MOBIUS Libraries

The study habits of these students are crazy-one legged stools to keep you awake and tables with speakers that whisper lectures- for the person who likes to study during other classes.

Pretty interesting read. *esp if you just watched a "Dark Matter" episode about Theremin and the Cold War espionage.

Speaks for itself.

The top library headlines for 2012.

This article is the first of a series of two. The author describes how they typical arguments on both sides of the ebook debate, from publishers and libraries, do not actually work, since they have their basis in older models of sales and library use of physical items. Since ebooks are leased, not actually sold, the author suggests a pay-by-circulation model, since it is easier to track and will be less risky for libraries. This model would have to be done carefully, or it may backfire. It certainly is more fair, but I wonder how much of the electronic publishing industry remains afloat from selling packages-- that is, large sets of ebooks that have appeal because, among their numbers, they do have high-demand titles. A pay-by-circulation model could mean that libraries can license individual titles from publishers, completely bypassing unknown ebooks that need libraries for exposure.

Predicted for a long time, this may be either good or bad for libraries. Good as it may drive some traffic back to libraries, bad as it may end up shutting off the archiving of online news articles and aggregation services that allow a quick overview of what the media is talking about. If news articles continue to be archived in services libraries have access to then it would be a win-win.

Library Technology Guide's list of Discovery Interfaces, which shows the ILS's integrated with them and the libraries that use them.

The article is interesting for what it gets wrong and for what it brings up. The phrase "Boise Public Library's new Enterprise Discover System, which was funded by a consortium of more than 15 Idaho libraries" makes it sound like this was a home grown discovery system, but it's actually Sirsi-Dynix's Enterprise system. It's interesting because it's one of the first general news articles I've seen showing awareness of a discovery service, which means they are gradually filtering their way into the public realm of what libraries are supposed to be about.

Superheroes (and enthusiasm) make everything better.

Wayne Bivens-Tatum at the Library Journal offers a general criticism at how current copyright law is designed solely with the benefit of publishers in mind.

Reports of bedbug demise have been greatly exaggerated, it seems.

That's a relief. I was itchy just thinking about that.

This is a cool idea-- basically, it's a way to link the data in Wikipedia across languages to cut down on redundancy and help the information flow across language barriers.

A video about the EDUCE project to scan and read the scrolls from the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. Herculaneum was the second and lesser known city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The scrolls were in what is probably the only library from antiquity to survive "intact," but the volcanic ash carbonized the scrolls so they are essentially charcoal. Some have been "read" by unwrapping the scroll in segments and scanning in ultraviolet light detect the ink, this is the first time the scanning has been done non-invasively to read the scroll without destroying it.

Major privacy issues that everyone should pay attention to in 2013: transparency, data sharing, and dodgy QR codes.

By Joseph Grenny, Co-Founder, VitalSmarts There's a lot more to influencing new behavior than just delivering high-quality training. Once training finishes, participants return to work and immediately are pulled in a dozen different directions. In fact, research suggests that all these distractions are the reason why less than 10 percent of what is taught in the classroom translates into real behavior change back at work.

Although this is geared toward a K-12 trainer audience, I believe that all technology trainers should consider acquiring and honing these attributes.

Not exactly the first time one of these has been tried, but very close to it. The success or failure ultimately isn't how much access it provides but how much it will serve the needs of the user public.

A video that explains some concepts about open access; some concepts are a little too idealized, some research involving material that is patented or financed by commercial interests may not be free. However, some other points, such as the extreme cost of journals, or that patrons may not know if materials are suitable until they've already paid for them is spot on.

A short article about Aaron Swartz, one of the founders of Reddit who committed suicide recently. At issue is not that he was accessing an archive of unauthorized articles from Jstor, but if the prosecution and potential sentence fit the the crime and if overall more information should be free

Librarians made the list of "Least Stressful Jobs of 2013" according to CNBC. This blog post covers the top reasons why CNBC is completely wrong.