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Monday, March 31, 2014

THE INTERNET OF EVERYTHING: 2014 [SLIDE DECK] SAI - Business Insider

 Mar. 17, 2014, 10:25 AM


The age of Internet ubiquity has arrived.




The world is moving beyond standalone devices into a new era where everything is connected.


We've created a slideshow highlighting the key trends and forecasts
for the entire Internet-connected ecosystem, including connected TVs,
connected cars, wearable computing devices, and all of the consumer and
business tools that will soon be connected to the "Internet Of Things."



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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

New Top 10 Reasons Why Libraries are still Important – Stephen's Lighthouse New

http://en.docsity.com/news/interesting-facts/top-10-reasons-libraries-important/


“Most
of people predict that the digital age will wipe public bookshelves
clean and permanently end the centuries-old era of libraries. Despite
their perceived obsolescence in the digital age both libraries and
librarians are irreplaceable for many reasons. Well! Some of the reasons
are listed below:



1. Not Everything is Available on the Internet

Amazing amount of useful information on the web has engendered the false assumption that everything can be found online. But it’s simply not true.


2. Digital Libraries are not the Internet

Online library
collections are different and typically include materials that have been
published via rigorous editorial processes and are riddled with
quantitative analysis instead of opinion. Types of materials include 
books,
documents, newspapers, journals, magazines and reports which are
digitized then stored and indexed through a limited-access database.



3. The Internet isn’t Free

Numerous academic
research papers and journals are virtually inaccessible to someone
seeking to pull them off the web for free. Access is restricted to
expensive subscription accounts which are typically paid for by college 
libraries and
visiting a college library in person or logging in to the library
through your school account is therefore the only way to affordably
access necessary archived resources.



4. The Internet Compliments Libraries, but Doesn’t Replace Them

Internet is
clearly a great resource to finding information but it’s not a
replacement for a library. Well! There are clear advantages of libraries
over the internet for 
research however
the benefits of the internet includes “sampling public opinion”,
gathering “quick facts” and pooling a wide range of ideas. The point is
this: libraries are completely different than the web. Read more...

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Thursday, March 20, 2014

So You Want My Job: Librarian | The Art of Manliness

Librarian teaching a computer class.
Mr. Nate Pedersen teaching a computer class. (Credit: Cheryl Parton)


In the golden age of the library, these book depositories served as
true community hubs for cities and towns all over the country. As ebooks
have taken off, there has been uncertainty about the future of the
library — what role does it play in society if books are so cheap and
can be accessed so easily through one’s home computer? Is there still a
place for the librarian — the person who recommends books, fulfills
research requests, organizes the annals of the entirety of human
knowledge? Not to mention the question that is perhaps most salient to
the readers of this particular website: is there a place for that far
rarer breed — the male librarian? To answer these questions we talked with Nate Pedersen, Community Librarian with Deschutes Public Library in Bend, OregonRead more...
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Libraries Are Failing America


Why are we subsidizing the entertainment needs of the middle class?
David Harsanyi
By

new Pew Study claims that
libraries “loom large in the public imagination,” with 90 percent of
Americans ages 16 and older saying that closing down their local
libraries would have an impact on their community. The public may imagine that
libraries are dynamic centers of learning and community, but the Pew
data seems suggest that they’re mostly places where your prosperous
neighbors borrow books and movies without having to directly pay for
them. And as Pew points out, adults with “higher levels of education and
household income are more likely to use public libraries” – and the
more you use the library the more well-off you probably are.

“Library Lovers,” those designated as having the highest levels of
engagement, only represent 10 percent of Americans. Among them, 66
percent are white, most of them college educated and living in
households earning more than $50,000. Also, deep in the Pew poll we
learn 58 percent of these highly engaged freeloaders say they borrowed
more books than they bought last year, compared to 38 percent of the
general population. Read more...
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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

A Decade in the Panopticon | Peer to Peer Review

Barbara Fister newswire A Decade in the Panopticon | Peer to Peer Review 

Facebook just turned ten years old. A lot has changed in that decade.


We’ve grown accustomed to sharing details of our lives through a
single platform that tracks our likes, dislikes, friendships, and
interests and follows us when we leave the site to browse the web. We’ve
gotten used to using our Facebook login to sign up for other services.
We’ve grown resigned (to the point of indifference) to the panopticon
that corporations like Facebook have created by using our activity on
the Internet as our window on the world and their big-data window into
ours.

Apparently Facebook celebrated
by making videos of its members via photos and comments they’d posted. I
don’t know what these videos look like because I uprooted myself a few
years ago. I got a lot out of Facebook when I belonged. I could see what
family members were up to. I got to know more about what faculty at my
institution were doing and thinking and what they cared about. I got
links to articles that were terrifically interesting; Facebook became a
news source and a discovery tool. In fact, the company is building on
that function by launching Paper,
a customizable app that will aggregate the most-liked stories on
Facebook, edited by human curators and free of distractions. Who needs
newspapers when we have Facebook? Oh, wait—Facebook does, or where will
it get all that high-quality linked content? Read more...
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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Banned Books in Prison — Annoyed Librarian


There’s a news article about prison libraries that makes me wonder what stance the ALA would take on the matter.

In almost all ways it’s an exemplary tale of how New York
city libraries are trying to provide library service to the local prison
populations. This is a great thing to do unless the goal of prison is
merely to provide prisoners with unrelieved misery.

And given the amount of time prisoners have on their hands,
reading is a popular activity. The main problem is a lack of books and
service.

For example, at the prison the Brooklyn Public Library is
working with, the “library” consists of a cart that can hold 2-300
books, which is wheeled around like the meal and medicine carts.

That at least implies that reading material is as essential
to life as food and medicine, which I suspect many librarians would
agree with. However, a wheeled cart is hardly like a decently stocked
library that prisoners can browse. It’s even worse than a bookmobile. Read more...
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Sunday, March 9, 2014

Kicked out of the library

Last week I went to the Exeter Public Library with a colleague to work on a project for our high school. We needed Internet access, a table to spread our documents out on, an outlet to plug-in our devices, a spot away from the distractions of our school, and a buzzing atmosphere where we would feel inspired to create new ideas for our project. What better place than the local library?
EPL 1
silent library
We arrived to a very still and silent library. Two women behind the main desk looked at us as we walked in and went back to work. Patrons were sitting in chairs reading newspapers. There were some available study carrels in the corners. No group tables near outlets.
We tried the second floor. We were faced with several empty chairs and study carrels and signs that say “no talking.” There was an empty “meeting room” with no table and no chairs. Another meeting room was locked.
epl meeting room
Rules on the locked meeting room door
EPL
empty library
Because it was 10 a.m. we went into the Teen room (which is located directly behind the Reference desk.) The room is empty because it is a Friday and all of the teens in town are in school. We sat at a booth with an outlet and spread out our documents. As soon as we started working we were interrupted by a staff member who said that we are not allowed to work in there because we would intimidate the teens. I jokingly suggested that the fact that we are high school teachers/librarians could gain us access to this empty room. The librarian did not think it was funny and asked us to leave. I asked her for a suggestion of a location where we could work together at a table near an outlet. She said there are outlets all over the walls but could think of no table near an outlet. She recommended we try the second floor and I said that we will need to talk about our project. She reminded us we are not allowed to talk on the second floor.

Read more...


Friday, March 7, 2014

Join EBLIDA's The right to E-read Campaign



Subject:  Libraries across Europe are invited to join EBLIDA's Right to E-read Campaign (http://www.eblida.org/e-read).


"EBLIDA's mission is lobbying for libraries to strengthen the position of libraries in society in Europe ."

The right to E-read Campaign is seeking to raise awareness about the obstacles faced by libraries in the digital environment.
Access to digital content has become a sensitive issue in which libraries, their staff and users have a core role to play.
In the recent Public consultation on EU Copyright rules,  EBLIDA calls for copyright legislation to keep up with changes brought about by the digital age and to open up new opportunities rather than limit innovation and access to information. Under copyright issues lie fundamental questions about democracy, access to information and completion of a true knowledge society.
The ”right to e-read” campaign aims at raising awareness among librarians, politicians and users and advocating for rights in claiming that:
·        We want to provide our library users with the latest e-books as we do with printed books!
·        We want to buy e-books at fair prices and on reasonable terms!
·        We want authors to receive fair payment for the lending of e-books as they do for printed books by extending Public Lending Right to include the loan of e-books by public libraries!
·We want all citizens – not just those who can afford it – to benefit from free access to e-books in public libraries!
The campaign sees European library associations and institutions united in demanding the provision of e-books by libraries all over Europe and calls on the EU Commission for a clear copyright law that enables libraries to fulfill their enduring mission into the 21st century of providing all EU citizens with access to the riches of human knowledge and imagination whether in the library, offsite or online.
A campaign poster with a logo and slogans were therefore developed by the E-books Task Force headed  by Gerald Leitner. The slogan has already been translated into 18 languages (and counting).
Poster and postcard models in your language are available for download, printing and dissemination at http://www.eblida.org/e-read/get-involved/
The campaign is gaining momentum and planning to launch a “right to e-read” day on 23rd of  April, the World Book and Copyright Day, which will be an ideal opportunity to hold press conferences in the capital cities in all participating countries. EBLIDA will organise a press conference in Brussels on "The right to e-read". Do you plan to organise one in your country? Please let us know at e-read@eblida.org so that  we can coordinate and consult with you.
The campaign will also be discussed on14th May during  EBLIDA-NAPLE Conference in Athens, Greece.


We look forward to your participation!

EBLIDA - European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations
National Library of the Netherlands
Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5
2595 BE The Hague
The Netherlands




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The 'M' Word - Marketing Libraries Marketing tips and trends for libraries and non-profits Thursday, March 06, 2014 Great Posters, for Free





Do you sometimes see images online and wish you could print them out for your own library? It's often hard to tell who created the images or what the copyright status is. 

Well, here are 2 great posters that promote librarians (note: not "libraries," but the humans who make them work!). I've gotten permission from the source to share them with you.

The publisher Springer has some wonderful images, and its marketing department will send you the high-resolution PDFs, for free, so you can print as many posters as you like. If you want either of these, simply send an email to libraryrelations@springer.com to request them. Put "2600 BC" or "Keep Calm" in the subject line of your email to request your PDFs. (And the low-res versions I used above make for great social media posts.)

Thanks to the marketing-savvy staff at Springer for helping librarians show their value! I hope that many of you will take advantage of this generous offer.
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Letter: Disappearing librarians one more blow to human interaction

Letter: Disappearing librarians one more blow to human interaction

Reader says replacing librarians with self-serve machines isolates people.

Photograph by: Calgary Herald

Saturday was a sad day for me. My local library has gone self-serve. In the
exact location where the librarians used to stand, I now stare at a self-serve machine. This was so upsetting to me, that I actually forgot the last four digits of my phone number.

In the past, when they suggested I use the optional self-serve machine, I always refused,
thinking, "I have a 21st century, sit-in-front-of-thecomputer-type-job.
What I really want is to be able to talk to you. I want the possibility of hearing you say, 'Oh, that book looks interesting' or 'I've heard about this book'." Read more...
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