November 2012

I’m collecting data for this year’s International Library Automation Perceptions survey.

http://www.librarytechnology.org/blog.pl?ThreadID=245&BlogID=1

This survey, now in its sixth annual iteration, provides an opportunity for libraries to register their perceptions of the strategic automation products they use, organizations that provide these products, and the quality of support delivered. The survey also probes at considerations for migrating to new systems and the level of interest in open source products.

While the numeric rating scales support the statistical results of the study, it’s the comments offered that provide the most insight into the current state of library automation satisfaction. Comments will be published in the survey results, redacted of text that might identify the individual or organization responding.

Please help your fellow libraries who might be in the process of evaluating library automation options by responding to the survey. Any information regarding vendor performance and product quality can be helpful when making strategic decisions regarding automation alternatives. A large number of responses strengthen the impact of the survey and the subsequent report.

If you have responded in previous years, please respond again this year to help identify any trends regarding improvement or worsening of the products or support services.

For more information about the survey, for instructions on how to participate, and to see results of previous year’s surveys, see:

The developers behind ad-tracking browser plug-in Ghostery said they’d logged 137 different trackers on the Microsoft website and 107 on Apple’s site, while they logged 66 on Samsung’s site and 65 on HP’s. Dell has 106. All of these tech sites make greater use of trackers associated with behavioural advertising than specialist retail sites such as Tesco (64), John Lewis (46) and Dabs (12).

So, is the Rundel Library on South Avenue in Rochester haunted?

Some employees like Diane Premnath sure think so. Premnath has been working at the library for the past five years and has heard many strange noises and seen dark shadows moving on the upper stacks of the library. She says she’s gotten used to it.

“I guess the ghosts are friendly,” she says. “I don’t bother them and they don’t bother me. I guess we all have stuff to do.”

Who’s Tracking Your Reading Habits? An E-Book Buyer’s Guide to Privacy, 2012 Edition
See the chart here

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and once again e-book readers promise to be a very popular gift. Last year’s holiday season saw ownership of a dedicated e-reader device spike to nearly 1 in 5 Americans, and that number is poised to go even higher. But if you’re in the market for an e-reader this year, or for e-books to read on one that you already own, you might want to know who’s keeping an eye on your searching, shopping, and reading habits.

Unfortunately, unpacking the tracking and data-sharing practices of different e-reader platforms is far from simple. It can require reading through stacked license agreements and privacy policies for devices, software platforms, and e-book stores. That in turn can mean reading thousands of words of legalese before you read the first line of a new book.

Story at Wired.com

The e-ink screen that popSLATE uses is the next generation of screens that are at the core of e-readers like Amazon’s Kindle or the Kobo. Like all e-ink screens, it only consumes power when the display is changed. This allows for an always-on ambient visual interface.

What can you do with a second screen on the back of your phone? A lot, it turns out.

A copyright law that lets authors break contracts after 35 years will start taking effect in January. The law, which is meant to give authors like Stephen King and Judy Blume a “second bite at the apple,” could provide yet another disruption for traditional publishers.

Wow!
For more than 63 years, Craven has bound books and conserved artifacts on Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus.

On Friday, the 81-year-old Craven leaves campus, retiring as the longest-serving staff member in the university’s history.

He began working part-time at the university in 1947 while he was still in high school in a bookbindery in the basement of the Hatcher Graduate Library.

The site unglue.it has a few more books they are trying to unglue. One is – So You Want to Be a Librarian. See unglue.it for more details.

This is the first in an occasional series of articles that will explore issues surrounding the efforts to launch and expand the Digital Public Library of America.

Library Journal – The Digital Shift

On the Media has an episode each year that focuses on books. The entire program is one hour and you can get the MP3 here.

You can see all the individual episodes here.

The individual episodes are:
Publishing: Adapt or Die
How Publishing and Reading are Changing
No Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Is Amazon a New Monopoly
Are Publishers Stuck in the Past?
The Story of Pottermore
Taking on Amazon
The Problem of Knock Off Books
Steal My Book Please
Life After Publishers