open source software in libraries, a query

Posted on by jessamyn

I’m putting together a little piece about open source software, sort of showcasing how it is or can be used in libraries. Some of the tools, like Firefox or Open Office, are somewhat well known while others like VLC or Paint.net are much less familiar. If your library is using an open source tool and liking it, would you mind putting a note in the comments or dropping me an email over the next week or so letting me know what you use and why you like it? Thank you.

Here are a few little things I’ve been reading on the subject this week.

– Dan Chudnov’s Talk slides: “FLOSS for Libraries: For Administrators”
– LifeHackers Geek to Live: Top 10 open source Windows apps
– Eric Goldhagen’s Open Source for Librarians powerpoint presentation.

Jessamyn, librarian *and* faerie priestess

Posted on by jessamyn

Hey look, it’s a Jessamyn/librarian who is not me!

Jessamyn Fawn is torn between her two lives – that of a librarian living in the mundane confines of suburbia and her secret life as Faerie Priestess. Her work within the Faerie Ring takes a new turn after a Beltane ritual, which leads her further and further into the Faerie realms – and to a spiritual and sensual awakening that threatens to unravel Jessamyn’s everyday life. Jessamyn realises that in order to truly be herself she must find a way to bring these seemingly opposing worlds together.

happy lovers day, LIBRARY lovers day

Posted on by jessamyn

The Australia Library and Information Association and Public Libraries Australia are rebranding Valentine’s day.

Forget Valentines’ Day, 14 February has been re-named “library lovers’ day”! Take the opportunity to celebrate those who love and support us and to remind decision makers how “loved” we are.

And in other 14feb news, I made this:

Happy Valentine's Day

professional cataloging must adapt or die

Posted on by jessamyn

You know it’s true. I’ve known Eli Jacobowitz since before he was born and now he’s a smartie techie type with a newish blog about technology and education. Though he admits “IANAL”, he has written a nice post about why cataloging both sucks and rules and talks about the future of cataloging in a world where there is much much more information than there is “trained professionals” to help people make sense of it. Ultimately, the answer lies in standards, and this librarians already know.

Eventually, robots might catalog for us. (Librarians shudder.) What we now know is just how far away that is – bot catalogers will need much better AI than currently exists. But in order for this project to even be possible, we have to make our data bot-readable. That means implementing some of the cataloging technologies invented and refined by librarians over the centuries.

We need to standardize meta-data format and content. Digital resources need not only meta-data but also meta-meta-data describing the standards they conform with. Catalog and search solutions need to read this information and pass it on when communicating with other systems.