As you may know, I’m a new Mac user. I’m still trying to find my way around and find software packages that work for me. Today someone sent me an awesome site with a list of Open Source products for my Mac. Open Source Mac lists many packages I use already and some I’ve never heard of!! This is a nice resource if you’re a Mac user looking for some open source option.
I know that we're all (or mostly all) special librarians here, but I attended an academic library event that I think translates into our environment as well. Last week, I attended the Next Generation Academic Library System Symposium and hosted by VALE (Virtual Academic Library Environment of New Jersey). I wrote up summaries of the presentations for one of my other blogs and wanted to share the links with you all:
I’ve been saving a post by Karen Coyle for a while now - wanting to give it a good read. The post was titled The ILS minus the catalog.
This is an interesting post and on that I can relate to both as a librarian and as a developer. Karen mentions that the movement to pull the Catalog out of the ILS seems like a strange move since the ILS was such an amazing feat not too long ago. At the same time she understands the need now that we’re all focusing more on our patrons. In the beginning the systems were built to make librarians’ lives easier - bringing all library functions together under on roof. In that process something had to suffer and unfortunately patron search/research success is not easily measured and as such the OPAC was not focused on as much as it should have been.
All that said, as a developer - who does understand this predicament - I disagree with the way the ILS was designed in the first place - I disagree with the librarians who told their developers that only quantifiable services were important and the other areas were secondary. Whenever I developed an application I always made sure that the librarians I was working with knew that the patrons were my first concern. If that meant that the staff interface was going to be less than ideal - so be it! If it means we have to work harder to make our patrons happy - so be it! That’s what we’re here for - isn’t it? To help the patrons?
I would think that this is more an issue in a public library than an academic or corporate library where there is a captive audience - but that doesn’t mean that academic and corporate librarians get to focus more on themselves. I think we all need to take a good long look at our libraries and the services we provide. Are we really making it as pleasant for the patron as possible?
I know that I’ve been very hard on the proprietary vendors in the past - and while I still have strong feelings on the matter - I think Karen’s post makes it clear that this is not the sole fault of the vendors, but the librarians who initially requested these systems as well. We all know it’s time for a change - and I can’t wait to see what happens.
Money Tip Central has an essential list of free software (most of which is open source).
Free software can save you hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars. The software listed below is completely free, doesn’t have malware or adware, is completely legal, and I use each of them personally. Most of them are Open Source.
The list includes things from operating systems down to email applications. Check out the list and see how you can save some money for yourself and your library.
In Fall 2006 on this very blog I bemoaned the fact that Facebook began shutting down library profiles. On Wednesday, Facebook launched Facebook Pages--basically an advertising mechanism that allows organizations, companies, and other entities the ability to create an official presence on Facebook. Nicole and I both immediately saw the opportunity this might create for libraries. Delightfully, Facebook seems to recognize the desire of some librarians to use Facebook as one of the Page categories is "Library/Public Building." How cool.
I created a Facebook group to further discuss the phenomenon and to share Facebook Page urls (you need a Facebook account to view this). Over 40 libraries have created a presence since Thursday morning. This is exciting stuff.
Last night at a meeting of the Princeton Trenton Chapter of SLA, Janie Hermann and Robert Keith (both of the Princeton Public Library) gave a presentations on "Fab Freebies for Productivity." Make sure you check out the slides available to all via SlideShare.
Mark at TechCrunch has brought my attention to a new office tool from Zoho - Zoho DB. It’s a database application that “accepts queries in any SQL format (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Informix and ANSI SQL dialects).”
Sounds pretty handy - especially if you don’t have access to something like MS Access and you just need to work on one database - or something simple. I haven’t played with this tool yet, in fact I haven’t played with Zoho in a while because I liked the way Google presented their office tools better, but maybe I should give them another shot now that they have a new tool to play with.
Technorati Tags: online office, zoho
Is anyone out there using the blog feature in SharePoint Server 2007? I have been evaluating it for our campus IT department, and I have a lot of questions. I've used SharePoint 2003 quite a bit and know my way around, but there are several things with the SharePoint blogs that seem far from obvious to me.
For example, why aren't my permissions allowing non-authenticated users to view/subscribe? I've duplicated the permissions from another blog on the same site that seems to work (grant default Viewers group View Only access).
Is it possible to assign two categories to a post? Shift or Ctrl don't seem to select multiple categories but maybe I'm missing something. I figured I could find this in the KB pretty easily but didn't have much luck.
If you have any experience with SharePoint blogs I'd love to talk with you. Please comment or contact me directly at stacey at uky dot edu. Thanks!
BlogHUD lets you blog from within Second Life, either to blogHUD.com or to your own blog if you pay for the Pro service.
Blog entries include a map of where you're posting from in Second Life, and you can subscribe to individual people's RSS feeds or RSS feeds for places.
So has anyone used this for a Second Life library newsletter?
I've been recently reading about the Second Life online community and the library that has opened within this virtual world. It's fascinating, a little scary, and at times I wonder if it's gone too far. But then, we do strive to reach our users in new and unique ways, so why not try try to reach users by building a library inside a virtual community? Be where your users are (and many of our university students are in strange places like SL as well as the ubiquitous Facebook and MySpace).
OPAL is offering a session next week on the Second Life Library:
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 2:00 Central, 1:00 Mountain, noon Pacific and Second Life Time, and 7:00 p.m. GMT:
Alliance Second Life Library 2.0: An Introduction
Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents, also known as avatars. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by nearly 200,000 people from around the globe. There are shopping malls, events, homes, lands of different types, and best of all, participants can contribute content, buildings, and other digital creations. The Alliance Second Life Library 2.0 recently opened to provide library services to the residents of Second Life. Speakers will include Greg Schwartz, Tom Peters, Lori Bell, Kelly Czarnecki, Jami Lynn Schwarzwalder, and other librarians involved in the project. NOTE: This introduction will be held entirely in the OPAL online meeting room. You need not be in the Second Life online environment to fully experience this online event.
Sponsor: Alliance Library System
Location: OPAL Auditorium
Some libraries, some public and some academic, are creating presences on social software systems like MySpace and Facebook. Why not? Go where your users are.
The Chronicle of Higher Education published a story in the May 19th edition (available electronically now with a subscription), The Library at CUNY's Brooklyn College Makes Friends on MySpace.
Meredith Farkas, of Information Wants to be Free, published an insightful post on the subject (and complete with links at the end) on May 10th.
Be careful, this is the kind of stuff that will give you ideas galore...
Update: Brian Matthews just published an article on the subject in the latest C&RL News: Do you Facebook? Networking with students online, C&RL News, Vol 67, No 5., pp. 306, May 2006.
Haven't got the chance to read it yet. But if you do, let us know what you think.This morning I attended a Microsoft briefing about the future version of Office, and I have to say I'm kind of excited. We're a big Microsoft campus, so we tend to take advantage of many of their products. A few notes from this morning:
I just might download the beta next month and check it out for myself.
While this topic isn't directly related to the blog, I think this news might be relevant to some of us. Some might even be overjoyed about it.
Interesting discussion at MobileRead today: Is RSS feed reading on a handheld worthless?
I think it really depends upon which handheld you are using, what type of data plan you have, and which aggregator you are using. Thanks to my Sprint Treo 650 and Bloglines, I can usually keep up with my feeds on trips. It's a huge time saver for me; if I don't read items completely, I'll at least clip things to read when I get back to a computer.
What do you think about RSS reading on a handheld?
Many IT departments support Microsoft products due to standardized patching and deployment methods (and I admit, my group is no exception). I've really been looking forward to the new version of IE, hoping that it could stack up to Firefox 1.5. Alas, it seems that Microsoft just doesn't *get it* yet as far as RSS support is concerned. You can bookmark RSS feeds but not get live updates? Let's hope this improves before the final release. At least they've added tabbed browsing.
If you're interested, the IE 7 Beta is now available for public download. More at PC World. Review at PC Magazine.
This web site (blog) contains helpful hints and tools for bloggers. For example, on blog posting is "Drag and Drop Blogging with Performancing Firefox." Tools being developed by Performancing are being noticed in the blogosphere, so this is a site worth adding to your blog reader just in case something comes up that meets your needs.
Good summary of RSS readers for the Palm. I've been using Bloglines on my Treo 650 for about a year now and have been pretty happy with it. Still it's important to keep other options in mind.
[Link from Treobits]
Office Watch via email newsletter today (oh Woody, why aren't you using RSS yet!):
OUTLOOK 12 DOES PODCASTING
Whilst the next version of Outlook won't be out until the second half of 2006 - we're having 'fun' trying out the latest version in its beta format. That's if you include software crashes, lost documents and hunting for features in your definition of 'fun'.One thing we did like is the fact that Outlook 12 supports not only RSS feeds but also podcasts. That's no big leap since podcasting is an offshoot of RSS technology but it was still nice to see it was made possible in the first attempts at RSS in Outlook itself.
I can't wait to give this a try. Could something finally replace my affection for Bloglines?
Yahoo has announced Monday that it will become the preferred supplier of blogging software Movable Type for small business.
My blogging has made me use several software products: Blogger, Movable Type, WordPress and now TypePad - for this current blog. I have a question about the latest.
Does anyone know how to make the name of the author appear on the post. This blog will have multiple authors and I would like for the names to appear. Thanks in advance!
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