras (Read and You Will Be), a national Latino early literacy initiative, graduates its pilot class -- 45 Latino women from across Chicago who learned how to use the nursery rhymes, songs and folk stories from their own cultures to instill a love of reading in their kids.... MORE

Posted by anna at 4:00 PM | Comments (0)

"Not your grandfather's library system"

It is interesting that in this article Stephen Abrams is quoted as saying that libraries providing patrons with downloadable movies and tv shows is widespread in the United States. I think this is still relatively new territory and that our Candian cousins at the Vaughan Public Libraries deserve full praise an honor for being North American pioneers.

Not your grandfather's library system
With the latest in online tools, public libraries are at the forefront in adopting new technology

TERRENCE BELFORD

Special to The Globe and Mail

North of Toronto, the 140,000 men, women and children who are members of Vaughan Public Libraries have become virtual pioneers. The city's eight libraries -- seven of the traditional books-on-shelves variety and one e-library -- are the first in Canada to offer downloadable videos and television programs through the Internet. ...MORE

Posted by anna at 9:45 AM | Comments (0)

So, you want to be a writer

If you have any desire to write for a professional jounal here is an excellent opportunity:

The Journal of Web Librarianship is seeking high-quality manuscripts featuring original scholarship and practical communications in the area of web librarianship. JWL will publish material related to all aspects of librarianship as practiced on the World Wide Web, including both existing and emerging roles and activities of information professionals in the Web environment. This is a new peer-reviewed journal to be published for the first time in early 2007. New authors are encouraged to submit mansucripts for consideration.

For more information, please visit the journal's web site, http://www.lib.jmu.edu/org/jwl/

Jody Fagan
Editor, Journal of Web Librarianship

--
Jody Condit Fagan
Digital Services Librarian
James Madison University
540-568-4265
faganjc at jmu.edu

Posted by anna at 9:19 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2006

EPA SCRUBBING LIBRARY WEBSITE TO MAKE REPORTS UNAVAILABLE

Just as I was gaining hope that the EPA libraries could be saved, I read today the news release below from PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)

EPA SCRUBBING LIBRARY WEBSITE TO MAKE REPORTS UNAVAILABLE — Agency Sells $40,000 Worth of Furniture and Equipment for $350

Washington, DC — In defiance of Congressional requests to immediately halt closures of library collections, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is purging records from its library websites, making them unavailable to both agency scientists and outside researchers, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the same time, EPA is taking steps to prevent the re-opening of its shuttered libraries, including the hurried auctioning off of expensive bookcases, cabinets, microfiche readers and other equipment for less than a penny on the dollar. ..MORE

Posted by anna at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)

"THE BOOK OF LIFE" CELEBRATES ONE YEAR OF JEWISH PODCASTING

I just wanted to share news of this wonderful resource. Some libraries amy want to post links to the podcast on their Websites.

December, 2006
For immediate release

For more information, contact:
Heidi Estrin, Producer & Host
The Book of Life Podcast
(561) 241-8118 ext. 206
heidi@cbiboca.org www.jewishbooks.blogspot.com

MEDIA RELEASE

"THE BOOK OF LIFE" CELEBRATES ONE YEAR OF JEWISH PODCASTING

The Book of Life, a monthly podcast about Jewish books and music, celebrates a year of successful podcasting this December. The first episode of the audio program was posted in December, 2005.

This "Internet radio show" features interviews with authors and illustrators of Judaic books, and musicians who have produced Judaic recordings. "As a librarian, my purpose is to promote books and CD's that people can borrow from libraries," says podcast producer and host Heidi Estrin, who directs the Feldman Library at Congregation B'nai Israel in Boca Raton, Florida. "I am especially excited about the wonderful Jewish books being published these days for children and teens, and that is a major focus of the show. I hope that hearing the 'backstory' will get readers involved!"

The Book of Life has received notice from other literary web pages, including PlanetEsme and Cynsations, two blogs by noted children's authors and reading advocates Esme Raji Codell and Cynthia Leitich Smith, respectively. Jbooks.com, the Online Jewish Book Community, has even set up a permanent link to the podcast on their front page, under the heading "Books Amplified." The podcast has many subscribers among librarians, publishers, and authors, and also draws educators, booksellers, and families of readers. Each episode of the program is downloaded an average of 742 times per month. Listeners come from around the globe, from places as far-flung as Australia, Finland, and even Singapore.

"Podcasting" was declared the 2005 Word of the Year by the editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary, highlighting the cutting edge nature of the technology. A Pew Internet study shows that the number of people listening to podcasts has been increasing over the past year, as has the number and variety of podcasts available. "The Book of Life offers a bissele Yiddishkeit through your computer, your iPod, or even your phone," says Estrin. "What a fun way to connect with Jewish culture!"

The Book of Life is available at www.jewishbooks.blogspot.com, and can also be heard by phone at 916-313-3820.

# # #

OPTIONAL SIDEBAR INFORMATION:

Some of the Personalities Heard on The Book of Life:

* Simms Taback, Caldecott winning author/illustrator of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat and Kibbitzers & Fools
* Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust and model for the Librarian Action Figure
* Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief
* Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie's daughter and initiator of the Klezmatics' CD Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah
* Eric A. Kimmel, award-winning author of Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins and many other folktale retellings
* Alice Hoffman, bestselling author of many adult and teen books including the new YA novel Incantation
* Steve Brodsky of the group Mah Tovu, creators of the hit single Pharoah Pharoah
* Abigail Pogrebin, daughter of Letty Cottin Pogrebin and author of Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish
* Mordicai Gerstein, Caldecott-award winning author, and illustrator of Sholom's Treasure: How Sholom Aleichem Became a Writer

Posted by anna at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

December 7, 2006

"Change on the Cheap: Big Payoffs From Modest Investments"

I hope many of you already subscribe to Marylaine Block's e-zines ExLibris and Neat New Stuff, she always has so many great sites. In the Dec. 8, 2006 Issue of Neat New Stuff, she generously shares the following:

Change on the Cheap
http://marylaine.com/cheap.html
A revised and updated presentation outline, with URLs, for the talk I gave for Connecticut librarians on December 5. A catalog of good ideas from librarians around the country that I collected while researching my
forthcoming book, The Thriving Library.

Once you have made your physical library beautiful, you may want to look at this model for enhancing your online presence:

She Said/He Said: Kankakee Public Library Blog
http://lions-online-shesaidhesaid.blogspot.com/
Kankakee Public Library's director and assistant director chat with patrons and with each other about library issues in this lively and interesting public blog. Another proof that blogs have a wonderful capacity for putting a human face on the library.

If you look at the above two sites and decide it is all too much for you, there is an answer:

Islands for Sale
http://www.privateislandsonline.com/
For those who have fantasized about buying and retiring to a private island, there is good news: there ARE such private islands, some of them surprisingly inexpensive, available for purchase. Check them out here, along with articles about the private island life, and resources to help you decide whether this lifestyle is for you.

Posted by anna at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)

December 6, 2006

Swivel: "Like YouTube for Data"

This is really pretty cool and I just saw it mentioned on a list I belong to. The person who posted said they had heard the site described as "YouTube.com for data."

What is Swivel?
Swivel is a place where curious people explore data — all kinds of data.
Swivel lets you explore data and share your insights with others. Swivel has data about politics, economics, weather, sports, business and more.

Swivel is full of good stuff. We think of it like this:

Explore popular data or obscure data. Search for it or have fun cruising all the colorful graphs, data sets and opinions.
Compare gas prices to presidential approval ratings or UFO sightings to iPod sales. You might find a crazy coincidence or something more.
Share your insights by posting a graph to your blog or emailing a link to your friends and coworkers.
Upload the information you care about, describe it, pick a color scheme and even pick a cool photo to bring it to life.
If you're curious about data, Swivel is the place for you. ...MORE

You can click on topics like Data or Graphs or People . (The links for these two didn't seem to be working) but you get the idea. If you go to the Swivel homepage you can find out about temperature extremes and the correlation beteen wining drinking and violence. Enjoy and sip a good German Riesling for me.

Posted by anna at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)