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Here’s an article written by Jeffery Beall for Library Journal (aka the general public), titled “Stop the War on Metadata.” Think of it as a counter to the news about Hampton University. (Thanks to Margaret Mauer of Kunt State for the link.) Excellent reading.
Enjoy!
As you know if you’ve been listening to the radio or watching the tube or glancing at the newspapers this morning, it’s been one year (as of yesterday) since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita smashed life, limb, and property on the Gulf Coast. Mayne people are doing many things to remember this tragedy–I for one, can think of no better way to remember it than to take a look at what the government has learned from it (or not), and then catalog it.
So here we go (the full MARC record is behind the edit.)
What did the government learn? That they need a better system of evacuating nursing homes and planning for such emergencies in the future. Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen. You’ll notice that I avoided a 505 field on this one–the tables of contents was there but was so brief I didn’t see the point. You’ll also notice I limited myself to only two 650 fields here, mostly because there wasn’t much to add in the way of MeSH tracings.
I could say more on this but I think the point has been made. BTW, if anyone wants me to link to similar (hopefully better) resources on the subject, send them along.
My article on NYAM’s Grey Lit Report has been accepted for
publication in the Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical
Libraries! (Woot for me! Woot, I say!) This will be the first
library-based article I’ve ever gotten in print, and I’m really looking
forward to it. More as events unfold. And second . . .
Click here and listen to what these incredibly creative guys have to offer. Then click here and take a look
at who’s material they made available on the website ("About the
Authors"). I am in the company of David Brin and J. Steven York. I
ask you, how cool is that?
First, the good news: Lily the NYAM Special Projects Librarian has let it be known that the presentations from the 2006 August RLG Members Forum are now available as MP3 files. The talks include The Future of MARC by Bill Moen and Sally McCallum, and and topics such as Folksonomies, visual resource cataloging, and describing and sharing digital images in a musem setting. Good stuff.
Now some bad news for those of you who, like me, work in the world of Technical Services: I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the following e-mail. It was forwarded to me by a coworker, and apparently appeared on the AUTOCAT LIBPROC-LIST listserv of SUNY Buffalo. The list owner says that the poster requested anonymously, and that he has no further information.
I’ll say this once more: I have no idea of this email is authentic, or if it accurately describes the situation at Hampton University. I hope it doesn’t–the administrator who thinks that merely converting the collection from print to electronic resources absolves them from having to keep a TS department on hand including catalogers who are familiar with such materials is likely in for a rude awakening at some point. On the other hand, neither do I doubt that such people exist and it’s something we’re going to have to deal with at some point as catalogers. That said, the email has been posted in its entirety behind the edit.
This just in from the Academy’s Office of Programmatic and Academic Affairs:
The New York Academy of Medicine invites you to attend the 2006 Medical Student Forum, Thursday, Sept. 14, 5:30-7:70 pm. The Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, Commissioner, New York City Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene, "Take Care New York: Acheiving New York City’s Health Potential."
Registration information is behind the cut.
This just in:
OCLC acquires DiMeMa, developer of
software
for digital media management
CONTENTdm Digital Collection
Management Software
key component of OCLC digital solution
set
"DUBLIN, Ohio, August 15, 2006—OCLC Online
Computer Library Center has acquired DiMeMa (Digital Media Management), the
organization that developed and supports CONTENTdm, the leading digital
management software for libraries distributed by OCLC.
CONTENTdm software
offers a complete set of tools to store, manage and deliver digital collections
such as historical documents, photos, newspapers, audio and video on the Web.
OCLC has been the exclusive distributor of CONTENTdm software to libraries,
cultural heritage organizations and other nonprofit organizations since
2002."
The full press release is behind the cut. Enjoy!
The reputation of the reporting news agency aside, two words fit here: no kidding. (Buy the book.)
I like the idea very much. It’s the execution I have doubts about. I mean, the human brain is hands down the best computer ever to see the light of day. The one thing that mechanical brains have on us is speed. But in terms of managing disparate, highly variable (and varied) inputs, people win every time. A human driver can get out of most problems that he gets into without resorting to calling police or actually damaging the car, himself, or his passengers. But historially robots are not great at that particular kind of problem solving. For it to work propoerly, a robot needs to exist in a very specific environment: a clean, clear hallway with an evenly tiled floor, as opposed to a typical city street. I can see a robot car following a highly distinctive pattern of starts and stops, for example, a tram that goes in straight (or mildly curving) lines down a number of streets in sequence and never does anything else, stopping at predetermined points along the way for a set time to pick up and drop off passengers. But such a system requires that the track never break, the passengers never dawdle or crowd each other, and the position of the stops never change. But the world, outside of very highly selctive environments (say, the monorail at Disneyworld or a internal track at an airport passenger terminal), does not generally work that way.
So, yes, I like the idea. I have questions about the feasability and expense. And the necessity, for that matter. Why not just reinstate the public transportation systems many cities in the U.S. abandoned in the 1930s and 40s? It’s the same basic idea.
On to library stuff: the latest edition of the NYAM Grey Literature Report (vol. 4, no. 8, July 2006) is now available here.
As the headline said:
Worldcat.org is now available (yea!)
Very little to write about today, as we’re in the process of picking out shelf list cards and processing the tomes we unearthed from MLCNY last year, and there are quite a lot of them. I’m told that NYPL is taking some of them off our hands, but there are more available. On the chance that you may be interested in acquiring some of this material, I invite you to email me. I’ll make sure your request gets to the correct people.
In other news, my crash course in reference training is about donbe, so I’ll start doing shifts on the desk next week. (Yea me!)
I don’t know Mark Hyman personally, nor have I read his
book, but I do subscribe to his e-mail listserv and he seems to know what he’s
talking about when I can follow his reasoning and the science behind it. At any
rate, it’s just plain fun to read a MD ream the agriculture industry, food
processing industry, medical research establishment (as if there is a such a
single unified entity as that) and U.S. government. (There’s a link to his blog at the end of the article, which is behind the cut).
Enjoy!