librarian.net : pr, hype & bs category

23Jan05 . . . . allibris and oclc, sitting in a tree....

Strange little bit of news that came to me via the "copy and paste a press release into my mailto form" Allibris will be offering books for sale via OCLC's WorldCat so librarians can buy a book instead of ILLing it. OCLC will bill you, making it even stupidly simpler. No postage, no mailing & return envelopes, no messy labelling. Is this the future of interlibrary loan? Is it really cheaper to buy the book than ILL it?

27Dec04 . . . . card catalog art continues

Speaking of library art, check out this description of a new art show by the guy who owns the LAPL's old catalog cards. [thanks chris]

17Nov04 . . . . Bookmarks Magazine - I liked it

This whole "review policy" thing from a few days ago came about because I had gotten yet another press release in my inbox. I wrote back with a short but polite reply and asked to not be the recipient of any more press releases but sure, go ahead and send me a copy of the magazine. Got a polite and friendly reply and then a few days later a few copies of Bookmarks Magazine showed up in my mailbox. I was almost embarassed to like it so much because I hate being marketed to and, worse yet, I hate being accurately marketed to. In any case, the magazine is a review magazine more in the vein of Nancy Pearl's Book Lust -- which I am also reading this week -- than Booklist or Library Journal's reviews.

Their tastes run more to the independent, their layout tends more towards the creative, and their scads and scads of reviews are interspersed with interesting articles that give you in-depth coverage of an author or two; the Brontes and George Orwell were features in two of mine. One of the issues I read had an absolutely ingenious mystery section which included a graphical "historical mystery series timeline" as well as a US map showing the locations of many well-known fictional detectives with, of course, some capsule reviews of the books they appear in. Many of Bookmarks Magazines' reviews also come with pullquotes from other major review sources so you can balance their reviewers' perspectives with other well known "experts." Without blathering on, I have to say I was really pleasantly suprised at how much I enjoyed this magazine. I don't like most magazines aimed towards readers -- they're too ad-heavy and seem to exist for pushing product, not for fostering reading -- and this one was different. You've read my review policy, no one paid me to say this, go check it out if you're looking for book lust-ish recommendations, delivered bi-monthly.

15Nov04 . . . . a few from OCLC

OCLC has really been doing some outreach. First off, remember that they have a blog. Second of all, they have managed to work out a co-branded Yahoo toolbar with a worldcat search embedded in it. I'd send you to the OCLC link but it's an annoying requesting-all-your-personal-info page, so I'll just link to Gary Price's comments and links about it. Lastly, and my favorite, they've got some top titles lists. Top ten, top 1000, top 1000 with all the cover art [giant page].

Maybe someone could give me some data, what level of markeet penetration does OCLC have? When they say "top 1000 titles owned by libraries" what is the difference between saying that and "top 1000 titles owned by OCLC libraries"? According to their site, they have 52,000 libraries worldwide [9134 outside the US], and according to the ALA, there are at least twice that many libraries in the US alone. The nearest "OCLC library" to me that has the #2 book, the Bible, is 40 miles from here. From there, I also found Project Gutenberg's Top 100 lists which tells a different story, somewhat.

12Sep04 . . . . Laura's Bush -- something to offend everyone

Political satire in a no-royalty play. Laura's Bush is a lesbian sex farce featuring an absurdly prudish librarian and, of course, the First Lady. [thanks tom]

2Sep04 . . . . CD settlement is crummy, now it hits my library

Our library got our settlement CDs today. This is, of course, particularly poignant because we do not have a music collection, we have a book on tape/CD collection. Now we have a music collection and it is bad, very bad indeed. Andrei Codrescu has an essay on the wrongness of this settlement for public libraries. Music industry, shame on you for dumping your unwanted products on the public libraries of the country in an effort to clear your warehouses and supposedly make good on what you did wrong. Remember when they were calling this CD dumping a computer glitch? What ever happened to that defense? [thanks robert]

11Aug04 . . . . accessories for the well dressed librarian

In addition to your REF shirt [I'm wearing one today] the well-dressed librarian might also wear a Librarian pin. I'll buy mine when the price drops to something a bit more reasonable, or when Fredflare starts accepting barter. [thanks pauline]

6Aug04 . . . . these books are free, don't be a doofus and PAY for them

Attention librarians, please do not buy any compilations of overpriced public domain titles from the likes of e-reader unless you really, serioously, want someone to charge you four dollars to copy a free text onto a CD for you.

21Jul04 . . . . I wake up every morning thinking "how can I keep my job from going to the robots?"

I would be happy to see robots in libraries fetching and shelving the books for me, though I think the term "mechanical husher" [see the actual URL name] may not catch on.

11Jul04 . . . . reading "at risk"

Please keep in mind that any non-fiction you read last year would not have been counted as "literary reading" for the purposes of the NEA's Reading at Risk report that has been getting a lot of discussion lately. While I think it's really important to try to raise a nation of readers, creating distinctions like "literary reading" and then handwringing over its decline as if it were reflecting an actual drop in literacy [it isn't] seems disingenous and divisive. I'd like to see the NEA take on the incredible backwardness of No Child Left Behind to see what effect incredible testing pressure in schools has on kids' interest in reading for fun. Or do some statistical analysis into how many Americans feel they have time to do anything for fun lately. [thanks eoin]

I would be remiss at this juncture if I did not mention the Librarians for Kerry-Edwards Yahoo group that has been picking up steam lately. In the interests of full disclosure I'd like to say that while the Kerry-Edwards ticket has my support, Kucinich or Dean were really who I was rallying for. I've embraced national level voting for tactical reasons lately. [thanks kathleen]

6Jul04 . . . . Harry and the Potters play wizard rock

In the Bloodhag vein, it's Harry and the Potters, coming soon to a library near you with their quirky brand of rock.

The idea is that the Harry Potter from Year 7 and the Harry Potter from Year 4 started a rock band. And now, no one can stop the wizard rock.

22Jun04 . . . . who do the vendors work for?

Are vendors really making what libraries want? A look at the e-book "explosion" and Daniel Walter's recent comments which provoked a vendor response. Walter's answer: no. Vendors answer: a not-unsurprising "of course"

17Jun04 . . . . CD settlement not all that.

Curious about the CD settlement and all the music CDs that were supposed to be flooding public libraries? One librarian breaks down what her library got.

"71.2% of what they sent us is stuff currently sold in remainder bins. Dunno if the terms of the agreement said they couldn't send cutouts or not, but if I know the record industry, they are following the letter but not the spirit of the settlement. "

25Apr04 . . . . one more NLW post...

Seems like the American Chemical Society removed the "quiet please" portion of their National Library Week campaign [though you can still see it on their t-shirts]. [thanks mita]

13Apr04 . . . . library strip club -- with shower room

Is it possible I haven't linked to the Library Strip Club yet?

The club actually does have volumes lining the entrance, but the clientele come here for a different type of learning experience. And they visit often enough to keep The Library busy even on school nights. [thanks andrew]

This may be the only time I link to a puff piece about the Laura Bush, but it was too good to ignore. Sirsi, the vendor that many of us use for our OPAC services at our libraries has managed to get not one, but two egregious typos in an article about the First Lady... or should I say the Fist Lady? Maybe they've just got a Democract doing data entry? As my friend Michael says "there are no such things as hunting accidents" in Vermont, does anyone really accidentally type "pubic library"? Apparently the "fist lady" appelation is not that tough to come by, neither is "pubic library".

" I think everybody loves Barbara, and still loves Barbara Bush. She was a terrific fist lady"
"Offering her own philosophy on living, the woman who was called Fist Lady to the World leads readers on a path to confidence, education, maturity, and more."
"Lucy Hayes was the first Fist Lady to have graduated from college." [thanks owen]

6Apr04 . . . . OCLC says the future is all about collaboration.

An odd and potentially dystopic poem about technology and libraries is part of OCLC's 2003 Environmental Scan report to their membership.

My Vision
To get to the library site,
type on the computer you’re on,
in the address box at the top,
www.libraries.com [thanks doug]

28Mar04 . . . . revolution?

One of the side effects of moving within anarchist circles is that you don't take the word "revolution" at all lightly. This has made the past decade rough in terms of palatability of advertising. Sometimes when there is particular envelope-pushing, I am at least interested in marketplace revolutions. Reality Publishing claims to be on the forefront of just such a revolution... everyone chips in for the book's publication, everyone helps write, everyone gets to share in the fruits of the labor. Their first project is about the Dean campaign. Nominally democratic [if badly copy-edited] I don't know if I would call it a revolution, but anything that challenges current business models in publishing is a good start.

19Mar04 . . . . card catalogs for sale in seattle

Watch library history get sold to the highest bidder. More card catalogs for sale at UW Seattle [sorry, link no longer working, here's a Google cache]. At some level I'm sure we know it's a bit dorky to be in love with our furniture, but I like to think it's the little designer in all of us. Sure we make noxious flyers with MS Publisher and recycle clip art until it's fuzzy around the edges, but we keep our CDs in oak boxes that are 100 years old and steeped with history, and we know that literacy never goes out of style. [thanks leep]

2Mar04 . . . . but what is the best source for this...?

Vermont library company Fields of Knowledge wants to help people track down the best sources of information, not just the highest ranked on Google. Their project, The Infography is a searchable database of bibliographies created by experts. Some examples: bees, bats, Polish Americans. I have some reservations about the anonymity of the experts, but overall this is an interesting looking project.

12Feb04 . . . . which is more important, improving service or cutting costs??

NYPL has hired consultants. You may remember McKinsey & Co. as the people who advised cost-cutting at Disneyland

The McKinsey & Company consulting firm has been contracted to review all Library operations and make recommendations about how we can improve service delivery, both internally and externally in the context of the current economic realities.

6Feb04 . . . . no more inky stamps

Fairfax County VA libraries are starting to use those little receipt-printers instead of the old ink stamps. We use it at my library and while I don't run the place, I must say I liked the ink stamps. I like knowing how popular or unpopular the book I was reading is. I like not having a piece of fresh paper to recycle or toss out. I like my book not seeming like a purchase, but like a loan. Of course, we've kept the pockets in the books, where else would you put the receipts?

Seattle's Big Beautiful Library is almost ready to open. Staff are getting a one week unpaid "week off" in march to avoid layoffs. Incidentally, SPL also has an amazing new [to me] website that's accessible too. [thanks bill]

27Jan04 . . . . feed me - jessamyn learns feeds

I've been slacking on this link since I have been slacking on learning the technology but when I read that Walt Crawford was learning RSS, and getting an aggregator I figured I should too. Check out Karen Schneider's really easy tutorial on what RSS is and how to use it.

22Jan04 . . . . not just digital libraries, but PRACTICAL digital libraries

I came across this lovely article from DLib showing some examples of digital libraries that use Greenstone, open source software for creating digital libraries.

15Jan04 . . . . references sources of terror

This may have made the rounds while I was away, but it's amusing nonetheless. many jokes were made at council meetings about this dorky almanac business: Reference Sources of Terror. [thanks jonathan]

30Dec03 . . . . now that the dumb holiday is over

Bizarre gift item: Library of Congress baseball from the LoC's Yahoo storefront. "Had Mr. Jefferson not been born long before the game of baseball was invented, this is the ball he would have had in his collection!"

12Dec03 . . . . reviewed

Jay Dougherty reviews Revolting Librarians Redux and seems to like it!

9Dec03 . . . . mtv wants you?

I know this casting call doesn't say "librarians" anyplace but the person who sent me the link assures me they are looking for librarians. This despite protestations by me and ALA staffers that since librarians have master's degrees, they are tough [though not impossible] to find in the 19-25 age range.

7Dec03 . . . . gift for your favorite librarian?

From the "liner notes": Ever wonder what librarians do after hours when they remove their glasses, lose the orthopedic shoes and let their hair hang down? Do you think librarians fuck?? The always innovative Jim Holliday offers MIDNIGHT LIBRARIANS - a past, present and future time capsule into this previously unexplored porn area. [nsfw]

25Nov03 . . . . DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN

OCLC and The Library Hotel resolve their dispute like adults, finally.

24Nov03 . . . . throwback and proud!

It's always nice when the "computers will replace libraries" doomsayers are funny about it. I don't really see Amazon's "search inside the book" feature as any real threat, but then again, I use a typewriter. I also never noticed that the word mildewey has the word dewey in it until now. [thanks all]

7Nov03 . . . . weird justification of propaganda using libraries

I just finished Al Franken's book so I have been getting a bit more savvy about how to interpret media statements by the right wing, but this one ropes librarians in. Regarding the name of the new bill curtailing abortion -- the Partial Birth Abortion Bill -- conservatives defended it saying "National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine both list online in their dictionaries the term partial birth abortion and define it as it's been defined by the government in this legislation." Of course the link to a dictionary I found on the NLM site just leads us right back to Merriam-Webster....

29Oct03 . . . . amazooonio

There's already been some lively debate about Amazon offering full-text searching for a good chunk of its books. My personal opinion is that it's just going to wind up favoring big publishers over small ones because they are going to be more likely to offer these incentives to Amazon [as well as to be well-represented there to begin with, my small-press title doesn't even have a snappy-looking book cover shot to accompany it.] They are also more over a barrel in terms of ceding to Amazon's wishes to make this "feature" available. Of course the addition of full-text searching makes their already not-so-great search work more poorly, but then again I never did use Amazon for anything except known item searches to track down ISBNs.

The "Dangerous Reader" store is up. If you're interested in getting a bumpersticker, baby t-shirt or other merch with the "I read therefore I'm dangerous" slogan, go to it. Jason Pettis runs it and he is donating proceeds to the ACLU to help them fight the PATRIOT Act.

27Oct03 . . . . kvetching and kvelling

Speaking of kvetching, this guy has a good point.

It's possible, however, that society's collective inability to appreciate the public library as a vital institution is the library's fault. But libraries are also venturing into murky waters. They are attempting to be everything to everybody, particularly at a time when higher usage is often rewarded with higher levels of funding support from government. [lisnews]

21Oct03 . . . . islamic collection development

In the months after 9/11 and continuing today, libraries have tried to get more books on Islam for their patrons. The Council on American-Islamic Relations helped libraries fill their collection gaps with book and information donations. Now some are saying CAIR is running a PR campaign in America's libraries for a kinder gentler, and inaccurate, view of Islam. [thanks taylor]

15Oct03 . . . . with friends like these....?

If you consider yourself a capital-F Friend of Cuban Libraries, you might like the Rule of Law and Cuba site at Florida State.

7Oct03 . . . . Really Freaking Invasive Device?

ALA Council has been discussing the new RFID sensation that's been sweeping the nation. San Francisco Public may want to put tracking devices into their books to assist in checkout, book location and security. The EFF, among others, are a bit skeptical. Wal-Mart may have changed their mind about RFID... will libraries?[thanks john]

So, Gale is going to offer a "feature" of allowing Google Images searching directly from their database search interface. I have mixed feelings about this. Google Images already accounts for a huge amount of the traffic coming to and from my site [cached images on Google being lifted independently from the pages they were on]. These images then tend to wind up on other people's web pages, even further removed from context. To avoid the Google Images link from turning up anything raunchy, the "Safe Search" setting will be used. This, of course, blocks non-mature content inadvertently as well. There is no alternative, it's "Safe Search" or no Google Images search at all.

5Oct03 . . . . oclc vs library hotel monster grudge match of the century

LLRX has a good analysis of the OCLC vs Library Hotel debate and issues involved. It seems that having the Library Hotel use a different classification scheme [many of which have been mentioned in these pages over the past few weeks] is not really addressing the 800-pound-gorilla issue w/r/t/ OCLC but might be a great way to highlight other such schemes. [thanks jen]

If you're one of those DVD lovers, you'll be happy to know that Bookwars is available on DVD. I saw this movie about NYC street booksellers a few years back and loved it.

2Oct03 . . . . speaking of suck

Have you ever seen so many uses of the word "probably" in a press-release type article before? Scientists think they have a new way of drying out waterlogged books... but they dont seem quite sure yet. [thanks john]