Where The Previews Are

March 14, 2008 – 6:11 am

I announced yesterday Scriblio’s integration of Google’s new book viewability API that links to full text, previews, or additional book information (depending on copyright status and publisher foresight). Now that it’s live with Plymouth’s full catalog, I spent a moment browsing the collection and taking note of what books had what.
I get no preview for [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (0)



Scriblio Integrates Google Book Search Links

March 13, 2008 – 1:56 pm

(crossposted at Scriblio.net)
Using the newly released book viewability API in Google Book Search, Plymouth State University’s Lamson Library and Learning Commons is one of the first libraries to move beyond simply listing their books online and open them up to reading and searching via the web.
Take a look at how this works with books [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (2)

Quaint vs. Libraries

March 5, 2008 – 5:13 pm

This Slashdot post asks the same question a lot of people do: ?can libraries be saved from the internet??
Slate has an interesting photo essay exploring the question of how to build a public library in the age of Google, Wikipedia, and Kindle. The grand old reading rooms and stacks of past civic monuments are giving [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (2)

Scriblio Feature: Text This To Me

February 28, 2008 – 12:51 pm

Take note of the ?New Feature: Text this to your cellphone? line above.
Adam Brin of Tricollege Libraries explained that the ?text this to me? feature he built to send location information about items in the library catalog as text messages to a user’s cell phone is being used as many as 60 times a [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (5)

Like Mr. Ranganathong said…

January 21, 2008 – 7:37 am

Like Mr. Ranganathong said: ?The intellect cannot be tied down with a decimal thong.? (via)

By Casey | Posted in Dispatches | Comments (0)



Is Facebook Really The Point?

January 17, 2008 – 11:55 am

A post to Web4lib alerted me to this U Mich survey about libraries in social networks (blog post) that finds 77% of students don’t care for or want libraries in Facebook or MySpace.
the biggest reason being that they feel the current methods (in-person, email, IM) are more than sufficient. 14% said no because they [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Technology | Comments (2)

Scriblio 2.3 v4 Released

December 11, 2007 – 9:03 pm

Scriblio 2.3 v4 is out. See it. Download it. Install it. Join the mail list.
What’s new?

Lots of small bug fixes.
Implemented wp_cache support.
Revamped SQL query logic for better memory efficiency.
New widget options.
Search suggest/autocomplete support (implemented in the new theme).
New theme. New Theme! By Jon Link.

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Technology | Comments (4)

Library 2.0 Subject Guides

October 24, 2007 – 10:25 am

Ellyssa Kroski’s Librarian?s Guide to Creating 2.0 Subject Guides is good introduction for Librarians who think know ?there has to be a better way.? But why no mention of blogs and blogging tools? (I’m still really happy that when you search our catalog for something, a subject guide for that term appears (if we have [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (0)

Not Just Hip

October 16, 2007 – 8:15 am

When a writer goes looking for young Turks (my words, not Scott’s), you should expect the story to include some brash quotes (writers are supposed to have a chip of ice in their hearts, after all). On the other hand, we’re librarians, so how brash can we be?
Scott Carlson’s Young Librarians, Talkin’ ‘Bout Their Generation [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Politics & Controversy | Comments (1)

Don’t Mistake Me (Please)

September 25, 2007 – 12:39 pm

Over at KLE’s Web 2.0 Challenge I was surprised to learn:
Both Bisson and Stephens are so excited about this concept of Web 2.0 they have not taken a good look at what they can?t do for our libraries. …with all this new technology we can not forget that what is the most important in our [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Technology | Comments (0)

Building Libraries With Free Software

September 17, 2007 – 11:03 am

Sarah Houghton-Jan’s review of my LTR on open source software for libraries reminded me I wanted to blog this related piece I’d written for American Libraries.
Tim Spalding cocks his head a bit as he says it to emphasize the point: ?LibraryThing.com is social software.? However we categorize it, Spalding’s baby has become a darling to [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Technology | Comments (2)

First They Ignore You, Then They Ridicule You, Then They Fight You

September 12, 2007 – 12:30 pm

It’s an aside to Kathryn Greenhill’s larger point, that all this 2.0 stuff is about a shifting power to the user, but she places L2 somewhere on Ghandi’s continuum of change between ridicule and fight.
The photo above (original by Monster) is in support of Greenhill’s larger point: control is shifting. Trains were once seen as [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information, Politics & Controversy | Comments (5)

Launch!

September 6, 2007 – 3:09 pm

A little more than two years after I realized how (really) bad the problem was and about 18 months after I prototyped my solution, our new library website, catalog, and knowledgebase launched last week — just in time for the fall semester opening.
It’s all built on Scriblio, includes a very simple new books list that [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (4)

Is It That They Don’t Care? Or Just Don’t Want It From Us?

July 31, 2007 – 12:44 pm

&tJessamyn asks ?do library users care about our new initiatives?? It comes from a survey done by the Wisconsin Public Library ConsortiumOn one hand, if you interpret the results literally you could make a decision to reject technology and focus on building a collection around personal enjoyment for Wisconsin residents. On the other hand, these [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (2)

Presentation: Bringing The Library To The User

July 15, 2007 – 2:42 pm

I’m at AALL in New Orleans as part of a program organized by June Liptay and Alan Keely, speaking with U of R’s David Lindahl and NCSU’s Emily Lynema. From the description (see page 5 in the program):
Traditional library online catalogs are being marginalized in an increasingly complex information landscape. …Better methods are needed for [...]

By Casey | Posted in Libraries & Networked Information | Comments (4)