Pomerantz

This author hasn't added his/her bio.

Intentionality is a moral concept

Posted on 31 August 2005

Lessons From the Park, from The Chronicle Joshua Knobe, a newly minted Ph.D. from Princeton University, has rocked the philosophical establishment and earned a place at the leading edge of the discipline in a new field called “experimental philosophy.” The field uses the empirical tools of psychology to address philosophical questions, designing experiments to test how ordinary people think. A modern-day Socrates, this Knobe. Particularly interesting to me is this.. Read More

Hacked!

Posted on 30 August 2005

Once again, Fred has saved my bacon. Apparently I was hacked by a bot that exploits un-upgraded WordPress installs, & it changed my stylesheet & database. In one of Fred’s multiple emails to me last night, he wrote: Actually, I think what’s happened is that it has changed the db structure so that clicking on links in the blog essentially re-hack the db. This is nasty. Zounds. Fred, my hero,.. Read More

Rex Libris, flying off the shelves

Posted on 25 August 2005

I walked over to Chapel Hill Comics (formerly known as Second Foundation, which I think is a much cooler name, but I suppose only because I’m a big Asimov fan)… anyway, I walked over there earlier this afternoon to buy myself a copy of Rex Libris. Yes, I know we’ll be getting a copy in the SILS library, but I’m a graphic novel junkie & I want one for myself… Read More

Java Man

Posted on 24 August 2005

Recently I’ve been reading some of Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker essays. One of them that I particularly enjoyed is this one, Java Man, a review of the book The World of Caffeine, by Weinberg & Bealer. I’m totally going to read this now. “It is not extravagant to claim that it was in these gathering spots [coffeehouses] that the art of conversation became the basis of a new literary style.. Read More

Long on Horns, Short on Books

Posted on 23 August 2005

Thanks to Paul for pointing this out: Academic libraries empty stacks for online centers, from the CSM There are 2 interesting issues here: The suggestion of a library without books, & The library as place. My first reaction to reading this article was to object to the idea of a library without books. Heaven knows, I’d be the last person to defend print against electronic sources. But even I can’t.. Read More

College Rankings & Methodology

Posted on 22 August 2005

US News & World Report’s rankings of America’s Best Colleges were released today. US News’ ranking criteria: …measures fall into seven broad categories: peer assessment; graduation and retention rate; faculty resources (for example, class size); student selectivity (for example, average admission test scores of incoming students); financial resources; alumni giving; and, only for national universities and liberal arts colleges, graduation rate performance. The indicators include both input measures, which reflect.. Read More

1-800-LIBRARY

Posted on 20 August 2005

I’ve been reading about telephone reference recently. Why? Well, before that I was reading about chat reference services that have failed (Coffman & Arret, 2004a, 2004b; Horowitz, Flanagan, & Helman, 2005), to name a few. And these articles inevitably mention telephone reference as an alternative medium for reference that’s coming back into fashion. If you can call reference fashionable, by any meaningful definition of the term. And an idea occurred.. Read More

Reconstituted Research and Information Services Department at NCSU

Posted on 19 August 2005

I hope I’m not leaking this memo, but it is pretty old news. From the NC State Libraries. MEMORANDUM SUBJECT: Announcement of Departmental Merger DATE: 1 June 2005 I am pleased to announce that, effective 1 June 2005, the Distance Learning Services Department will join with Research and Information Services (RIS) to create a department whose mission encompasses a full range of services to both on-site and off-site users, including.. Read More

Duke Podcasting Symposium

Posted on 17 August 2005

Duke University Podcasting Symposium Duke University is pleased to announce that we will be hosting the first-ever academic symposium on podcasting from September 27-28 of this year. The two-day event will feature a hands-on podcasting workshop, as well as panel discussions of the economic/business, legal, political, journalistic, and cultural impacts of podcasting by bringing together prominent members of the podcasting community with policymakers, scholars, and media experts. The symposium will.. Read More

TRLN Program on NISO Metasearch Initiative

Posted on 17 August 2005

The TRLN is running a program on the NISO Metasearch Initiative, on Friday, August 26th, 8:30 a.m. – Noon. It’s free to attend but registration is required. Here’s the site for NISO’s Metasearch Initiative.