ALA TechSource Blog

By Tom Peters | One of the pressing questions in the current publishing era concerns the effect of offering free online digital versions of books on the sales of the print versions.  Does a free digital version increase print sales, decrease print sales, or have no effect at all?  Only Rupert Murdoch's hairdresser knows for sure. 

Read more | 02/11/2008 - 12:27

By Michelle Boule | Incorporating social software into libraries and the idea that the OPAC just may suck, have been discussed at length on this blog by various authors. Incorporating Web 2.0 ideas or technologies into your library's web page may be difficult for many reasons. If you are a school librarian, your obstacles increase exponentially. Many of the innovations available to other libraries are not accessible to school libraries.

Read more | 02/07/2008 - 17:48

By Tom Peters | We all have our pet industries, those quirky little eddies in our massively flowing economy (although it's not flowing well at the moment) that for some reason we love to watch and ponder.  For example, in the Eighties I became interested in the pork bellies market.  Maybe it was my Iowa upbringing, although I never lived on a farm and slopped any hogs.  Several times a week I would check in on pork belli

Read more | 02/05/2008 - 09:23

By Tom Peters | For the past 24 hours I've been chuckling to myself and at myself, ever since I read the article in yesterday's New York Times (no-cost registration required) about the popularity of cell phone novels in Japan.  Evidently, quite a few young and often firs

Read more | 01/21/2008 - 12:02

By Tom Peters | Last weekend I made my third trip to Philadelphia to attend an ALA Midwinter Meeting

Read more | 01/17/2008 - 12:08

By Michael Stephens | This sort of snuck up on me, but I'm breaking up with my hometown newspaper. I think this break from my print subscription is rather important, illustrating how the world of news and information is changing.  Read on for the details.Dear South Bend Tribune:

Read more | 01/10/2008 - 15:59

By Michelle Boule | In the past few months, I have had the privilege to work with some amazing school librarians. Many of them want to begin incorporating more technology into their libraries, but are hampered by filters and lack of knowledge about the available tools on the Web. For some, even the most basic tools are blocked by overzealous IT and administrations.

Read more | 12/31/2007 - 11:19

By Michael Stephens | My dog Jake, the Internet, and I grew up together.

Read more | 12/27/2007 - 16:41

By Tom Peters | If you haven't noticed, this blog is becoming overwhelmed by spam comments.  The blogging software we currently use allows us to ban spammers and delete spam comments, but only one at a time.  Deleting all these spam comments makes washing the windows on the Empire State Building seem like child's play.

Read more | 12/20/2007 - 16:25

By Tom Peters | This morning, while Max my dog and I were out for an early morning stroll, a truly cockamamie idea dawned on me.

Read more | 12/12/2007 - 06:19