It’s common knowledge that the Web has changed the way people receive their news, with many turning to free online services. This has hurt newspaper ad revenues, and led to the concern that traditional newspapers may not survive in the digital age. Google decided to address these issues head on with the creation of the Living Stories prototype, an experiment in the way newspaper reporting is presented on the Web.
Acknowledging in their blog post that “While we have strong ideas about how information is experienced on the web, we’re not journalists and we don’t create content,” Google partnered with The New York Times and The Washington Post in this experiment. The focus is not on the commonly asked questions like “should papers charge for online news” or “how can ad revenue be replaced online.” Instead, Google says the focus of Living Stories is on “the nature of the news story itself” and “how news organizations can take advantage of the web to tell stories in new ways – ways that simply aren’t possible offline.”
Printed newspaper stories begin with the most important information in the front and at the top, and then provide the lesser details later in the article or section. Each time a story is updated, it must include an overview of all that has already transpired. Readers usually scan the entire paper, front to back. Online news reading is different. Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz, writing in Google, Washington Post and N.Y. Times create news tool, says that, “A generation of Web surfers has grown up searching for individual stories rather than visiting major media portals.” Living Stories is based upon this use style.
On the Living Stories site, news coverage is organized by topic, and each topic has a consistent URL. For the experiment stage, The Washington Post is hosting three topic pages covering health-care reform, D.C. schools and the Redskins. The New York Times is covering Afghanistan, executive compensation, global warming, swine flu and health care. Story developments follow upon each other and updates are highlighted, making it easier to explore a story in-depth. Pages include an overview, a timeline, background information, developments, multimedia, and related news. Users may subscribe to email alerts or an RSS feed for notification of story updates.
Story or topic pages existed before Google’s launch of Living Stories. The New York Times already collected its stories on a specific topic into one online page. The Huffington Post is an aggregation site that collects different sources of information on a topic into one location. What Google hopes to do is “to develop openly available tools that could aid news organizations in the creation of these pages or at least in some of the features.” Topic pages, where all the stories on a subject are gathered together and interlinked, could become the standard of online news presentation.
Google invites news readers and news organizations to comment on Living Stories, and plans to refine the site based on the feedback. The Living Stories pages are slated to reside at Google Labs for about three months, and then move to each paper’s own Web site, if all goes as planned. In the future, Google intends to offer the format free of charge to any interested newspaper, magazine or Web site.
Note: An excellent overview of Living Stories is provided in a short video presentation at the bottom of the Living Stories site.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Surfing the Wave
It’s invitation only for what may be the biggest wave watch ever. Beginning on September 30, 2009, Google issued some 100,000 invitations for beta testing of its latest product: Google Wave. Invitations were so in demand that they were being sold on eBay. If you didn’t receive one, you can still file a request at “Request an invitation to Google Wave.”
Most simply put, Google Wave is a real-time online communication and collaboration tool that integrates e-mail, instant messaging, social networking and Web searching. It’s do it all in one place. As Lev Grossman writes in his Time magazine article Wave New World, “When you send out a wave, you create a virtual object shared by you and the person or people you send it to. You can type in it, and so can everybody else who’s on the wave – its stored on a central server instead of passed from PC to PC like e-mail. Everybody sees what everybody else is typing as they type it.”
Because it enables real-time collaboration, Wave is especially useful for organizing events, planning trips, working on group projects, sharing photos, taking meeting notes, brainstorming, and gaming interactively. Users can participate in several Waves at the same time, and have a combination of private and public conversations within each Wave. Wave is not only for the sharing of text. Photographs, video, games, maps, polls, weather forecasts – Wave is about sharing it all, in real time, from one location.
Wave is open source and when it was first introduced in May, Google invited developers to build and test Wave applications. Six featured extensions are currently available to users. They are Ribbit (for telephone conference calls); LabPixies (free sudoku puzzles with interactive play); 6 rounds (videoconferencing); lonely planet (itinerary planning); AccuWeather (weather); and Google Maps. Google hopes for many more, and plans an app store in the near future.
Google Wave is the brainchild of the Google Wave Team Leaders, Lars and Jens Rasmussen (twin brothers), the co-creators of Google Maps, and of Stephanie Hannon. The developers realized that e-mail was invented before the Internet, yet some fifteen years later we still are sending the same electronic notes. Google Wave is a splash into what can be. As venture capitalist Brain Pokorny told BusinessWeek Online, “real time communication is a multibillion-dollar opportunity in the next two to five years.”
The full-launch of Google Wave is expected in the first half of 2010. But several technology writers caution that this may not be realistic, as Gmail was in beta for five years.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Most simply put, Google Wave is a real-time online communication and collaboration tool that integrates e-mail, instant messaging, social networking and Web searching. It’s do it all in one place. As Lev Grossman writes in his Time magazine article Wave New World, “When you send out a wave, you create a virtual object shared by you and the person or people you send it to. You can type in it, and so can everybody else who’s on the wave – its stored on a central server instead of passed from PC to PC like e-mail. Everybody sees what everybody else is typing as they type it.”
Because it enables real-time collaboration, Wave is especially useful for organizing events, planning trips, working on group projects, sharing photos, taking meeting notes, brainstorming, and gaming interactively. Users can participate in several Waves at the same time, and have a combination of private and public conversations within each Wave. Wave is not only for the sharing of text. Photographs, video, games, maps, polls, weather forecasts – Wave is about sharing it all, in real time, from one location.
Wave is open source and when it was first introduced in May, Google invited developers to build and test Wave applications. Six featured extensions are currently available to users. They are Ribbit (for telephone conference calls); LabPixies (free sudoku puzzles with interactive play); 6 rounds (videoconferencing); lonely planet (itinerary planning); AccuWeather (weather); and Google Maps. Google hopes for many more, and plans an app store in the near future.
Google Wave is the brainchild of the Google Wave Team Leaders, Lars and Jens Rasmussen (twin brothers), the co-creators of Google Maps, and of Stephanie Hannon. The developers realized that e-mail was invented before the Internet, yet some fifteen years later we still are sending the same electronic notes. Google Wave is a splash into what can be. As venture capitalist Brain Pokorny told BusinessWeek Online, “real time communication is a multibillion-dollar opportunity in the next two to five years.”
The full-launch of Google Wave is expected in the first half of 2010. But several technology writers caution that this may not be realistic, as Gmail was in beta for five years.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Friday, November 06, 2009
Google's Dashboard
Google’s new Dashboard, announced this week, is being praised by privacy advocates. Dashboard consolidates customer information from all Google accounts into one access point, making it easier for a customer to view the company's privacy policies, access recent activity, and manage settings -- including privacy settings -- for each Google service used. To this point, customers have had to access each account individually. Dashboard provides access from one location.
New York Times reporter Miguel Helft (Google Offers Users a Peek at Stored Data) writes that Google is guilty of “amassing large amounts of data about people.” Dashboard will give users an easy way to see what information Google is collecting, and to have some say about it.
To access Dashboard, sign-in to your Google account, click on the settings link at Google.com. and then choose “Google Account Settings.” From here click the link “Data Stored With This Account.” As a security measure, you will again be asked for your password. When Dashboard is reached, you will see a list of the Google accounts you use along the left hand column, with “Manage,” “Sharing” and “Privacy” links in the right hand column. While your Google Account page provides a list of the Google services you use, the Dashboard page provides more specific information for each.
Google products incorporated into Dashboard currently include Gmail, Picasa, Web History, Checkout, Reader, Google Docs, Calendar, Contacts, and Blogger. According to Ian Paul in PC World (Google Dashboard: A Closer Look), Google plans to add others, including Maps, Wave, Google News and AdSense.
Dashboard does not change any of Google’s data collection, storage or use policies. However, by giving users an easier way to review and manage their data, Dashboard is said to be contributing to the protection of consumer’s privacy by providing them more control over what Google stores on its servers.
By Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
New York Times reporter Miguel Helft (Google Offers Users a Peek at Stored Data) writes that Google is guilty of “amassing large amounts of data about people.” Dashboard will give users an easy way to see what information Google is collecting, and to have some say about it.
To access Dashboard, sign-in to your Google account, click on the settings link at Google.com. and then choose “Google Account Settings.” From here click the link “Data Stored With This Account.” As a security measure, you will again be asked for your password. When Dashboard is reached, you will see a list of the Google accounts you use along the left hand column, with “Manage,” “Sharing” and “Privacy” links in the right hand column. While your Google Account page provides a list of the Google services you use, the Dashboard page provides more specific information for each.
Google products incorporated into Dashboard currently include Gmail, Picasa, Web History, Checkout, Reader, Google Docs, Calendar, Contacts, and Blogger. According to Ian Paul in PC World (Google Dashboard: A Closer Look), Google plans to add others, including Maps, Wave, Google News and AdSense.
Dashboard does not change any of Google’s data collection, storage or use policies. However, by giving users an easier way to review and manage their data, Dashboard is said to be contributing to the protection of consumer’s privacy by providing them more control over what Google stores on its servers.
By Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Friday, October 23, 2009
WMA and MP3: OverDrive eAudiobook Formats Explained
When you want to listen to an OverDrive eAudiobook, a book that you download from the Internet and listen to on your computer or a digital audio player (DAP), you have the choice between WMA and MP3 formats. These acronyms refer to audio data compression technology.
The most popular and thus current de facto standard for audio compression is MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3), developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (thus the MPEG). Almost all devices will play MP3 files.
The WMA (Windows Media Audio) format was developed by Microsoft for use on their products, and thus is not as universal as MP3. But due to the popularity of the iPod, an Apple device, changes have recently been made so that some WMA eAudiobooks will play on Apple devices. This is on a title-by-title basis, where permitted by the publisher, and even then each title listed as compatible may not work with every Apple device. This inconsistency is what most confuses and frustrates customers using OverDrive eAudiobooks. In the end, if a WMA title will not download to an Apple device, the customer should try a different WMA title or stick with MP3 titles.
Digital audio players (DAP) are primarily for the storing, organizing and playing of digital audio files. They are the immediate successor of the CD player. Most, except the iPod, are know as MP3 players. If a digital audio player also has image or video viewing capabilities, it is then called a portable media player (PMP). There are many digital audio players on the market. The list below features notable brands and their manufacturer. OverDrive provides information on compatibility and devices on its Web site http://www.overdrive.com/resources/drc/compatibledevices.aspx
Brand - Marketed By
iPod - Apple
Zen - Creative
Archos - Archos
Cowon - Cowon
Gigabeat - Toshiba
GP2X - GamePark Holdings
iriver clix - ReignCom
PlayStation Portable - Sony
Samsung - Samsung
Sansa Fuze - SanDisc
Walkman - Sony
Zune - Microsoft
Zvue - Zvue
The standard of compression for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players is lossy data compression. Audio data is compressed then decompressed, and while the decompressed version is not an exact duplicate but only an approximation of the original, it is considered “good-enough.” In contrast, lossless compression, used for text and data files like bank records, allows the exact original data to be reproduced. The trade-off between lossy and lossless data compression is between quality and quantity. The loss of some quality in lossy compression allows for the storage of many audio files on a digital audio player.
The most popular and thus current de facto standard for audio compression is MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3), developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (thus the MPEG). Almost all devices will play MP3 files.
The WMA (Windows Media Audio) format was developed by Microsoft for use on their products, and thus is not as universal as MP3. But due to the popularity of the iPod, an Apple device, changes have recently been made so that some WMA eAudiobooks will play on Apple devices. This is on a title-by-title basis, where permitted by the publisher, and even then each title listed as compatible may not work with every Apple device. This inconsistency is what most confuses and frustrates customers using OverDrive eAudiobooks. In the end, if a WMA title will not download to an Apple device, the customer should try a different WMA title or stick with MP3 titles.
Digital audio players (DAP) are primarily for the storing, organizing and playing of digital audio files. They are the immediate successor of the CD player. Most, except the iPod, are know as MP3 players. If a digital audio player also has image or video viewing capabilities, it is then called a portable media player (PMP). There are many digital audio players on the market. The list below features notable brands and their manufacturer. OverDrive provides information on compatibility and devices on its Web site http://www.overdrive.com/resources/drc/compatibledevices.aspx
Brand - Marketed By
iPod - Apple
Zen - Creative
Archos - Archos
Cowon - Cowon
Gigabeat - Toshiba
GP2X - GamePark Holdings
iriver clix - ReignCom
PlayStation Portable - Sony
Samsung - Samsung
Sansa Fuze - SanDisc
Walkman - Sony
Zune - Microsoft
Zvue - Zvue
The standard of compression for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players is lossy data compression. Audio data is compressed then decompressed, and while the decompressed version is not an exact duplicate but only an approximation of the original, it is considered “good-enough.” In contrast, lossless compression, used for text and data files like bank records, allows the exact original data to be reproduced. The trade-off between lossy and lossless data compression is between quality and quantity. The loss of some quality in lossy compression allows for the storage of many audio files on a digital audio player.
Friday, October 16, 2009
National Teach-In on Veterans History
On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, the Library of Congress Veterans History Project and HISTORY (The History Channel and History.com) will present a live webcast at noon eastern time focusing on the histories and stories of World War II veterans. The National Teach-In on Veterans History will feature a panel of scholars and veterans gathered at the Library of Congress who will answer questions from a live audience, and from students via video and e-mail. Beyond this special event, the Veterans History Project is itself a valuable resource for librarians and their customers.
The Veterans History Project was started in 2000 by an act of Congress for the purpose of collecting, preserving, and making accessible “the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.” First-hand accounts are collected from veterans who served in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. The Veterans History Project Web site includes text transcripts, photographic and scanned material, moving images, and sound recordings. The Project can be a valuable resource for research, and the Web site includes a section called Especially for Educators and Students.
The National Teach-In on Veterans History webcast, a part of the 2009 Take A Veteran to School Day, will begin at noon eastern time at www.veterans.com. Those wishing to participate in either or both events should complete the pre-registration form.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
The Veterans History Project was started in 2000 by an act of Congress for the purpose of collecting, preserving, and making accessible “the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.” First-hand accounts are collected from veterans who served in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. The Veterans History Project Web site includes text transcripts, photographic and scanned material, moving images, and sound recordings. The Project can be a valuable resource for research, and the Web site includes a section called Especially for Educators and Students.
The National Teach-In on Veterans History webcast, a part of the 2009 Take A Veteran to School Day, will begin at noon eastern time at www.veterans.com. Those wishing to participate in either or both events should complete the pre-registration form.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Friday, October 02, 2009
Wikipedia: A Brief History
Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia was founded on January 15, 2001, as an offshoot of Nupedia, an early version of an online encyclopedia that required peer reviews and was slow to progress. It was founded by Jimmy Wales, with Larry Sanger serving as editor-in-chief. When developers decided to use a wiki, a type of web site designed so that its content may be edited by anyone with access to it, some working on the project did not agree. So Nupedia morphed into a new project and was christened Wikipedia. In June 2003 the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. was founded as Wikipedia’s parent organization, and the domain was changed to the current ".org" to represent the project’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit, noncommercial nature. The foundation’s stated mission is to bring free information to everyone.
As of 2009, Wikipedia has grown into one of the world’s largest reference web sties, with some 65 million visitors monthly. The site's 13 million articles are in more than 260 languages. All are written and edited by an international group of mostly anonymous volunteers. Anyone who contributes to the site is known as a Wikipedian.
It is Wikipedia's intent to provide verifiable information and not original research. Anyone with internet access may contribute information, cross-references, and citations, as long as they follow Wikipedia’s editing policies. Wikipedia incorporates features to help verify accuracy, resolve disputes, and improve articles. These include NPOV dispute and Talk page. In addition, Wikipedia's editors can patrol changes, monitor specific topics, follow a user's track of contributions, tag articles for further review, and perform other quality control processes.
In its own materials, Wikipedia calls itself “a great tool for learning and researching information,” but cautions users not to use the site as a primary source. As a wiki, the information is in a potentially constant state of flux. In addition to suggesting the use of general research guidelines (use more than one source, check the credentials of your sources, etc.) Wikipedia provides specific guidelines for conducting research within its unique format.
Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, which also operates eight sister projects to the encyclopedia: Wiktionary (a dictionary and thesaurus), Wikisource (a library of source documents), Wikimedia Commons (a database of more than 5 million freely usable media files), Wikibooks (a collection of textbooks and manuals), Wikiversity (an interactive learning resource), Wikinews (a citizen journalism news site), Wikiquote (a collection of quotations), and Wikispecies (a directory of all forms of life). Like Wikipedia itself, all these projects are freely licensed and open to contributions.
Note: In March 2007 "wiki" became an official English word. The online Oxford English Dictionary defines wiki as, “A type of web page designed so that its content can be edited by anyone who accesses it, using a simplified markup language.”
As of 2009, Wikipedia has grown into one of the world’s largest reference web sties, with some 65 million visitors monthly. The site's 13 million articles are in more than 260 languages. All are written and edited by an international group of mostly anonymous volunteers. Anyone who contributes to the site is known as a Wikipedian.
It is Wikipedia's intent to provide verifiable information and not original research. Anyone with internet access may contribute information, cross-references, and citations, as long as they follow Wikipedia’s editing policies. Wikipedia incorporates features to help verify accuracy, resolve disputes, and improve articles. These include NPOV dispute and Talk page. In addition, Wikipedia's editors can patrol changes, monitor specific topics, follow a user's track of contributions, tag articles for further review, and perform other quality control processes.
In its own materials, Wikipedia calls itself “a great tool for learning and researching information,” but cautions users not to use the site as a primary source. As a wiki, the information is in a potentially constant state of flux. In addition to suggesting the use of general research guidelines (use more than one source, check the credentials of your sources, etc.) Wikipedia provides specific guidelines for conducting research within its unique format.
Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, which also operates eight sister projects to the encyclopedia: Wiktionary (a dictionary and thesaurus), Wikisource (a library of source documents), Wikimedia Commons (a database of more than 5 million freely usable media files), Wikibooks (a collection of textbooks and manuals), Wikiversity (an interactive learning resource), Wikinews (a citizen journalism news site), Wikiquote (a collection of quotations), and Wikispecies (a directory of all forms of life). Like Wikipedia itself, all these projects are freely licensed and open to contributions.
Note: In March 2007 "wiki" became an official English word. The online Oxford English Dictionary defines wiki as, “A type of web page designed so that its content can be edited by anyone who accesses it, using a simplified markup language.”
What advice do you give to Wikipedia users?
If you are a Wikipedian, tell us about your experience.
What other Wikis do you know of?
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
An American (Library) in Paris
Truth be told, there have been instances when I’ve heard librarians bemoan the existence of computers and the World Wide Web. But just this week I’ve experienced another positive to technology. Because of a Google search, I made a discovery in Paris.
The American Library in Paris is not listed in any of the typical travel guides I consulted when planning my vacation. But as a librarian and a bibliophile, I wanted to visit a library in the City of Light. Google led me to the Web page of the American Library in Paris, and on a recent afternoon I walked a few blocks north of the Eiffel Tower for a visit.
The American Library in Paris is an offshoot of the 1917 Library War Service, founded by the American Library Association, in which U.S. libraries shipped some 1.5 million books to American service personnel during World War I. Alan Seeger, a celebrated poet, was killed in the war. In 1920 Seeger’s father worked to found the American Library in Paris in honor of his son, with a core of the Library War Service books becoming the start of the collection. As part of its Vision & Mission, the library provides “access in France to what is best in English-language books, periodicals and other materials…”
Now the largest English language lending library in Europe, the library has had quite a history. For example, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein were contributors to Ex Libris, the library’s monthly review. As World War II began, the library circulated books to French and British soldiers. When the French libraries closed under Nazi occupation, the American Library remained open, attracting hundreds of French patrons. In 1941 Library Director Dorothy Reeder was sent back to the United States for safety, but one of the library’s founding members, Countess Clara de Chambrun, arranged for the library to remain open. The staff secretly continued to lend to Jewish members.
When Sylvia Beach closed her famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore in 1951, she donated its circulating collection to the American Library in Paris. In 1955 the library began its English Language Library for the Blind, providing the first Braille books in English on the European continent.
Today the library has a Web site, an online catalog, a reading room, a research room, a children’s room, two Internet stations for customers, wireless (WiFi) access, and numerous programs for all ages. Ex Libris is still published (four times a year), along with a new online electronic newsletter called e-Libris, which is e-mailed twice a month. Copies are available from the library’s web site under “Newsletters and Reports”. (Photo: The research room at the American Library in Paris.)
The American Library in Paris is located at 10, Rue du General Camou, and is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
The American Library in Paris is not listed in any of the typical travel guides I consulted when planning my vacation. But as a librarian and a bibliophile, I wanted to visit a library in the City of Light. Google led me to the Web page of the American Library in Paris, and on a recent afternoon I walked a few blocks north of the Eiffel Tower for a visit.
The American Library in Paris is an offshoot of the 1917 Library War Service, founded by the American Library Association, in which U.S. libraries shipped some 1.5 million books to American service personnel during World War I. Alan Seeger, a celebrated poet, was killed in the war. In 1920 Seeger’s father worked to found the American Library in Paris in honor of his son, with a core of the Library War Service books becoming the start of the collection. As part of its Vision & Mission, the library provides “access in France to what is best in English-language books, periodicals and other materials…”
Now the largest English language lending library in Europe, the library has had quite a history. For example, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein were contributors to Ex Libris, the library’s monthly review. As World War II began, the library circulated books to French and British soldiers. When the French libraries closed under Nazi occupation, the American Library remained open, attracting hundreds of French patrons. In 1941 Library Director Dorothy Reeder was sent back to the United States for safety, but one of the library’s founding members, Countess Clara de Chambrun, arranged for the library to remain open. The staff secretly continued to lend to Jewish members.
When Sylvia Beach closed her famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore in 1951, she donated its circulating collection to the American Library in Paris. In 1955 the library began its English Language Library for the Blind, providing the first Braille books in English on the European continent.
Today the library has a Web site, an online catalog, a reading room, a research room, a children’s room, two Internet stations for customers, wireless (WiFi) access, and numerous programs for all ages. Ex Libris is still published (four times a year), along with a new online electronic newsletter called e-Libris, which is e-mailed twice a month. Copies are available from the library’s web site under “Newsletters and Reports”. (Photo: The research room at the American Library in Paris.)The American Library in Paris is located at 10, Rue du General Camou, and is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Friday, September 04, 2009
USA Today's Best-Selling Books Database
Most of us are familiar with browsing the print and online editions of the New York Times best-seller lists. This week I came across USA Today’s list of best-sellers, and the paper’s corresponding database of best-sellers. It is a searchable archive of best-sellers maintained by USA Today since it published its first list of 150 best-selling books on October 28, 1993. Here’s how it works.
Every week USA Today collects sales data from about 7,000 bookstore chains, independent bookstores, and mass merchandisers, in addition to online retailers. Using this information, the newspaper compiles a list of the 150 best-selling titles for the week. Rankings are based on sales of three formats of a title – hardcover, paperback or eBook.
When printed in the list, the book’s description is followed by (F) for fiction or (NF) for nonfiction, then an (H), (P) or (E) for which format of the title sold the best, and the cost of the title in that best-selling format. Every Thursday, the top-selling 50 titles are printed in USA Today, while the complete list of 150 is posted online. The online list can be sorted by “Rank,” “Title,” or “Author.”
These weekly lists have been compiled into a searchable archive: USA Today’s Best-Selling Books Database. Users may search by “Author,” “Title,” or “Date” (a specific week). The results show titles, when the title entered the top 150, how many weeks it spent in the top 50, and its highest rank. From the search results, there are links for “Back to current Top 150 list,” and “This week’s printable list.” The printable version provides an easy way to post a best-sellers list for customers to view.
Have you ever used USA Today’s Best-Selling Books Database? Which best-seller list do you most often refer to?
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Every week USA Today collects sales data from about 7,000 bookstore chains, independent bookstores, and mass merchandisers, in addition to online retailers. Using this information, the newspaper compiles a list of the 150 best-selling titles for the week. Rankings are based on sales of three formats of a title – hardcover, paperback or eBook.
When printed in the list, the book’s description is followed by (F) for fiction or (NF) for nonfiction, then an (H), (P) or (E) for which format of the title sold the best, and the cost of the title in that best-selling format. Every Thursday, the top-selling 50 titles are printed in USA Today, while the complete list of 150 is posted online. The online list can be sorted by “Rank,” “Title,” or “Author.”
These weekly lists have been compiled into a searchable archive: USA Today’s Best-Selling Books Database. Users may search by “Author,” “Title,” or “Date” (a specific week). The results show titles, when the title entered the top 150, how many weeks it spent in the top 50, and its highest rank. From the search results, there are links for “Back to current Top 150 list,” and “This week’s printable list.” The printable version provides an easy way to post a best-sellers list for customers to view.
Have you ever used USA Today’s Best-Selling Books Database? Which best-seller list do you most often refer to?
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Library Tri-Berry Wins
The votes are in and Library Tri-Berry is the winning literary themed name among FCPL staff for a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Library Tri-Berry was submitted by Barbara Rice, Branch Manager at Martha Washington, who receives a coupon for a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.In second place is Over Goo Notice, chocolate ice cream with marshmallow cream, caramel, chocolate fudge, and creamy peanut butter, submitted by an anonymous source; and in third place is Bookworm, vanilla ice cream with Gummi Worms, submitted by Johnny Goodyear in Marketing and Communications.
Barbara’s winning Library Tri-Berry is vanilla ice cream with swirls of strawberry, blackberry and raspberry. When she learned she had won, Barbara said, “My staff will be thrilled. I promised them ice cream at the next staff meeting if I won.”
The idea for the Library NewsBytes contest came from a Facebook group called “People for a library-themed Ben & Jerry’s flavor!” You can read the whole story in the August 1, 2009, post on Library NewsBytes.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Friday, August 28, 2009
A Delicious Way to Organize
The World Wide Web is amazing for all that is available. But how do you keep track of it? Even if you use Favorites on your Web browser's toolbar, the function is specific to each computer, and requires you to decide in which one folder to store a link. Fortunately, there is a Web application that transcends single folders and single computers.Delicious (http://www.delicious.com/) is a social bookmark site for tagging, saving, managing and sharing Web sites and Web pages from any computer. Delicious enables a Web page to be described with as many simple words as desired. Each word is a tag, and tags are used as search terms. Users may search for saved items with a single tag or a combination of tags. For example, all bookmarked links (bookmarks) tagged with “books” will appear in a list when a search is made for those sites thus tagged. Combining tags in a search, for instance “books” and “mystery,” generates a list of bookmarks with both tags in common. This is like the Venn diagram of bookmarking.
When a user produces a list of bookmarks, Delicious can assign the list a unique URL. This makes retrieving and sharing lists easy. For example, at the 2009 Computers in Libraries conference, some presenters used Delicious to generate a list of Web resources. Once at the conference, these presenters could refer to their material from any computer, and attendees could access the information via the URL after the conference.
By using tags that are universally popular (see “popular tags” on the Delicious site), a user can browse sites others have found that correspond to their own interests. With its estimated 500+ million users and 150 million bookmarked URLs, Delicious provides a wealth of resources. Delicious users can share Web site finds with other Delicious users, with friends via their e-mail address, and on Twitter. This is where the social networking of bookmarking comes into play.
To get started using Delicious, go to http://www.delicious.com, click Join Now, and follow the directions. You can use Delicious simply by logging into the site from any computer on which you are working. For shortcuts to Delicious, users can add a Firefox or Internet Explorer browser extension, or a Delicious bookmarklet tool. Instructions for these are on the Delicious site under “Tools.”
Across the top of the Delicious home page are tabs for Home, Bookmarks, People, and Tags. The “Home” page provides lists of recent and popular bookmarks and tags – “what’s hot on Delicious.” From “Bookmarks” the drop-down box provides a list of choices for My Bookmarks, Popular, Recent, and Look up a URL. The drop-down menu from “People” lists My Network and Go to a User. “My Network” is comprised of those people whom you choose to follow, and Delicious will automatically collect and display their bookmarks for you. The drop-down box for Tags has links for My Tags, My Subscriptions, and Explore. In “My Subscriptions” users choose tags from which Delicious locates corresponding bookmarks, a continual seining for the topic(s) in which the user is interested.
On the right side of the Delicious home page, within a small blue rectangle, are four links. “Save a New Bookmark” leads you through the steps; “Go to a user” allows a search by user name to reveal that user’s bookmarks; “Explore a tag” provides a list of bookmarks associated with the tag entered; and “Look up a URL” provides all the bookmarks, notes, and tags for the corresponding Web page. Above the small blue rectangle is the primary search box – “Search Delicious” -- with a drop-down menu of search choices.
Delicious was founded in 2003 by Joshua Schachter, who coined the term social bookmarking, and invented the system for organizing links that he called tagging. The site was purchased by Yahoo in 2005.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
(Photo by James Duncan Davidson)
Friday, August 21, 2009
Library NewsBytes Ice Cream Ballot
Vote for Your Favorite Literary Themed Name for a Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
This list of literary themed names for ice cream was compiled from replies to the Saturday, August 1, NewsBytes story.
After reading this list, type your favorite name in the comments section below. Please respond using your initials; only one vote per person. Voting closes at 5 p.m. on Friday, August 28.
Bookworm: Vanilla Ice Cream with Gummi Worms.
Lye Berry: Vanilla ice cream with fruit flavored gummy drops of lye. Well, nothing said it had to be a GOOD flavor!
Summer Reading: Vanilla and strawberry ice cream with bits of blueberries mixed in. (It's Red, White and Blue!)
Cat in the Hat: Vanilla ice cream with bits of red-and-white peppermint mixed in!
Lie Berry: The container claims "Chock Full of Berry Fun" but really there are no berries at all.
Green Eggs and Ham: Green mint ice cream with caramel ribbon and bacon bits.
Revision to Bookworm: Chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks, a chocolate fudge ribbon, a caramel ribbon, and gummy worms mixed in. (Dirt and worms!)
Over-goo Notice: Chocolate ice cream with marshmallow cream, caramel, chocolate fudge, and creamy peanut butter.
My Berry: Vanilla ice cream with any berry you like mixed in! You can have blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, Marion Berry, Berry Christmas, Berry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaberry, whatever berry ripens your vine!
Library Tri-berry: Vanilla ice cream with swirls of strawberry, blackberry and raspberry.
The person who devised the winning name will receive a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!
Results will be announced on the InfoWeb on Monday, August 31.
This list of literary themed names for ice cream was compiled from replies to the Saturday, August 1, NewsBytes story.
After reading this list, type your favorite name in the comments section below. Please respond using your initials; only one vote per person. Voting closes at 5 p.m. on Friday, August 28.
Bookworm: Vanilla Ice Cream with Gummi Worms.
Lye Berry: Vanilla ice cream with fruit flavored gummy drops of lye. Well, nothing said it had to be a GOOD flavor!
Summer Reading: Vanilla and strawberry ice cream with bits of blueberries mixed in. (It's Red, White and Blue!)
Cat in the Hat: Vanilla ice cream with bits of red-and-white peppermint mixed in!
Lie Berry: The container claims "Chock Full of Berry Fun" but really there are no berries at all.
Green Eggs and Ham: Green mint ice cream with caramel ribbon and bacon bits.
Revision to Bookworm: Chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks, a chocolate fudge ribbon, a caramel ribbon, and gummy worms mixed in. (Dirt and worms!)
Over-goo Notice: Chocolate ice cream with marshmallow cream, caramel, chocolate fudge, and creamy peanut butter.
My Berry: Vanilla ice cream with any berry you like mixed in! You can have blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, Marion Berry, Berry Christmas, Berry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaberry, whatever berry ripens your vine!
Library Tri-berry: Vanilla ice cream with swirls of strawberry, blackberry and raspberry.
The person who devised the winning name will receive a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!
Results will be announced on the InfoWeb on Monday, August 31.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Google Adds Caffeine
What’s better than Google? Caffeine. At least that’s what Google hopes. Under wraps for months, Google, Inc., announced August 10 that it has been developing a new search engine infrastructure, code named “Caffeine.” According to the company post on its Webmaster Central Blog, “It's the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions.”
Google says that most users won’t notice a difference because the changes are being made “under the hood.” In that sense, it will still be Google, just with more power and precision.
In an interview with TechNewsWorld, Carl Howe, director of anywhere consumer research at the Yankee Group, said that, “Google has maintained its lead in the search engine market by focusing on continuous improvement.” According to comScore, Inc’s, search engine rankings, “Google sites account[ed] for 65.0 percent search market share” of the 14 billion searches conducted by Americans in June 2009. Yahoo! sites had 19.6 percent, and Microsoft sites 8.4 percent, Ask Network 3.9 percent, and AOL LLC with 3.1 percent.
Google’s introduction of Caffeine comes just week’s after Microsoft unveiled its new search engine, Bing, and on the heels of Microsoft and Yahoo entering into a ten-year partnership in which they will share search technology and combine advertising networks.
A preview of Caffeine is available at http://www2.sandbox.google.com/. Google is inviting feedback. Try a search, and then click on the link: "Dissatisfied? Help us improve." Type your comments in the text box, including the word “caffeine” somewhere.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Google says that most users won’t notice a difference because the changes are being made “under the hood.” In that sense, it will still be Google, just with more power and precision.
In an interview with TechNewsWorld, Carl Howe, director of anywhere consumer research at the Yankee Group, said that, “Google has maintained its lead in the search engine market by focusing on continuous improvement.” According to comScore, Inc’s, search engine rankings, “Google sites account[ed] for 65.0 percent search market share” of the 14 billion searches conducted by Americans in June 2009. Yahoo! sites had 19.6 percent, and Microsoft sites 8.4 percent, Ask Network 3.9 percent, and AOL LLC with 3.1 percent.
Google’s introduction of Caffeine comes just week’s after Microsoft unveiled its new search engine, Bing, and on the heels of Microsoft and Yahoo entering into a ten-year partnership in which they will share search technology and combine advertising networks.
A preview of Caffeine is available at http://www2.sandbox.google.com/. Google is inviting feedback. Try a search, and then click on the link: "Dissatisfied? Help us improve." Type your comments in the text box, including the word “caffeine” somewhere.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Friday, August 07, 2009
National First Ladies’ Library
This week the Huffington Post reported that Michelle Obama was named an honorary chair of the National First Ladies’ Library. That’s not really big news, considering that Ms. Obama’s predecessors also are honorary chairs. What is newsworthy, in my opinion, is the fact that there is a National First Ladies’ Library.
Founded in 1998, the library is a national archive and research center dedicated to providing education about America’s First Ladies and other notable women in United States’ history. Congressional wife Mary Regula founded the library when her personal research uncovered a void in the information available about women who have made significant contributions to our nation.
Both a physical and virtual entity, the cornerstone of the National First Ladies’ Library is a 40,000-entry bibliography on all First Ladies since Martha Washington. In addition to its online resources, the library includes two buildings in Canton, Ohio: an education and research center, and the Saxton-McKinley home, where President McKinley and First Lady Ida McKinley lived from 1878 – 1891.
Information provided online on the library’s Articles page ranges from fashion to advocacy, including First Ladies’ roles, First Ladies and Family, First Ladies as Ambassadors, and First Ladies and political conventions.
From the Curriculum page, lesson plans, timelines and worksheets, some with national and state standards incorporated, are available for free download.
The First Ladies Research page includes links to biographies, timelines, manuscripts, audio-visual materials and lesson plans for all First Ladies.
The National First Ladies’ Library is a resource gem we can make available to our library customers.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Founded in 1998, the library is a national archive and research center dedicated to providing education about America’s First Ladies and other notable women in United States’ history. Congressional wife Mary Regula founded the library when her personal research uncovered a void in the information available about women who have made significant contributions to our nation.
Both a physical and virtual entity, the cornerstone of the National First Ladies’ Library is a 40,000-entry bibliography on all First Ladies since Martha Washington. In addition to its online resources, the library includes two buildings in Canton, Ohio: an education and research center, and the Saxton-McKinley home, where President McKinley and First Lady Ida McKinley lived from 1878 – 1891.
Information provided online on the library’s Articles page ranges from fashion to advocacy, including First Ladies’ roles, First Ladies and Family, First Ladies as Ambassadors, and First Ladies and political conventions.
From the Curriculum page, lesson plans, timelines and worksheets, some with national and state standards incorporated, are available for free download.
The First Ladies Research page includes links to biographies, timelines, manuscripts, audio-visual materials and lesson plans for all First Ladies.
The National First Ladies’ Library is a resource gem we can make available to our library customers.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Saturday, August 01, 2009
NewsBites: Win a Pint of Ben & Jerry’s
In honor of summertime fun, this week’s NewsBytes has become NewsBites. The idea comes from The Book Bench posting about a Facebook group called “People for a library-themed Ben & Jerry’s flavor!”
While Ben & Jerry’s does not actually have plans to name a flavor with a library theme, this group of bookish people think it would be a good idea. Some of their suggestions include:
Gooey Decimal System Dark fudge alphabet letters with caramel swirls in hazelnut ice cream.
Sh-sh-sh-Sherbet! Key Lime or a chocolate/vanilla combination.
The New Yorker staff listed a few ideas of their own on The Book Bench, including:
Chick Lit Fat-free Peach-Mango swirl with pieces of Chicklet chewing gum.
Twilit Pale-white lemon sorbet with red shoestring licorice and the hair of Robert Pattinson.
Over-Goo Fudge Chocolate with marshmallow and fudge.
Reading Rainbow PBS-sponsored Rainbow sherbet.
What about you? Send us in the comment section your library- or book-themed name for an ice cream flavor. Please include your full name. We will comprise a ballot for voting, and the creator of the winning flavor-name will receive a gift-certificate for a pint of Ben & Jerry's!
The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, August 12.
The ballot will be posted on Newsbytes on Friday, August 14.
Voting will end at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19, and the winner will be announced on Newsbytes on Friday, August 21.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
While Ben & Jerry’s does not actually have plans to name a flavor with a library theme, this group of bookish people think it would be a good idea. Some of their suggestions include:
Gooey Decimal System Dark fudge alphabet letters with caramel swirls in hazelnut ice cream.
Sh-sh-sh-Sherbet! Key Lime or a chocolate/vanilla combination.
The New Yorker staff listed a few ideas of their own on The Book Bench, including:
Chick Lit Fat-free Peach-Mango swirl with pieces of Chicklet chewing gum.
Twilit Pale-white lemon sorbet with red shoestring licorice and the hair of Robert Pattinson.
Over-Goo Fudge Chocolate with marshmallow and fudge.
Reading Rainbow PBS-sponsored Rainbow sherbet.
What about you? Send us in the comment section your library- or book-themed name for an ice cream flavor. Please include your full name. We will comprise a ballot for voting, and the creator of the winning flavor-name will receive a gift-certificate for a pint of Ben & Jerry's!
The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, August 12.
The ballot will be posted on Newsbytes on Friday, August 14.
Voting will end at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19, and the winner will be announced on Newsbytes on Friday, August 21.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Twitter -- The Final Installment
Building a following or choosing whom to follow centers around topics of interest. By using Twitter’s search tool at the top of the page [Find People], or a tool such as Tweet Scan, users can looks for specific entities like a person or an organization. Using the search box on the right side of the page, users can look for posts relating to a specific topic, then choose from those postings potential people to follow.
Some people create their own Twitter directories on various topics, providing a resource for information gathering and dissemination. For example, a librarian may send a tweet asking for an answer to a specific reference question, then follow-up with email for more information.
As already indicated by the terms “follower” and “tweet”, there is a Twitter language. Here is a partial lexicon.
1. Tweet: To send a message on Twitter.
2. Tweeters or Twitterers: Those who send messages on Twitter.
3. @ (name of recipient): A reply that is public to the Twitter network.
4. D (name of recipient): A reply that only appears to the intended recipient. D stands for direct message.
5. Retweet: Reposting someone’s Tweet to your followers. To do this, begin the message with RT. And etiquette prescribes that Tweets be kept to fewer than 120 characters so that followers have space to Retweet and add comments.
6. Follower(s): Those who choose to follow a person or organization’s Tweets.
7. Hash Tag (#): Placed in front of a word, this symbol helps organize Tweets by category.
8. Fail Whale: A picture of a whale that appears when the Twitter network is overloaded. Try again later.
DCPLive, a blog of the DeKalb, Georgia, public library, may have recorded the sentiments of many with this opening in the June 10, 2009, posting “Authors on Twitter”: “If you’re with me, you are sick of hearing about Twitter.” Yet the writer concedes that with the hundred of authors using Twitter, there is great opportunity for people to interact in a way never before possible. Says the blogger, “All of the authors that I’m following actually respond to their followers’ questions and comments.”
So what do you think about Twitter? Have you tried it? Whom are you following? How do you use it? Let us know.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Some people create their own Twitter directories on various topics, providing a resource for information gathering and dissemination. For example, a librarian may send a tweet asking for an answer to a specific reference question, then follow-up with email for more information.
As already indicated by the terms “follower” and “tweet”, there is a Twitter language. Here is a partial lexicon.
1. Tweet: To send a message on Twitter.
2. Tweeters or Twitterers: Those who send messages on Twitter.
3. @ (name of recipient): A reply that is public to the Twitter network.
4. D (name of recipient): A reply that only appears to the intended recipient. D stands for direct message.
5. Retweet: Reposting someone’s Tweet to your followers. To do this, begin the message with RT. And etiquette prescribes that Tweets be kept to fewer than 120 characters so that followers have space to Retweet and add comments.
6. Follower(s): Those who choose to follow a person or organization’s Tweets.
7. Hash Tag (#): Placed in front of a word, this symbol helps organize Tweets by category.
8. Fail Whale: A picture of a whale that appears when the Twitter network is overloaded. Try again later.
DCPLive, a blog of the DeKalb, Georgia, public library, may have recorded the sentiments of many with this opening in the June 10, 2009, posting “Authors on Twitter”: “If you’re with me, you are sick of hearing about Twitter.” Yet the writer concedes that with the hundred of authors using Twitter, there is great opportunity for people to interact in a way never before possible. Says the blogger, “All of the authors that I’m following actually respond to their followers’ questions and comments.”
So what do you think about Twitter? Have you tried it? Whom are you following? How do you use it? Let us know.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Twitter -- Part Deux
Twitter was the idea of Jack Dorsey (Twitter’s Chairman of the Board) who, along with Biz Stone (Creative Director) and Evan Williams (CEO), founded the site in March 2006. Dorsey dropped out of New York University to pursue his love of software invention. Dorsey thought about his idea for a “live journal,” akin to instant messaging, for five years. Twitter was publicly launched in August 2006 and grew so quickly that by May 2007, Twitter, Inc., was founded. Its popularity continues to bound. According to Nancy Davis Kho (Information Today), “Twitter had 9.3 million unique U.S. visitors in March 2009, up 131% from the prior month and up more than 1,000% from March 2008.” Twitter use also is growing in Mobile usage, with some 735,000 unique users posting from Mobile devices in February 2009.
Twitter is different from social networks like Facebook or My Space mainly in that it is by default a public feed, and so users are not able to control who sees the information they post on their profile or in their Tweets. Although the option does exist to approve or block followers, anyone can search for and follow your feed, and share your feed with everyone on their network without approval from you. Other social networking sites allow the user to first determine who may view their information.
While Twitter began as a simple social networking tool – to answer the question “What are you doing?”, it has grown to become a news tool, a marketing tool, a corporate communications tool, and much more. At a panel discussion titled “Why Twitter Matters”, Alacra vice president Barry Graubart said Twitter is, “a powerful knowledge and information distribution channel.” He suggests that Twitter should change its prompt to “What would you like to share today?”
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Twitter is different from social networks like Facebook or My Space mainly in that it is by default a public feed, and so users are not able to control who sees the information they post on their profile or in their Tweets. Although the option does exist to approve or block followers, anyone can search for and follow your feed, and share your feed with everyone on their network without approval from you. Other social networking sites allow the user to first determine who may view their information.
While Twitter began as a simple social networking tool – to answer the question “What are you doing?”, it has grown to become a news tool, a marketing tool, a corporate communications tool, and much more. At a panel discussion titled “Why Twitter Matters”, Alacra vice president Barry Graubart said Twitter is, “a powerful knowledge and information distribution channel.” He suggests that Twitter should change its prompt to “What would you like to share today?”
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Atwitter about Twitter
When the government of Iran disallowed media reports from the country, citizens protesting the election kept the world updated via Twitter. When Oprah Twittered for the first time in April 2009, her post received tens-of-thousands of replies each hour. CNN’s Larry King and actor Ashton Kutcher challenged each other to see who could top one million Twitter followers (those who choose to receive the writer’s updates), and Kutcher won with over 1.2 million followers to King’s mere 980,000 plus, becoming the first to reach the one million follower mark. Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama Twitter. But still many people are asking, “What is Twitter?”
Writing at FastCompany.Com, Lon Safko calls Twitter, “text messaging on steroids.” In tech talk, you’d say that Twitter is a micro-blogging application. In her June 2009 Information Today article, Nancy Davis Kho defines Twitter as, “a social messaging utility …” In its most basic form, Twitter is instant messaging that does not require an answer.
From Twitter’s homepage (http://twitter.com), the user answers the question “What are you doing?” in a maximum of 140 characters. The short response to that question is called a tweet. Those people who have chosen to receive updates are the “followers.” Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free over the Internet, but may incur phone fees using SMS. Tweeting has become so popular that Facebook redesigned its site to feature a Twitter-like box for users to comment in real-time on what they are doing or thinking.
More about Twitter next week ...
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Writing at FastCompany.Com, Lon Safko calls Twitter, “text messaging on steroids.” In tech talk, you’d say that Twitter is a micro-blogging application. In her June 2009 Information Today article, Nancy Davis Kho defines Twitter as, “a social messaging utility …” In its most basic form, Twitter is instant messaging that does not require an answer.
From Twitter’s homepage (http://twitter.com), the user answers the question “What are you doing?” in a maximum of 140 characters. The short response to that question is called a tweet. Those people who have chosen to receive updates are the “followers.” Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service is free over the Internet, but may incur phone fees using SMS. Tweeting has become so popular that Facebook redesigned its site to feature a Twitter-like box for users to comment in real-time on what they are doing or thinking.
More about Twitter next week ...
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Bing Challenges Google
Microsoft launched a new general purpose search engine on June 5, 2009, to compete with Google and Yahoo, and to a lesser extent AOL and Ask.com. Called Bing (www.bing.com), the search engine is getting mixed reviews from critics and users.
Bing is fancy in looks, featuring a full-screen photo of a different location everyday. The search box is prominent in the upper left quadrant of the home page. Tabs across the top and left are labeled “Images,” “Videos,” “Shopping,” “News,” “Maps,” “Travel,” “Health,” “Local,” and “Even More.” Across the bottom of the home page are links to stories relating to the featured location of the day, and items Bing considers top news. There is a lot of fluff here for a search engine.
In his June 7, 2009, Washington Post column “Fast Forward”, Rob Pegoraro says that, “Bing suffers from many handicaps, starting with one whose initials happen to spell out: ‘But It’s Not Google.’” Pegoraro says Bing performs best in shopping and travel searches, since these are simply the repackaged versions of Microsoft’s already existing Live Cashback Search and Farecast, now Price Predictor. Price Predictor’s best features are its ability to compare all available routings by many trip criteria, and to provide calculations for when which airline might offer an itinerary at the lowest price.
However, when it comes to news searches, Pegoraro says that Google does much better, often providing far more items than Bing. The same is true for searches on generic terms. Pegoraro found that other search engines often provided a wider range of results.
Fairfax County Public Library Internet Services staff did not find Bing to have any advantage over Google. One staff member commented that in their experience, “Bing is not as precise as Google.” Since Bing’s links usually direct the user to Microsoft, MSNBC, and NBC tools and resources, one staff member coined it a Microsoft promotional device.
In its introductory letter on the Bing site, the “Bing Team” calls the search engine “intuitive.” This means that Bing is designed to go beyond simply providing information on a topic, to using the log data from your Internet Protocol (IP) address to provide information you might find interesting. Both on the Web site and in its radio commercials, Microsoft is calling Bing a "decision engine."
In contrast, Bing’s mobile site (m.bing.com) gets the highest praise from Pegoraro, who says that it, “makes a major contribution to mobile web searching,” outperforming both Yahoo and Google with its clean, simple format, its better navigation options, and its results. Bing even provides an option for Web pages to automatically reformat to fit the user’s phone screen.
Reports are that Microsoft is spending some $100 million on initial marketing of their new search engine. Only time will tell if Bing becomes a real competitor to Google.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Bing is fancy in looks, featuring a full-screen photo of a different location everyday. The search box is prominent in the upper left quadrant of the home page. Tabs across the top and left are labeled “Images,” “Videos,” “Shopping,” “News,” “Maps,” “Travel,” “Health,” “Local,” and “Even More.” Across the bottom of the home page are links to stories relating to the featured location of the day, and items Bing considers top news. There is a lot of fluff here for a search engine.
In his June 7, 2009, Washington Post column “Fast Forward”, Rob Pegoraro says that, “Bing suffers from many handicaps, starting with one whose initials happen to spell out: ‘But It’s Not Google.’” Pegoraro says Bing performs best in shopping and travel searches, since these are simply the repackaged versions of Microsoft’s already existing Live Cashback Search and Farecast, now Price Predictor. Price Predictor’s best features are its ability to compare all available routings by many trip criteria, and to provide calculations for when which airline might offer an itinerary at the lowest price.
However, when it comes to news searches, Pegoraro says that Google does much better, often providing far more items than Bing. The same is true for searches on generic terms. Pegoraro found that other search engines often provided a wider range of results.
Fairfax County Public Library Internet Services staff did not find Bing to have any advantage over Google. One staff member commented that in their experience, “Bing is not as precise as Google.” Since Bing’s links usually direct the user to Microsoft, MSNBC, and NBC tools and resources, one staff member coined it a Microsoft promotional device.
In its introductory letter on the Bing site, the “Bing Team” calls the search engine “intuitive.” This means that Bing is designed to go beyond simply providing information on a topic, to using the log data from your Internet Protocol (IP) address to provide information you might find interesting. Both on the Web site and in its radio commercials, Microsoft is calling Bing a "decision engine."
In contrast, Bing’s mobile site (m.bing.com) gets the highest praise from Pegoraro, who says that it, “makes a major contribution to mobile web searching,” outperforming both Yahoo and Google with its clean, simple format, its better navigation options, and its results. Bing even provides an option for Web pages to automatically reformat to fit the user’s phone screen.
Reports are that Microsoft is spending some $100 million on initial marketing of their new search engine. Only time will tell if Bing becomes a real competitor to Google.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Monday, June 22, 2009
The Encyclopedia of Life
The World Wide Web continues to provide unprecedented opportunities for the collection, organization and dissemination of information. Five organizations are coordinating the Encyclopedia of Life "to organize and make available via the Internet virtually all information about life present on Earth." The Encyclopedia is a series of Web sites devoted to the 1.8 million or so species of life on earth. Everyone is invited to participate as a curator, a contributor, and/or a donor. The site Encyclopedia of Life went live in February 2008.
The five organizations coordinating the Encyclopedia are the Biodiversity Heritage Library, The Field Museum, Harvard University, the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Smithsonian Institution.
This new wiki is the brainchild of Biologist E. O. Wilson, who announced his dream at a March 2007 Technology Entertainment Design (TED) speaking engagement. The MacArthur Foundation and the Sloan Foundation committed to an initial $50 million funding grant.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
The five organizations coordinating the Encyclopedia are the Biodiversity Heritage Library, The Field Museum, Harvard University, the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Smithsonian Institution.
This new wiki is the brainchild of Biologist E. O. Wilson, who announced his dream at a March 2007 Technology Entertainment Design (TED) speaking engagement. The MacArthur Foundation and the Sloan Foundation committed to an initial $50 million funding grant.
Susan Ujka Larson, Fairfax County Public Library
Monday, June 15, 2009
Gaming
How many times have you heard customers complain that they need to use the computers in our libraries and those kids are just “playing games?” I played games growing up especially on rainy summer days. Games of my childhood though were usually board or card games not electronic games but playing games required reading the rules, making decisions, or working with teams.
Last year the American Library Association (ALA) began a project called Libraries, Literacy and Gaming funded by a grant from Verizon. They wanted to track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills and develop a toolkit for gaming in libraries. As a result of this project ALA launched The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming: An Online Toolkit for Building Gaming @ your library on March 1, 2009.
Chess clubs have existed in libraries for years. Perhaps we need to offer more programs tailored to gamers. Currently our electronic gamers vie for time on computers to play web based games in competition with our job seekers and researchers. Gaming programs can be a magnet to attract a whole new set of library users and certainly fall into our mission to meet the educational, recreational and informational needs of our customers.
Last year the American Library Association (ALA) began a project called Libraries, Literacy and Gaming funded by a grant from Verizon. They wanted to track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills and develop a toolkit for gaming in libraries. As a result of this project ALA launched The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming: An Online Toolkit for Building Gaming @ your library on March 1, 2009.
Chess clubs have existed in libraries for years. Perhaps we need to offer more programs tailored to gamers. Currently our electronic gamers vie for time on computers to play web based games in competition with our job seekers and researchers. Gaming programs can be a magnet to attract a whole new set of library users and certainly fall into our mission to meet the educational, recreational and informational needs of our customers.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Espresso Book Machine
Bookstore chains have grown enormous and one expects them to have everything, or almost everything under the sun. I have always rather loved the smaller shops for browsing but not when I just had to have something particular. Now with the Espresso Book Machine even the smallest of bookstores can produce library quality paperbacks in minutes at low cost. The Time Magazine Invention of the Year in 2007 looks something like a large photocopier. Bookstores will no longer have to guess how many copies of a title to order, sometimes ordering too many and other times not enough. This may fundamentally change bookstores and allow the small shops to compete with the large chains and even Amazon.
Currently the available library consists of approximately one million books in the public domain and one million with copyright permission from 6,500 publishers. The Espresso Machine is the brainchild of Jason Epstein, Editorial Director of Random House and co-founder of the New York Review of Books.
Machines currently cost $175.000 and are available in limited locations including at the University of Michigan Library and in the New Orleans Public Library as well as locations in Canada and England. This may be the biggest change in printing since Gutenberg.
Currently the available library consists of approximately one million books in the public domain and one million with copyright permission from 6,500 publishers. The Espresso Machine is the brainchild of Jason Epstein, Editorial Director of Random House and co-founder of the New York Review of Books.
Machines currently cost $175.000 and are available in limited locations including at the University of Michigan Library and in the New Orleans Public Library as well as locations in Canada and England. This may be the biggest change in printing since Gutenberg.
Monday, May 25, 2009
WolframAlpha: Search Engine
A powerful new search engine has just been introduced. Visually the site is a little messy and dull for my taste, but it is fast and useful. This is not a substitute for Google. WolframAlfa does not search the Web for answers to your questions. Instead its creator, Stephen Wolfram the founder of Wolfram Research and software developer of Mathematica has gathered over many years an enormous knowledge base of facts and data. This search engine looks at precise words in the query, the fewer the better. Tallest building is better than tallest building in the world. The answers are quick and detailed.
Designing a computer system that answers questions with human-like reasoning has been considered almost a holy grail in the technology world. Some computer scientists think WolframAlfa comes as close as anything yet to making the world’s knowledge computable. This is not a search engine for shopping or local movie listings, but it can provide answers quickly to such things as: Election Day 2012, the path of the Hubble Telescope, or stock comparisons.
Many people thought Google was going to make libraries and librarians obsolete. That has not happened. I think this is a site that will make our work easier and the trick remains asking the right questions.
Designing a computer system that answers questions with human-like reasoning has been considered almost a holy grail in the technology world. Some computer scientists think WolframAlfa comes as close as anything yet to making the world’s knowledge computable. This is not a search engine for shopping or local movie listings, but it can provide answers quickly to such things as: Election Day 2012, the path of the Hubble Telescope, or stock comparisons.
Many people thought Google was going to make libraries and librarians obsolete. That has not happened. I think this is a site that will make our work easier and the trick remains asking the right questions.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Computers In Libraries 2009: A Conference Result
Several key points I learned in workshops at the 2009 Computers in Libraries conference, held March 30 – April 1 in Crystal City, have resulted in a special campaign at George Mason Regional Library in honor of National Poetry Month.
These key points are:
1. Build partnerships and collaborate in the use of staff and materials.
2. Engage people – involve your staff and your customers.
3. Use your own photography to engage your community, document events, and publicize activities.
When the Youth Services staff at George Mason was planning a book display for National Poetry Month (#2 Engage People), I decided to see what others were doing (#1 Partnerships and Collaboration), and began surfing the Web.
As I was browsing www.poets.org, a site sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, I discovered an event called “Poem in Your Pocket Day.” I thought incorporating this event into our display might generate interest and enthusiasm with our customers.
Working on a sign, I could not locate an appropriate graphic. Remembering another key point (#3 Use your own photography), I staged a photo. When I shared the completed flyer with branch manager Kay Rzasa, she encouraged me to also post it in the staff kitchen, and invite staff to participate between ourselves on April 30. In addition, she asked me to share the flyer with others in the library system for their possible use.
All of this resulted from just a portion what I learned at Computers in Libraries. Thank you, Fairfax Library Foundation, for sponsoring my attendance.
Susan Ujka Larson, Youth Services Manager at George Mason Regional Library
These key points are:
1. Build partnerships and collaborate in the use of staff and materials.
2. Engage people – involve your staff and your customers.
3. Use your own photography to engage your community, document events, and publicize activities.
When the Youth Services staff at George Mason was planning a book display for National Poetry Month (#2 Engage People), I decided to see what others were doing (#1 Partnerships and Collaboration), and began surfing the Web.
As I was browsing www.poets.org, a site sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, I discovered an event called “Poem in Your Pocket Day.” I thought incorporating this event into our display might generate interest and enthusiasm with our customers.
Working on a sign, I could not locate an appropriate graphic. Remembering another key point (#3 Use your own photography), I staged a photo. When I shared the completed flyer with branch manager Kay Rzasa, she encouraged me to also post it in the staff kitchen, and invite staff to participate between ourselves on April 30. In addition, she asked me to share the flyer with others in the library system for their possible use.
All of this resulted from just a portion what I learned at Computers in Libraries. Thank you, Fairfax Library Foundation, for sponsoring my attendance.
Susan Ujka Larson, Youth Services Manager at George Mason Regional Library
Friday, May 01, 2009
Proud to be a Librarian!
The American Heritage Dictionary defines a librarian as: one trained in Library Science or the custodian of a library. The forty plus colleges and universities in the United States that offer accredited programs in library science used to called the degree they conferred a Master of Library Science, Master of Librarianship or a Master of Library and Information Studies.
My own alma mater’s (University of Michigan) Web site describes librarians as “respected both for their ability to organize information and their commitment to providing access to the world's knowledge.” They also refer to twenty-first century librarians as “knowledge navigators” or “the ultimate search engines."
Many schools have moved their library science programs into schools of information, communication or education. Some schools are taking the word library out of name of the degree, the latest Rutgers University which plans to change to the School of Communication and Information this July. So I am having an identity crisis! Over the years the services offered and the format of materials may have changed, but I don’t want to be called a knowledge navigator, an infoer, or a search engineer. I fail to see how removing the word library will gain us more respect or higher salaries, so why must we get lost in the vagaries of degrees in communication and information? The word librarian worked just fine and most everyone understood the term.
My own alma mater’s (University of Michigan) Web site describes librarians as “respected both for their ability to organize information and their commitment to providing access to the world's knowledge.” They also refer to twenty-first century librarians as “knowledge navigators” or “the ultimate search engines."
Many schools have moved their library science programs into schools of information, communication or education. Some schools are taking the word library out of name of the degree, the latest Rutgers University which plans to change to the School of Communication and Information this July. So I am having an identity crisis! Over the years the services offered and the format of materials may have changed, but I don’t want to be called a knowledge navigator, an infoer, or a search engineer. I fail to see how removing the word library will gain us more respect or higher salaries, so why must we get lost in the vagaries of degrees in communication and information? The word librarian worked just fine and most everyone understood the term.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
PLAY!
Play is an activity that we usually associate with children. The importance of play for children is well documented. Playing can make learning fun and we all need some fun. Although we acknowledged that children can learn from play we don’t think about our playing on the job.
There isn’t time or the opportunity to take a class every time we are presented with new technologies or resources. One of the best ways to learn about these products is to take time to explore all the nooks and crannies and see what the product can do for you. Just knowing vaguely that something is available is not enough. We don’t internalize the resources until we actually go exploring and have an opportunity to practice new skills. Knowing what a resource has to offer improves the quality of customer service. So playing can help us do a better job. We are not wasting time, we are improving skills. I love to learn new things and enjoy even more sharing that new knowledge.
What have you played today?
There isn’t time or the opportunity to take a class every time we are presented with new technologies or resources. One of the best ways to learn about these products is to take time to explore all the nooks and crannies and see what the product can do for you. Just knowing vaguely that something is available is not enough. We don’t internalize the resources until we actually go exploring and have an opportunity to practice new skills. Knowing what a resource has to offer improves the quality of customer service. So playing can help us do a better job. We are not wasting time, we are improving skills. I love to learn new things and enjoy even more sharing that new knowledge.
What have you played today?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Self-censorship or good management?
Libraries are supposed to be neutral providers of information from all points of view. ALA defines censorship as the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons find objectionable or dangerous. Censorship occurs when materials are removed or kept from public access. Censors may act from very sincere beliefs, but that does not justify the act. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that there are only a few categories of speech that are not protected by the First Amendment and those include obscenity and child pornography.
Most librarians would strongly defend the right of access to materials from all points of view without restriction. Do we avoid purchasing materials that deal with controversial subjects? Or do we avoid including titles in a display because we don’t want to draw attention to those titles? Are we just being sensitive to community standards or fearful that someone will object to particular materials? These too are forms of censorship, self censorship. Have we censored by our avoidance? Or is that good management to keep the peace? Do we defend our censorship as good customer service?
FCPL policy states: "Different viewpoints on controversial issues will be acquired, including those which may have unpopular or unorthodox positions. The Library recognizes that those materials which offend, shock or bore one reader may be considered pleasing, meaningful, or significant by another." Do we always practice that policy in good faith?
Most librarians would strongly defend the right of access to materials from all points of view without restriction. Do we avoid purchasing materials that deal with controversial subjects? Or do we avoid including titles in a display because we don’t want to draw attention to those titles? Are we just being sensitive to community standards or fearful that someone will object to particular materials? These too are forms of censorship, self censorship. Have we censored by our avoidance? Or is that good management to keep the peace? Do we defend our censorship as good customer service?
FCPL policy states: "Different viewpoints on controversial issues will be acquired, including those which may have unpopular or unorthodox positions. The Library recognizes that those materials which offend, shock or bore one reader may be considered pleasing, meaningful, or significant by another." Do we always practice that policy in good faith?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Don’t Ask Me
After we have spent a year and half training our customers to just “Ask Me”, we are now going to spend time walking them to the information desk so that we can continue to shelve books. Roving is a terrific idea especially in the large branches where the information desk may be far from where the customer is experiencing a problem. Most customers say no the first time you offer to assist them, but many return with a question shortly. It is hard for me to imagine that those customers who happen to find us in the shelves and ask a question are going to bother to ask the roving librarian the next time they need help if we simply march them to the information desk instead of answering their questions.
Pages have been instructed to take people to the information desk to the professionals for assistance. That makes sense. Librarians who are shelving books are professionals, even if temporarily tasked with shelving books. I am not suggesting abandoning the shelving for a major research project, but will we send the right message if we don’t assist them at their point of need?
Pages have been instructed to take people to the information desk to the professionals for assistance. That makes sense. Librarians who are shelving books are professionals, even if temporarily tasked with shelving books. I am not suggesting abandoning the shelving for a major research project, but will we send the right message if we don’t assist them at their point of need?
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Who is using the library?
The library was once a place where one would go to borrow books. Today the library offers much more than books. Books come on CD, DVDs are available, magazines and newspapers are well utilized, our meeting rooms are in great demand and our computers are in constant use. One of ways we measure the value of the library is by its circulation numbers. But circulation doesn’t measure other ways our libraries are serving the public.
We have taken techniques from the retail experience in how we display our materials. The roving librarian has also made assistance more accessible. These are good changes and they have probably helped increase circulation numbers.
How are our customers using the library? Every table, study carrel, individual desk and chair is occupied when I walk through the branch. People are using the WiFi access, tutors are teaching, and students are doing homework. The cub scouts and book clubs gather in our meeting rooms. While many people dash into the library for a particular title, others have come to stay, taking advantage of the space, the quiet and certainly the internet access. They may never check out a book. We are providing services, but perhaps not the ones we usually measure.
Looking at the graph broken down by age groups of how people were using the library in “Best Practices for the Customer Focused Library”, it is very obvious that books were still a primary focus of older visitors, but clearly the younger visitors were there for other reasons. The library as the repository of books has taken on a new face.
We have taken techniques from the retail experience in how we display our materials. The roving librarian has also made assistance more accessible. These are good changes and they have probably helped increase circulation numbers.
How are our customers using the library? Every table, study carrel, individual desk and chair is occupied when I walk through the branch. People are using the WiFi access, tutors are teaching, and students are doing homework. The cub scouts and book clubs gather in our meeting rooms. While many people dash into the library for a particular title, others have come to stay, taking advantage of the space, the quiet and certainly the internet access. They may never check out a book. We are providing services, but perhaps not the ones we usually measure.
Looking at the graph broken down by age groups of how people were using the library in “Best Practices for the Customer Focused Library”, it is very obvious that books were still a primary focus of older visitors, but clearly the younger visitors were there for other reasons. The library as the repository of books has taken on a new face.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia. The fact that anyone can edit articles is why there is so much disagreement over when or how we use it. Wikipedia was first created in 2001 as an offshoot of Nupedia. Nupedia was a web-based encyclopedia written by experts, but licensed as free content intended to compete with Encyclopedia Britannica. Wikipedia initially was a companion to Nupedia where writers could collaborate on articles before they were moved to the primary site. Quickly Wikipedia took on a life of its own. Nupedia is now defunct and Wikipedia is a household word.
The Wikipedia community is what makes the project work. No one person can know that the sum of what every person knows is the operating concept. Since anyone can edit articles how can we trust information in Wikipedia? There have definitely been problem articles/edits but the Wikipedia community works hard to oversea the now 12 million articles (2.7 million in English). Any vandalism is usually short-lived. In 2005 the journal Nature published a study they had conducted comparing science articles in Wikipedia and Britannica. Wikipedia had more errors overall, but not a lot more than Britannica in the 42 articles they reviewed and in many articles actually had fewer errors.
Some teachers have banned the use of Wikipedia as a source. We all need to evaluate the authority of any information we read either from a book or on the web. Often we are asked questions about which we have no knowledge. Wikipedia is a great starting point or subject overview that helps lead me in the right direction.
How do you use Wikipedia?
The Wikipedia community is what makes the project work. No one person can know that the sum of what every person knows is the operating concept. Since anyone can edit articles how can we trust information in Wikipedia? There have definitely been problem articles/edits but the Wikipedia community works hard to oversea the now 12 million articles (2.7 million in English). Any vandalism is usually short-lived. In 2005 the journal Nature published a study they had conducted comparing science articles in Wikipedia and Britannica. Wikipedia had more errors overall, but not a lot more than Britannica in the 42 articles they reviewed and in many articles actually had fewer errors.
Some teachers have banned the use of Wikipedia as a source. We all need to evaluate the authority of any information we read either from a book or on the web. Often we are asked questions about which we have no knowledge. Wikipedia is a great starting point or subject overview that helps lead me in the right direction.
How do you use Wikipedia?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts
OK, not everyone you meet at the info desk is asking for medieval manuscripts. Never the less I suspect most of us have taken a class or visited a museum and marveled at the beauty of such items. Most often we were treated to a sample view and nothing more. This growing collection of over 1000 manuscripts lets you turn those pages and enjoy these fascinating works.
The idea developed from a talk by Christopher Baswell at the MLA (Modern Language Association) annual conference in 2005 and has been supported by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. This database gathers available manuscripts from a range of sources and formats and makes them searchable by author, title, language and location.
There are so many ways that resources once out of reach to most of us are now available in your local library or home computer. This may be a database I have a hard time putting to work on a regular basis but I am sure I will find someone who needs to discover this source.
The idea developed from a talk by Christopher Baswell at the MLA (Modern Language Association) annual conference in 2005 and has been supported by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. This database gathers available manuscripts from a range of sources and formats and makes them searchable by author, title, language and location.
There are so many ways that resources once out of reach to most of us are now available in your local library or home computer. This may be a database I have a hard time putting to work on a regular basis but I am sure I will find someone who needs to discover this source.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
A New Perspective on World Maps
Worldmapper presents a collection of world maps from a new perspective. Each map presents a different subject such as world population, poverty, nuclear power, water use, etc. The size of each territory is resized in relation to the data for each topic. The United Nations supplied much of the data for this project, but the following organizations have also provided support: The University of Michigan, The University of Sheffield, The Leverhulme Trust and The Geographical Association.
Each map provides its data sources as well as a brief explanation. There are currently over 600 maps covering over 200 territories, primarily United Nations member States plus a few others. Many of these maps offer a PDF printable poster. These maps are colorful and an amazing way to view the world condition. It conveys and compares the data in a very effective presentation that merely reading a chart could never manage. I could be distracted for hours with this collection.
Each map provides its data sources as well as a brief explanation. There are currently over 600 maps covering over 200 territories, primarily United Nations member States plus a few others. Many of these maps offer a PDF printable poster. These maps are colorful and an amazing way to view the world condition. It conveys and compares the data in a very effective presentation that merely reading a chart could never manage. I could be distracted for hours with this collection.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Children’s Books as an endangered species?
A law with unintended consequences?
In response to concerns about imported toys and other products which did not meet U.S. safety requirements, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was passed by congress last August. Under this new act everything is suspect until proven safe. The law takes effect February 10, 2009 and applies to new products, as well as to inventory already on the shelves. The law will impose strict safety measures on all products made for children under 12. This includes books! A law that was intended to keep lead out of toys may end up keeping books out of libraries.
Previously some books were considered dangerous to read, but now they may be more dangerous to eat! All products for children under 12 must be tested for lead. Testing is expensive and each run of books must be tracked and tested. The American Library Association has petitioned congress for an exemption for libraries, but time is running out. Will we be removing all our children’s book from the shelves soon? This could definitely provide a new way to cut costs but is not a winning plan to encourage reading.
In response to concerns about imported toys and other products which did not meet U.S. safety requirements, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was passed by congress last August. Under this new act everything is suspect until proven safe. The law takes effect February 10, 2009 and applies to new products, as well as to inventory already on the shelves. The law will impose strict safety measures on all products made for children under 12. This includes books! A law that was intended to keep lead out of toys may end up keeping books out of libraries.
Previously some books were considered dangerous to read, but now they may be more dangerous to eat! All products for children under 12 must be tested for lead. Testing is expensive and each run of books must be tracked and tested. The American Library Association has petitioned congress for an exemption for libraries, but time is running out. Will we be removing all our children’s book from the shelves soon? This could definitely provide a new way to cut costs but is not a winning plan to encourage reading.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Furlough Day
We have not yet seen the effect of the one day furlough on our paychecks, but we definitely have seen how our being closed an extra day impacted our customers. When we reopened, the book drops were overflowing and it took many hours for staff to check in all those materials not to mention return them to the shelves. Door counts were higher than usual, and e-mailed questions were two to three times more than usual. Unfortunately most customers never realized why we were closed…a long holiday perhaps? They will probably be just as surprised when we are forced to cut hours. We are all hearing how grim things are, but most of us don’t think through all the implications until they affect us personally.
Did we take advantage of our extra time? Did we do something special or just catch up on those things we never had time for? Was that day an extended holiday or a shopping trip? Did our furlough make things any better? My sense is that it was too little to make a big difference in our immediate future. How are you feeling about the coming cut backs?
Did we take advantage of our extra time? Did we do something special or just catch up on those things we never had time for? Was that day an extended holiday or a shopping trip? Did our furlough make things any better? My sense is that it was too little to make a big difference in our immediate future. How are you feeling about the coming cut backs?
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