How to Open a New Book

This has been floating around the internet for a while, and I'd like to share with you some thoughts about the image and why it has such interest now. First, though, here's the graphic:

The Privatization of Public Libraries

I was going through my Google Reader feed recently when I came across this post about lazy librarians. The trend of privatizing formerly public libraries is disgusting and abhorrent to me. It seems completely counterintuitive to the concept of a free public library. I don't think I need to go into the details, but I did click through the post I linked to to this article in The New York Times:

Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries, by David Streitfeld

The most disturbing quote (I think) appears in the mid-point of the article:

E-Books and Data Integrity

I started reading a new book this weekend that Jen was kind enough to let my buy at Half Price Books: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, by Edward R. Tufte. I am working through the chapter on data integrity and thought it was apropos to share this article with you about E-Books.

Last Tuesday's post to the MIT Technology Review blog Mims's Bits had a wonderfully literary title: The Death of the Book has Been Greatly Exaggerated. I liked the reference to Mark Twain's remark upon reading his own obituary.

Technorati Code

Hi all,

Jen and I are getting out blog registered with Technorati. So, ignore this!!

CE537582J89K

Google Books and the Importance of Good Metadata

(It's Friday, and so it's time for me to wave the librarian/metadata flag once more. I wonder what a flag like that would look like? MARC fields? If you have a thought about that, let me know.)

If you keep track of any metadata-related librarian blogs, I feel sure that you've seen Laura Miller's article on Salon - The Trouble with Google Books. The Google Books project has been fraught with problems since its inception, chiefly licensing rights associated with the scanned works still under copyright. We've all heard about this, and I think that the issues surrounding rights resolutions will continue to be dealt with for years to come. What appealed to me about this article was that it takes one of the fundamental problems associated with Google Books - metadata and searching - and explains it in plain English. Librarians, and especially those of us that catalog, tend to use a great deal of acronyms and jargon in speaking to one another (MARC21, XML, DCMI, LCCS, DDC, LCSH, Authorities, Main Entry, Chief Source of Information, etc, etc.) so it's nice to see the problems highlighted and well illustrated in the article.

Makr Carry Goods: Flap Wallet in Shell Cordovan

The final item I want to talk about this week that arrived recently is my new wallet. In reflecting on the things we have acquired recently, I think I am seeing the value of quality work over brand names, and my selections speak to this. Makr Carry Goods are made in the US by hand, and exude wonderful quality. I love the simple design of the flap wallet, and it fits well in a front pocket - where I carry my wallet. I like that it will hold a few cards, and the great business cards Jen made for me as a wedding gift - I seem to be needing to carry a few more of those recently.

BOOK for iPad

It's hard to find a really cool and "good" iPad case. When we bought our iPad originally, I bought one of the little neoprene sleeves that the Apple Store was selling. It worked well enough, but getting the iPad into and out of the case was hard - as you had to stretch the case around the iPad. I started looking for a new case about a week after I brought our iPad home, but with it being a new product, I had limited success in my search. All of the cases out then looked like overgrown iPhone cases, and that just didn't seem to work well for me. The iPad is a device for information consumption, not for voice communication and such. There were a few slightly better cases available, but nothing that I really liked. So, I kept searching every few weeks without finding anything until I found the case I have now.