ALA is coming up at the end of the week. Time to clean off the desk -- actual and virtual!
What counts as "broadband?" Jeff Scott has a good analysis with comments about this. His comment that defining it as one-half of a T-1 line is short-sighted, is insightful. Louisiana was one of the first states to have Internet available to the public in every "main" library in the state. Many are finding that the bandwidth currently provided is not adequate. Many libraries here, and elsewhere I assume, were hoping that the stimulus funding would help them improve network speed. This seems not to be the case.
Annette Day and Hilary Davis have an interesting article about the process of journal selection (and de-selection) for academic libraries in a group blog which I have only recently found: In the Library with a Lead Pipe.
Meredith Farkas is back and continues to be insightful and probably ahead of her time. She talks in a recent post about relying on free/web-based services to deliver critical functions. Her post makes me also think about how is our discussion about things like Library 2.0/Web 2.0 being stored for the future. We can read about the late 19th discussions on the pros and cons of public libraries collecting and circulating fiction because those discussions took place in print. Will library scholars of the end of this century be able to do the same for our discussions? (I'm also going to point to a related/similar discussion imbedded in Walt Crawford's August (?) Cites and Insights. I am sure, since I was reading it in the doctor's office yesterday, that his "Writing about Reading" has influenced my thoughts on Meredith's post.)
I am watching the Google OS situation somewhat closely, in part because we are considering purchasing a "netbook" for our regular travel.
Finally, is my new work love: statistics. In a short (3 minute) TED talk, mathematician Arthur Benjamin talks about the need to redefine the teaching of mathematics. Currently, calculus is the "holy grail" or highest level. He notes that most of us do not use calculus in our daily lives. (Engineers are exempt from this characterization.) However, if everyone had a better understanding of statistics, a lot of us would do better in life.
The link is above....I will try to embed it here:
Thanks for the link and the great round-up. I meant to email Walt on the last Cites and Incites. It was fantastic and very thorough this month, but it always is.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I LOVE statistics. I'm a little obsessed about it. The first thing I did at my new job was ask for the circulation statistics for the entire collection. Luckily, I have someone here who loves it too and can make Microsoft Access dance like nothing I have ever seen. Dangerous if used correctly.
I reminded Jeff that Walt's publication is Cites & Insights
ReplyDeleteI wish I could edit comments. At least that is the only the second time I have done that in three years. Thanks
ReplyDeleteAh, but Jeff, you didn't do it in your blog while attacking me, so it's not a big deal...
ReplyDeleteMichael: Yes, the current issue is dated August 2009 (if that's the reason for the (?). I almost always publish issues before their cover date (I think there have been two exceptions in nine years); this one's unusually early because of ALA timing. Both: Thanks for the kind words.