Zoho

I’ve really got very little to say about Zoho. I mean it seems cool to have a word processor available whenever you’re online. But the thing that worries me about shared documents is how do we know who wrote what and I’ve got a feeling that’s a completely trivial concern.

I tried using the form maker thingie that Zoho has, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. It’s easier for me to write the html, which is, I guess, so Web 1.0.

Seth

Will no digital rights kill libraries?

This morning I downloaded the new radiohead album. It’s available directly from the band. You can get it for free or pay as much as you like. And it comes with no digital rights attached. That is, you can copy and distribute the album any way you want. For the sake of argument, suppose that in the near future this is the way that everything libraries now lend will be distributed. What will we do?

Seth

We’re 2.0!

I’ve just put up a youtube video for one of this month’s Burnett Gallery artists. I believe the Jones’ web site is now officially 2.0.:

http://www.joneslibrary.org/burnett/thismonth.html

Library 2.0 = Pervavsive Library?

Actually, the term, Pervasive Library, used in Do Libraries Matter?, persuades me more than Library 2.0. In spite of some scary conotations (do we really want anything we do or make to be everywhere?), it’s more descriptive of Library 2.0 than Library 2.0.

And now I’m going bowling.

Second thoughts on Step 2, thing 5

According to Talis the pervasive library would include features like this:

Why can’t information on books and other resources available to borrow appear in online bookstores as an alternative to buying? Equally, why can’t information on books and other resources available to buy appear in library systems as an alternative to waiting for an item that is already on loan or only available via ILL? What role might there be for the library in mediating these choices with or on behalf of the user?

I’m not willing to call this nonsense yet, but. First, why would Amazon want to give it away? Last I heard, it barely turns a profit. Second, and, maybe, more importantly, I’m guessing that the technology to find via an Amazon listing an item from a library able and willing to deliver it requires a far from trivial software application and a vast database. Adding that to the large, on the ground, infrastructure it takes to make just the C/W Mars + Virtual Catalog delivery system work would be hard enough without extending that infrastructure throughout the universe. Heck, making it work throughout New England would be phenomenal. So, what am I missing?

Also, I’m not sure adding Amazon links to items in the catalog offers any significant improvement in ease of use. I mean, how difficult is it to get to Amazon all by yourself? Again, what am I missing?

Does anyone besides me find something kind of sad in Library 2.0? It’s like someone trying to be fashionable but only succeeding in being so-last-season. Finally, what am I missing.

These are just thoughts in progress. I have a vague hunch that Library 2.0 may not be something that changes Patron/Library relations as much as Libray/Supplier channels, the not too sub-text of the Talis article. Considering the source, I’m not surprised.

First thoughts on Step 2, thing 5

If I’ve understood the Step 2 reading correctly, in order to implement Library 2.0 at Jones we should set up a web site where patrons and library staff can upload their vacation pictures which will then be tagged with each vacation spot’s longitude and latitude (alternative longitude and latitude tags must be addable by members of the community) which will be used to

1. find the place on google maps
2. and be cross referenced to all books that contain information about any spot within a selectable 1…100 mile radius of any of the submitted longitude and latitude coordinates
3. discuss the products of Argentina on-line.

We should also let patrons assign their own dewey decimal tags to items in the collection.

this blog doesn’t work right

The last post I made was put at the bottom of previous posts. Shouldn’t it have been placed at the top. And shouldn’t this post be on the very tippy top?

Blog heaven

Does anyone think I should install wall to wall carpeting on this blog?

seth