By Michael Stephens | Evaluating Our Institutions and Education
ALA TechSource Blog
By Karen G. Schneider | I recently wrote about NCSU adding a search engine to its online catalog. But after talking to librarians who asked me, “So what did they get for doing that?” I realized I need to back-pedal and explain how a search engine makes an online catalog easier to use (or, as Andrew Pace puts it, "Why OPACs Suck").
By Tom Peters | In today's online New York Times (no-cost subscription required), David Pogue has an interesting article ('Almost iPod, but in the End a Samsung') about the Samsung Z5 MP3 player as a pretender to the throne currently occupied by the iPod Nano.
By Michael Stephens | Less than a month away is HigherEdBlogCon: Transforming Academic Communities with New Tools of the Social Web, a Web-based conference that “will focus on the use of blogs, wikis, RSS, audio and video podcasts, and other digital tools in a range of areas in academe.”
By Tom Peters | Lately, I've been wondering if the mashup will become one of the defining characteristics of information technology during this decade. Will we remember this era as much for the mashups as for the mass-digitization crashups? Mashups may rule, while snippets drool.
By Michael Stephens | A few weeks ago, Jenny and I found ourselves at a meeting at ALA Headquarters talking about Web 2.0, learning, and Library 2.0 initiatives with some of the ALA division heads, Mary Ghikas, Senior Associate Executive Director, and the Otter Group's Kathleen Gilroy.
By Jenny Levine | At the Ontario Library Association Superconference earlier this month, I argued that library schools need to offer a course in copyright, licensing agreements for electronic products, and digital rights management (DRM), because they all affect the future of how libraries will interact with our users as entertainment and information becomes increasingly digital.
By Teresa Koltzenburg | Michael's last post provides a good segue into another nifty program offered through the Metropolitan Library System, which has offices in Burr Ridge and here in
By Michael Stephens | "All I ever wanted was to know that you were dreaming..."
By Michael Stephens | We were lucky to be heading to San Antonio's highly agreeable climate, though we were going there for different reasons: Michael for the ALISE Conference and Jenny for Midwinter.