I found this tidbit byBruce Silver in the Intelligent Enterprise. The article is titled "Content in the Age of XML" and since I work with XML issues on a more or less daily basis I figured it’d be something to look at. I was kind of hoping that Silver had something usefult o say on the subject of utilizing XML-centric database models to help manage content, but that’s not where the article goes. Having said that, he raises a few good questions–and then fails to answer them very effectively. Oh, well. Anyway, the piece is short, so happy reading.
Blog
For History Buffs and Researchers
Military Personnel Records
Source: National Archives and Records Administration
"At 11 AM on Saturday, June 11, 2005, the National Archives National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis will formally open the records of Charles Lindbergh, President John F. Kennedy, General George S. Patton, Steve McQueen, Clark Gable, and Jackie Robinson, among others…. For the first time, nearly 1.2 million official military personnel files of former US Navy and Marine Corps enlisted personnel who served between 1885 and 1939 will be open to the public. This first opening also includes 150 ‘persons of exceptional prominence’, including former Presidents, famous military leaders, celebrities, entertainers and professional athletes who served in the military and have been deceased for at least 10 years."
Free Business Management Library
Here’s something you might want to take some time to look through if you’re so inclined: The Free Management Library, hosted by MAP for Nonprofits and developed by Carter McNamara from Authenticity Consulting, LLC. THey’ve got links to 75 different categories and subcategories, along with embeded links and extra links to outside online references. Not a bad deal at all.
If you’re more into printed matter on these subjects, take a stroll through the Small Business Administration’s website–they print hundreds of booklets every year and they’re free (or almost free in some cases.) They even have an online library.
Remember folks, your tax dollars pay for this stuff, so if you’re inclined towards starting a small business, these are the places to do some homework. Enjoy!
How to Write & Publish a Best-Seller
This one comes from the "Yes, It’s a Shameless Plug and I Don’t Care Who Knows It Dept.":
My wife, who is a public health librarian at the NYC Dept. of Health, is having her first book published next week. It’s a big deal to her and to me, because I know how hard she worked on it and how much time energy and just plain having no life is involved. It’s a major project, no matter how one looks at it, and I won’t even mention the summer that we’re devoting to sales, marketing and various other forms of promotion we’re doing to help it out of the gate. For the record, advanced ordering is in effect.
So when I spotted this bit in today’s ETR, I decided to put it here (behind the link.) Yes, it sounds like a sales talk–all of Masterson’s writing does–but that doesn’t detract from the quality of the information. I kept the money-making link in the text, mostly because I figured it was the least that I could do, seeing as how he’d be contributing to today’s post.
Anyway, buy the book.
Take The Red Pill
I was turned on to a site named Why-US.org this morning. It’s not a proper library-oriented site (except maybe in the most abstract way) but regardless of the author’s lefty politics (and badly overusing his movie references), it’s not a bad little site which should probably be listed as a resource for those who do reserach, or are learning how to do research.
The reason I say this is because he keeps repeating a mantra for research, wherein one asks oneself three questions:
- Is this true?
- How can I find out?
- Why have I never heard this before?
This is not a bad way to get started, IMO. Obviously, there’s more to it: scanning the literature, noting the primary and secondary sources, seeking out competing (non-confiming) data, evaluating data sources, etc. But (also IMO) getting started is the worst part.
Anyway, take a look.
Librarian Stands Up to FBI
I’m not going to comment on this. I don’t think I need to comment, except to quote:
"I really didn’t realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group. They are subversive. You think they are just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They’re, like, plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn’t mess with them."
Thank you, Michael Moore.
To Infinity and Beyond!
Call me a grand total nerd if you must (Lord knows others have–and they’ve been right) but I think that the fact that Voyager 1 is now approaching the heliosheath–the beginning of interstellar space for you non-nerds–is hands down the most amazing science story since Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel figured out that there really was a consistent method life used to transfer physical characteristics from one generation to the next.
I was 11 years old when this machine–very possibly the best machine any team of humans have ever designed and built, considering that it’s now 8.7 billion miles away and not only does it still work, but it still has power and transmits data back to us–and nobody in my family had any clue that 26 years later we’d be reading about it preparing to leave the solar system. Back then, astronomy was, well, simpler. There were 9 planets. Jupiter had 12 moons, Saturn had 9. Men had walked on the moon and plans were in the works for moon bases and probes to the asteroid belt. Plans for the Enterprise-class STS fleet had been finalized by NASA and space stations would be built in the next decade.
Well, as predictions go, those weren’t all bad ones: NEAR has been sent out to see what’s what, and Near Earth Asteroids are now real targets of study; the gas giants have dozens of moons, and we’re constantly wondering whether Pluto should be reclassified as an asteroid (planetoid?) The STS fleet has had major setbacks–trouble is that there are no real plans to replace them (not that I know of–please someone write to tell me I’m wrong!)
On the other hand, space is still big–really big, and light may not be the fastest speed; heck, light may be slowing down and the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate due to dark energy. We know so much about the universe there there are literally no computers big enough to crunch the data in less than a lifetime. Particle physics has shown us just how primitive our mathematics are, and until they improve, we won’t know if there are more than 10 dimensions or 10,000. The universe is incredible and probably unknowable. And for the first time we have a real sense of just how crazy the whole thing is . . . that’s the sort of stuff that should frighten any sane person. Einstein is on record as having said that the most important question to be answered was whether or not the universe is a friendly place. Personally, I think it’s not–but I’m a teensy bit paranoid. On the other hand, I realize that the universe, having lit a fire under our chemistry about 4.5 billion years ago, has been trying to kill us pretty much since that day and hasn’t succeeded yet. Yet. In the meantime, I think we’re pushing our luck.
Anyway, if it does succeed, then I expect that Voyager 1 will still be hanging around somewhere in (or past) the heliosheath, in some form, circling the solar system in an ever-widening orbit, carrying the combined greetings of the human race in 55 languages and instructions on how to listen to them.
Even if there’s nobody out there to hear them, that’s just plain cool.
The CDC Yellow Book
We just got in a free copy of the 2005-2006 Health Information for International Travel book (a.k.a. the CDC Yellow Book) by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. I admit I haven’t looked it over very carefully (it’s been very hectic today), but from what I’ve glanced at, it appears to be very complete and very well thought-out and planned. And it’s got complete information of vaccinations, preventive medicine, diet, water supplies, etc. Not a bad thing to have in a medical or health library by any means.
Google Scholar in BusinessWeek
This week’s BusinessWeek magazine has an article that just firms up my belief that GoogleScholar can, in fact, deliver what it promises (eventually) but it’ll likely be a huge hole down which the company will have to pour more cash and energy than they anticipated.
In essence: the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) sent Google a letter on May 20 that blasted them for massive copyright infringement, or their intention to commit such, anyway. (The letter in question is posted here.)
My question to Google is "WTF guys? You’re not stupid or incompetent . . . did anybody do their homework at HQ? If not, why not? And if so, then what led y’all to think this would be a non-issue?"
Just wondering. I expect Google will figure out something eventually and get some kind of permissions to proceed with this plan, but (as I said and will keep saying) I think they’ve got a steep learning curve ahead of them. For all that, I wish them luck and hope they can pull this off.
Getting Over Book Guilt
There are so many great classics – so many books you’ve heard of that you wish you’d read. Fact is, a lot of them aren’t good… or at least they’re not good for you at this particular point in your life. Here are some tips from Steve Leveen, author of "The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life", to help you get over the guilt of never having read "War and Peace":
—If you’re 50 pages into the book and still not hooked, put it down. Maybe you give it the heave-ho, maybe you save it for another time. But it’s not your fault if the author didn’t write a book that grabs you.
—Learn to discern between literary pretentiousness and books that are actually worth reading. Maybe the book just made the list of classics because it was groundbreaking for its time. That doesn’t mean you’re illiterate for not having read it.
—Establish a shelf of "maybe later" books. If a book doesn’t appeal to you now, perhaps it will down the road – when you’re traveling or are in a different state of mind.
(Source: Rachel Sauer, writing in The Palm Beach Post)
A Word to the Wise Librarian
Things are someplace between late and never today. While not one to place blame on the tools of the trade, my PC at work was laid low by the RBot-I virus (I think), which worked its way through our branch of the internet this morning. Sophos caught it, but not before this thing had crawled deep into my hard drive, infected 10 different files, and froze my CPU almost solid.
Part of the problem (our very capable IT folks told me) was that the macro that usually updated my Windows 2K service packs had been shut off for some unknown (and, damn it, unknowable) reason, so the security upgrade I should have gotten last week never arrived. Which meant—in that cascading way that PC networks tend to follow—that the one hole in my security was exactly the one that the cretin who sent this bomblet my way was hoping to exploit. I’m not suggesting this jerk had me specifically in mind . . . mine was the only PC in the Technical Resources department to get swiped, but one in Access and two in the Rare Book Room got hit as well.
Anyway, Sophos lit a red flag at around 9.30 this morning, and work on the machine started shortly after. By that time my machine was badly infected and any work that had to be done on it (substantial to say the least) took several times as long as it might have on an uninfected PC. By ten o’clock it was clear that the security updates hadn’t arrived as expected . . . the IT guys I spoke to finally decided to delete the previous service packs and reinstall the newest one. The entire process of deleting the old files, downloading the upgrade, and installing the new files lasted until well after one in the bloody afternoon. (Say goodbye to the morning, Gracie.)
At half past one or so, I restarted the machine and it worked well enough. Then the IT guys logged into my PC by remote control and set Sophos scanning the hell out of my local hard drive, which took until just before four o’clock, whereupon 10 infected files were identified and killed. By that time, I’d passed up any opportunity for real work here . . . although I did have the chance to update about ten volumes of the New York City Rules & regulations: unlike 90% of what I do on a daily basis, like cataloging, serials management, or database management, replacing pages of the NYCRR takes only patience, attention to detail, and a bunch of trips into the stacks.
A word to the Wise Librarian . . . make sure your system service packs and virus definitions update regularly and on schedule.
And yes, this is why I haven’t updatted anything of worth today. But the weekend approacheth and with it, some free time. Tomorrow, Civil Liberties for sure . . .
Google SFX
I know, I know . . . I promised Civil Liberties . . . I’m typing the notes out as I write this in another window on my desktop, and if I don’t get to posting the whole thing tonight, I might poat par tonight and part tomorrow, where I’ve finally cleared my desk enough to dovote most of my lunch hour to writing here.
I did, however, come across this tidbit on SFX, which is Ex Libris’s answer to linking to Google Scholar’s full text files via an Open URL link resolver. It’s not a bad setup if you haven’t already decided on a link resolver for your library and you’re really looking forward to subscribing to Google’s new service. At the Academy, we’ve only just finished implementing Serials Solutions for our F/T subscriptions, and in a few days, we’ll begin the real work of implementing LFPSS as our Open URL link resolver. And they’re pretty nifty services–I’m especially fond of the Overlap Analysis and Usage stats that Serials Solutions makes available.