Amazon to buy AbeBooks

I just saw this today: Amazon to buy AbeBooks (From: Publishers Weekly).  This deal is to close in the 4th quarter.  AbeBooks is a wonderful Canadian-based online source for buying used and out-of-print books from all over the world.  I wonder if this change in ownership will change the wonderful usability of abebooks.com? Time will tell.  I use abebooks all the time at work for tracking down elusive out-of-print and rare books for my library.  According to the story, abebooks will “continue to operate as a stand-alone operation”.

Understanding databases … and more

A few days ago at work I experienced one of those happy surprises at work.  It started out with confusion … a request from a client/patron/user (whatever word you prefer) responsible for a wide variety of databases who wanted to know more about some files my library updates and maintains on the web and confusion about the related data included in the library’s catalogue.  After many back-and-forth e-mails, we were no closer to understanding what each other was thinking or needing. Then, we met in person.  Turns out, they only actually needed two pieces of information:

1. The basic structure of records in the library catalogue (so they can avoid recreating the wheel and just add to existing data using an export from the catalogue)
2. That the web addresses for the corresponding pdf’s are permanent

What a pleasant surprise!  Once we met face-to-face, and demonstrated what we were each talking about, it turns out we were talking about exactly the same things.  Even better, the client was surprised that the library had anticipated such questions years ago. Yes, many people don’t understand that we are proficient database designers and comprehend such things as unique identifiers, db tables, etc.  And, many librarians make incorrect assumptions about other database creators/users.  But, when we make the effort and time to speak with each other about our respective databases and web-address stability, turns out we truly are on the same page.

On a related note, during the same conversation we expanded both our vocabularies about databases and our peer group!  … they learned about “authority control” (as a term only, they already understood and regularly made use of the concept) and the history of meta-data records (evolution from MARC) … and I was reminded that many people outside of libraries do very similar work and have almost the identical concerns about data integrity … I found a new colleague!

Westlake Porter Public Library and Library 2.0

The Westlake Porter Public Library in Ohio has posted both audio and text files from its poetry contest for K-5 students.   See the story about this at Westlife online news site .  Not only can we read each entry on the library’s website, we can also listen to the entrants recite their entries online!  Pretty cool!  They have also set up a photo site on Flickr and host a variety of blogs on topics from “Just the facts” for reference information to an “Astronomer’s” … .

While I don’t work in the public library world, I wonder how we can make better use of the same tools in the special library setting.  Where I work we are using del.icio.us for our bookmarks, but we haven’t yet progressed beyond that.  Perhaps we should consider expanding our use of Library 2.0 technologies. Time to move forward.

Changing directions

The last few days have been very interesting.  An amazing friend and colleague, Stephen Abram, was visiting Whitehorse (Yukon), where he gave an interesting and provocative presentation to the Yukon library community.  Stephen’s presentation was very engaging and enlightening.  His insights on both the near and distant future of libraries ring true for me. I hope my Yukon library community colleagues were as intrigued as I was by the possibilities and challenges the future will bring.

And beyond the limitations of a formal presentation, Stephen’s generosity with his time and thoughts during his whole visit struck me too. I feel very lucky to know him.  I didn’t realize I needed my passion for libraries to be fanned, but it turns out I did. I knew I wanted to make changes, but I didn’t know what direction to go in.  I don’t yet know what my methods and actions will be, but I now know which direction to head in … onwards and upwards … improving services and supporting those around me.  Thanks Stephen!

SLA and the Wall Street Journal

SLA (Special Libraries Association) has made a pdf of their full-page ad  (from the Wall Street Journal on June 17, 2008 ) available via the SLA website. Pretty amazing exposure!  All the messages in the ad are valid for all types of special libraries (government, NGO, for-profit and non-profit libraries):

“The right people, information and decisions.”

“Behind every good business decision is an information professional.”

“The relevant, high-quality business information you need to take action doesn’t turn up all by itself. Whether internally or externally produced, it’s the lifeblood of people who work for you: librarians, knowledge managers, chief information officers, Web developers, information brokers and researchers.”

 

“Web facts erode research”

A Times Online article titled “Web facts erode research” verifies what we already know, that many people don’t know how to judge the authority of web pages and people prefer the “quick fix” of information the web can provide over solid research.  The original article is here, and a paper it was based on is here  The University College London project is called: Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (’Google Generation).  The executive summary section titled “what are the implications for research libraries?” is especially interesting for research libraries.  Should we be “abandoning any hope of being a one-stop shop” and instead focus on being “gateways”? According to this research, yes.  

Sabbaticals for non-academic librarians?

Yes, they are possible. They are called “deferred salary leave plans” or “self-funded leave plans”.  Yes, these plans are different than sabbaticals. But they do provide opportunities for growth and learning.  I took my first such leave in 2006/07 (6 months).  I enjoyed it so much, that just over a year after returning home from 6 months of traveling around the world and learning lots, I have signed up for another 6 months off … starting in late 2011.  Yahoo!  I have no specific plans for the time, but I know I will enjoy fantasizing about a wide variety of possibilities over the next few years. All I know is I am very likely to do some more traveling and will definitely encounter learning opportunities! Yes, these plans do mean a hit on my regular paycheque.  Trust me, the hit is well worth it.  

The future of the book … the ongoing saga

Opposing views … the kindle vs the book … a brief overview by Russell Smith at the Globe and Mail.  I believe the book will continue to exist, even as reading books electronically grows.  While traditional books are portable, not affected by changes in data standards, and easy to share (no DRM!), the ability and ease of carrying multiple books around with us electronically will definitely grow in popularity.  IMHO, traditional books and e-books are going to co-exist well into the future.

Polar Libraries Colloquy

I wish I could have attended the Polar Libraries Colloquy this year, especially at it is being held relatively close to where I live. Edmonton is only a 2-day drive away. But, work is simply too busy right now as we are understaffed. Therefore, I can only access the Colloquoy via the blog. One day I will meet David in person, ha ha, instead of just corresponding via e-mail and telephone. You know who you are, David.

Alaska Library Association

The Alaska Library Association has a blog.  Yes, I am closer to major cities in Alaska than I am to major cities in Canada.  Pretty cool.  I hope to make it to the AKLA conference one day … it will be in Kodiak next year (March 13-16,  2009). There are many more librarians in Alaska than in Yukon, which makes sense because Alaska has a lot more people than Yukon (approximately 670,000 in Alaska in 2006 … many more than the approximately 32,714 in Yukon as of December 2007)!