August 2000

R Hadden Writes:

The Wall Street Journal has an item on today\’s front
page (Tuesday,
August 29, 2000) in the \”Work Week\” column, about a
library.

\”Inspiration hit Charles \”Duke\” Oakley one day as he
cruised past a
Cirque du Soleil big top. Mr. Oakley, then facilities
director for the
University of California at Los Angeles, decided a tent
would make a fine
temporary library. So the school built a
36,000-square-foot vinyl fabric
affair, complete with aluminum skeleton, lights and fire
sprinklers….
UCLA\’s Mr. Oakley, now in private practice, …misses
the temporary
library since it was taken down. \”It was a little festive,
and it was a
little unusual,\” he says.\”`

There is no indication of when this event
happened, nor any comments
from the library staff about library concerns such as
insect control or
humidity levels or potential for vandalism.

R Hadden Writes:

The Wall Street Journal has an item on today\’s front
page (Tuesday,
August 29, 2000) in the \”Work Week\” column, about a
library.

\”Inspiration hit Charles \”Duke\” Oakley one day as he
cruised past a
Cirque du Soleil big top. Mr. Oakley, then facilities
director for the
University of California at Los Angeles, decided a tent
would make a fine
temporary library. So the school built a
36,000-square-foot vinyl fabric
affair, complete with aluminum skeleton, lights and fire
sprinklers….
UCLA\’s Mr. Oakley, now in private practice, …misses
the temporary
library since it was taken down. \”It was a little festive,
and it was a
little unusual,\” he says.\”`

There is no indication of when this event
happened, nor any comments
from the library staff about library concerns such as
insect control or
humidity levels or potential for vandalism. On the other hand (Very Big Grin), there are no
comments about how, in
this circus big top atmosphere, the staff and patrons
clowned around.
Instead of the Dewey Decimal System, did they
temporarily arrange books by
circus rings, with the chief cataloger being the
ringmaster? Was the budget
director the one on the balancing trapeze act? Chief
librarian the lion
tamer? The reference section the side show of freaks
and marvels? The
circulation section the \”little red wagon,\” aka the ticket
counter? Is the
Systems/Telecommunications Librarian the \”high wire
act?\” The serials
librarians the equestrian and bareback riders,
desperately trying to keep
their charges (either journals or wild horses) tamed
and in series and in
correct sequence so the riders can jump through
hoops as they gallop madly
around? Was the human resources chief the one
everyone else wants to shoot
out of the cannon? Are the re-shelving staff the elephant
handlers, trying
over and over to keep the big animals balanced on their
all four feet on a
too-small upturned tub, and cleaning up the \”overflow\”
residue from the
elephants? The acquisitions librarian the stage
magician, pulling books or
rabbits out of a hat, and no one else knows how it is
done? Is the library
night shift/weekend supervisor the circus fire eater,
accepting
undergraduate complaints and freshman suggestions
for improvement of
database selections with aplomb? Are the student
assistants the circus
roustabouts, hammering in the stakes when needed to
keep the library tight?

Were the library users known as \”rubes\” or \”boys
and girls of all
ages?\” This sheds new light on the old argument over
whether library users
should be called \”patrons\” or \”customers\” or \”clients\” or
whatever.

Oh well, enough of the circus jokes. Now its back to
the usual
carnival.

Lee Hadden

ALA recently paid a PR firm a huge sum of money for a branding campaign, which was unveiled at the annual conference in July. Called \”@yourlibrary,\” the campaign gives libraries the opportunity to use the famous \”@\” sign to market their services. A television ad showing how exciting and electronic libraries really are was shown to conference goers at the opening session. ALA\’s announcement of the campaign is worth reading, as is a discussion about it on the ALA Council listserv, published in a recent Library Juice.

Wherewithal founders Steve Thomas and Darrin Skinner have spent two years designing a powerful search technology which is scalable to the growth of the Internet. They believe they have overcome the fixed taxonomy problem that limits the usefulness of conventional web directories like Looksmart, ODP, and Yahoo. This
article at Traffick takes an early look at this fledgling service.

Another fledgling directory using volunteer reviewers is Zeal. Zeal\’s volunteers gain points which can be exchanged for charitable donations. This is Traffick\’s review of Zeal: \”Volunteer Directory Seeks Zealots.\”

Wherewithal founders Steve Thomas and Darrin Skinner have spent two years designing a powerful search technology which is scalable to the growth of the Internet. They believe they have overcome the fixed taxonomy problem that limits the usefulness of conventional web directories like Looksmart, ODP, and Yahoo. This
article at Traffick takes an early look at this fledgling service.

Another fledgling directory using volunteer reviewers is Zeal. Zeal\’s volunteers gain points which can be exchanged for charitable donations. This is Traffick\’s review of Zeal: \”Volunteer Directory Seeks Zealots.\”
Legend has it that a major plank in Ronald Reagan\’s economic platform – the Laffer Curve – was sketched out for him on a napkin. On this foundation, Reagonomics became the ovverriding theme of a decade of US fiscal policy. A vast array of reforms flowed from some basic reasoning that essentially argued that if you put a luxury tax on boats, sales will decline, and the luxury boat industry will dry up.

A lot of powerful ideas would appear to originate this simply. 1998 was a year in which everyone in the Internet business decided that there was room to improve on Yahoo! – in particular, its directory, which, critics charged, couldn\’t scale with the growth of Internet content. The overworked team of Yahoo! editors let \”link rot\” set in, and ignored many submissions.

It\’s telling that Yahoo!\’s job descriptions refer to directory editors as \”surfers.\” If you\’re thinking \”just about anyone could do that,\” you\’re not far from wrong. And in fact, there is a huge thirst amongst heavy Internet users to get more involved in rating sites, offering advice, publishing articles, and ranking products. A host of innovative business models are appearing on the scene today, promising to give a platform, and sometimes some pecuniary rewards, to these legions of enthusiasts and experts. This new type of knowledge worker may potentially fuel the next leap forward in information delivery on the Internet.

One team of inventors, led by Steve Thomas, a software developer and aficionado of cognitive science, sketched out some principles for the ultimate web search resource \”in a one-page concept paper\” in February of 1998. Barely larger than the proverbial napkin, this paper kicked off a process of planning and development for a new system of \”Searchonomics\” under the company name Wherewithal.

Slashdot had a very interesting post yesterday\”Vital Source Technologies is now providing time-limited medical textbooks to universities. Password protected books as predicted in The Right To Read by Richard Stallman are finally becoming a reality.\” Starting on Oct. 28, (when the other part of the DMCA comes into effect), you could face a civil lawsuit and criminal penalties of up to five years in jail and a fine of $500,000 for reading someone else\’s textbook. See the NYU FAQ, the Advogato discussion, or the company crowing about new revenue opportunities.

As always, the Comments on Slashdot are very interesting.

Ever Helpful R. Hadden Writes:
\”

Read The Story in the Washington Post.

\”Even those who hate mega-bookstores can see their formula is working. People flock to the stores, where they can linger for hours, catch a poetry reading, browse racks of magazines and newspapers and fill up on latte and scones.\”

Ben Ostrowsky writes :
Dave Barry had a funny piece on
Harry Potter a few weeks ago.

\”
I am NOT jealous of the woman who writes the Harry Potter books. It does
NOT bother me that her most recent book, Harry Potter and the Enormous
Royalty Check, has already become the best-selling book in world
history, beating out her previous book, Harry Potter Purchases
Microsoft.

david writes \”mildly interesting. But B&N is ahead of amazon, i think…

Software giant Microsoft Corp. and top online retailer Amazon.com Inc. on Monday said they are teaming up to sell digital books in the latest boost to the electronic alternative to paper and ink.


Amazon would use a customized version of Microsoft\’s Reader software for downloading and displaying digital text on a computer screen or handheld computer, the companies said.
\”

Brian writes \”Often-clueless columnist Bob Greene of the Chicago Tribune is encouraging people to donate their used books to needy libraries in Chicago Public Schools. I have a feeling this will end badly, with the school system deluged with unusable crap.

\”

Wired has a Story on The Seybold SF conference that covers all things publishing, including a big focus on Ebooks. The conference web site has a nifty
Digital Library that has some useful information on technology.

\”E-book vendors will take over 11,000 square feet on the show floor to showcase their technologies and security solutions.

Microsoft (MSFT) will demonstrate its recently announced Digital Asset Server, a digital rights management (DRM) solution, and Windows-based PC Reader. \”

Wired has a Story on The Seybold SF conference that covers all things publishing, including a big focus on Ebooks. The conference web site has a nifty
Digital Library that has some useful information on technology.

\”E-book vendors will take over 11,000 square feet on the show floor to showcase their technologies and security solutions.

Microsoft (MSFT) will demonstrate its recently announced Digital Asset Server, a digital rights management (DRM) solution, and Windows-based PC Reader. \”

More from Wired

\”