I just read today's post on MaisonBisson about XML and PHP as well as Casey's referenced post on LibDev, and they've got me wondering why it's taking library's so darn long to embrace these technologies and give the patrons what they really want. (Don't come at me with “How do you know”, they've voting [...]

There is an underground movement underway in our bookstores (libraries don't seem to have been targets, yet) to reshelve copies of George Orwell's 1984. Boing Boing picked it up, as did CNet AND there's a Flickr group. From a library perspective, this is interesting for two reasons.
First it's further proof (did we need [...]

New Hampshire's own Casey Bisson presents last: OPAC Hacks. This is our big draw. He's done really nice interface integration of his website and Plymouth's online catalog.
Catalogs are 'so Web1.0'; they exist in a world were everything is disconnected. Apache, PHP, and mySQL are the core of his hacks. The library's [...]

Second speaker is Pete Bell, co-founder of Endeca Solutions, covering faceted browsing/searching. Good quote at the top of a slide showing companies: 'for profit' libraries. Meaning that they can teach us lots, they're doing the same work and they're doing it better in a lot of ways. An interesting observation: both the [...]

After a horrendous morning which involved pre-dawn alarms followed by a gigantic rock on 495 and a flat tire- making me an hour late to pick up a conference speaker (more on that later) - I FINALLY made it the fall NEASIST program, Buy, Hack or Build: Optimizing your systems for your users and your [...]

In Building Library Collections: The Horse is Riding Us, Milton Wolf discusses how collection development as one of librarys' core services, with the introduction of digital information, has become
dangerously hijacked by the publishing industry. Essentially, by buying and/or accessing digital information in bulk, in the form of subscription databases provided by publishers we have [...]

Inspired by a series of threads on Web4Lib, I'm thinking today about libraries and their future place as information providers. The traditional model of libraries has been that other people create the information and libraries act as benevolent, non-judgemental distributors. We're a clearinghouse. But suddenly people's attitude toward information has changed. [...]

You've heard the term multi-tasking? You've mastered patting your head and rubbing your tummy? You love email, send and receive dozens a day? It's time for the next level in online communication - IM. Seen any students lately hard at work on their computers, merrily typing into them teeny little windows? [...]

Someone on Web4Lib mentioned for-profit, retail online websites in relation to 'library survivability' (a fab term)… they cited the usuals (Amazon and Google), but the point was to look beyond those for tips. Two things the for-profits are doing SO much better than libraries: interface design and searching. I know, I know - [...]