Thursday, December 29, 2005

BMJ editorial: "How Google is changing medicine" http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/331/7531/1487 . The librarian author, Dean Giustini, is a biomedical branch librarian of the University of British Columbia. The author's last words in the editorial: "Build Google Medicine. The benefits to human health would be immeasurable."

Saturday, December 24, 2005

"Secret Life of Librarian Bloggers" article in the Plains to Peaks Post newsletter of the NNLM/MCR: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/news/newsletter/index.php?article=191 . Writing the article was one of my most enjoyable partnerships of the year.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Creating an emergency preparedness plan? Visit http://www.ready.gov , and locate checklists, templates, and other resources that may be useful to you in your planning.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

A laptop worth considering if you are on the road: DualCor Technologies combined cell phone and laptop. Here is the link to the CNET story: http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5997426.html .

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Join the Bibliocasting list!
Introducing the Bibliocasting listserv.The bibliocasting listserv (bibliocasting@listserv.syr.edu) isdedicated to a discussion of streaming media in the libraryenvironment. This list grows out of the increasing popularity of"Podcasting," or the use of RSS and the Internet to download audioprograms (like audio blogs) to computers and MP3 players. A recentReuters story states:"Twenty-nine percent of U.S. adults who own MP3 players like AppleComputer Inc.'s iPod say they have downloaded podcast programs from theInternet, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found...That means more than 6 million people are listening to a form of communicationthat emerged only last year, according to the nonprofit group."[ http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/154/report_display.asp ]So what to post on the list? Examples of how libraries can build on the growing excitement of Podcasting; Questions on how libraries can use themselves and provide better service; Questions on how to podcast and other technical questions on streaming media including QuickTimeStreaming, RealProducer, and others. In addition, the list willinclude postings of key articles, reports, and news about podcasting andother streaming media in general and in the the library context. Bottom Line: We are looking to build a community of individuals interested in the application of multimedia in the library environment. SUBSCRIBING TO THE LIST To subscribe to the list send an e-mail to listserv@listserv.syr.edu withthe entire message (no subject line): subscribe bibliocasting FirstName LastName

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Marketing information, funding guides, and best practice examples now available at the new Ebsco Customer Success Center: http://www.epnet.com/thisTopic.php?marketID=20&topicID=204 .

Monday, December 12, 2005

"Physicians find librarians vital" article citation posted at the Krafty Librarian blog: http://kraftylibrarian.blogspot.com/2005/12/physicians-find-librarians-vital.html . Great article, and great blog!
Camel Mobile Library Service in Kenya: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2005/12/12/2003284113 . I wonder if camels can be hooked up to deliver wireless Internet, too?
Libraries "unbundled"? After reading this Dec. 11th NY Times article "Unbundles of Joy" by Daniel Akst (free registration may be required: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/business/yourmoney/11cont.html ), I started wondering what an 'unbundled' library might look like. Are we all ready heading in that direction?

Friday, December 09, 2005

OCLC has released report on "Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources" - recommended reading for any of us wondering what folks are thinking. http://www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm .
The Future of HTML http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-futhtml1/?ca=dgr-lnxw01FutureHTML , an article at the IBM site.
(originally viewed in a slashdot posting http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/09/0045244 ).

Monday, December 05, 2005

NLM is recruiting for a new Associate Director for Library Operations - see job NLM-05-03SES on this page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/jobs/jobs.html . This is your chance to use your librarian powers for the good of all!

Friday, December 02, 2005

Now there is a way to reformat your video collection for use on mobile devices, as pointed out in this BoingBoing posting: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/01/gadget_turns_all_you.html . Made by Neuros, this device will record onto digital memory cards from any video source.