MOBIUS Libraries

Beginning November 1st only limited public appointments will be allowed to see the State of Georgia's archives, and the staff of 10 may be reduced. The move is in response to a $730,000 budget cut. The reduction still has to be approved by the legislature, it's unclear how many operating hours the archives will have; state law mandates only every Saturday.

With the recent interest in Maker Spaces for libraries it's worth noting that the prices on the printers have dropped into the $2,000, which is much better than the $10-$30,000 a few years ago.

Since I'm just now watching Buffy (don't judge me) I thought this was a good read about what pop culture tells about libraries and not just librarians. Everything is great until they mention National Treasure, but it finished strong so I'm willing to overlook it. Also no Music Man references :(

Free kits for teachers to help students learn to code and hopefully generate interest in coding. This is a really neat program I'm interested in how teachers like it and how they fit it in to their busy schedules. I imagine there is a lot of collaboration between teachers and librarians, since often times librarians are in charge of the school's computer lab.

"The makers of the POD Espresso Book Machine currently installed in fewer than a hundred bookstores nationwide, have announced new partnerships with Eastman Kodak and ReaderLink Distribution Services. Under the arrangement, the company's POD technology will be made available to retailers who have Kodak Picture Kiosks, currently installed in 105,000 locations according to Publishers Weekly, including drugstores and supermarkets. "

A little librarian "humor" in McSweeney's. I've certainly had something similar happen on more than one occasion... (I actually think that the "An Open Letter to the People in Charge of Commercials Targeting Women" is even funnier, but it doesn't have anything to do with libraries.)

Interesting look at QR codes. There's even a website dedicated to bad QR codes! My only big question is do I still have to respond to RT tickets dealing with QR codes since its an almost dead technology :)

I think we need MOBIUS e-cards or billboards, perhaps?

China, unlike much of the rest of the world, is experiencing a boom in publishing, helped a national outlook that has embraced learning and is commercializing publishing. The comments in the article noted that some e-readers are popular in China, but otherwise doesn't say much about the state of e-publishing.

A fairly concerning article about how a student taking a course with his wife didn't see the need to buy a second textbook for the class. However, with the textbook came a mandatory access code for supplementary materials and also to get access to the online discussion board and homework submission system. The student was unable to purchase the access code itself. This highlights an ongoing problem with software and digital access; publishers may legally be in their rights that every user is only granted access to a work and then to only one person, but users expect to be able to buy used books, old software, and so on. By essentially and artificially eliminating the secondary market of used/older materials publishers may increase their revenue per user but also increase user dissatisfaction and distrust.

An interesting read even if it is the familiar territory of user surveys. Some results that stood out is 85% of users were consider "light" technology users. Also, Facebook time during study crunches is more like a yawn or break than anything facilitating networking. Another concerning result was that only about 11% used scholarly research databases.

A 50-card M:tG combo for four players is demonstrated that is used to construct a simple Turing machine, performing arbitrary computations just by following the rules of Magic and card text thereafter.

The rack for the supercomputer has been built using Lego under the guidance of Professor Cox's son James Cox (aged 6).  In a press release Professor Cox said, "As soon as we were able to source sufficient Raspberry Pi computers we wanted to see if it was possible to link them together into a supercomputer." 

Interesting read about courtesy. I know we deal with this on a day-to-day basis with our members and vendors. Are we doing it to each other too?

Big brother indeed. This article talks about using RFID tags to track students for attendance so schools can get funding, which is good. But then they go on to say the cards aren't encrypted so it would be super easy to clone one, which is bad. The first thing I thought of was, why not just hand it off to somebody you had your first class with then you would present and accounted for-doesn't seem hard. I also liked that the parents were up in arms some places about their kids being tracked, but kids are used to it. If they aren't tracked by their parents, they are most likely online via social media and are being tracked there too. Also the only health risk mentioned is radiation not the fact that you have to carry this thing every where-gross, I hate to see what these cards look like at the end of the year.

It's never been easier to keep track of all the books you're never going to read.

Time for everyone to feel really old.....

Beloit college releases an annual "mindset" list showing how incoming college freshmen see the world and the type of technology and cultural paradigms they consider normal. This year I found it interesting that almost a quarter have suffered some hearing loss, I presume from overuse of iPods and MP3 players. They also haven't seen a need for a bound set of encyclopedias, were born into the world of the Internet, and aren't familiar with camera film or video tape.

What? *she says both because she doesn't feel old and because she has lost hearing due to iPod over use*

This article is notable for how the New York Public Library is dealing with changes in technology and readership with the Central Library Plan, which is generating controversy. In steps similar to what other libraries have done a good portion of the books will be stored at an off-site facility, while older buildings will be sold and services centered on the main library. Interestingly, the off-site storage will also be used to allow New York City schools to order books directly from it.

An interesting and quickly understood set of infographics about supporting libraries, only downside is while they're easily copied to websites there's doesn't seem to be an ability to print them onto posters.

First of all I love Stephen Abram and his blog. Secondly I love info. graphics! This was meant to be! I wish the people of Cole county had access to this before they voted not to give MRRL any $$.