Rob Darrow's got a post on how the Fairfax County Library is aggressively weeding their collection of infrequently circulated books, but I don't get the connection he's trying to make to The Long Tail: The direction of the Fairfax County Library System seems consistent with what Chris Anderson has written about libraries in his book, The Long Tail.  He writes about how the challenge of the 21st century library is to “make stacks of books fit into a search-engine culture.”  Anderson talks about how the Seattle Public Library was built to accommodate the “relative balance between computer and books” in a changing world.  The library stacks are arranged on rails in a spiral so they can expand or contract based on the demand (I’ve been there and it is a wonderful, inviting public library!).  Obviously, if local communities are not (or have not) checked out a book for a certain period of time, then they should be discarded.  After all, libraries ar Tuttle SVC, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]

Moby-Dick (”single best guide to Mr. Bush’s presidency”) and the Aeneid (the Greeks “suffered a grievous intelligence failure”) are classics that a New York Times columnist offers as metaphors for George W. Bush’s Iraq policy. With Nicholas D. Kristoff’s two choices excluded, 400 Times readers followed up with the Bible, Anabasis, The March of [...]

Moby-Dick (”single best guide to Mr. Bush’s presidency”) and the Aeneid (the Greeks “suffered a grievous intelligence failure”) are classics that a New York Times columnist offers as metaphors for George W. Bush’s Iraq policy. With Nicholas D. Kristoff’s two choices excluded, 400 Times readers followed up with the Bible, Anabasis, The March of [...]

The recent TeleBlog articles about the Project Gutenberg (PG) text Tarzan of the Apes (see 1, 2), suggest that not all is well in the existing corpus of public domain digital texts. My personal experience the last twelve years in digitizing several public domain books has helped me to see a number of problems which I’ve [...]

The recent TeleBlog articles about the Project Gutenberg (PG) text Tarzan of the Apes (see 1, 2), suggest that not all is well in the existing corpus of public domain digital texts. My personal experience the last twelve years in digitizing several public domain books has helped me to see a number of problems which I’ve [...]

From Karen Schneider via John Mark Ockerbloom: It may not be sexy or all that visible; you can’t download it to your iPod; it’s not right under your nose every day. In fact, you may not be aware of one of the most important activities where librarians have engaged their values and skills for the last [...]

From Karen Schneider via John Mark Ockerbloom: It may not be sexy or all that visible; you can’t download it to your iPod; it’s not right under your nose every day. In fact, you may not be aware of one of the most important activities where librarians have engaged their values and skills for the last [...]

This ought to make TeleBlog regular Jon Noring’s day as a public domain advocate. Right there in Utah, his own state, fifth-grade kids are enjoying free Project Gutenberg classics via print-on-demand technology. Needless to say, Gutenberg founder Michael Hart and his sidekick, Greg Newby, should be even more pleased. At a time when public domain [...]

This ought to make TeleBlog regular Jon Noring’s day as a public domain advocate. Right there in Utah, his own state, fifth-grade kids are enjoying free Project Gutenberg classics via print-on-demand technology. Needless to say, Gutenberg founder Michael Hart and his sidekick, Greg Newby, should be even more pleased. At a time when public domain [...]

“If the feds decide to take on Google, it would be the largest corporate domestic war since the Teddy Roosevelt era. Is Hillary or Barack up to such a challenge?” - Librarian Tom Peters, who isn’t necessarily advocating this but who has lots of questions about libraries outsourcing digitization work and other tasks to Google. Tags: [...]

“If the feds decide to take on Google, it would be the largest corporate domestic war since the Teddy Roosevelt era. Is Hillary or Barack up to such a challenge?” - Librarian Tom Peters, who isn’t necessarily advocating this but who has lots of questions about libraries outsourcing digitization work and other tasks to Google. Tags: [...]

Moderator’s note: I’ve long admired the ergonomics and aesthetics of e-book products from France—for example, Mobipocket software (now Amazon-owned) and Cybook hardware (would that Bookeen have been able to drive the price down sufficiently). Now Alaine Patez, a French digital librarian (left) shown helping a visually impaired library user, tells of one my favorite uses [...]

Moderator’s note: I’ve long admired the ergonomics and aesthetics of e-book products from France—for example, Mobipocket software (now Amazon-owned) and Cybook hardware (would that Bookeen have been able to drive the price down sufficiently). Now Alaine Patez, a French digital librarian (left) shown helping a visually impaired library user, tells of one my favorite uses [...]

Can anyone please tell me why I need the endlessly hyped Second Life when I have Pat Conroy? This past afternoon I revisited the household of the Great Santini and peered through the windows at the sailboats bobbing in the river outside. I was there in a way that no VR simulation could take me, [...]

Can anyone please tell me why I need the endlessly hyped Second Life when I have Pat Conroy? This past afternoon I revisited the household of the Great Santini and peered through the windows at the sailboats bobbing in the river outside. I was there in a way that no VR simulation could take me, [...]

Second Life, topic of a skeptical TeleBlog post over the weekend, is drawing negative reactions from some denizens of the Online-News list List sponsor is the respected Poynter Institute. So are the posts a harbinger? Could the media be about to tone down the hype perped by BusinessWeek and others? Meanwhile it would help for librarians and [...]

Second Life, topic of a skeptical TeleBlog post over the weekend, is drawing negative reactions from some denizens of the Online-News list List sponsor is the respected Poynter Institute. So are the posts a harbinger? Could the media be about to tone down the hype perped by BusinessWeek and others? Meanwhile it would help for librarians and [...]

pplflickr posted a photo:

I went to the Alexandria Public Library yesterday while my favorite Shell Service Station labored on my 1988 Honda. Among other items, I checked out a p-copy of Saving Graces by a former Alexandria resident, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. Just as ancient as the 1988 Honda Unfortunately, along the way, I was [...]

I went to the Alexandria Public Library yesterday while my favorite Shell Service Station labored on my 1988 Honda. Among other items, I checked out a p-copy of Saving Graces by a former Alexandria resident, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. Just as ancient as the 1988 Honda Unfortunately, along the way, I was [...]

The New York Times reports that elementary school librarians are planning to ban a prize-winning children’s book for naming a genital on the first page. The Higher Power of Lucky, written by Susan Patron, describes how the “heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when [...]

The New York Times reports that elementary school librarians are planning to ban a prize-winning children’s book for naming a genital on the first page. The Higher Power of Lucky, written by Susan Patron, describes how the “heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when [...]

Bill Gates’ 10-year-old daughter isn’t allowed to spend more than 45 minutes per weekday on her computer except for schoolwork, with 15 minutes added for weekend. What does that say? I wonder if Second Life biggies and SL-loving librarians will have similar limits for their children. See reports on Gates from Engadget and Reuters. Time for innovation-minded [...]

Bill Gates’ 10-year-old daughter isn’t allowed to spend more than 45 minutes per weekday on her computer except for schoolwork, with 15 minutes added for weekend. What does that say? I wonder if Second Life biggies and SL-loving librarians will have similar limits for their children. See reports on Gates from Engadget and Reuters. Time for innovation-minded [...]

I first noticed these columns when Slashdot pointed out the most recent one (albeit with an incorrect writeup claiming Flint said “DRM causes piracy.” But then, that’s about par for the course for Slashdot “journalism”), but I had been familiar with Flint’s writings about so-called “piracy” from the days of his “Prime Palavers” back when [...]

I first noticed these columns when Slashdot pointed out the most recent one (albeit with an incorrect writeup claiming Flint said “DRM causes piracy.” But then, that’s about par for the course for Slashdot “journalism”), but I had been familiar with Flint’s writings about so-called “piracy” from the days of his “Prime Palavers” back when [...]

Has anyone noticed how closely the new Amazon-backed Shelfari service overlaps with LibraryThing? You can even import lists from LT and other services. And as with similar services, e-books could be most promising—imagine being able to call up almost immediately the books that your friends love. Maybe some kind of legal file-sharing could even be [...]

Has anyone noticed how closely the new Amazon-backed Shelfari service overlaps with LibraryThing? You can even import lists from LT and other services. And as with similar services, e-books could be most promising—imagine being able to call up almost immediately the books that your friends love. Maybe some kind of legal file-sharing could even be [...]