In September, we had David Weinberger give the keynote address at our annual meeting. Now, we’re happy to make his talk available. David is a great speaker, which you’d expect from someone who used to write jokes for Woody Allen. He’s very passionate about his ideas, and he has a lot to say that will interest librarians. The speech runs about 75 minutes.
1 comment December 28th, 2005
This Monday the first quarterly issue of Google Librarian Newsletter was released. Google’s stated goal is “to highlight ways we can work together…for patrons, students and users.†The topics of this issue include a description of how Google’s indexing and site rankings are carried out.
It’s fine that Google is acknowledging their increased presence in librarians’ everyday work (and occasionally, even long-term planning). And the Newsletter even solicits articles from library professionals for use in future editions. But I think they have a long way to go before librarians are comfortable with Google’s omnipresence. I wonder, if Google is TOO successful, will creeping resentment build over time and lead people to avoid such a pervasive name? One suggestion to Google—don’t ask Bill Gates for advice.
Whatever feelings librarians may have about Google as a company, donor, digitizer, or a search engine, it appears Google will be pretty much everywhere in the future. And who knows? Maybe the next time you hit your local Starbucks or McDonalds, you’ll look over in the corner and see a shiny new web kiosk tempting you to Google away.
1 comment December 21st, 2005
Take a look at this cartoon by Signe Wilkinson. It ran in Slate yesterday. Kind of makes you proud to be a librarian doesn’t it?
1 comment December 16th, 2005
MLC’s MeLCat staff – Debbi Schaubman, Anne Donohue, and Louise Bugg – will present programs at the national Innovative Users Group 2006 Annual Conference in Denver May 19-22. They learned today that all four of their program proposals were accepted by the IUG Program Committee. This is exciting news because, although dozens of proposals are submitted, only a select few are chosen.
Debbi will present two programs: Configuring WAM Statistics: One Site’s Design and INN-Reach: New Functionality for Local and Central Systems. Anne will present My MetaFind and MyMeL: Personalized Profiles for the Michigan eLibrary, and Louise will present Web Works Quick Edit–What It Is and How It Works.
Congrats to Louise, Anne and Debbi! It’s exciting that libraries nationwide will now be able to learn about the great work you have done to make MeLCat a reality!
1 comment December 15th, 2005
Many of us at MLC were saddened when we heard that Carole Callard died this past Saturday. Aaron, Anne, Xan, and I knew Carole from the time when we worked at the Library of Michigan. Other MLC staff knew her from training and conferences.
Carole was a wonderful lady. Whenever I ran into her at the library or a meeting, she would beam her beautiful smile and reach out to touch my arm while saying in her West Virginia drawl, “I’m so happy to see you!” And I always felt that she meant it, even though I know that’s how she greeted everyone she knew.
Randy Riley, Special Collections Manager at the Library of Michigan, wrote in his tribute to her, “When I visited Carole her only worry seemed to be that people were worried about her. Even serious illness could not take the smile from her face or prevent her from finding a reason to laugh. She will be missed.”
We will miss you, Carole. Thanks for being so special.
3 comments December 14th, 2005
There’s a nice article in the Greater Lansing Business Monthly about my local public library, the Capital Area District Library. It talks about all the services the library provides in addition to books. As everyone who’s ever attended a MeLCat training knows, I love my public library, so I’m very happy to see them get good coverage.
1 comment December 8th, 2005
This week OCLC released a new research report called Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources. You can download it or order a printed copy. I got a preview at the October OCLC Members Council meeting and like the 2003 scan there will be lots of discussion about the findings and conclusions.
2 comments December 8th, 2005
I had a great experience at Western Michigan University this week, when I presented the copyright law workshop at Waldo Library. The audience was made up of staff from the library, from WMU’s digitization program, from distance learning, IT/computers, and others. They had wonderful, insightful questions and they made the day truly enjoyable.
For the workshop at WMU, I added Google Book Search copyright issues to the copyright workshop. Yesterday I attended our Library Blogs and RSS workshops at MLC taught by Kathy Petlewski. I realize that I need to add blog/RSS copyright issues to the copyright workshop before I teach it again on March 30.
1 comment December 8th, 2005
Fascinating discussion about the Google Book Search project on the PRI show Open Source. Guests included Siva Vaidhyanathan, Karen Schneider, Matthew Kirschenbaum, and Alex McGilvray, an attorney at Google. Good postmortems here and here.
Biggest question for Google that was left unanswered: Why doesn’t Google include OpenWorldCat on the results page? The only options for obtaining the book are from bookstores. Shouldn’t libraries be represented and shown as one of the fulfillment choices?
1 comment December 6th, 2005
It seems like everyone is writing about Google these days. Last week, Business Week had a cover story about the company. This month, Information Today has a long article examining the copyright implications of Google Book Search. (For an alternative view, check out this and this.) The December issue of Wired has a short graphic article about Google-fear. (It’s much more colorful and inventive in the magazine than it is online. Don’t be giving up that subscription just yet.)
Of all this gabbing about Google, perhaps the most substantial came in the December 2 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Siva Vaidhyanathan, an NYU professor, wrote a lengthy piece that has inspired a good deal of discussion in the biblioblogosphere, here, here, and here.
One of the key arguments he makes is that libraries will survive. In 100 years, it is highly likely that the University of Michigan and Harvard will continue to have libraries that preserve and protect the accumulated knowledge of humanity. Will Google still be around? How many companies that thrived in 1905 survived and thrived in 2005? Consequently, what happens to all that information we entrusted to Google? Vaidyhanathan wants libraries and public agencies to be in charge of the digitization. How can we trust Google to be around to safeguard these texts that they’re digitizing?
Nowhere does Vaidyhanathan acknoweldge that Google is giving the library one copy of every text that it digitizes. In the press release announcing the project in 2004, the University of Michigan muses about the potential for the library to make available print on demand services and downloadable full-text after it gets copies of the books. Such projects seem to mitigate Vaidyhanathan’s concern about Google’s privitizing the libraries’ texts.
Read the essay and the responses. It’s a good conversation to have.
Add comment December 5th, 2005
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