What's New Library Blog - LaGuardia Community College Library Media Resources Center

Borrowing People

This is pretty neat.
A Swedish library is letting patrons borrow people.
It's designed to help people learn about other types of people.
The patrons will be able to borrow a Muslim, a lesbian, a Dane, a journalist, a gypsy, a blind man, and an animal rights activist. The people can be borrowed for 45 minutes.
I have no idea what the late fees are like.

posted by Steve in the Library on Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Fake Dictionary Words

The New Yorker has a short piece on how dictionaries and encyclopedias often contain fake entries used to protect copyright. If the fake word or entry shows up in another work, the holders of the copyright know the information was stolen from them.
I had no idea that was a standard practice. It makes it pretty hard to totally trust anything. What if I'm looking up a word and it just happens to be the fake word?
In case you're interested, the fake word in the current "New Oxford American Dictionary" is esquivalience.
Interestingly, they recently found it on Dictionary.com. But now it's gone. And everyone knows where Dictionary.com "found" the word.
A Google search of the word turns up A LOT of pages. Most seem to be talking about the word being fake, but I wouldn't be shocked to see it eventually morph into a real word.

posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, August 29, 2005

The Educational Discount

This horrible stampede over used iBooks made me think I should post a reminder that most people associated with an educational institution (faculty and students) can qualify for an educational discount on computers and software.
Here is a link to Apple's educational area, where you can get $50 off a basic iBook. Most other computer companies seem to have a similar area on their site. Just look for the word education.

posted by Steve in the Library on Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Amazon Maps

Amazon.com's search engine, A9.com, is adding a map search that shows photos of buildings in the area.
This isn't a horribly new feature. Tons of other mapping sites are already doing this. And I think it's a mis-step by Amazon.com.
When people search, they think in terms of what they're looking for. If they want to download movies or music, they'll go to a peer-to-peer environment or look for a BitTorrent.
If they want pictures, they'll go to something like Google Images.
And if they want books, odds are, they'll go to Amazon.
But I would never even think to go to Amazon (or their A9.com) for a map.
It's the same way I would never look for a street map in a dictionary.
A big part of searching is deciding where to search. I'm wondering how many people will decide to search maps from a company known for selling books.
By the way. Amazon's map search is here: http://maps.a9.com.

posted by Steve in the Library on Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Searching is Hard

Sometimes searching on the Internet seems impossible.
I was just looking for the URL of the official Google blog, so of course, I put Google blog into Google, like so.
And it doesn't come up as the top hit. It was the eighth hit.
So now, because I was curious, I put Google blog in quotes, so Google would only look for those two words next to each other. And the official Google blog still wasn't the top hit. But it moved into the third position, at least.
So at least we know Google doesn't weight their results to emphasize their own properties.
And by the way. The official Google blog is here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com.

posted by Steve in the Library on Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Congratulations to the 2005 winners of the Library Research Review Competition!

Congratulations to the 2005 winners of the Library Research Review Competition!

posted by Steve in the Library on Thursday, August 04, 2005

Changing Formats

The New York Times is integrating its online and print newsrooms.
You might have noticed that citations spend a lot of time distinguishing between formats. Is something an article or is it an article from a database or is it a Web site? The Times is showing that the concept of formats is one that might soon be outdated. News organizations are pumping out content in a myriad of formats practically 24 hours a day.
The pupose of citations is to help other people find the information you used to build your paper. The format of the works you used was once a significant detail.
Now, as media companies become more ambitious, it might be a less significant detail.
The question is, when will MLA and APA decide it's not as significant.

posted by Steve in the Library on Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Internet Explorer 7 On the Loose

Microsoft has released a beta version of Internet Explorer 7 to a very select group of users.
Lifehacker links to a roundup of speculation and reviews here.
Interestingly, the early word seems to have Microsoft taking cues from alternative browser's like Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox. And I'm assuming Microsoft is really beefing up security within their new browsers, too.
For so long Microsoft felt like this monolithic giant. It's weird to see them letting a product evolve out of user preferences, rather than telling the world how it's going to use a product.

posted by Steve in the Library on Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Transit Direction Web Sites

The New York Times has a look at some of the transit direction sites that are popping up. These are sites that give you mass transit direction to wherever you're going. The Times mentions some familiar ones and some news ones:

HopStop.com

Trips123.com

SubwayInfo.com

Interestingly, the Times discusses how some of these sites plan to make money. It's interesting because it shows there's almost always a value to information. In the case of HopStop, they say they're hoping to make money by partnering with bigger map sites. They also want to work with some other transit systems.
In the mean time, at least we can figure out how to get from place to place.

posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, August 01, 2005

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		Borrowing People This is pretty neat. A Swedish library is letting patrons borrow people. It's designed to help people learn about other types of people. The patrons will be able to borrow a Muslim, a lesbian, a Dane, a journalist, a gypsy, a blind man, and an animal rights activist. The people can be borrowed for 45 minutes. I have no idea what the late fees are like. posted by Steve in the Library on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 Fake Dictionary Words The New Yorker has a short piece on how dictionaries and encyclopedias often contain fake entries used to protect copyright. If the fake word or entry shows up in another work, the holders of the copyright know the information was stolen from them. I had no idea that was a standard practice. It makes it pretty hard to totally trust anything. What if I'm looking up a word and it just happens to be the fake word? In case you're interested, the fake word in the current "New Oxford American Dictionary" is esquivalience. Interestingly, they recently found it on Dictionary.com. But now it's gone. And everyone knows where Dictionary.com "found" the word. A Google search of the word turns up A LOT of pages. Most seem to be talking about the word being fake, but I wouldn't be shocked to see it eventually morph into a real word. posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, August 29, 2005 The Educational Discount This horrible stampede over used iBooks made me think I should post a reminder that most people associated with an educational institution (faculty and students) can qualify for an educational discount on computers and software. Here is a link to Apple's educational area, where you can get $50 off a basic iBook. Most other computer companies seem to have a similar area on their site. Just look for the word education. posted by Steve in the Library on Wednesday, August 17, 2005 Amazon Maps Amazon.com's search engine, A9.com, is adding a map search that shows photos of buildings in the area. This isn't a horribly new feature. Tons of other mapping sites are already doing this. And I think it's a mis-step by Amazon.com. When people search, they think in terms of what they're looking for. If they want to download movies or music, they'll go to a peer-to-peer environment or look for a BitTorrent. If they want pictures, they'll go to something like Google Images. And if they want books, odds are, they'll go to Amazon. But I would never even think to go to Amazon (or their A9.com) for a map. It's the same way I would never look for a street map in a dictionary. A big part of searching is deciding where to search. I'm wondering how many people will decide to search maps from a company known for selling books. By the way. Amazon's map search is here: http://maps.a9.com. posted by Steve in the Library on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 Searching is Hard Sometimes searching on the Internet seems impossible. I was just looking for the URL of the official Google blog, so of course, I put Google blog into Google, like so. And it doesn't come up as the top hit. It was the eighth hit. So now, because I was curious, I put Google blog in quotes, so Google would only look for those two words next to each other. And the official Google blog still wasn't the top hit. But it moved into the third position, at least. So at least we know Google doesn't weight their results to emphasize their own properties. And by the way. The official Google blog is here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com. posted by Steve in the Library on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 Congratulations to the 2005 winners of the Library Research Review Competition! Congratulations to the 2005 winners of the Library Research Review Competition! FIRST PLACE: DAWN ROCHELLE HUNTER SECOND PLACE: CATHERINE E. MRAKOVCICH and ASAKO SUZUKI THIRD PLACE: GINGER S. ALBERTSON and SAMMY ISMAIL posted by Steve in the Library on Thursday, August 04, 2005 Changing Formats The New York Times is integrating its online and print newsrooms. You might have noticed that citations spend a lot of time distinguishing between formats. Is something an article or is it an article from a database or is it a Web site? The Times is showing that the concept of formats is one that might soon be outdated. News organizations are pumping out content in a myriad of formats practically 24 hours a day. The pupose of citations is to help other people find the information you used to build your paper. The format of the works you used was once a significant detail. Now, as media companies become more ambitious, it might be a less significant detail. The question is, when will MLA and APA decide it's not as significant. posted by Steve in the Library on Wednesday, August 03, 2005 Internet Explorer 7 On the Loose Microsoft has released a beta version of Internet Explorer 7 to a very select group of users. Lifehacker links to a roundup of speculation and reviews here. Interestingly, the early word seems to have Microsoft taking cues from alternative browser's like Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox. And I'm assuming Microsoft is really beefing up security within their new browsers, too. For so long Microsoft felt like this monolithic giant. It's weird to see them letting a product evolve out of user preferences, rather than telling the world how it's going to use a product. posted by Steve in the Library on Tuesday, August 02, 2005 Transit Direction Web Sites The New York Times has a look at some of the transit direction sites that are popping up. These are sites that give you mass transit direction to wherever you're going. The Times mentions some familiar ones and some news ones: HopStop.com Trips123.com SubwayInfo.com Interestingly, the Times discusses how some of these sites plan to make money. It's interesting because it shows there's almost always a value to information. In the case of HopStop, they say they're hoping to make money by partnering with bigger map sites. They also want to work with some other transit systems. In the mean time, at least we can figure out how to get from place to place. posted by Steve in the Library on Monday, August 01, 2005