Google Scholar @ UNC

Lisa Norberg & Tim Shearer are my new favorite people. They told me today that the library has implemented a Google Scholar search box on the library’s main page. Here’s the announcement. Tim tells me that this search box is connected to EZproxy, so if I’m off campus & do a search I’ll be forced through the proxy login. Logical, yet a very nice piece of functionality. But it gets.. Read More

Scott’s Thoughts about the Future of Libraries

All my students out there among My Beloved Audience, listen up: Some libraries are closing due to lack of funding. It’s happening slowly now, with a few cases in California and Texas, but I predict that, unless something changes, wait… “unless WE change SOMETHING”… no passive language here… it will continue to happen. Different types of libraries will need to take on new roles to survive… This from a recent.. Read More

Microsoft’s answer to Wikipedia

Encarta encyclopedia tests edit system, from AP Microsoft Corp.’s Encarta encyclopedia is testing a system that lets everyone be an editor – in theory at least. Readers can suggest edits or additions to entries, although the changes are vetted by editors before they reach the page. Encarta is not requiring such novice editors to identify themselves, said Gary Alt, Encarta’s editorial director. But it is asking them to reveal the.. Read More

The problem of purpose

Another post to the Dig_Ref listserv yesterday included a link to this: Do Libraries Still Matter?, from the Carnegie Reporter This article is a trip through the history of libraries in the US, focusing, appropriately, on Carnegie libraries, and discussing “the problem of purpose” of the public library: to educate & uplift the proletariat or to provide pleasure reading to the middle class? Considering the role of libraries in the.. Read More

VRD 2005 Conference: Call for Proposals

A post to the Dig_Ref listserv yesterday announced the Call for Proposals for Papers and Presentations for the VRD 2005 Conference: The VRD 7th Annual Reference Conference Recognizing the Success of Reference November 14-15, 2005 San Francisco, CA The VRD conference explores all aspects of reference service in a broad range of contexts, including libraries and information centers, government, business, education, and other industry sectors or organizations. The theme of.. Read More

The Death of Authority?

I went to the the Schol Comm Working Group‘s brownbag yesterday, where Justin Watt, Jim Ovitt, & Mark Simpson-Vos gave a talk about Wikipedia. First of all, they did a great job: Justin did a terrific job of explaining wikis for those in the room who didn’t know how they worked, while managing to still interest those of us who did. Jim introduced the issue of authority & made some.. Read More

Reference revolution

I’m a bit behind in reading my news@nature feeds, & just came across this one, from mid-March: Reference revolution, an interview with Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia fame. Q: Do you think these flexible reference tools will overtake fixed sources of information? A: Definitely. But I think it’s going to vary across different domains. For example, an open Wiki-editing model, in my opinion, cannot replace peer-reviewed scientific research. If it’s really.. Read More

I Get Ink

No, not a tattoo… I spoke to a reporter from the Daily Tar Heel yesterday who was writing (was writing at the time; has written now, of course) an article for today’s paper on open access journals. He spoke to Paul last Friday & Paul directed him to me on account of my having been on the planning committee for the Scholarly Communications Convocation. Here’s the article: Faculty touts online.. Read More

Commercial publishers object to education

Legal Battle Brews Over Texts on Electronic Reserve at U. of California Libraries, from the Chronicle Publishers are objecting to an electronic reserve system at the University of California… Offering limited amounts of supplementary materials for educational purposes, without having to pay royalties, is allowed under fair-use doctrine. But how much access libraries can provide is not always clear under the law. Mr. Adler [vice president for legal and governmental.. Read More

Bibliocasting listserv

This post to the Dig_Ref listserv announces the launch of the Bibliocasting listserv, “dedicated to a discussion of streaming media in the library environment.” Brought to you, natch, by the good people at the Information Institute of Syracuse. In an interesting experiment, you can subscribe to the list either by email or as a podcast, thanks to some text-to-speech app. I’ll be interested to see how sig blocks are handled;.. Read More