After looking over the past bits and pieces I’ve posted about Google, I can imagine if you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking, "Oy, not another one!" And you’d be right to a certain point. Then again, this may bear repeating often. What brought me to this conclusion was an email from the head of IT…
It’s been very, very busy around here the past couple of weeks, and I’ve got six projects running concurrently, which means that something has to give and unfortunately, that’s what I write here. Luckily, the most time-intensive project which is a digitization grant I’m working on is due next week, and thing should slow down…
Here is a summary of a recent GAO report that should be getting much more media attention than it has. Even if you don’t come to the same conclusions as the authors, the GAO Report is (to put it lightly) extremely disturbing. But since this is a librarian blog (or, more importantly, since I keep…
The following article by David V. Forrest, M.D., appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry’s ‘Introspections’ column: the most elegant title is " The Librarians." In part: "Bank robbers go where the money is, and we bookworms and journal raccoons are found in libraries. At the New York State Psychiatric Institute, arguably the premier interdisciplinary psychiatry institute, the…
Baker & Taylor and OCLC Announce Cataloging Partnership I’m not really sure if this is good news or not, but it’s probably good to know for those libraries who do business with B&T. In part: "CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – October 13, 2005 — Baker & Taylor, the leading distributor of books and audio-visual materials and…
I’d heard that the New Orleans Public Library was in deep trouble, more from the city’s intent to shutter it than anything that Hurricane Katrina did. I’d wanted details, though, so I went to Google news, put "New Orleans Public Library" into the search field, clicked on the patented (if not then soon, I’m sure)…
I found this article, titled "How to prepare for One really Quick Getaway" in today’s NY Times. It’s not the most comprehensive word on managing records, as it deals only with people’s personal situation: household finances for the most part, which is, of course, a far cry from the comparatively serious record management needs of…
I’m sure there’s a ton of librarians and library support folks out there who’ve known all about Library Thing for week, months, now. I admit I just found out about it by meand of this testimonial from Andy’s website: ‘Judy: “Have you already found Library Thing? I think it’s pretty cool – a way to…
Factcheck.org, which is one of my five favorite research-oriented websites, has just composed a surprisingly complete timeline of what happened in the days preceding and following Katrina: Katrina: What Happened When They state right up front that it will take months to get past all the bluster and B.S., but it’s a pretty decent resource,…
Secrets of the Mummy’s Medicine Chest The link leads to an article about the NYAM’s 4,00 year old medical papyrus ( officially the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, the oldest surving medical document in the world) which is now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of their exhibit "The Art of Medicine…