November 2005

Indian Libraries urged to adopt modern digital technology

Public libraries should adopt modern digital technology system which would facilitate public to avail the treasure of knowledge, said P S Vastrad, Additional Commissioner, Department of Public Instructions. New India Press reports Speaking after inaugurating a seminar on Information Technology and Libraries; organised by Department of Information and Department of Public Libraries as part of ‘National Libraries Week’ here recently, he said that most of the libraries abroad particularly in Western countries had been digitised, which would help the people get speedy and instant information of their choice. The government should make Indian libraries readers-friendly, he added.

Random House: Digital Is Our Destiny

Business Week Says Random House is moving beyond print to protect itself from the likes of Google.
Unwilling to let a Google, Yahoo! , or Microsoft dictate terms in cyberspace, Random House Inc., the world’s largest trade publisher, is taking the industry lead. In early November it outlined ways it would begin to offer its books directly to consumers on a page-per-view basis. Random House will get at least 4 cents a page and split that roughly in half with authors for fiction and narrative nonfiction titles. Other types of books, such as cookbooks, will have different pricing models. Random House is discouraging copying of the texts by delivering pages in low-resolution files.

Book Week kicks off in Iran

The 13th Book Week of Iran which kicked off today focuses on the promotion of book reading, MNA said. According to Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi, the policy of the ministry previously focused on book publishing, but this year it focuses on book reading as the main element which would lead to more publications in the future.

OK you babies, crack those books

Can your baby or toddler distinguish patterns? Surely he or she can make comparisons, right? Or perhaps your youngster is just good at making a mess?

The latter could be a problem under a government proposal in Britain that would have children start training for school almost as soon as they leave the womb.

The initiative would require every nursery and every caregiver to teach newborns and toddlers an “Early Years Foundation Stage†curriculum beginning in 2008.

Cox News Service Has More

EBSCO’s Library database is available free

Jay writes “Jessamyn West in librarian.net
reported that EBSCO’s Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database is now available FREE. This bibliographic database provides coverage on subjects such as librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. For more information, see: LISTA database Free to all Interested in Libraries and Librarianship.

To access, click on:

LISTA database.”

Does “Web 2.0” mean anything?

If you’re like me (And you know you want to be) you roll your eyes everytime you see someone writing about “WEB 2.0.” Joey sent over a link to Web 2.0 by Paul Graham of Yahoo Stores and
Lisp fame that’s worth a read even if you don’t think there’s anything new in Web 2.0 other than the name.
He says Originally, yes, Web 2.0was meaningless. Now it seems to have acquired a meaning. And yet those who dislike the term are probably right, because if it means what I think it does, we don’t need it.

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