Category: technology
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The Digital Divide: Rural, Urban, and International Issues
Can’t believe I haven’t posted this here yet! Bad blogger. If you’re in Boston on Monday, Simmons College GSLIS is hosting a panel discussion on the Digital Divide. Come and hear Jessamyn West of librarian.net, Susan O’Connor of the Timothy Smith Center, and Pat Oyler, Simmons GSLIS faculty member, talk about access issues in the…
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Conversants and more stuff about library school students
The first issue of Conversants, a journal focused on participatory networks, came out on Friday, and it features an editorial by Andrea Mercado, “Making Library Schools Smarter.” Mercado touches on a lot of the things I’ve been thinking about lately: The fact that librarianship requires higher level computer skills, and the unfortunate fact that library…
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Where are all the techies?
I’ve been contemplating this question since I started library school last semester, when I was enrolled in my program’s basic technology course, the only technology course students are required to take. Where are all the next system designers and OPAC developers and library tech programmers? They certainly weren’t in my class. Lately it seems a…
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Beginning Ruby: Some Serious Praise
I’ve been working now as the Assistant Systems Librarian for about a month, and I can safely say I’ve never had a job as challenging, occasionally frustrating, and sometimes satisfying as this one. I should preface that by saying I’ve never had a job that involved work I didn’t already know how to do, and…
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Do libraries really need Kindles?
An article in newsday.com asks the (frankly boring) question, “Has the digital e-book moment arrived?” but looks for its answer in an unusual place: libraries. Thomas Maier specifically asks Long Island librarians whether they will be purchasing Amazon Kindles for their libraries, and not surprisingly, the answer is largely no. Or at least, not yet.…
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It’s all about playing around
Alright, so I am a bit behind the times, but I just read Terence Fitzgerald’s article on Library Journal, “All Work and No Play. I thought it was so interesting and worth reading that I wanted to share. I am all about the idea of bringing playfulness into the workplace, to foster creative thinking and…
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Library Thing is my new friend
I’ve discovered a new toy which I’m sure I’ll spend way too much time on. I’ve always wanted to create a database of all my books, and now someone has taken all the work out of the thing for me. I love that it populates the LC data for you, and that you can also…